Leafing Through The Pages, I Found You - YunaYamiMouto - 文豪ストレイドッグス (2024)

Chapter 1

Chapter Text

0-5yo

None of them are quite sure how it happened, but one moment they were all going about their normal, everyday activities, and the next, they were knocked out, only to wake up in an empty void with only a white floor visible underneath them. And by 'them', I mean practically the entire Gifted part of the Armed Detective Agency plus Ranpo but, of course, sans Dazai, while on the other side we had the Port Mafia Boss, his two redhead Executives, the Black Lizard commander and leaders plus Akutagawa and Higuchi. Of course, both sides turned hostile when they saw each other, only to discover none of their Abilities worked and they had no weapons on them. Not even lock-picking tools Mori usually still carried on him in case he ever needed to break into or out of something.

"Alright, what did you Agency f*ckers f*ck up this time?" Chuuya was the first to ask and the detectives were all greatly offended by the accusation.

"Actually, we're all at fault, somewhat," Ranpo, having understood part of what happened, explained before a fistfight might begin. "It seems we've all somehow pissed off an Ability user, or we were otherwise involved to make us targets for their Ability. What it does and how we got snared in it, though, is currently beyond me, as I'm pretty sure only Yosano and I were still in the office. Even f*ckuzawa-shachou was out at a meeting."

Chuuya grunted. "I was on a plane for Hong Kong."

"So it's definitely not a spatial type of trap," Mori concluded. "My best guess is that whoever trapped us sprang the trap on all of us individually, probably through direct contact or proximity."

"I was on aplanetoHong Kong, Boss," repeated Chuuya. "One of our own private jets and only with the pilots and a stewardess that I've been around a thousand times."

"Then we must have a mark of some sort on us," Kunikida said, remembering the numeric Ability user with a frown and how he'd said that his targets could be on the other side of the world and he'd still be able to fling them around and kill them. At his suggestion, everyone started looking over their bodies to find a mark and there was, indeed, one, a little stylized whirlpool design, mostly hidden by their clothes and thankfully in no intimate places. It seems they were there for a while and were only now activated.

Whoever had gone out of their way to capture them had really been patiently waiting to catch them all under their influence before they made a move.

"So, now what?" Atsushi asked hesitantly, looking around the void. "Are we supposed to fight our way out? Fight each other?"

"None of our Abilities work here, jinko," reminded Akutagawa in a manner that implied he thought the younger man to be incredibly dumb. "And all of our weapons and tools are missing, too."

"At this point we'll just have to hope Dazai notices our disappearance and figures out what happened," Yosano said with a sigh. "But given he's disappeared from the office to go do whatever it is he does when he's not annoying us or trying to commit suicide in silly ways, it might take him a while."

"Dazai-san was meant to meet with me," Hirotsu interjected, drawing everyone's attention. "He'll notice sooner rather than later."

"In the meantime, we, what? Wait?" Tachihara asked with disdain at the very idea, but it was as though that was the key, because suddenly the void was filled with a whirlwind of colors that made everyone but Chuuya - who was used to flying and being flung through the air - dizzy, before it all settled down once again.

Only they were no longer in a void.

Rather, they were in what looked like a cramped room made of stone blocks, with no windows, little to no furniture and only one exit, a door that seemed to be leading out into a very long, narrow and dark hallway built in the same manner as the room. The room was lit up with a couple of candles and something glowing a bright, white light, illuminating a small bookshelf, an even smaller desk with a creaky old chair that looked second away from rotting out of existence, some sort of pedestal with a glass lid resting on it and a small cot pushed up against one of the dusty walls.

"What the hell?" Tachihara breathed, glancing around the room, looking for a threat with Gin against his back, a formation the two were very familiar and comfortable with, especially with Hirotsu near, too. Higuchi fell into a deferential but protective stance near Akutagawa, who was more focused on matching Atsushi, who was also on high alert and had Kyouka standing protectively in front of him. Kouyou took a stance between her former charge and her Boss, while said Boss automatically fell into formation with f*ckuzawa, both of them protecting each other's back on practically instinct while also looking out for their subordinates. Chuuya stood alone, still the biggest threat in the room even without weapons and Abilities, while the Armed Detective Agency did their best to guard each other's weak spots while also protecting Ranpo and Naomi, the two least likely to hold their own in a fight.

"Where are we?" Naomi asked, looking around the room, too, over her brother's shoulder, for once not taking the opportunity to grope him just because they were in close proximity to each other.

"Natsume-sensei?" f*ckuzawa exclaimed, startled, and everyone turned to look in his direction, which is where the intense, white glow was coming from.

The source of it seemed to be a blank book a man in his late thirties or early forties was writing in. He had a hat resting on the desk beside him, revealing his three-colored hair. He was fairly tall and dressed like a classic English gentleman, yet the shape of his features screamed Asian. A fancy walking stick rested against the desk.

What was most notable was that, for each word written into the book, seemingly, matching characters made of white light burst to life in strings around him.

One did not need to be a genius to realize it: this wastheBook. The one Fitzgerald was ready to burn Yokohama to the ground for. The Book capable of making anything written in it reality. They were finally seeing it!

"I should have guessed Natsume-sensei had it this whole time," Mori said derisively.

"But why is the Ability showing us this?" Kouyou asked, eyes narrowed on the man. "I doubt we've actually been teleported, otherwise he would have surely noticed us by now."

To test her theory, Higuchi bravely approached the writing man and tapped him on the shoulder. Or, well, sheattemptedto, only to have her hand go right through him. Her eyes widened and Higuchi stepped back.

"It's just as I thought," Ranpo said contemplatively. "We're stuck in an illusionary world similar to Tanizaki's Light Snow Ability. We can only watch, not interact."

"But what are we watching?" Yosano asks and f*ckuzawa was the one to answer, with an agreeing nod from Mori.

"This has to be the past. Natsume-sensei looks very young here, even younger than when he first reached out to Mori-sensei and me."

"So, more than eleven years, right?" The female doctor asked and f*ckuzawa nodded.

"If I had to take a guess," Hirotsu spoke up with a thoughtful hum. "I'd say this was ... at least twenty years ago, during the old Boss' reign, before he fell to his own madness."

"Twenty years ago?!" Half of those in attendance exclaimed and the oldest one there nodded.

"Yes, judging from the lack of facial hair and the hairstyle he currently has, all slicked back. It would seem that he'd just inherited guarding the Book from sensei, too."

"Hirotsu-san, you know Natsume-sensei?" Mori asked with narrowed eyes and Hirotsu nodded with a sigh.

"Yes. I believe this might show us more, so I don't need to explain? If it doesn't, I'll explain anyways, but know that Soseki-san and I have all but cut contact after I joined the Port Mafia, before your time, Boss. I haven't seen Soseki-san since the Mafia estate up in Aomori burned down under mysterious circ*mstances."

"I'll hold you to your word, Hirotsu-san. I guess that, for now, we can only sit back and watch."

"I still see no significance to this," admitted Higuchi as they watched Natsume write and write and write until he finally stopped. With a deep breath, he put down his fountain pen, let the words dry a bit and then closed the Book. With a sudden, bright flash and a boom not unlike thunder following lightning, something almost visiblyshifted. Not in the room, but seemingly in the world in general.

"What did he change in the fabric of reality of our world, I wonder," Akutagawa mused, narrow eyes watching as the man put the now gently glowing Book back under the glass lid on the pedestal, locking it and then turning to leave. Instead of getting an answer to his inquiry, the world shifted again and someone complained about possibly puking from the vertigo they got from all the colors. When the world settled again, it was to Natsume casually strolling down the halls of what looked like the headquarters of the Special Division for Unusual Abilities when his phone started ringing.

"Wha?" More than one person wondered as he paused, shuffling some papers into only one hand so he could easily answer the device.

"Hello, Gen'emon-bozo, to what do I owe the pleasure, my young friend?"

Half of the Port Mafia's eyes went as wide as dinner plates. f*ckuzawa and Ranpo also stiffened, recognizing the name. "Gen'emon? As in, Tsushima Gen'emon?" f*ckuzawa asked and Hirotsu nodded.

"The previously youngest Port Mafia Executive to be promoted, at only eighteen?" Kouyou asked to confirm it and Hitorsu nodded again.

"So that's the guy whose record sh*tty Dazai broke?" Chuuya asked and Hirotsu sighed with yet another nod.

"Yes, to answer all your questions before you may ask them. Yes, Soseki-san knew Gen'emon-sama. I never personally met the man, but Soseki-san was apparently very close to him. Yes, Gen'emon-sama was the previously youngest Executive. He was considered a born mafioso, despite coming from nothing. He was promoted for being the most efficient subordinate of his generation. He was often hailed as a ghost in black. He did not have a single failed mission on his resume when he retired early to start a family with another high ranking mafioso. Well, Tsushima Tane-dono was hardly a mafioso, other than through birthright. It was literally in her blood. She was, after all, the old Boss' favorite daughter. She wasn't much interested in the Port Mafia's business and instead pleaded with her father to let her live a normal life with her lover, or so the rumors say. I wasn't around for that; I never met her, either. She and Gen'emon-sama died fifteen years ago, I believe."

"I would have never thought Natsume-sensei knew such people," f*ckuzawa commented, not sure how to react. Hell, even Mori was stumped, if he was being honest. He had thought he was the first person of a questionable morality Natsume approached, but it seems that he was wrong.

"Natsume-senpai!" A male voice said through the speaker, drawing everyone's attention back to the scene playing out in front of them. "You wouldn't believe what I'm about to tell you!"

"Oh? Why don't you tell me anyway and I'll decide whether I believe it or not, hmm?" The three-color-haired man teased, fondness clear in his tone.

"Tane's pregnant! We're going to have a baby!" Gen'emon cheered and Natsume lit up before their eyes like a Christmas tree.

"Really? Are you certain? Do you need me to find you the best doctors in the country to monitor the pregnancy? I know and Ability user-"

"Yes, we're sure, Natsume-senpai," came the overjoyed but also amused reply. "Tane is two months along and the doctors say this one has a high rate of actually making it! I can't believe this miracle! Just when we were about to give up, too ... I don't know what either of us has done in this or any other past life for karma to bless us this much, but I will make certain that I repay whatever higher power gave us this."

"That's wonderful, Gen'emon-bozo. I'm really happy for you. Congratulations! May your child arrive healthy and energetic!" Natsume said sincerely, so sincerely that, with the little given context they received from this conversation alone, it moved the hearts of all watching. The conversation continued for a good twenty minutes, with Natsume offering all sorts of aid and help, asking questions about the mother and when the baby would be due before he had to end the call since he was, apparently, already ten minutes late for a meeting. Kunikida grumbled about the tardiness, but it was halfhearted, heart still moved by the exchange.

As his colleagues droned on and on about one thing or another during the meeting, Natsume was too busy looking up baby things he could buy for his young friend. He sighed happily and with heavy relief. "I'm just glad that it worked."

"What was that, Natsume-san?"

"Nothing, just thinking to myself. Carry on."

The scene ended there and the world was a whirl of colors one more, but the watching organizations had much more pressing matters to focus on than the vertigo.

Kyouka was the one who made the obvious conclusion that they've all come to. "He used the Book to enable his friend to have a child after several difficulties and possible miscarriages."

"Did you know anything about this?" Mori asked the Black Lizard commander, who could only shake his head. Mori hummed. "Natsume-sensei is a far too cautious and careful individual. To think he would resort to using an artifact we all know so little about ... It doesn't seem logical."

"Not everything is based on logic, Ougai-dono," the female Executive said with a sigh.

"I see no reason why we're watching all of this, though," Kenji commented.

"Maybe to learn more about the Book?"

"That's both the smartest and dumbest suggestion you've ever had, jinko."

"Oh, shut up!"

"It's starting again," Gin spoke, the sound of her voice startling everyone to full attention just as the colors settled into what looked like a private hospital room. Natsume was nowhere in sight this time, instead they were watching two people coo over a bundle of blankets hiding, no doubt, a baby.

The woman on the bed had curly chocolate brown hair to her shoulders, pale skin and a delicate face. They couldn't see much of her body, since she was under a blanket on the bed, but she looked soft and delicate all over. She was undoubtedly beautiful, with eyes the color of bright honey bathed in sunlight, looking more yellow than amber, framed by long, thick eyelashes, a straight, petite nose and full, pink lips. She was expertly holding a baby in her arms while the man who was with her hovered over the both of them, protective and possessive in his affection.

For the man, it was easy to see he was rather tall, probably around Kunikida's height, and he had short but lush hair as dark as a raven's wing. His skin was also pale, though perhaps half a shade darker than the woman's, he had broad shoulders that were well defined by the dark navy suit he wore, all long limbs and lean muscles. He was alsoincrediblyhandsome. He had high cheekbones, a sharp jaw, clear skin and rather striking eyes that looked almost red in certain lighting. More maroon, though, but it fit him perfectly. His smile was gentle and strangely nostalgic, like they've seen it somewhere before.

"He's beautiful. You didsogood, Tane."

"Oh," the resident gravity manipulator mused. "He's Gen'emon." Blue eyes couldn't seem to leave the Tsushima couple, something within him reacting to the two. They seemed ... oddly familiar. Now, Chuuya knew for a fact that he's never met either of these people - it sounds like they perished before he even left the lab - but there was justsomethingabout them that tickled his mind in the most annoying way.

"What do you want to name him?" Tane asked in a beautiful, soothing, silky voice, making everyone wonder if she'd ever considered becoming a singer.

"Didn't we already agree on Shuuji?"

Kouyou balked. "The missing heir?"

Hirotsu nodded.

"Well, yes, but do you still want that?" The mother asked and Gen'emon looked down at his son, apparently. He smiled and nodded his head.

"Tsushima Shuuji does have a very nice ring to it, does it not?"

Tane giggled, bringing her child closer and nuzzling him. "Ah, I really couldn't care less. I'm just glad he's here and healthy, in my arms." Her eyes started overflowing with tears but a beautiful smile remained on her lips. "Don't you worry, baby. Kaa-chan and Tou-chan will love you forever andneverlet anything happen to you." When she opened her eyes, there was a certain gleam in them that had the Agency flinching away in shock while some members of the Mafia had to do a double take, thinking that, for a moment, they were seeing something else entirely.

"There's Soseki-san," Hirotsu murmured, making everyone follow his line of sight where they saw a calico cat watching everything happen from outside the window, feline eyes glinting with an intelligence no normal animal could possibly possess.

"That all but confirms out theory," Ranpo grunted.

"Is it me or do the Tsushimas look familiar?" Atsushi mused and Chuuya gave an agreeing grunt, glad he wasn't the only one that felt that way.

"Now that you mention it," Gin started but trailed off as the world shifted again. Tachihara groaned, already sick of the shifting colors.

"Here we go again," Naomi chirped, actually enjoying things so far, even if she was confused.

This time, the world stopped in what appeared to be a rich, private library. Each long wall was lined with mahogany shelves full of books or other trinkets that gave the room some personality. The books varied in genres and even languages and there was even a small junior section that seemed fairly untouched compared to other sections, where you could see books missing from their places on the shelves. The room was clearly kept in great condition, not a speck of dust on any surface. The floor was covered in a beige, fluffy rug almost all around, except under the windows and the wall where a huge door led outside into a stylish hallway with a dark wood, polished floor. Throughout the room, there were comfy places to just settle down and read, including something of a work desk with a very comfortable looking office chair, a couch with matching armchairs and a low table and even a couple of beanbags in corners. There was even something of a pillow spread near the desk, which, combined with the carpet, looked like a rather cozy place to spread out and read. One wall of the library was covered with floor to ceiling windows with only one pillar seemingly separating the room in two, that little bit of wall covered in what looked like family photos arranged erratically, unlike the precision of the rest of the room.

None of them could really pay much attention to such a small detail when, in the two armchairs, facing each other, sat a slightly older Gen'emon and a child that couldn't possibly be older than five, a chess board in between them on the low table, hot cocoa in matching, silly mugs next to them, along with claimed chess pieces. They were clearly deep into the game, only a few chess pieces on either side remaining, and both wore matching thinking expressions, that is to say, surprisingly blank and focused, not giving anything away. Gen'emon was dressed much more causally now than the last time they saw him, in some slacks and a casual sweater that still looked a bit too elegant to be something anyone from the Agency could really afford, and he even had a pair of reading glasses over his nose.

Yosano gave a whistle. "Well, damn, if he didn't just turn me bi."

"Bestie, control yourself."

"You tell me that when you're not comparing him to Poe-kun, Ranpo."

"You're a lesbian?" Kouyou asked with far too much interest.

Chuuya couldn't even pay attention to his sister figure flirting with a prospective romantic interest, eyes glued to the boy sitting across from Gen'emon. He would recognize that curly brown hair anywhere, would know that empty look in those reddish brown eyes even if he didn't see them for a thousand years, would be unable to forget the confidence with which those fingers moved the Queen across the board.

"Checkmate," the little boy declared and Gen'emon laughed, delighted and too affectionate not to melt the audience as he stood up to scoop what must be his son into his arms.

"Look at you, my little genius! I just taught you how to play last month and this is already the third time in a row that you've beaten me!"

"Go, Shuuji-chan!" Cheered a female voice and they all turned to watch as Tane skipped into the room, joining in on cuddling the boy - Shuuji. Chuuya crumbled to the ground when he noticed the toddler flush a little in the cheeks at all that affection as his parents nuzzled their cheeks against his in between them, while the rest just cooed at the cute family scene.

Well, everyone besides Ranpo and Mori.

Ranpo, who just realized what Chuuya had, stood frozen and gaping at the child, not sure whether he was going crazy or not.

Mori, who had recognized the winning strategy as one a certain other person he was very familiar with tended to use against many chess opponents when he didn't feel like drawing out a game, turned to stare with disbelieving, doubtful eyes at the brunet child as well.

"Is it just me, or does Shuuji look familiar?" Kyouka mused, her own blue eyes narrowed in on Shuuji, taking in his features, trying to put the pieces together.

"Chuuya-san, are you okay?" Tachihara asked, having noticed his fellow redhead mafioso seemingly choking on all the cuteness overload.

"Mackerel," was all Chuuya managed to say, but only Tachihara heard him over all the girls - sans Kyouka, who was still busy with her new mystery, and Kouyou, who was doing it internally because she's too dignified to resort to something so silly - and Kenji cooing at the scene. Tachihara did not understand what a fish had to do with anything, but he had to turn his attention to an elderly gentleman entering the library as well not long after Tane and regretfully clearing his throat while the parents were praising their child for how smart he was.

"Tane-sama, your father has called. He is in the Aomori prefecture and will be coming to Kanagi after he finishes some business. He has stated a wish to dine with the family tonight."

Tane's and Gen'emon's faces immediately turned serious, Tane's eyes turning the slightest bit cold, something they were seeing from her for the first time. Actually, this was their first opportunity to really take her in. She was fairly tall for a woman, slim and pale, still as beautiful as the last time they saw her. However, there were dark circles under her eyes that didn't seem to be from a lack of sleep. In fact, she looked a bit sickly, if one were to know what to look for. She had a very thin waist and long legs, dressed in a winter dress, high leg warmers and wool booties to walk around the house in. Her hair was longer this time, visible even when it was tied in a braid, but some loose strands still framed her delicate face, covered with minimal make-up.

"Did he state his purpose for such a sudden visitation, Matsuki-san?" The lady of the house - probably a manor, considering they had their ownprivate library- asked tersely and the man - a servant, perhaps? - sighed, making a face to suggest he did not like it any more than the parents will.

"He supposedly wishes to officially meet Shuuji-kun."

Tane's face turned even more coldly suspicious while Gen'emon tried to reassure her that it was just a visit, though he didn't sound overly sure of it, either. Shuuji just watched them with a curious expression but said nothing Finally, Tane gave in with a sigh. "Very well. Then let us prepare for Otou-san's visit, shall we? Is he the only one who will be attending?"

"I think he mentioned your older brother being with him."

"Urh, I donothave the energy to deal with Onii-sama!"

The two organizations watched as the household prepared for visitors, stunned to see just how big it was and how many people worked there. At least thirty servants of all kinds worked at the manor and they rushed about exasperatedly at the unexpected visitors, as displeased by it as their employers. Tane continued complaining even as she fixed Gen'emon's tie or helped pick out what little Shuuji should wear. Said boy looked far too disinterested to be finally meeting some of his relatives. In fact, he once even voiced his desire to just go back to the library to read if his father was too busy for another game of chess.

Gen'emon sighed and tussled his son's hair. "Ah, Shuuji-chan, what I wouldn't do to just be able to relax with you all day so we can play as many games as you want. But your Ojii-san is a very important and busy person, yet he made the time to come visit us so he can finally properly meet you. We need to respect that, you know?"

Shuuji nodded, but he didn't seem convinced.

"Why does he look so cute in his little outfit but he acts so ... weird?" Higuchi commented, stuck between cooing at the adorable boy and feeling uneasy around him.

"Is it just me, or does Tane-sama act in a very peculiar manner?" Kouyou half asked to Hirotsu, who nodded with a contemplative look.

"What was the old Port Mafia Boss like?" Atsushi asked Kunikida instead of getting involved with the Mafia's discussion. Kunikida, however, had no answers to give.

Kouyou overheard and was more than glad to bash the old Boss. "He was a monster pretending at humanity," she said, not noticing how Chuuya winced at her wording, no matter how much he would agree. "Even before insanity took him, he was powerhungry and merciless, uncaring of what he had to do in order to get what he wants. He ruled with an iron fist and anyone who dared to stand against him would end up biting the curb before the sun set. He had several mistresses and plenty of children from them, though he was not above eliminating them if any of them so much as thought of dethroning him. Once madness took him, though, he truly became a nightmare that almost made Yokohama burn. He started useless conflicts and spent far too much resources on things that were pointless or impossible. Some even put the blame for the start of the Dragon Head conflict at his feet for the atmosphere he created, despite him being two years dead at that point. He was truly a vicious, heartless old man who only spread pain and misery."

"I'm afraid that's the most accurate description of the old Boss," Hirotsu said in agreement. "However, I must add that thereisa reason why he went mad."

"You mean Tsushima Tane's death? He mumbled about it a lot once he couldn't get out of bed anymore," Mori hummed. "Some other things are finally making sense, too. He did seem to have perked up in the last couple of weeks before he succumbed to his disease-"

"You do know we were there when Dazai said you slit his throat, right?" f*ckuzawa couldn't help but interject but Mori, for once, completely ignored him and continued talking as though he hadn't said anything.

"-and then he became more frantic to destroy any and all those who oppose the Port Mafia. I have a theory now as to why that was and I think that what we are seeing will finally explain it all."

The rest of the sped up time that the manor was preparing for the old Boss' arrival was spent in silent contemplation before time started moving normally again with the barking of a dog. Shuuji, who had been brought down to the foyer by his mother, made a face.

"Urgh, why is it soloudand annoying?"

Tane chuckled, squatting down in front of the littler brunet to adjust his collar and brush his bangs behind one ear,smiling at how handsome her little boy looked. "That's just how dogs are, Shuuji-chan~ Besides, you really should try being a bit more open to Chibi, you know? He really likes you."

"He's annoying and loud and barks at me whenever I go outside, not to mention he always tries to drag me everywhere by biting my clothes! He ruined my favorite shirt last month!"

"Wow, that's the most lively we've seen him so far," Naomi commented. "But why would he dislike dogs? Dogs are so cute!"

"I completely agree with him," Kyouka deadpanned, making almost everyone sweatdrop.

Akutagawa just nodded, making a face at the mere thought of a dog.

Chuuya, though, was glaring at the five year old like he had personally offended him. "Bastard."

"Now, now, Chuuya-san, we all know you like dogs, but don't hold it against a little kid," Tachihara teased, only to flinch back in surprise when Chuuya glared at him, too. "Geeze, okay, do whatever you want!"

"Like your Kaa-chan said, he's only trying to protect you," Gen'emon teased as he joined them. Then, all three Tsushimas became serious as a knock came to the door and Gen'emon walked over to let the guests in. "Welcome, Boss."

The head of the Tsushima family and the once Boss of the Port Mafia looked decidedly different now than when Chuuya had had the displeasure of seeing his reanimated corpse. He still had long, graying hair, but there was still some shades of amber mixed with gray, and he still had a beard, though it was much more precisely trimmed. He was still tall and skinny, but he didn't look frail and his yellowish eyes didn't seem crazed. Instead, there was an incredibly, surprisingly fond look on his face as he drew Gen'emon into a hug, berating him for being so formal with his father in law. When he was done with Gen'emon, he sauntered into the house with cheerily opened arms to draw Tane into a big hug, which she happily returned and even melted against, clearly happy to see her father despite her suspicions regarding his visit. Meanwhile, Gen'emon greeted the second guest, a man who much more resembled the old Boss than Tane, for all that they had the same eye color and curly hair, this man's almost black in shade.

He not so subtly sneered at Gen'emon. "How unbecoming of a Port Mafia Executive to dress so casually when meeting with the Boss."

Gen'emon did not raise to the bait. "Welcome, Onii-sama. We are glad to have you here."

Yosano and Ranpo cackled as Tane's older brother fumed and Gen'emon just smiled, not mentioning that he was a former Executive and that he had retired with the Boss' own blessing so he could make Tane happy living a normal, almost civilian life.

"Okay, I have to admit, I like his style," Tachihara said with a sharp grin.

Meanwhile, the old Boss had finally set his sights on little Shuuji and Tane moved to introduce them. "Shuuji-chan, this is my father, your grandfather. Why don't you say hello?"

"Hello," Shuuji did as instructed, giving a belayed bow, as though disinterested, and the old Boss' lips twitched up into a smile at how fearlessly the boy met his gaze. "And that over there is my stupid older brother, but you can ignore him." Shuuji did look over to said male, ran his gaze up and down, before nodding and doing as Tane said. Tane and the old Boss both burst out laughing as Tane's brother spluttered and Gen'emon just smiled.

"I'm not surprised he was a little sh*t even when he was a kid," Chuuya said with a snort, and this time people properly heard him, turning to look at him with arched eyebrows.

"You know this boy, Chuuya-san?" Akutagawa asked and Chuuya grinned, reaching up to roughly ruffle the man's hair, causing Akutagawa to glare.

"Oh, you're gonna freak out when you figure it out."

"So it's definitely-"

"Yup," Chuuya confirmed before Mori could finish his question. "I'd recognize him anywhere, anyhow, anywhen, Boss. It's definitely him."

"Well, that implies some veryinterestingthings," the former doctor said in a tone that put f*ckuzawa on edge, especially when Ranpo openly glared at him. Chuuya also eyed him warily but didn't say anything yet as the Tsushimas all migrated to the dinning room. Kenji, Atsushi, Kyouka, Higuchi and Tachihara all drolled as the food was laid out and even Ranpo had to take his focus away from glaring Mori to death in order to bemoan not getting to eat any of the sweets that came after a three courses to finish the meal.

"Is the kid not hungry?" Tanizaki asked, noticing how little the brunet had eaten. Shuuji was instead studying the way his uncle was glaring at his father and grandfather as the old Boss complained about Mafia business as of late. Tane, in turn, was alternatively glaring at her brother and her father or was cooingly trying to encourage Shuuji to eat more but didn't persist when it became clear he really couldn't.

"I think I'd eat until I burst, hungry or not," Atsushi said dreamily and Kyouka nodded, craving strawberry crepes.

"It's just not the same without you, Gen'emon," the old Boss was saying over heated sake and Gen'emon just hummed, not really replying but showing that he was listening. "I adore you for loving Tane and making her your first priority and little Shuuji-kun is no doubt adorable, but I still wish you had stayed. You were, without a doubt, my best Executive and the main driving force behind all of our success. Now I have four people trying to do what you used to do and still f*cking it up-"

"Boss, if you'd please? Tane doesn't want Shuuji-chan to learn crude language."

The Boss laughed at that, fond and amused. "Ah, Tane! She was always the black sheep in our family, you know? I guess that's why she was always my little girl! She brought so much light in my life and now she gave me the most adorable grandson ever! And with the son I never had!"

Gen'emon stared amusedly at his tipsy former employer. "Better not let your actual sons hear you say that. I think they'd be pretty mad, especially since you make them work for Executive positions like everyone else."

The old man waved him off. "Bah! Of course I'd make them work for it! I want competent people helping me run my organization, not some pansies who would kill a prospective business partner just because they expected the same decorum of respect to be returned to them! I don't need people like that! I need people like you!"

"For a man everyone described as insane and power-hungry, that is a rather rational decision," Yosano stated and Hirotsu shrugged his shoulders.

"He was still pretty sane at this point. He went mad when Tane-san died and got worse in the two years following. After that, it was all just going downhill from there. There was no turning back and no one knows what was the tipping point."

"I have a feeling we might find out," Kouyou said with narrow eyes.

"Otou-san, I'd appreciate it if you didn't bore my husband with such trivial matters," Tane chirps, basically materializing between the two men and steering the conversation away from crime related matters, instead asking about all the family in Yokohama or Tokyo. With Tane no longer there to monitor him and keep him from leaving, Shuuji casually left the dinning room, sneaking off to the library. He found the chess board hadn't been cleared from his game with his father earlier and, with a sigh, set to tidying it up when he heard footsteps approaching. He looked up and towards the door to see his uncle there, eyeing Shuuji with cold, calculating eyes.

Chuuya narrowed his eyes.

"I don't like him," Gin muttered and Akutagawa grunted in agreement.

"I'm guessing this guy isn't around anymore?" Tachihara hazard and Hitosu nodded.

"He died when this manor burned to the ground thirteen years ago."

"When Tane died, right?"

"No. Tane-sama died in Yokohama, two years before this place went up in flames."

"Well, that's confusing."

"Shh!" The Agency hissed and the ginger Black Lizard glared murder at them, silently promising they'll regret it when he gets his hands on his guns again. Still, they all quieted down and watched the two Tsushimas interact.

"So, you're Tane's little brat."

Shuuji gave him a blank look. "And you're Kaa-chan's brother."

"You shouldn't address your mother so informally. Treat her with respect!" Snapped the uncle but Shuuji just blinked.

"It's not my fault my mother loves me enough to wish a more intimate form of address from her son."

"Oh, snap!" Naomi giggled and the rest couldn't deny they didn't find the little boy's fiestiness hilarious. Their amusem*nt, however, vanished when they saw rage settle in the uncle's expression and he marched towards the boy, hand raised-

Only to startle when a dog started barking, making him whirl his head around to look at the floor to ceiling windows, where a huge German Shepard wasthisclose to breaking the glass as it almost ferally barked and growled at the man about to strike the boy. It didn't, not once, take its eyes off of the man, making its target clear, and the man sneered at it, but before anything else could happen, the old Boss himself walked into the library, taking the scene in.

"Is something the matter?" He asked, frowning at the barking dog, the seated child and his looming son.

"I just came the check out why the stupid dog started barking all of a sudden," the uncle smoothly lied, but the Boss wasn't convinced.

"Chibi does tend to do that," Shuuji said, surprising the uncle by speaking up seemingly in his defense. "Tou-chan says it's because he's protective of me. I guess he felt the need to protect me." At that moment, Gen'emon walked in behind the old Boss and heard hat his son had said. His eyes flashed dangerously as he marched over to the uncle and grabbed him by the elbow.

"Onii-sama, may we have a chat? It'ssuperimportant, ne?" And then he proceeded to drag the man out of the room with a strength that clearly surprised and overpowered his brother in law's. Both Port Mafia and Agency members cheered at the move and the dog, Chibi, also stopped barking, instead laying down by the window and keeping its sight on the boy inside. Shuuji ignored all of this, including his grandfather, as he put the chess board back into its proper, starting order, only looking up when the old Boss sat across from him.

"Oya oya, you know how to set it all up! You must be very smart, ne, Shuuji-kun?" Shuuji just shrugged. "Say, do you know how to play?"

The little brunet nodded. "Tou-chan taught me a few weeks ago."

The Boss smiled, weirding out everyone who knew him by the time he'd gone mad, senile and horrendous with such a fond, genuine expression. "Say, would you do your Ojii-san the honors of one game? I promise not to go too hard on you."

"Oh, you old fool," Mori sneered gleefully, eyes glued on the child as he frowned at the old man.

"I'll play, but if you hold back, don't cry and blame me for winning like Yamato from down the street did."

"Cross my heart and hope to die," the old man swore with amusem*nt and made the first move, since he was sitting on the white side. Shuuji responded almost immediately, to which the Boss sighed. "There is no need to haste. It's not a race, it's a marathon."

Shuuji looked him dead in the eye. "I'll win either way."

"Damn, where did that cutie who blushed at his parents calling him smart disappear off to?" Tachihara said with a grin, amused by the kid.

"Yes, that's what I'm wondering, too," Chuuya said, once again causing everyone to turn to him in confusion, but this time he did not elaborate at all, eyes focused on the boy as he easily dismantled any strategy the old man put forth. After some fifteen minutes of playing, the old Boss was sweating, staring perplexed at the board as more and more of his pieces were taken and any piece he took was a sacrifice piece that revealed a preset trap.

"A little clumsy, but considering he's five, he's doing marvelous, as expected," cooed Mori, making Yosano and f*ckuzawa glare at him. He raised his hands defensively at their accusing stares, because, for once, he really was just admiring the game.

"I'm not the best at chess, but I think two more moves is all he needs to beat him," Ranpo said, a grin on his face. And he did, indeed, turn out to be right. It was not quite the ultimate checkmate, but it was more than a stalemate, since if the old Boss moved his King, little Shuuji could just copy the movement with his Bishop, his other pieces or the old Boss' own blocking all other routes except the reoccurring ones. "I should have bet money on this!"

"No one would bet against you, Ranpo," Yosano reminded him. "Because we all knew the outcome before it happened since you called it-"

"-since it's Dazai-kun," Mori said at the same time, causing everyone but Chuuya to whirl around and stare at him with agape mouths.

"I'm sorry,what?" Atsushi choked out and Mori just shrugged, repeating his earlier sentence. "B-but how!?"

"There's no way," Kunikida whispered, turning to stare at the child very casually sitting under the old Boss' stunned scrutiny. "Right?"

"No, it's definitely that sh*tty Dazai," Chuuya declared, making everyone whirl around to focus on him. "I knew since we first saw this ... memory(?) play out. I'd recognize that fishy bastard anywhere, in any form, under any name. Though all ofthis," he waved his hand around to encompass the manor and the situation in general. "Is certainly a surprise."

"So that's really Dazai-san?" Akutagawa asked with a faint voice, Gin beside him too stunned to speak.

"Yup."

"But why are we being shown all of this, then?" Tanizaki wondered, uncertain and confused.

"It could have something to do with the Book," pointed out Ranpo. "Since,apparently, it had a hand, so to speak, in his birth."

"And here I thoughtIhad the strangest origin story." And while the Agency wondered what Chuuya meant by that, the old Boss finally snapped out of his stupor and roared with laughter, to which Shuuji just tipped his head to the side, confused by the reaction. That was how Tane found them and she glared at her father as she hurried to her son's side, taking note of Chibi's protective presence on the other side of the window.

"Otou-san-"

"Tane, your son is absolutelybrilliant!" The old man crowed, grinning at her even as she herded Shuuji out of the room, instructing him to find Matsuki and head to his room, since it was apparently his bedtime. Shuuji did as instructed, but not before frowning one last time at the Boss as he went around the corner. The old man smiled and waved at him, but Shuuji did not wave back, instead taking the elderly servant's hand when Matsuki offered it, guiding the boy away. "He's certainly Gen'emon's son, yes? And that look in his eyes! Ah, Tane, you have made me most proud-"

"Shuuji-chan willneverjoin your business, Otou-san," snapped Tane before he could get any further. "That is my baby, the one I risked my life to deliver to full term, and Irefuseto let you ruin his life. The Tsushima legacy won't reach him further than my and my husband's company and legally earned money, do you understand, Otou-san?"

The old Boss had stopped laughing now. "Tane, that boy isyourson, withGen'emon. You can run from your heritage all you want, but blood is thicker than water; you wereborninto the Mafia and you were known, foryears, as the demon princess and Gen'emon was born to be one of us, too. You were both sobrilliant! There is no way that child is not meant to roam in the darkness. His birthright ismafia black. More than even his parents, he's born to be a mafioso."

"Not if I can help it!" Snapped the woman, pulling a gun on her own father, eyes icy yet rage burning hot. "Tsushima Shuuji willneverserve you or the Port Mafia. Am I clear? Or do I need to fore it inside your thick skull with a few bullets?"

The old Boss conceded and Tane ordered him to leave her home. He did, but not before throwing over his shoulder at her. "The boy won't remain a child forever. When he gets old enough to make his own decisions, should he choose to come to me, I won't turn him away."

"I'll make sure your throat is slit before that can ever happen." The old Boss just sighed and opened the door to the manor to leave. "Oh, and do be a dear not to forget to take your sh*t with you. Gen'emon left it outside near the garbage bins."

"That is no way to speak of your older brother, Tane."

"I never said it was Onii-san."

"Well, we know where he got the savage little sh*t attitude from," Kouyou hummed and both organizations had to roar with laughter at that, especially when an exasperated old man found his son, indeed, out by the garbage, bloody and bruised It even looked like Chibi had paid him a visit and left a foul smelling 'gift'.

They had to admit, if this was really Dazai's birth family, they werehilarious.

Chapter 2

Chapter Text

7-8yo

As they were struggling to calm down from the hilarious way Tane and Gen'emon had 'escorted' their guests out, the world around them started shifting again, the by now familiar whirl of colors no longer causing anyone nausea, though somewerestill a bit disorientated by the time it stopped. This time, they recognized the scenery almost immediately, as they were watching a car drive across the iconic bridge in Yokohama, driving away from the residential and business areas and towards the industrial zone instead. Tane was driving while Gen'emon was trying to engage young Shuuji in a game of I Spy, though the now seven year old boy could not be bothered to look up from a book he was reading. Tane laughed whenever Gen'emon fake cried because he'd thought up a good one, only for their son to ignore his efforts because he was reading, apparently, some philosophy book.

"Is that really a child friendly book?" Atsushi asked and Kyouka just shrugged.

"So, another time skip?" Naomi commented and they all just watched as Tane finally parked the car, in front of amilitary base. Chuuya immediately flinched while Mori and Hirotsu frowned. The rest were not sure why there was so many negative reactions other than it being strange that a child was being taken to, apparently, tour what his father's company had been invited to invest in. Gen'emon was apparently rather reluctant to get involved with the military, what with the war going on, but he had been personally invited, and by an old friend, no less.

"But Tsushima Corp makes bulletproof glass," Shuuji replied when Gen'emon explained himself, to which his father just sighed.

"Yes, well, this is a research facility or something. I think they want something that will help secure doing experiments or something, as well as funding."

"But that's still so suspicious."

"We know, deary," Tane reassured, smiling sharply. And despite what one may think such an expression would do to a child, Shuuji did not flinch away from it, seemingly understanding it was not directed at him. "That's why we need to check it out. Even Otou-san has been growing suspicious of the activities happening here and since we got an invitation, it doesn't hurt to check it out. If it seems like it's something fishy, we can just leave. I'm sure no one will mind~"

The boy looked suspicious of that last bit but said nothing, just as a man in a lab coat over an incomplete, casual military uniform came out to greet them, immediately shaking hands with Gen'emon and even drawing him into a one-sided hug. "Gen'emon, how long has it been, huh!? You bastard! You didn't even invite me to the wedding!"

"Kansuke-kun, if you'd bother remembering, we didn't hold a real wedding," Tane said with amusem*nt as she and Shuuji approached the men. "We just went to the courthouse on a Tuesday and signed the papers."

"Yeah,and poor little Gen'emon got sentenced to life with no parole," the man, Kansuke, teased, reachingupto ruffle Gen'emon's short hair. Kashimura Kansuke, as his pass stated, was a man of an average height, shorter by a couple of inches than Gen'emon, around Tane's height. He had broad shoulders and wide hips, strong arms and legs from an active life in a military base. This lifestyle also had him keeping his hair rather short, but even in the approaching evening darkness, it was clear he had bright, red hair. The most interesting feature about him were his eyes, one caramel brown, the other sky blue. He had a faint dusting of freckles over his nose and a strong, square jaw. He stood with confidence of a man well assured of his own strength and in possession of firearms but he did not appear overall co*cky, despite the looks of his smiles. He appeared to be around Gen'emon's age.

"You say that as though you weren't the first one who wanted to marry her."

"I mean, I don't blame them," Yosano casually commented, to which Kouyou offered her a fist bump.

"This new guy's not bad looking, either," Naomi said slyly. "His eyes are especially interesting~!"

"He looks like Chuuya-san," Kyouka surprised them all by commenting. Quite a few jaws dropped as they realized that she was, indeed right. Kansuke did, indeed, look like an older, taller, broader, short haired Chuuya with heterochromia. Chuuya especially froze as he stared at the man and was able to list all the similarities between them.

"No ... That can't be, right?" He turned to his Boss, the person who's had the access to his old files the longest, but even Mori looked confused and surprised. Nothing likethiswas ever mentioned, especially not a Kashimura Kansuke. Not even in any of the paperwork regarding the project itself as a worker or assistant researcher.

"And who's this little fella?" Kansuke asked as he finally noticed Shuuji, who was looking up at him with a blank face. He seemed to do that often, especially around strangers. Or at least around strangers he didn't like? "You got yourself a crotch goblin without telling me? Gen! We used to be best buddies! Partners in crime! We robbed six banks together, but you can't pick up the phone to tell me you recuperated?"

"We tried, Kan," reminded Gen'emon. "But you changed your number when you joined the army and never told me your new one."

"Ah, right. Sorry about that. Confidentiality and all," he said sheepishly before approaching Shuuji and bending at the waist so they were more or less eye level. Shuuji did not seem impressed by him at all. "Hello there, brat! The name's Kansuke, your old man's best bud! What's your name?"

"Tsushima Shuuji."

Kansuke grimaced at the bland answer. "You sure this kid ins't some kind of robot? I've never heard a drier answer lacking so much personality. Are you sure you're feeding the kid right?"

"If I'm a robot, you just confirmed I'm smarter than you, so why should I bother with someone of a lesser level of intelligence than myself?"

Kansuke gaped at the boy while Gen'emon tried to repress his amusem*nt. Tane didn't bother, charmed by her child's sassiness and fully encouraging it to develop further!

"Okay, so he wasdefinitelya little sh*t since he was born," Yosano remarked dryly while a few people were trying not to roll on the floor laughing.

"So mean, too," Mor lamented, recalling the way his heart broke - or froze in fear, ya know, whichever - when Dazai told him he'd burned the coat Mori had gifted him.

"So if that little boy is Dazai-san and he says he's a robot, that means Dazai-san is also a robot?" Kenji asked, confused, and Gin took him to the side to patiently and gently explain what actually happened. Kenji beamed gratefully at her once he understood but that was enough to really send everyone into hysterics over the whole exchange.

"I swear this kid speaks in savage one-liners only," Tachihara managed to gasp out, still snickering.

"Yeah, laugh it up," Chuuya grumbled. "It won't be so funny when you meet him and need something from him but he tells you he's too busy breathing." That startled everyone into a new wave of laughter and even Chuuya had to snicker as he recalled that particular exchange. He wondered if they'll actually see his and Dazai's first encounter, or if these illusions/visions will even keep focusing on his former partner. Dazai was, after all, created by Natsume for the sake of Gen'emon and the man has been in each vision so far.

"Well, that's definitely Tane-san's child," Kansuke remarked when he recovered, sending the two older Tsushima's a dry look. "Still, nice to meet you, or whatever," he said to Shuuji before straightening up. "Now, why don't we go in? The rest of the investors are already inside and the tour's just about to start! I promise it'll be worth your time!"

"Let's just get this over with," Tane whispered to her husband and the Tsushima trio followed Kashimura into the base. The tour started shortly afterwards, consisting of roughly a dozen people, mostly associates of the project going on, or independent investors. They all tried to chat up Gen'emon or Tane, as the two were not only life partners but also business partners for their company, but the attention was mostly focused on the facility and the research it does.

"I have a bad feeling about this place," Tane eventually whispered to Gen'emon as they were halfway through the tour and the projects started sounding less and less ethical, this coming from a pair of former mafioso who used to be neck deep in blood for their roles in the organization. "Everything seems too ...perfect. They must really need some funding separate from the government if they're trying to sell all of this so hard. And that's not even mentioning the projects. I mean, Ability research? There's no way that's ethical, humane or legal."

"I agree," Gen'emon said solemnly. "We should leave." Immediately, he crouched down besides Shuuji and whispered something in his ear. Shuuji nodded and started complaining about his feet hurting him, how tired he was, that he was bored and just wanted to go home. Gen'emon gave a convincing exasperated sigh while Tane smiled apologetically to the rest of the tour participants.

"I apologize, everyone, but I'm afraid we must take our leave. Should we decide to participate in investing, you'll be hearing from our CFO. Goodnight and thank you for the wonderful tour." Both she and Gen'emon bowed before briskly walking away, Shuuji still whining.

"He always was a convincing actor," Kouyou murmured fondly. Chuuya, on the other hand, snorted as he recalled Dazai's 'acting' when Shirase had him at knife point in the arcade.

"That was a smart plan," Kunikida mused. "I wonder, did they take Dazai with them just so they can make a clean escape with the perfect excuse?"

"I wouldn't be surprised," Hirotsu hummed. "I may have never met either of them personally, but both Gen'emon-sama and Tane-dono were quite infamous for their wit. Knowing they were Dazai-san's parents more or less confirms their reputation."

The Tsushimas were almost in the clear when Kansuke caught up to them, insulted they would leave before the tour was done. "The good part was just to start!" He complained to Gen'emon, who handed Shuuji to Tane so he could talk with his friend freely. "Gen'emon, mate, we didthe impossible! We figured out how singularities come to be! Listen, there's this old legend of a godly beast-"

"Let me just stop you right there, Kansuke," Gen'emon interrupted.

Chuuya felt his heart thundering in his chest. Kouyou moved to hold his hand as she realized just where they were in these visions right now.

"I hope you haven't forgotten that I am not stupid. I don't care what you've found, I don't really care if you continue your research, but I've left my darkness in the past, where it belongs. I am a family man now, I am doing my best to live a honest, safe life with Tane and Shuuji-chan. I refuse to be dragged into illegal bullsh*t when I got clemencyfrom the Port Mafiaas one of theirExecutives. I got ablessingtoleave. I will not waste that and risk my family,especiallynot forhuman experimentation. I am afathernow; what would Shuuji-chan think of me if he knew I was involved in something like that?"

"I'm a father, too, Gen'emon," retorted coldly Kansuke. "That didn't stop me. The war is still ongoing. All sides are now using Abilities on the frontlines. Being able to control a singularity would change human history!"

"That's not necessarily a good thing!" Hissed the black haired man. "Kansuke, if you do this, there's no going back from it. This is far worse than robbing banks, or being a Mafia Executive. This would be a crime against humanity. I will not participate in it. I wouldn't, even if I didn't have Tane and Shuuji-kun to worry about. I'm sorry, but this isnotsomething I can condone. I can assure you that you will not be hearing from Tsushima Corp's CFO about any funding. I wish I could say sorry for that, too, but I am only sorry that I have to refuse a friend, not over what I'm refusing."

Kansuke chuckled darkly at the response. "You know, out of the two of us, I choose the more moral path all those years ago. You were busted out of jail by that weird cat man, but he left me in there. You know what he told me? That I was a 'bad influence' on precious Gen'emon, orphan with no name, no identity, my brother from the slums, but with such a bright future ahead of him. Yet, I served my time for that failed bank robbery, and then I joined the military and I served my country. I'm still serving, in fact. Yet you were the Port Mafia Executive, you married the girl webothfell in love with, you're the one whodaresstand here and take the higher ground. You're nothing but a hypocrite and I hate myself for still loving you like a brother."

"Don't do this, Kansuke. Quit the project. Come work with me and Tane! I'll even match your current pay!"

But that just pissed Kansuke off and he reached for his gun, only to freeze as Tane seemed to practically materialize behind him, a blade to his throat. Chuckling bitterly, he conceded and Tane pushed him away from her and Gen'emon, glaring at him for the man he had become. Shuuji was hidden somewhere so he wouldn't become a visible, easy target and as a united front, Kansuke stood no chance against the Tsushima couple.

Instead, he turned his back on them and walked back towards his workplace. He paused and looked over his shoulder. "Let's have our boys meet one day, hmm, Tsushima? Maybe they'll get along better than we did." There was a bitter but also slightly sinister tone to the unsaid farewell as he left.

"I'd love that, Kashimura," Gen'emon said sadly as he watched his friend disappear, knowing it will never happen. Their friendship ended right then and there. There was no turning back.

"Why does he seem so sad? Shouldn't that be a good thing?" Kenji asked, frowning.

"It was an empty promise," Akutagawa answered. "They knew they would never meet on friendly terms again, but preferred not to say it, for the sake of not ruining the memories of their friendship."

"I want to say it's a stupid way to end their friendship, but I understand where Gen'emon is coming from," Higuchi said sadly. "Even the Port Mafia never condoned either human trafficking or human experimentation."

"But they never confirmed it was human experimentation, right?" Naomi asked, to which Chuuya shook his head.

"It definitely was," he said darkly.

Ranpo nodded. "It was all over the place. Besides, you can't research or experiment on Abilities without involving people. That is the only clue you need in order to figure out the facility was experimenting on humans."

"I applaud Gen'emon," f*ckuzawa said honestly. "He seems to have truly turned a new leaf."

"It's inspiring," Kyouka agreed, wishing she'd known his story when she had been doubting whether a murderer of 35 people deserved to be given a second chance or was capable of change. She wondered why Dazai hadn't given her his father's example during that conversation that had given her hope to try.

"I can't believe he tried to pull a gun on you," Tane grumbled as they walked towards their car, having picked up Shuuji from where the woman had hidden him,

"I can't believe you were so quick to pull a knife on him," Gen'emon said, voice sounding a bit smitten and Tane winked at him.

"Just because I'm sickly does not mean I can't still kick ass and take names~"

Shuuji just looked up at his parents in confusion.'Is this flirting?'

"HOLY sh*t!" Screamed Tachihara as that sentence floated around in little Shuuji's voice, startling everyone. "What thehell!?"

"It seems like we'll be hearing Dazai-kun's thoughts from now on," Mori mused, an interested undertone to his voice.

"Isn't that a little ... invasive?" Atsushi asked, nervous about his mentor's privacy.

"I agree with the jinko, for once, but it's not like we can stop it, either," Akutagawa grunted, not sure how he felt about this whole situation. While he had always wanted to know what Dazai was thinking, he wasn't sure he actually wanted to find out. Not like this, at the very least.

"If this is where that bandage wasting machine learned how to flirt, no wonder he's so weird about it," grumbled Kunikida, rubbing at his forehead as though the stave off a headache induced by recollections of Dazai's weird flirting routines.

"I think it's cute," Gin contradicted him. "Well, not Dazai-san's asking women to commit double suicide with him, but the Tsushima's flirting. And Dazai-san can be quite smooth if he actually puts effort in."

"Don't remind me," Kouyou grumbled, remembering that one time when Dazai had made half of her new girls fall in love with him in under an hour, only to leave them heartbroken when he never fulfilled any of the promises he made, starting with visiting them at their respective public houses under the Mafia's control and Kouyou's preview since he actually rarely went down to the red district unless he had something to investigate there.

'Adults are so weird.'

"That's gonna take some getting used to, though," Ranpo complained, still flinching in surprise along with everyone else, as they had the first time.

Still, Shuuji left his parents to their flirting and instead just casually observed his surroundings as they finally made it to their car. Just as Gen'emon was about to unlock them, alarms started blaring from the base behind them, making them whirl around in surprise to watch as explosions erupted from somewhere in the middle area. Gen'emon grabbed Tane and Shuuji by the hand and dragged them towards the car, running, when they felt the shift in the atmosphere. Knowing somethingbigwas coming, Gen'emon tried to activate his Ability. It was a rather strong one, all things considered, allowing him to create an invisible dome in a five meter diameter of the things or people he was touching. He's survived many explosions that way when he and Kansuke would go all out on a bank safe with explosives strong enough to make entire buildings quake.

However, as he tried to activate his Ability, he found that he was, for the first time in his life, unable to. It felt like he was reaching into a void for the power he had always relied on. Tane turned wide, panicked eyes as an immense heatwave already started reaching them and tears sprung to both their eyes as they realized they had no way to protect themselves,orShuuji, the child they had sworn to love and protect. Without Gen'emon's Ability, they were doomed.

So, just as the facility behind themdecimated, they dropped to their knees and wrapped themselves around Shuuji, trying to cover as much of his little body with their own in a futile attempt to save his life.

"Kaa-chan? Tou-chan?"

"We love you, Shuuji-chan. Kaa-chan and Tou-chan love you, no matter what, more thananything, okay? Just remember that," Tane said, trying not to sob. Gen'emon just held them both tighter.

"I'm so sorry. I love you, Tane, Shuuji-chan."

"NO!" Practically everyone except Mori screamed as the explosion blasted all three away, Chuuya's most guttural of them all, hand futilely reaching towards the younger version of his partner. Atsushi, Kyouka, Kenji and Higuchi openly sobbed as the immense heat almost immediately incinerated the Tsushima couple, just as it did the base and all of its surroundings, creating a huge crater which would later become home to Suribachi City, leaving nothing in its wake.

Nothing except two points of light that had somehow withstood the destructive storm.

And, of course, the source of the storm itself.

A quadrupedalbeingthat did not look one bit human, covered in darkness and blazing heat, raged over the destruction it had wrought, attacking one point of light, glowing a bright yellow in the shape of cube. Within it stood a man Hirotsu, Kouyou, Chuuya and Mori recognized, as the traitor Randou slash spy Arthur Rimbaud fought for his life against the onslaught of Arahabaki's power unleashed on the world. He was faltering with each hit, direct or via graviton spheres, exhausting him and testing his concentration and resilience as the world around him burned and crumbled. Eventually, even he succumbed to the crushing weight of vicious gravity, losing consciousness and falling to the ground, thus loosing thebeast'sattention, too.

Instead, it focused on theothersource of light.

A bright, consistent, steady glacial blue that everyone recognized.

Atsushi and Akutagawabothactuallysobbedin relief when they saw a bloodied and bruised younger, disoriented version of their mentor manage to get up, struggling to stay on his feet but managing. No Longer Human was defying the conditions of their surroundings, protecting him from both the increased gravitational force and the heat Arahabaki's entrance had created as it, too, had been caused by the Ability.

"What thef*ck," Kunikida and Tachihara moth whispered as the thing turned towards Shuuji and launched probably thebiggestcondensed black hole they've seen so far. More panicked yells followed as they all realized there was no way for an injured Shuuji to dodge, even if he wasn't suffering from what seemed to be a concussion. Instead, the little brunet just raised his arms in front of him as though to protect his head, only for a new burst of bluish white light to nullify the attack, canceling out any damage it would have dealt to Shuuji or the things behind him.

"Oh my gosh," a horrified Higuchi gasped as the beast seemed tocacklein delight at having an opponent that could withstand its attack.

"Why isn't he getting out of there!?" A crying Naomi desperately shouted. Kenji even tried to run over to the child and bodily remove it from the situation, but his arms only went through the boy since it was no more than a vision of events that have already past.

"How did Dazai-san even survive this?" A horrified Tanizaki wondered just as the thing of darkness and fire reached Shuuji. Its hand reached out, to claw or punch or justhurtanddestroy, but just like with the graviton bombs, the second it made contact with Shuuji's body, No Longer Human lit up the night once again, nullifying the Ability. Suddenly, gravity went back to normal and the air slowly started cooling down, the consistent heat faltering. The beast stood frozen, still touching Shuuji, before whatever it was that was covering its body started receding, receding, receding until it all faded away into pale skin of a small, skinny ginger boy with wide blue eyes, unseeing for all they were as open as they can be, trembling in the aftermath of the released power with blood running out of open wounds, his nose, mouth and even ears. He collapsed almost immediately, his weight and momentum as he slammed into an unsteady Shuuji taking them both down.

On the ground, laying side by side, limbs interlocked, bloody and exhausted in the wake of the greatest catastrophe Yokohama has ever faced, were two now very recognizable and jaw-dropping boys.

Dazai Osamu, the freshly orphaned Tsushima Shuuji, and Nakahara Chuuya, the freshly escaped lab experiment, in the first moment their lives have intertwined, their destinies and fates inseparable forevermore under the deceptively beautiful full moon hovering over Yokohama.

"Oh my god," a despondent, panicking Chuuya breathed with immeasurable dread rising. "I killed Dazai's family ... I killed them. I ruined his childhood! I f*cking murdered them-!"

"Chuuya, calm yourself," Kouyou said, trying to calm him down before he went into a full blown panic attack. Only she had never seen one happen to him before, so she wasn't sure how to help him. "It wasn't your fault! It was Rimbaud's and Verlaine's! It was N's and the scientists! You were not the one who unleashed Arahabaki-"

"You don't understand!" He wailed. "He's mypartnerand I nearlykilledhim! Ikilled his family! I-" Chuuya was rudely interrupted by Atsushi, of all people, slapping him across the face, even as he himself was still sniffling at his mentor's fate and the fate of the wonderful people that had been his parents.

"D-Dazai-san w-wouldn't blame you for i-it," he managed to hiccup out. "S-So you need to c-calm down, Chuuya-san."

Surprisingly, the slap worked. Atsushi himself had only dared try it because he remembered how effective the shock of pain had been when he had been having his own panic attack and existential crises after Q's Ability made him attack Naomi and Haruno during the Guild incident. It seems that was all Chuuya needed to gather himself enough to at least not panic. Instead, they all watched as both young Chuuya and Shuuji lost consciousness and slept the night away side by side until the looming moon was replaced by the rising sun.

Chuuya woke up.

Shuuji, however, did not.

There were sounds of disaster relief teams finally daring to enter the scene in the distance and that, for some reason, activated something primal in Chuuya, a fight or flight response. Since he was too exhausted and still rather injured - thoughnothinglike the night before, the god he was a vessel to healing his body so he was at leastmobile- to fight, he detangled himself from the brunet, hesitated for one moment, before reaching down to take him with him, instinctively using his Ability to help him carry the load. Only to find that gravity would not obey as bright light burst from the mysterious boy he'd woken up with. With no other choice, Chuuya left Shuuji where he was and, with Upon The Tainted Sorrow, shot off from the scene, to later be found by the Sheep and become their 'King', the infamous gravity manipulator.

Shuuji, though, was found by disaster relief and was carted off to a hospital for his wounds to be treated. He was identified and the hospital tried calling his parents, but their cellphones were unreachable. Instead, they called the manor and nearly gave poor Matsuki a heart-attack. It was left to the old servant to tell the old Boss the news, but he had already heard the preliminary reports from the scene and, knowing he had sent his beloved daughter and the son in law he'd loved as one of his own flesh and blood or even more to their demise, something within the old man's heartcrackedand he was never the same.

The funeral for Tane and Gen'emon was held off for three weeks, hoping Shuuji would wake up from his coma in that time so he would be given the opportunity to grieve and get closure, but as there was no signs of him getting better any time soon, the old Boss ordered it. It was tear-jerking affair. Their pasts had not defined them and they were well loved. People from all over Aomori had come to Yokohama and everyone was more gutted than the person before them upon finding out the caskets were empty as there was nothing to salvage of the Tsushima couple. Many asked after Shuuji, but even Matsuki, the boy's current caretaker, didn't know his exact condition.

Tsushima Shuuji woke up on his eight birthday, 52 days after the explosion in Suribachi, alone in his hospital room, wrapped up in bandages almost from head to toe.

"Oh, thef*ckingirony," chuckled Chuuya bitterly.

Chapter 3

Chapter Text

8yo

"Do you feel comfortable telling us what the hell all of that was?" Yosano more or less gently asked, referring to the night that had taken the Tsushima couple, a military base and half the industrial complex with them. "And why you said this is ironic?"

"It's ironic because my birthday is supposedly April 29th, the day I apparently killed Dazai's parents-"

"Chuuya-"

"It happened, it was my power that did it, let it go, Ane-san."

Kouyou glared at him. "I'm going to be talking with Dazai about this, so he'll annoy you into accepting that it wasnot your fault."

Chuuya returned the glare tenfold. "Yeah? And what if he just ends up hating me if he realizes what happened?"

"Chuuya-kun, Dazai-kun is already aware of the fact that Rimbaud and Verlaine technically caused the explosion in Suribachi. He was there when you found out, remember?" Mori pointed out logically. "If he was going to hate you, he'd hate you already."

"But don't they, like, already hate each other?" Tachihara asked, only to have Gin slap him over the head. "Hey!"

Hirotsu sighed, exasperated. "No, Dazai-san very much does not hate Chuuya-san, nor vice versa. The matters of Soukoku are not comprehensible to us ordinary mortals."

"So, you were the one that caused that explosion, that much is obvious," Kunikida cut in before they could get too far off topic. They all idly watched as nurses and doctors fussed over Shuuji, who just stared at them dispassionately, even when he overheard a couple of not-so-subtle nurses discussing whether they should inform him of his parents' death, unaware that he already knew, that he had pretty much witnessed it. "But whatwasthat? No Ability I know acts like that. So much power ... How was that even possible?"

"sh*tty Dazai really never told you?" Chuuya asked the Agency in general but they all just shook their heads. That left a warm feeling in Chuuya's chest that he would rather not think about right now. "What you saw was Corruption, the true form of my Ability. Depending on whether or not this thing shows us more of Dazai's life, like after we met, I guess you'll find out more about that who sh*tshow, but for now, let's just say that I am technically a vessel to a god of calamity."

"Shut the f*ck up," Yosano instinctively said, eyes wide and mouth agape. The rest of her coworkers, Higuchi and Tachihara were no better, the agency never having ever known scientists were sticking supernatural beings into humans in the first place and the latter two having joined the Port Mafia after Soukoku's reign of terror that ended with Dazai leaving. "You're serious?"

Chuuya shrugged. "How do you think Dazai and I destroyed an entire Gifted organization in one night, thus ending the Dragon Head conflict? Or how we defeated Lovecraft, who was some monster from the deep? How do you think I beat up that stupid ass dragon when Shibusawa decided to dabble in self-necromancy and tried to make Yokohama ground zero for collecting all Abilities?"

"That wasyou!?" A stunned Atsushi asked and Chuuya just shrugged.

"Eh, the dragon was easy peasy. Now, the Guivre,thatwas a f*cking challenge. f*ck Verlaine, f*ck N, f*ck Pan, f*ck the government."

"Guivre?" Ranpo asked.

"Yeah, that huge Godzilla-wannabe from six years ago, before the Dragon Head conflict? Yeah, that was it, my stupid 'older brother'," the ginger haired Executive said with air quotes and rolled eyes.

f*ckuzawa's, Kunikida's, Ranpo's and Yosano's jaws all dropped to the floor. "That wasyou!?"

"Yup," Chuuya replied, popping the P. "Half the reason Soukoku was so lethal was because we could just, you know,decimateour enemies. The other half is that, usually, Dazai was able to reduce an organization to shambles from the inside and then he just needed me to pick him up from the dumpster-fire he created."

"But if you're so powerful, Chuuya, san, why would you even need a partner?" A perplexed Higuchi asked and Chuuya looked in the blonde's direction.

"I'm completely incoherent and out of control when I use Corruption. I can't tell enemy from ally apart, I just destroy everything and then some. Corruption is also tough on my body, as the full force of a singularity was not meant to be shoved into a human, let alone a god that just wants to destroy until nothing's left. Without control and with such an effect on my body, I could die in minutes."

"And Dazai's No Longer Human prevents that," Ranpo finished for him, having come to this conclusion as soon as Chuuya admitted to having no control. "He's your off switch."

"Yep, pretty much. He's also the one who decides when we would usually use Corruption," the fedora wearing man said. "Apparently, he doesn't trust me not to overuse it if I don't think I can save my subordinates otherwise."

"I wasn't aware Dazai was forbidding you to use Corruption," Kouyou interjected, a pleased smile on her lips. She'll have to get something real nice for Dazai just for this. Chuuya did not reply to that, nor did he look at anyone, instead pointedly watching as the doctors and nurses finally filed out of his partner's hospital room to contact Matsuki that Shuuji was awake. Getting the hint, the others watched, too, as Dazai stopped a nurse before she could leave. She smiled sweetly at him and asked him if he needed anything.

Shuuji's answer stunned not just the nurse, but the watching audience, too. "When you found me ... Did you find another boy? I think he was around my age, orange hair and I think blue eyes? He was pretty hurt, too."

The nurse's face had a troubled look. "I ... No, sweaty. You were the only survivor brought in."

Shuuji's face, if possible, turned blanker. "So he's dead?"

The poor nurse flinched. "No, Shuuji-kun. You misunderstand. You were theonlyone brought in. There ... There were no human remains found in the wake of the explosion."

"Oh." Shuuji turned his head away, looking out the window.'So he left, then. Good. That way, the government won't be able to find him, though I would have preferred to offer him shelter instead of him being out there alone. Tou-chan always was uncomfortable with me being out with him or Kaa-chan, let alone by myself.'

Needless to say, these thoughts more than stunned Chuuya, while Kouyou, Hirotsu and Mori looked smug for having told him so and having been proven correct.

The thought of his parents left a dead look in Shuuji's eyes.'What will happen to me now? None of Kaa-chan's siblings like me, but they liked our home. Will they keep me just to take our things? I doubt Kaa-chan would leave me in Ojii-san's care, either; she never liked him spending time with me, despite loving him. Tou-chan had no family. If Kashimura survived, which is doubtful but not impossible, would i go to him? I don't think I want to; I didn't like the way he looked at Kaa-chan and Tou-chan. And what would happen to the staff? Matsuki-san especially; he'd always showed disdain towards Kaa-chan's family. Even Chibi, what will happen to him? He was Tou-chan's dog and disliked everyone outside our family.'He was, however, brought out of his thoughts by footsteps coming closer to his door, soon followed by two voices discussing something.'That's odd. The other medical staff's footsteps didn't sound like that.'

"Wait, what? He could distinguish them that easily?" Kunikida asked, but no one answered.

'And Matsuki-san has a slight limp due to age. Besides, none of the Tsushima servants ever walks that loudly. This is someone else entirely, but the nurse said I would receive no visitors without my legal guardian. None of my relatives wear shoes this loud and I doubt Ojii-san has the strength to walk like that. So it must be someone else.'

"Okay, yeah, if there were any doubts this was Dazai remaining, that proves it."

Akutagawa shot Kunikida a very dry look. "You say thatnowinstead of when we saw No Longer Human in action? I'm started to question Dazai-san's choice of employment."

"Shut up, Akutagawa."

"Makeme, jinko."

"Save your flirting for later," Ranpo interrupted, causing both young men to sputter in denial that he wasn't listening to. Chuuya just sighed in exasperation, especially when Higuchi jumped to Akutagawa's defense.

Gin was the real MVP, though. "Yeah, no, Ryuu-nii is gay. Hard not to be when you have Dazai-san as your sexual awakening."

"GIN!" The scandalized Rashoumon usersqueakedand Yosanocackled. Chuuya went rigid while Higuchiwilted. "It is not like that! I have never had romantic feelings for Dazai-san! Gin, he practicallyraisedus, are you an idiot!?"

Gin gave her brother a deadpan look, even going as far as taking off her mask to do it better. "Dazai-san was the first person you ever called pretty."

"Atsushi, you have some tough competition," Kyouka told the weretiger, making Atsushi turn even redder than Akutagwawa currently was. "Dazai-san is indeed very pretty."

"Poor Atsushi!" Croaked Yosano gleefully. "I've never known a person once go for Dazai and ever recover from it!"

"Ain't that the truth," huffed Chuuya to himself.

Little Shuuji spared Shin Soukoku further embarrassment and torture when he started clearly hearing what the voices were saying, causing him to search for an escape route immediately. It definitely drew attention to him when they all noticed him using a cupboard full of medical supplies to climb up towards a vent.

"So you're saying that this kid was the only one who survived?" Chuuya stiffened as he heard the familiar voice, blood boiling over his own past and the implications this man's presence had for Dazai's. "And you think it has something do with an Ability he may have?"

"No doubt about it," came the distinguishable voice of none other than Kashimura Kansuke. "Gen'emon had a very powerful shielding Ability. If anyone should have survived that blast, it should have been him and whoever he was touching. Tane and that brat were with him, so why is it that only the brat survived? Nothing and no one else was left standing in the debris, just Tsushima f*cking Shuuji," Kansuke said bitterly, he and the other man coming to a stop in front of Shuuji's hospital room. Shuuji narrowed his eyes at it as he unwrapped the bandages around his wrists, sliding them in between the loose vent cover and the wall so he can wiggle it free, doing it as silently as he can. Noiselessly, he slithered up into the vent, holding back a cough at all that dist, before wrapping a bandage around one of the bars in the cover, closing the vent behind him.

"What the-?"

"Well, sh*tty Dazai always did have incredible instincts for danger," Chuuya said with a smirk, feeling a bit smug that he knew the brunet better than his current partner.

"Are you suggesting-"

"That the boy was somehow immune to it all? I wouldn't be surprised. Nullifiers are extremely rare, but not nonexistent," Kansuke was saying. "If we wish to continue our research, we'll greatly benefit from having the brat on hand. Furthermore, we could use him to either replicate his Ability or clone him, as we did A-258."

"The cloning wasn't the most successful with A-258. One of them weakened the other, if you recall."

"Yes, but I have a feeling darlingShuuji-chanwill fare better."

They were watching from within the room, so they couldn't see the men, but they could just imagine the cruel smirk on his face. More than one set of eyes turned murderously cold at what they were hearing and Shuuji himself, who was straining to hear them due to the distance and the barrier that was the door, frowned.

"Bastard," growled Kouyou the thought on everyone's minds.

"To think you'd sacrifice your late best friends' son for a developing research project. You truly are a cold man, Kashimura-sensei." The voice Chuuya hated the most commented with a clinical chuckle. "Then again, youdiddo the same with your own boy."

"WHAT!?" The Agency thundered and the Mafia seethed. Kouyou especially, as she held onto Chuuya with a bruising grip. None of them had missed the resemblance between the man and the Executive. None of them liked the implications of that resemblance.

Chuuya himself, on the other hand, wasn't even sure what to think.

He had thought he had seen his family that day, so long ago, but had it really all just been an illusion, a trick to keep him loyal?

"N-sensei, you say that as though both you and I wouldn't do anything to achieve our scientific goals," Kansuke said, confirming Chuuya's dread of the other speaker's identity. Kouyou, Hirotsu and Mori grimaced as they heard it, too. "After all, you're here with me today, when we both are only alive because my Ability managed to protect us enough that we survived, even if we were basically in pieces, and because I had connections with that shady doctor."

"Shame we couldn't take his protege. She was suitably broken, she would have been perfect to assist in the labs."

"Wait a minute," Mori suddenly said, eyes narrowing. Yosano was frowning, too. "No, that can't be, right?"

But then the door opened and Kansuke and N walked in, friendly smiles on their faces with Kansuke now sporting a big scar across the left side of his face that looked like it was a combination of a heat burn and debris shredding his skin, the cheek having healed unevenly. Mori's eyes widened at the sight of the man now blind in his once brown eye, not bothering to cover up the milky white emptiness that made even his healthy, blue eye seem eerie.

"Itishim.Them."

"Mori-sensei, explain," f*ckuzawa demanded and for once, Mori agreed without putting up a fuss.

"Years ago, after our regiment was disbanded and I was facing being potentially dishonorably discharged, I set up the underground clinic in neutral territory, as you know. I still had Yosano-kun with me and when valuable enough clients on the verge of death arrived, I would charge extra to save them. One day, shortly after the incident in Suribachi, a couple of men came to my doorstep. I think it was actually four of them, but one was already dead when they dragged them to my clinic, one died despite getting treatment and two survived, but their wounds were so bad not even Yosano-kun's Ability worked fast enough to heal it all before they were dragged back to full health from the verge of death. They paid their dues but I faced some retaliation, so I had to leave the clinic for a while for another one, the one where you guarded me, f*ckuzawa-dono. I never saw them ever again. I could not have imagined they were the ones responsible for Chuuya-kun's ... condition," he finished with a look at the ginger, who couldn't even really blame him, or the other doctor.

Really, how weretheyto know they were some evil scientists experimenting on children, Abilities and singularities, of all things.

"I don't even remember the other times I healed people," Yosano muttered to herself. "But I distinctly remembered that man, how I couldn't heal his blind eye and the scars left behind ... My Ability had never before left a scar ... It was hard to forget him."

N's and Kansuke's smiles dropped and eyes widened when they saw that the hospital room was empty and N immediately went to snap at a nurse, making sure they had gotten the right room number and then raising the alarm that an eight year old disaster victim had disappeared. Shuuji watched it all from the vent, studiously keeping away from the light coming into it, blending with the shadows, lest they notice him. At one point, perhaps he shifted or breathed too loudly, but Kansuke's attention snapped to the vent and he pulled out a gun, and he shot, causing the nurse to scream in fright and N startle. Shuuji steeled himself and did not jump as the bullet whizzed past his head, instead ripping a button off of his hospital gown and sending it loudly bouncing down the vent's tunnel.

"What is thematterwith you!? Are youinsane!?" A nurse of a higher station ran over and started yelling at Kansuke, who chillingly calmly informed them that it seems that they have rats in the vents.

"Holy f*cking sh*t," Tachihara whispered, amazed by how calm and collected the boy had acted, how quickly he'd come up with a distraction. They could tell that Kansuke wasn't entirely convinced, but that was when Matsuki arrived and coldly informed the hospital staff that 'these two gentlemen' had not received permission from him as Tsushima Shuuji's primary legal guardian to visit the boy. The hospital security was also there now, too, and the two were more or less politely but insistently escorted out of the hospital with a warning not to return again unless they had actually, legitimate business in the hospital. The nurses still snapped at each other to go find the boy, but now that the danger was over, Shuuji let go of the vent cover he was holding with his bandages, the slam of it on top of the cupboard startling the staff and his caretaker below before he deftly climbed out, a little dusty but otherwise safe and sound.

The nurse who had witnessed Kansuke shoot at that same vent, however, fainted on the spot at the knowledge a madman had nearly killed a child almost literally under her nose.

"Shuuji-kun!" A worried nut relieved Matsuki exclaimed, running over to help the boy get down, though he did not put him on the ground once he had him in his arms, instead scolding the Tsushima for doing something so dangerous. Shuuji wasn't really listening to him, focus trained on the men he could see out of his hospital window. The audience turned their attention out there, too, and froze when they saw Kansuke looking straight back at the little brunet. Atsushi dared look back at the child version of his mentor and froze as he saw the expression on his face. Akutagawa, noticing his reaction, did the same and straightened up, rigid and at attention, as he realized the eight year old could make the exact same expression Dazai made at eighteen when he was murderously displeased.

It was not a pretty expression, especially on a kid.

"So he was always like that," Kouyou mused with a frown, not sure how to feel about that. To think Dazai's Demon Prodigy expression came sonaturallyto a little boy definitely made her uneasy, but now that she knew his origins, she supposes it wasn't surprising, at the very least. Neither the demon princess nor the ghost in black were exactly nicknames one would earn for having a happy-go-lucky disposition and a sunny smile on their face.

"Matsuki-san."

"Yes?" The elderly man stopped his fussing at the serious tone.

"I don't know what will happen in the future, or if I can still ask things from you-"

"Of course you can ask things of me, Shuuji-kun. Or rather, Bocchan."

Shuuji finally looked away from Kansuke, turning his attention to his servant. "Bocchan? You've never called me that before. Didn't Kaa-chan insist on it because she didn't want me to grow up with a skewed perception of the working class just because I was born wealthy?"

"I swear, the more I learn about the Tsushimas, the more I hate they died," Naomi said mournfully and Chuuya grit his teeth until his jaws hurt, wondering just how different his partner would be had he had a normal childhood with such caring parents. Had he robed Dazai of the chance to see the world for all its splendor and beauty?

No, this Shuuji still looked fairly okay, all things considered. He has not expressed a desire to die yet so, despite everything, becoming an orphan hadn't been the thing that brought him over the edge.

"Well, yes, Tane-sama did," conceded the servant. "However, I'm afraid things are different now," he said gently as he finally put the boy down. "Due to these unfortunate tragic events, you are now the head of the Tsushima estate in Aomori, as well as the heir to Tsushima Corp once you are of age. I'm afraid that, at least in these settings," he looked around the not so private room with disdain. "I will have to be at least a little formal with you."

"I see," Shuuji replied with a nod. "Then I must ask you to do four things for me before we leave Yokohama."

"Of course, Bocchan," the older male said with a small bow.

"First, I need you to find out if there's really no other survivors from the explosion. Particularly a boy, probably my age, with really bright orange hair," Shuuji said confidently, startling Chuuya at the prioritized request. "Everyone keeps saying I'm the only survivor, but both of those men you chased off were in the facility maybe a dozen meters away from my own location when it happened. They were even in ground zero, so they should have been the first to die, yet here they were." Matsuki got a severe look on his face but nodded to acknowledge the first request. "Should you find him here, or somewhere on the streets, offer him a home with us."

"Bocchan?"

Chuuya couldn't breathe.

"He just escaped being a government lab experiment," Shuuji said by way of explanation, looking away. "If I can prevent that from happening again, I would like to do it." Besides, there was just something that called to him from the boy and Shuuji was both intrigued and a bit annoyed to have found something like that at such an inconvenient time.

"Then I shall do my best to find him," promised Matsuki.

Shuuji gave a small, grateful attempt at a smile, pitiful as it looked. "Second, I need to get out of here. I also want to leave Yokohama as quickly as possible. I don't trust what this city will became in the wake of such a tragedy. I imagine Ojii-san isn't doing well, either." The pursing of Matsuki's lips said it all. "I want to leave in a week. We can't leave the estate unsupervised for long. The third thing I'd like to ask you is to compile a list of unwanted guests for the manor, first among them Kashimura Kansuke and that weird colleague of his. Whether that ginger boy comes with us or not doesn't matter,Idon't want to see Kashimura's face ever again if I can help it."

"Yes, Bocchan. And the last one?"

Shuuji looked Matsuki dead in the eye, making the man shiver at the sheer emptiness he encountered there. "Don't ask or encourage me to visit whatever grave you made for my parents. I don't need empty caskets; I've seen my parents' fate with my own eyes. I will not cry at a symbolic headstone." Then, in his mind:'Can I even cry at all? Shouldn't I be sobbing and screaming? Isn't that how a child would normally react? Instead of just feeling ... numb?'

Matsuki had a sad, complicated expression on his elderly face, but he conceded to Shuuji's wishes. "Yes, Bocchan."

On Shuuji's insistence, they managed to get him discharged from the hospital later that day, after some tests, the results of which the doctors foundmiraculoussince Shuuji's muscles didn't atrophy from being still for a whole month and since none of his mostly healed injuries required physical therapy for a full recovery. They went back to the city estate belonging to the whole Tsushima family and Matsuki got Shuuji settled before going about the tasks Shuuji had assigned him.

The Tsushima Yokohama estate was of a more traditional style than the one Shuuji grew up in. Tane and Gen'emon had both preferred a more modern, even Western style in their decor, thus making a house with wooden floors, concrete and brick walls. Here, though, a lot of the rooms were covered in tatami mats and shoji walls and doors, not affording as much privacy as Shuuji was used to. There were a lot more people there, too, which made it even harder to get privacy. Most of the Tsushima family was stationed here, living under the same roof and fighting for their place and piece of inheritance Shuuji's grandfather might grant them. Tsushima Kiye, Tane's eldest sister, was actually the head of this estate, since the Mafia Boss lived in a separate location guarded by his men he trusted the most. Kiye was one of the rare people from the Tsushima family that Gen'emon, TaneandShuuji liked. She'd always been the one to visit them the most and she always got Shuuji some small gifts to show that she thought of him. She'd never had children of her own and probably never will.

Infertility in women seemed to, unfortunately, run in the family. Gen'emon had told Shuuji that he was truly a miracle because all the doctors used to tell them Tane will never be able to carry to term. It's why they had always been so lovingly doting on the boy.

Tane's second older sister was lucky to have one son, Shuuji's second eldest cousin. Unfortunately, Bunji Tsushima thoroughly despised Shuuji, as was evidenced anytime there was a family gathering and he'd try to lock Shuuji into odd rooms and places. He had probably wanted the young boy to get scared, but Shuuji wasn't afraid of the dark and would either enjoy the silence as he waited for his parents, aunt Kiye or Matsuki to find or he'd find ways to entertain himself if Bunji was stupid enough to trap him somewhere with books or office supplies. Or, once, in the lounge, where there was a pool table, a dart board and a table set up for card games, along with decks. That time, by the time they found Shuuji, he'd mastered throwing darts to always hit bullseye, or the circle just outside of it, he'd played several pool games by himself and had built a veritable castle of cards from all the decks he'd found. His grandfather had been amused but his parents had been on the verge of killing Bunji for leaving their six year old son locking in a room with sharp and dangerous objects.

At some point, though, Shuuji got bored of staying in rooms he was locked inside of, so he started experimenting with the locks. He knew it was possible to pick them, so he started carrying around things that might be useful to help him do it. It had taken him half an hour the first time he tried, but he's been honing his skills since. He was still slow, just under five minutes, so he needed a lot more practice until he could do it in seconds. Putting in the effort would be letting Bunji win, so Shuuji did his best to learn before he has to find himself in such a situation again.

That said, Bunji wasn't the only Tsushima not fond of Shuuji's existence.

Tane leaving had left quite a few of her siblings and cousins very bitter, especially when her's and Gen'emons combined intellect, talents and skills helped them create a powerful, legal company that had no connection to the Port Mafia or the Tsushima wealth. Sure, Tane and Gen'emon had used the dowry her father gave them to start their company, but they had paid off that debt early on and bloomed way beyond it on their own. Thus, Tane's share of the wealth was not a share at all, but rather her own personal wealth for her and her little family and greed was not an uncommon trait in the Tsushima family. Shuuji was not surprised at the glares he was getting as he walked around the estate from place to place in the week or so he and Matsuki stayed in Yokohama. He wasn't affected or offended at the snide comments his cousins and uncles made, because they were all insignificant and irrelevant to him. He spent most of his time with Kiye when Matsuki was out fulfilling the tasks he'd given him or in his assigned room, trying to make plans for how to run his own manor once he returns home.

Matsuki and Kiye were the ones getting angry on his behalf for the treatment he was getting.

Matsuki drew the line when Tane's eldest brother, the one Shuuji had first met when he'd also met his grandfather, snidely commented Gen'emon should have been the one to survive instead of Shuuji, the 'useless waste of space and resources that he was'.

"He comes from a family of dicks," Yosano said with a glare, angry at the treatment of a eight year old boy from his own flesh and blood.

"No wonder he had no attachment to them," commented Mori, always having been curious as to how a smart kid like Dazai had ended up on the streets and than in his care. No parent wouldn't try to ride on the coattails of his intelligence to get either status in society because of their prodigy son or get rich if he ends up becoming a super successful businessman, doctor, lawyer or whatever else. Well, he guessessomeparents would, but even they would like to enjoy the profit more than anything. Though, the problem here were not parents, seeing how loving the Tsushima couple were, but rather the rest of the family.

"I'm glad Dazai-san just had someone to take him out of that toxic environment," Gin murmured and Hirotsu beside her nodded.

They watched as the boy returned to his home, all the servants gathered outside to wish him a warm welcome, watching him with worried eyes as he seemingly blankly stared at the house he will be living in alone now. The servants all watched him worriedly and Matsuki looked like he wanted to comfort the boy. The watching audience was no better, getting the urge to just wrap him up in the softest blankets and keep him away from the cold, cruel world, despite knowing that this boy would one day grow up to be one of the most dangerous men in Yokohama, if not beyond.

Shuuji's gaze was averted from the house when none other than Chibi crawled up to him, sorrowful, intelligent eyes meeting the child's, the dog whining to him and bringing itself up only just enough to nudge Shuuji's hand with his snout. Shuuji had never actually pet Chibi before, had always viewed him more as his father's dog. He'd watched Gen'emon play with Chibi outside in all sorts of weather and his mother had always encouraged him to join them, but Chibi would always jump all over him if he even came close to the dog. His parents insisted it was because Chibi loved him so much but Shuuji hated getting slobbered all over so he avoided the German Shepard if he can help it. Especially after rainy or snowy days when Chibi came in soaking wet and often very muddy. Even after a thorough bath, he still smelled of wet dog. Shuuji didn't like it.

But he hadn't seen Chibi for over two months now and Chibi was all he really had left of his father. Chibi was Gen'emon's dog. Gen'emon had trained and raised him, had taken him in despite, supposedly, being the runt of his litter. You could never tell on Chibi today, since he was actually larger than an German Shepard. Gen'emon had dearly loved this dog and Chibi had loved Gen'emon, and Tane, and Shuuji.

So Shuuji pet his dog for the first time in his life, slightly fascinated by the soft fur. Chibi really was a pampered dog ... But Shuuji remembered well Chibi's barks and display of strength and possessiveness when his eldest uncle had tried to strike him, the ferociousness of the noise summoning his father to his rescue. Chibi's loyalty had earned him well all that pampering ...

Shuuji looked up at the servants watching him and he noted only three faces were missing out of the thirty that had worked here. Those who remained ... Well, it was safe to say he could trust them, if Chibi had never reacted poorly to them.

So Shuuji politely and gratefully bowed to his staff. "Thank you for the warm welcome. I will do my best to keep he household going as it has before. I hope you will lend me your strength to do so."

The Agency and the Mafia watched as a good part of the servants did their best to hold back their tears, but they all enthusiastically returned the bow, deeper and just as genuine. "Yes, Tsushima-dono!" Even Chibi perked up, giving a single bark and gently swaying his tail.

Shuuji didn't quite smile, because he wasn't really the type, but the look on his face was gentle. "Let's go, Chibi. It seems we have a lot of work ahead of us."

With that, Matsuki hot on his heels, followed by the rest of the staff, Shuuji enteredhismanor.

Chapter 4

Chapter Text

9-10yo

The watching audience was quiet after that touching homecoming as the world shifted again, not really knowing what else to expect after all that they've seen so far. To many, just learning about the truth behind the origins of Suribachi City seemed overwhelming, but they haven't even reached the half-point of Dazai's life yet. And as curious as any of them had ever been about the mysterious enigma of a man, none of them could say they didn't dread what else they might see.

After all, little Shuuji, though similar to Dazai and clearlybeinghim, lacked that certain look in his eyes that they knew their resident suicidal maniac to possess. Or rather, there was still something similar to a light in his eyes that was today mostly only artificial or absent completely. They did not really want to know what caused that little bit of light to completely get extinguished, but they had a feeling they would, anyways, and that they had no say in it. Whatever had brought them here and was showing them all of this was clearly beyond their control. Not even Ranpo was entirely sure how it worked. The only thing he could tell them was that they can leave only if this thing runs its course or if Dazai nullifies it.

But they had no idea how time ran in here compared to the real world, so they could be hear for some time yet, but the time in the real world could be standing still, so to speak. They could only hope that was not the case.

"It's starting again," Akutagawa commented needlessly when the colors stopped again, once more revealing the Tsushima manor. Little Shuuji who was not so little anymore, really, looked to be a bit older than the last vision and the calendar on the library's work-desk showed that it's been about a year since the Suribachi incident. He was going through what looked like finance records of the manor, sorting bills and funding for projects around his hometown and going through mail sent to him by his aunt Kiye, who was in charge of Tsushima Copr until Shuuji comes of age, giving him status reports dutifully despite not being obliged to do so. Gentle blues music was playing from an old fashioned gramophone, a well-cared for record spinning under its polished needle, even as, through the window, you could hear Chibi's vicious barking, someone's wailing for help followed by a single gunshot.

Matsuki entered the library soon afterwards with a tray of tea and some snacks for Shuuji, going over all the reports with a critical eye and making a pleased sound when he noticed everything was done flawlessly. It was perhaps not the most conventional way to educate a child, but it has been known for years that Shuuji was incredibly clever. Tane had ended up needing to hire him special tutors because the teachers from the local school simply could not keep up with Shuuji's speed of devouring information, running out of lesson plans in a couple of months. Tane refused to put pressure on her baby by making him skip grades and she refused to keep him in the school because kids started picking on him for looking so delicate and always preferring books over playing with the other kids since they bored him. The tutors had suitably challenged Shuuji's swift learning capabilities and often found the boy a delight to teach.

However, since his parents' deaths, they felt uncomfortably teaching him, fearing they might be pushing a grieving orphan. Shuuji quickly got bored of their coddling and dismissed them. While he greatly missed his parents and feared the day he will no longer remember the sound of their voices, he was not crippled by this feeling that might be some muted form of grief. It differed from the descriptions of it that he'd read about and he often wondered what that said about him, but regardless of everything, not being properly intellectually stimulated left him extremely bored, something he'd complained to Matsuki about.

Thankfully, Matsuki had just the thing: not only did he tutor the boy, he also left the house managing tasks to him, taxes and finances and continuing the charity work Tane and Gen'emon had started for their local community, on top of giving him access to all the books his parents' had collected and getting him even more on various subjects. Shuuji rarely needed instructing other than the things he reads, which was both impressive and a bit intimidating from such a young child.

"Chibi sure is loud," Shuuji commented as he accepted his tea with thanks, taking a slow sip to enjoy the aroma and the heat. It seemed to be winter, the grounds around the manor covered in snow. "The guards also seem to be doing a good job."

"Chibi will always be vicious with whoever comes here bearing ill intentions, Bocchan," Matsuki replied easily, ignoring the slight glare Shuuji gave him at being so formal again. "The guards are well trained, well payed, with great benefits and their patrols are well planned out, as you know, having drafted it yourself."

"Well, that sure does explain Dazai's ease with taking on certain assignments and duties you gave him, Ougai-dono," Kouyou commented while Kunikida was wailing about Dazai's laziness somewhere in the background from the moment he saw the child dutifully doing his paperwork.

"Yes, he always did seem very comfortable giving orders," the aforementioned doctor hummed.

"I can't believe Dazai-san lived around such a vicious dog," Akutagawa said, a little bit in awe, a little bit disgusted. Kyouka wasn't feeling very well after hearing Chibi hunting down that intruder, either, especially when the dog came around and sat in front of the windows again, the fur around its mouth and snout a little bloody even as Chibi wagged his tail.

"Do you not like dogs or something?" Kenji innocently asked, tilting his head with huge eyes trained on the black haired boy.

"I loathe them, and so does Dazai-san."

"Really? I just thought he likes playing with them in weird ways," Atsushi retorted, to which Akutagawa gave him a disgusted sneer at knowing and understanding their mentor so little.

"That may be true, Matsuki-san, but anyone can be bought, for the right price," Shuuji returned, to which Matsuki frowned. "Don't worry, Matsuki-san, I know that the 'right price' for you would be if it's the only way to save my life."

"I still do not like the implications you made, Bocchan."

"Does Dazai-san really think that?" Kyouka asked, feeling a bit hurt, because she had thought Dazai trusted them, the Armed Detective Agency, but she also remembered the way he would go off and do his own thing without telling them anything, even if it ended with him captured and/or injured.

"I'm sure Dazai learnedsomethings about loyalty," f*ckuzawa tried to reassure her, but even he was not sure. He'd have to have a word with Dazai regarding this.

Shuuji shrugged at his caretaker slash servant slash tutor slash advisor slash closest personal bodyguard, putting his work away and just leaning back in the chair, closing his eyes. He looked tired. In fact, he was starting to get the look on his face befitting of the Dazai they knew, the insomniac and picky eater. He still had a lot of baby-fat on his face, since he was still so young, but he seems to have lost weight in the year he'd been orphaned. He still seemed healthy, though, and the manor seemed peaceful and pristine, despite the attack that had just occurred. "When will my uncle and Bunji be arriving? I really don't feel like dealing with them today, but they've actually made an appointment so I can't just brush them off the way I usually do."

"I'm afraid they should be arriving within the hour," Matsuki replied with a sigh, seeming just as exhausted as Shuuji at the prospect of dealing with the two men. "Really, I don't understand why it's so hard for them to comprehend that you do not wish to integrate this manor into the Tsushima family's possession. It was never anyone else's but yours and your parents'. In fact, the servants living here technically have more claim to it than they ever did."

"I don't know what to tell you, Matsuki-san. Humans are confusing like that."

It was at that moment that a female servant came to inform them their guests were being let in at the gate, causing both boy and his servant to sigh in shared exasperation that made one believe Matsuki might be more family to Shuuji than the people coming to visit him.

"I don't like this," Kyouka said quietly. "Every time any of the other Tsushimas were shown, nothing good happened."

"She's not wrong," Tanizaki commented hesitantly. "I also don't think this will end well."

"Just look at how alert Chibi is," Hirotsu said with a frown while Chuuya still had to stifle his instinctive reaction to bristle at the nickname Dazai usually referred to him by.

And indeed, the dog was not pleased by the visitors, either, having stood up and staring attentively in the direction of the gate. Matsuki and Shuuji noticed this, too, and Matsuki told Shuuji to stay in the library, locking the door behind him. Shuuji frowned and pressed a button underneath the desk, causing shutters to start closing over the windows. Shuuji jogged over to one of the windows that was actually a door and called Chibi in before the shutters closed. Seconds before they did, after Chibi was safe inside, a hail of bullets rained down on them, ricocheting against the defense and making Chibi startle, bark and growl as the dog put himself in front of Shuuji protectively. Shuuji just reached for the phone on the work desk and tried to call but the line was dead, probably cut from the getgo.

"f*ck," cursed Tachihara, watching as more and more bullets rained down on the protected windows, more gunfire heard coming from outside but not aimed at Shuuji's hiding spot. Chibi was at this point rumbling like an engine but Shuuji was mostly unaffected. He didn't seem scared at all, though he did seem worried.

'Is Matsuki-san alright? Have the servants made it to the safe rooms? Was the alarm triggered, for the police to get here? I need to get to the satellite phone!'

"No, he should just stay in there," hissed Kouyou, watching with a rare show of panic on her face as Shuuji came up to the doors and, with practices ease, picked the lock. Chibi followed him like the loyal dog he was, though he had tried to at first tug him away from the door but an order from Shuuji had him ceasing at once. "That lad always had a way of complicating things more than they ever should be."

"At least we know he survives this, right?" Tachihara said jokingly but Kouyou and Hirotsu don't find it funny. Well, no one does, but those two look to Mori who shakes his head.

"I found Dazai-kun when he was fourteen, after a failed suicide attempt. This is too early for us to meet. I was probably still on the front-lines when this happened."

"I don't want to imagine you with a nine year old Dazai," Yosano saidwith a venomous glare at the former military doctor, who was only amused by her animosity.

Once Shuuji was out of the library, a chilling sight met them: hallways full of dead bodies, some of the manor's servants, others of the security personnel he'd hired and then there were the invaders, dressed in pressed black suits and ties, some with black sunglasses on despite it being cloudy outside. Shuuji didn't even need to go through any of their pockets for identifying objects to realize these people were no doubt gunmen from the Port Mafia. His uncle and cousin reallyhadcome to kill him in order to claim the estate and his parents' company. The gunfire was also louder outside of the library and going back inside would be useless now, as Shuuji did not have a key.

But he hadn't left the room just because he didn't know how to avoid danger; quite the opposite, actually. That room could more certainly be his tomb if he stayed in there. After all, normal security measures meant nothing to ability users.

"His uncle and cousin were Ability users?" Kunikida asked with dread, pallor going near white as he realized that these people had not stood a single chance.

"f*ck," Chuuya cursed, running a hand through his hair in a display of stress. Sure, he knows his partner came out of this situation alive, but there's no way these events didn't affect him. He was just a child, for f*ck's sake! Even Chuuya hadn't been exposed to death for the Sheep in his first year with them. Killing had only become necessary when larger gangs tried to take them out.

"Where is he going now?" Akutagawa asked as Dazai-to-be took down the halls like hell hounds were on his heels. Chibi ran after him, not barking for once, but the dog's steps were far louder than Shuuji's socked feet. The little brunet seemed to be heading towards where all the fighting was going on, stealthily avoiding a few grunts who'd survived their gunfight and were instead either looting what they could or searching for survivors and, no doubt, Shuuji. At this point, the youngest Tsushima in the residence was sure none of his servants or bodyguards were alive. He had been keeping a mental count and he'd found eighteen on his way so far. The other dozen remaining were unlikely to have met a kinder fate. Who he worried about, though, was Matsuki.

Not because he was special, but because he was explicitly loyal tothislittle branch of the Tsushima family. His sole loyalty was to Shuuji and Shuuji alone as of last year and the other Tsushimas knew this. It's why they'd definitely torture him, even if it's just for fun. But it won't be just for fun; Matsuki managed this estate and all the finances that went into it. He was practically Shuuji's main legal guardian, with his aunt Kiye coming in second. Kiye was too valuable to kill but Matsuki still had access to a lot of the inheritance Shuuji was supposed to get upon becoming of legal age. He had legal power they would want.

Matsuki was as in much danger as Shuuji was and Shuuji wasn't leaving him to that fate.

He was, however, too late.

Down in the foyer, he watched as Matsuki's head was enveloped in a sphere of water and he was waterboarded by none other than Bunji's Ability while his uncle stood to the side and watched, clearly waiting for the old man to give in. When it became clear he'd rather drown than betray his young master, Bunji let him go, only for the uncle to put three bullets in him. Matsuki took those bullets with grace even as he crumbled to the floor, barely letting out a single sound, but it was at that moment that he caught sight of Shuuji. The noise he released then, a mix of warning and panic, alerted the two elder Tsushimas of Shuuji's presence.

"Run, you idiot!" Yosano and Kunikida yelled at the same time as Shuuji's relatives smiled cruely upon seeing him.

"Well, well, well! Look who we have here! LittleTsushima-donohimself, hm?" Bunji mocked. "You know, I actually liked Tane-san. She was a good aunt. But the biggest mistake she made in her life was havingyou. I can't believe Gen'emon-san was so stupid, too. He should have stayed. He would have been great. Maybe even the next boss. Ojii-san sure liked him enough."

"Shut up, Bunji. We're not here to taunt a brat," the uncle snapped as he started walking towards the boy. "We're here to rectify the mistake that cost my sister her life. Sue, she was annoying, but she was still my imotou. She shouldn't have died for you to live. But I'll make sure herreallegacy lives on, as soon as I get rid of y-"

Chibi, who had been behind Shuuji, upon seeing the man come too close and start raising the gun again, lunged, knocking the Tsushima to the ground with a bloody, unrelenting grip on his arm, making him release the gun. It slid across the room and even shot once, since the safety was off, but that was hardly the most horrifying sound echoing the room. No, it was the sound of Chibi's snarls turning into whimpers of pain as the uncle's free hand released fire as he tried to pry the dog off of him. Chibi still did not let go, even as fur and skin burned. Bunji looked to be rather queasy as the scent hit him but Shuuji was staring with wide, horrified eyes as Chibi stopped whimpering and lost his grip, in too much pain or maybe no longer conscious enough to hold on. The uncle kicked the dog off of him, sending it flying in the same direction the gun had gone. There was a sickening snap as the injured canine hit the floor, but not even a whimper from the dog.

"CHIBI!" Shuuji yelled, the first sound of desperation they heard from the boy as he ran for his loyal pet. Thankfully, both older Tsushimas were too busy with trying to tend to the uncle's bleeding and burned arm, since it didn't seem he was impervious to the heat of his own Ability. Shuuji dropped to the German Shepard's side and shaky hands hesitantly touched his face and head. Thankfully, he had landed on his injured side so the child wasn't exposed to all that gore, but the dog was no doubt gone, having fought to the end to protect its young master. "You stupid dog! Why did you have to do that!" Shuuji berated harshly, voice hoarse, and though no tears graced his face, there was pain in his usually dull eyes. His hands were painfully gentle as he pet the dog like he only ever had once before and he regretted, oh how he regretted, not doing it more often.

His late parents' voices rang in his head more clearly than he's been able to remember them in months.

"... you really should try being a bit more open to Chibi, you know? He really likes you."

"... he's only trying to protect you."

"You did great, Chibi. You can rest now."

More than one person was openly and more or less shamelesslysobbingas they watched Shuuji close the dog's eyes and mouth so it didn't look like it was in pain in its last moments, petting it one last time before retracting his small, pale hand away and accepting that he had just lost the last tatters he had to his parents' memories. Atsushi, Naomi, Tanizaki, Kunikida, Kenji and Higuchi fit this group of people. Another part of the watching audience turned their head away, trying to act tough in the face of such sorrow rarely displayed by the man Dazai Osamu has become. This group consisted of Gin, Kouyou, Tachihara, Yosano and f*ckuzawa. They may or may not have wiped a few tears away. Akutagawa, Kyouka, Ranpo, Hirotsu, Mori and especially Chuuya, though, watched each moment play out, honoring it for it had given them the precious person they met later in life.

Chuuya, Ranpo and Akutagawa just wondered how Dazai had come to hate dogs so much later on when it was clear he had become fond of Chibi.

The emotional moment was cut short when Shuuji spoke his next words. "I'll take care of the enemy." Before anyone could panic about the idiocy of such a thought, the air caught in their throats upon seeing Shuuji's eyes. Even more so than in that hospital room as he stared Kashimura down, these were the eyes of the Demon Prodigy the Port Mafia had come to know. No, it was even worse than that.

By the time Dazai received any nickname in the Mafia, including his title of the wraith, he'd foundsomethings that made life bearable living through another day. As the Demon Prodigy, he'd had two friends and a partner he could rely on. Instead, these were the enraged version of the eyes Mori and Chuuya had witnessed when Dazai was fifteen and just wanted to end it all.

It was quite possibly even scarier than the Demon Prodigy's enraged gaze.

Akutagawa almost agreed.

"Just go deal with the brat," the uncle snapped at that moment and Bunji begrudgingly walked over to where Shuuji was still kneeling by Chibi's side, brumging all the while under his breath about how the older Tsushima was losing his edge in his old age and that clearly Bunji deserved the most spoils from their raid.

"Time to meet your parents, brat. Have a nice trip to the pearly gates-AAAAAHHHHHHHH!" His taunt was cut off by a scream as Shuuji twisted the second Bunji was within range and grab his knee in a specific way so that he pulled and pushed at the same time, dislocating his cousin's knee in one practiced move. Clearly, the self defense lessons with Matsuki, a former Military Police officer, have more than come in handy, because in the next second, Shuuji had the discarded gun from earlier in one hand and an impressive choke-hold around Bunji's neck with the other, gun pressed to his temple when the uncle jumped to his feet to save him.

"You rat!" Hissed the eldest Tsushima, but he didn't dare move when Shuuji demonstrated he knew how the safety system worked, therefore knowing he can kill Bunji by pulling the trigger. "You think you can win against us? And our men? Don't kid yourself, runt! I'm a Mafia Executive!"

"If you care for your crotch goblin at all, you will do exactly as I say and I'll let him live," Shuuji said in a cold voice, too high to match the one he uses these days when striking serious negotiations or when threatening slash blackmailing an enemy or reluctant ally, but matching it in tone perfectly. The atmosphere in the foyer had fallen so quickly and the freezing feeling in the air had nothing to do with the open doors that were letting the winter air and snow in. It's why no one could really find it in themselves to be amused at the term Shuuji had used to describe his cousin. "I want you to use your Ability to set the manor on fire. Right now."

"Are you mad!?"

"Just do it," grumbled Bunji through grit teeth, who didn't dare to move as he valued his own life too much. Not to mention that one of his legs was utterly f*cked up so he wouldn't really be able to do much, anyways. He couldn't even get up! "I'll put it out, no problem!"

"They don't know about his Ability," Akutagawa voiced everyone's realization with a vicious look on his face.

And as was observed, the uncle believed Bunji would be able to stop the spread of the fire. Except No Longer Human is always active, allowing Shuuji to very easily prevent Bunji from following his part of the 'deal'. The fire spread quickly and there were panicked yells from further within the house. Shuuji kept an ear out, just in case, but upon not recognizing a single voice, he took out a 'panic' switch and pressed the button, sealing off all spaces in the house. Doors, windows, vent, even the chimney. The only place not sealed off was the front door since it seems that the hooligans accompanying his two unpleasant guests damaged the sensors when they blasted through.

Bunji and the uncle were now starting to panic, as the fire had really spread out and was moving towards the only remaining exit. Bunji wasespeciallypanicked as his Ability wasn't working for, to him, an unfathomable reason. The uncle was yelling at Bunji to do something but froze the second he caught the look on Shuuji's face. Chuuya could only describe it as the same deranged smile he'd seen on Dazai's face when he'd kept shooting that GSS soldier despite the man already having died from the first bullet. The eldest Tsushima present seems to be having war flashbacks to Shuuji's parents and their reputation, because he started backing out and looked ready to bolt.

He didn't get a chance to, because the until then forgotten yet still alive Matsuki jumped him from behind and with a surprising amount of strength remaining in his elderly limbs, he snapped the man's neck, causing him to fall to the floor. Bunji was now really panicking, especially when Matsuki dragged himself on staggering feet to Shuuji, took the gun, covered Shuuji's eyes and shot the elder Tsushima cousin. The blood still sprayed over Shuuji's face and clothes, but he didn't flinch. In fact, he didn't care about the dead bodies at all, instead trying to catch Matsuki, hands aflutter over the gaping bullet wounds in his chest and abdomen.

"Bocchan ... No, Shuuji-kun ... You need to leave," Matsuki said as he started coughing up blood, skin far too pale and cold considering they were in the middle of a burning house. Somewhere further in, you could still hear people begging for their lives, but Shuuji did not release them. It was a question if he even still could. They were left to either die of inhaled smoke, lack of oxygen or burn if they were unlucky enough. "You need to run ... You need to survive ... "

"But you're dying ... "

"There's nothing ... you c-can do about it n-now." Some more coughing. Shuuji brought the older man up into a sitting position but it did not help one bit. "They're dead ... they're all dead ... So you need to survive ... You n-need to l-live ... Before s-someone else c-co-comes to k-kill you-"

"But then I'll die, too, and we'll all supposedly be together aga-"

"No," Matsuki interrupted, bringing a hand up to pet the boy's hair in a way he had never dared do before. It had been improper, but now, it didn't matter anymore. "Letting them kill you is letting them w-win. After ... everything ... y-you can't l-let them have that s-sat-satisfact-ion ... "

"Then someone else can kill me. Or maybe I can kill myse-" Shuuji began but Matsuki was apparently very good at interrupting him, weakly shaking his head no.

"Y-you can't d-die by yourself ... I-it's i-impossible ... "

"Is he ... Is he lying to him?" Gin asked hesitantly, not sure whether she was understanding the whole situation right.

"I don't think they knew how prone to suicidal tendencies Dazai-kun is," Mori answered, the only one not emotionally wrung out from the latest set of visions they were witnessing. Hell, it wasn't even a set of visions. It was just one hellish vision that just doesn't seem to want to end ...

"J-just live ... Shuuji-kun ... Live for us ... and make ... us ... prou ... d ... " Matsuki's hand fell from Shuuji's head, eyes remaining grotesquely open as the manor around them groaned, fire weakening its support beams, threatening to take the whole thing down in one fell swoop. Shuuji remained where he was, hair obscuring his eyes, bent over the caretaker he knew of as a third parent, who was more family than his actual remaining flesh and blood, before he reached up gently and closed the old man's eyes the way he had done with Chibi. Then he stood up, grabbed his deceased caretaker under the armpits and started dragging him out into the cold, leaving a fresh trail of red blood on the snow. Despite it having been disturbed, it was snowing so hard that the tracks left by the invaders were nearly completely covered up in fresh, white powder. It just made the contrast worst.

Once he was sure the body was a safe distance away from the house should it collapse, Shuuji went back inside, despite clearly being tired enough to just fall over and knock out for days on end. They watched with breaking hearts as he carried Chibi out, gently placing the loyal dog next to the loyal servant.

Then, he heeded Matsuki's words, turned and left the estate. Or, tried to. He collapsed maybe a dozen steps from the gates, past the vehicles his now murdered relatives and their cohorts had taken. Luckily, the fire finally caught the locals' attention and someone found Shuuji, calling the emergency responders to put out the fire and send for several ambulances. Shuuji was rushed off to a hospital by the people who found him, in an ordinary car.

The vision did not follow Shuuji to his new hospital room, where he would recover from the heat and the smoke and the overall strain his young body had just went through. Instead, it stayed at the Tsushima manor as it collapsed before firefighters could really do anything about the raging flames. It stayed there as black, nondescript, clearly Mafia owned vehicles showed up on the scene as well, the few police personnel who'd arrived clearly in their pockets as they just let them through.

"Oh, it's going to show this," Hirotsu mused and everyone gawked as the realized one of the mafioso on the scene was none other than a younger Hirotsu himself. He was there with a man around his age who was clearly his field partner, trying to gather information on what had happened.

Hirotsu, though, got distracted by a man who stood out from all the uniforms. He walked over and that was the first time in years Ryurou and Soseki saw each other in person. "And what business might you have here, Soseki-san?"

"It's not a widely known fact, but Gen'emon-bozo and I were friends. Close friends, even. I am his son's godfather."

"Wait,what!?" Everyone, sans Hirotsu himself, exclaimed to Natsume's declaration.

"So you're here for the boy, who supposedly did all this?" Hirotsu asked, eyeing the other man warily.

Natsume just shrugged. "Doyouthink a nine year old boy could do all of this on his own?"

"If what I've heard about his parents was true," Hirotsu began with a long, deep sigh, itching for a cigarette but refusing to smoke until the job was done. "I wouldn't be surprised."

"It's all true, old friend. Gen'emon-bozo and Tane-chan were the very pinnacle of true mafioso. Yet they chose a peaceful life once they realized they were capable of more than destruction upon falling in love. Shuuji-kun is the result and embodiment of that change of heart. He is all that is left of my dear young friends and I will not let the Mafia get their hands on him."

"That's not up to me," the one with graying hair replied. "I don't even know where the boy is. The paramedics and firemen are a lot harder to bribe when a child's life is at stake than the police."

"That's disturbing," Kunikida commented, glaring at the Mafia members all the while. They all ignored him. He should know by now that their standards for morality are pretty damn low and they didn't care much either way. They were Mafia. How they got information or went about their business in general was not exactly legal or righteous.

Natsume looked away from the sight he'd been observing - the paramedics zipping up Matsuki's body and people debating what to do with the dog's remains - to instead focus on his once partner. "Ryurou-san, do you really think the Mafia is a good place for a child? He's not even ten yet. His parents have carefully kept him away from that lifestyle and have limited his interaction with most of their relatives since everyone wanted one or the other to come back. Or even both. Tsushima Shuuji would be swallowed by the Mafia's darkness far too easily and would either lose himself to it or perish in it."

Hirotsu narrowed his eyes at him. "You seem to care too much for this just to be a favor to your dead friends. What have you donenow, Soseki-san?"

The cat shifter had a rather offended expression on his face at this - rightful - accusation. "What makes you think I did anything?"

"You never get involved this much."

Natsume just looked away, back towards the house he'd visited many times in both his forms, mourning the lack of that liveliness in his life, as it will remain for the rest of his days. "I really just don't want Tsushima Shuuji to end up in your Boss' hands. That's all."

"I guess hewastelling the truth," the Hirotsu of now grunted, looking tired from just having to watch this. "He didn't want the boy in the old Boss' hands. But I guess none of us realized how much more there was behind it all. We definitely didn't know about No Longer Human back then. I'm not sure even the old Boss knew ... And none of us knew that the boy was created by the Book ... Though, Idowonder if Sensei ever found out?"

"You and Natsume-sensei had a mentor?" f*ckuzawa asked, this being the first time he was hearing of such a thing. Sure, there had to have been people who guided and taught the man who would alter do the same for him and Mori, but he'd never thought their mentor had a partner, let alone a specific mentor of his own, too. It was surreal, like a little kid learning their teachers don't actually live in the school they teach at.

Hirotsu looked at him with tired exasperation. "Of course. The creator of the Book itself." At the gasps and gawking and no doubt impending questions, Hirotsu raised a palm in a stopping motion to prevent the overflow of words coming his way. "I don't know much about the Book, let alone it's location or how it's meant to be used. Soseki-san was chosen for the role of keeper and was allowed any means to keep it and this city as its hiding spot safe. As such, Soseki-san had to go into hiding and so we fell out of touch. I would only randomly see him every now and then, to this day. In fact, I think the last time I saw Soseki-san was a couple of weeks after Dazai-kun left the Mafia."

"That would make sense, if you were friends and he knew you were fond of the lad," Kouyou said with a small smile to one of the few men she could genuinely and wholly respect in the Mafia. It didn't take a genius to get what she was saying, even if it was vague. Hirotsu just nodded, now that he knows of Dazai's connection with his old work partner, it made sense. Though, did those two ever really meet or have a proper conversation? Hirotsu was itching to find out.

After all, it was extremely rare Natsume faced someone of equal intelligence and cunning. And, well, he's interested to see if Natsume could keep up with Dazai.

The scene shifted, though only in location, not really in time. Instead of the now burned down Tsushima manor, they were, yet again, in a hospital room housing Tsushima Shuuji. If one counts the day he was born, this would be the third time they were seeing him in a hospital and it would hardly be the last, considering Dazai's lifestyle. Unlike his family home, which was the only other location shown the same amount of time so far, which was now forever gone. It's a very depressing realization to come to and they all wondered how Shuuji would react now that it was all over.

Instead of Shuuji, though, the first person they really see is the old Mafia Boss himself, gazing into the room where an unconscious Shuuji was hooked up to various instruments that helped his lungs heal from the smoke. A doctor was reading a report off of a clipboard to the old man, but his gold eyes were trained on the little brunet with a complicated look. as if sensing the intense scrutiny, the boy wakes up, slowly and groggily, but it seems he quickly realizes where he is and sits up before nurses could rush in to reassure him he was safe. He's almost off of the bed by the time they try to push him back, but as soon as one touches him, he takes a pen from their pocket and stabs them with it to the throat. Screams accompany the spilled blood and male nurses and security rush to the scene all the while the old Boss watches with wide eyes as Shuuji frees himself from the IV and other various tubes and cables, trying and mostly successfully evading the reaching hands trying to grab and restrain him. He breaks one more arm and dislocates one more knee before he catches sight of his grandfather, the surprise of it shocking him still just long enough for a big male nurse to carefully but firmly grab him, safely lifting him into the air for others to restrain his limbs so someone could inject a sedative. With all the adrenaline pumping through his little body, it takes twice the dosage to finally pull him under and for him to go limp in the nurses' hold.

All the while, the old Boss watches with a sick sort of glee as he realized he had been right all along; Shuuji was exactly too much like Tane and Gen'emon. His ability to survive an attack that killed over seventy other people, including two Ability users, had been proof enough, already, as well as the intelligence he had displayed since a young age. But seeing him in action ...

"I'm signing his release form," he told the doctor who tried to reassure him this didn't usually happen and that the treatment wasn't harmful to the boy, causing the woman to shut up. She didn't dare protest, not when she saw the crazy gleam in his eyes.

Chapter 5

Chapter Text

10-11yo

Tsushima Shuuji was released from the hospital while still fully unconscious, into his grandfather's custody, against his parents' court approved written will.

"The beginning of the end, I presume," Hirotsu muttered, trying to put things together. He remembered doing that investigation of the burned down manor in Aomori. He remembered speaking with Natsume. He remembered how, soon after, for whatever reason, the boss became obsessed with something and then descended almost completely into insanity perhaps a year later.

"Isn't that the bad man his mother didn't want Shuuji-kun to talk to?" Kenji asked with a worried frown. He had not smiled once since the death of Chibi. No one had. They had a feeling they won't be smiling anytime soon.

"He is, Kenji-kun," Ranpo replied wearily. "Unfortunately, he is."

"... At least we know Dazai-san isn't with him anymore," was the optimistic response and they all collectively thought that this boy must be protected at all costs for being so sweet.

"Though, we have to admit, he was pretty badass for a nine year old kid," Tachihara said, in his own attempt to lighten the mood, knowing that, no doubt, soon enough, there will be more things to make them depressed now that the boy was in the hands of such a widely acknowledged cruel man.

"I suppose," Kunikida agreed, fixing his glasses higher on his nose. "Though itdoesbeg to question as to why he doesn't put more effort into field work if he has training."

"Dazai-kun is trained to kill," Mori answered, though even he appeared hesitant to rain on their parade, so to speak. The gloomy mood was making even him shifty. "Chuuya-kun could most easily attest to it, but if Dazai-kun has to fight, it's to kill, otherwise he will be killed. In the past, while he was with us, that's the sort of skill he needed and should be proud of. But if he's going to pretend to be a goody-goody-two-shoes-"

"He can't use his skills to the fullest," f*ckuzawa interjected before Mori could provoke his employees, and during such an emotional time. He glared at his former partner but Mori just shrugged. "He'd probably be questioned about it and his old record would be brought back into the light again after all the effort that's been put into erasing it. It's why Dazai asked me not to ask him to carry lethal weapons, despite us both knowing he will always have a gun, a backup and at least five cartridge clips, at least three blades, poison and a taser on his person at all times."

"Yeah, that's something that will never change," Chuuya agreed. "You should just be happy he stopped carrying a shotgun."

"Dazai-san used to carry a shotgun?" Both of said man's proteges asked, one of them wondering how he got his hands on it and why he carried it around, the other wonderinghowhe carried it around because he was pretty sure he'd never seen it on him.

Chuuya turned a deadpan stare at the two. "Dazai used to carry a whole ass sniper when we were seventeen until some idiot broke it. It had been a gift from Oda. Needless to say, that idiot did not see light of day ever again."

"Dazai-san killed him!?" Squeaked Atsushi in fright but Chuuya shook his head even as the scene around them turned into the familiar whirlwind of colors.

"Nope. Poor bastard's still rotting away in the darkest cell down in the Port Mafia's basem*nt, deprived of any and all sensory input except the occasional sound of guards coming to feed him and the chains around his body."

Kyouk's eyes lit up with recognition. "Akutagawa-san once punished me for talking to him. I think he broke down crying when he first heard my voice."

"It was Dazai-san's explicit orders," was all the Rashoumon user said in his defense when several dirty looks were shot his way, including from Kouyou. Kouyou had to huff in displeasure and let it go, knowing there was no point holding a grudge against someone fulfilling Dazai's orders, while the Armed Detective Agency weren't sure how they should react to this.

Luckily, the whirlwind of color settled just then, showing a familiar to some expensive office with floor to ceiling windows, a single desk and chair and a grandiose double doors on the wall opposite to it. In the middle of the room stood a man even fewer people recognized. In fact, only the Executives, Boss and Balck Lizard commander recognized the tall, stout, muscular man as the Colonel. He was still dressed in his tattered military uniform and judo belt, but he was currently wearing military boots as opposed to the tall wooden clogs he usually did in the time Chuuya had known him. His hair was still bristly and needle-like, but he was definitely younger looking than at the time of his death. Understandable, considering this seemed to be five to six years before it happened.

On the floor before him, beaten and bruised and a bit bloody, the red seeping through bandages worn on thin, frail-looking forearms, was none other than a maybe ten, probably eleven year old Shuuji. No longer was he dressed in well fitted, comfortable, expensive clothes as he had been at every other point of his childhood so far; instead he was dressed in tattered and worn black clothes that clearly hadn't seen a wash or a needle in weeks, if not longer. His once beautifully curly hair had been chopped down to nearly his skull, eerily matching in style the way his father had always worn his. His knuckles were bruised and split and he had no shoes on.

"Get up, boy," the old Boss, watching from the desk, ordered. "You're not done with your training yet."

The Colonel frowned down at the pitiful sight he had created in 'training' the boy but he dared not speak up against his Boss. Instead, he just reached down and hauled the boy back up to his feet. Shuuji was definitely a tiny bit taller, but he was still so small compared to the hulking man that a good part of the watching group felt ill as they watched him clumsily evade a kick that could have broken his ribs had it landed. "Good! Keep up, brat! You're doing good!" Colonel praised in his own way, relieved he hadn't landed another hit that would have definitely sent the boy to the emergency room. Again.

"Don't go easy on him," the Boss ordered, making the Executive-to-be stiffen up. "That boy bears the blood of Gen'emon. I've seen it with my own eyes. All he needs is a little push and some training and he'll make an even better assassin than Gen'emon could have been."

Not having any other choice, the Colonel followed the order and went even harder on the boy. Shuuji was taking more hits than could possibly ever be healthy for a kid his age - oranyone,for that matter - but he was still standing and dodging, barely trying to return a single blow. When, eventually, inevitably, another blow landed, Shuuji fell to the floor and vomited up what little food there was in his starved stomach. Kouyou was queasy when she recognized a liquid among the mess that still hadn't been fully digested yet as a poisonous substance that was probably only recently ingested. The boy stood no chance but to be the Colonel's punching bag from the get-go.

"I don't think he can get up, Boss," the Colonel said, staring at the heaving ten year old, trying his best not to show any emotion in his voice.

For the past year, the Boss had completely changed and everyone had noticed. For one, his youngest grandson was never out of reach. On a few occasions, they'd even seen him leading the boy around with cuffs around his wrists and chains on his ankles, a hand possessively wrapped around his nape as he led him about blindfolded. He devoted more and more time of this day to the boy's 'training', personally watching him get beaten to a pulp by the Colonel or any other martial arts expert available at the time, or cutting him up himself, injecting him with poisons and drugs to see how well the boy could take it. It was only a miracle that the child hadn't become an addict at this point, which only fascinated the Boss more. The eldest Tsushima never allowed anyone to be alone with Shuuji for more than five seconds. If you everdidfind yourself in such a situation, you're likely to be ordered to be executed.

That wasn't all. Of course not. Because Shuuji had such a natural neutral face, the Boss loved trying to make him crack, to seeanythingflash across his face that wasn't apathy or evenpitywhen he looked at the Tsushima patriarch. He starved and dehydrated him, he'd pulled out all the nails on his toes once, he'd forced him to hang upside down from the ceiling of his office by his toes until the bones had all dislocated and Shuuji had been unable to walk straight for weeks.

So far, the only times he'd gotten any kind of a reaction had been when he'd let one of his business partners try to have his way with the boy in the middle of a meeting and the time he'd locked him up in a cage small enough for him to have to curl up in it but big enough that, when the ravenous dogs he released on him tried to bite him through it, their snouts could barely reach him.

In case of the first one, Shuuji had improvised a noose with his own legs to snap the man's neck. He hadn't killed him, but he'll never be feeling anything from the neck down for as long as he lived. The Boss had been greatly entertained by it and had taken the advantage to destroy the other's organization.

In the case of the latter, though, was where the Bossreallygot his kicks, because, at first, Shuuji had been confused. The four dogs were all German Shepards, smaller than Chibi, but with a crazed look in their eyes that his deceased companion had never had. Then, when they started attacking him, he was scared. Shouting orders and pleading for them to stop. Not that it worked. All he could do was curl in on himself as tight as possible so their teeth barely grazed his flesh. It had lasted forhours. Even the old Boss had had to take a break, going to the bathroom, figuring nothing would change. Only to be stunned when he came back, because all the dogs were now whining in something like fear as they hesitantly backed away from the cage little by little.

And in the cage, still completely curled up but with his head lifted up high and haughtily, was Shuuji, glaring red-glinting eyes from the darkness in the room, looking every bit the demon he would one day be described as.

Even when Shuuji stopped staring them down some minutes later and instead just curled up to sleep, the dogs did not dare let out a single sound, let alone approach.

It only made the old Boss more eager to hone his grandson into a weapon the Mafia could profit off.

He couldn't get a reaction from the boy since and the Boss was getting bored at this point, just watching Shuuji get beat up. It's why he had something different planned.

The horrified audience watched as he picked up the only folder on his desk and threw it across the room. It landed a couple of steps away from Shuuji and his vomit, the contents spilling further from the impact and momentum. The entire Armed Detective Agency, plus Chuuya and Higuchi lost the color in their faces as they saw the pictures, depicting a gruesomely murdered Tsushima Kiye. Kouyou, who had once been in the care of that woman, as had many young ladies in the Mafia, had to look away, finally knowing what had happened to the fierce, yet kind woman and Hirotsu just closed his eyes in his grief, knowing she had been killed but never having known the old Boss had something to do with it.

The rest who hadn't known the woman beforehand but had still seen glimpses of her in these visions and how close she had managed to become with Shuuji couldn't help but mourn her, too. She had been kind, kinder than any other Tsushima other than his parents, to Shuuji and it was clear she was genuinely fond of her youngest nephew. She also seemed to have been the only sibling Tane had remained in contact and good relations with, considering she had trusted her with Shuuji's inheritance and Shuuji's care should anything happen to her, Gen'emon and, finally, Matsuki. Theyhadwondered, when the vision had started, how such a strong-willed woman hadn't stopped the abuse being dealt to the boy who was clearly her favorite nephew. There's no way she wouldn't have known about it. She was not naive nor was she blind to her father's increasing cruelty and madness.

Now they got their answer.

The pictures were gruesome and it was clear her death was a peaceful one. There was blood everywhere and it seems her heart was ripped out of her chest. Shuuji shifted his head the slightest bit too look at the pictures and went stiff.

"If only you could have been stronger, you could have visited her," the old Boss was say faux lamentably. "Then she wouldn't be thinking of ways to overthrow me or steal you from me. I had always thought Kiye was smarter than my other incompetent children - well, aside, of course, Tane - but I guess this is what disappointment feels like. You'd think I was used to it, considering the rest, but alas. It is always more painful when someone you put high hopes into turns out like this, a mere traitor and backstabber. A wannabe thief, too. Kiye really ended up being the stupidest of them all. As though I'd let her, or anyone else, take you from me. You werecreatedfor this world,Shuuji-chan-"

He was cut off when Shuuji suddenly surged from the floor, surprising the Colonel by delivering a powerful punch right into his groin, making the tree of a man topple over in excruciating pain. The audience mostly cheered, even the people who had known and respected the man, because that was a very good move. However, their celebrations were cut short when Shuuji charged at the old Boss, a knife in hand that he had clearly stolen off of the Colonel. The Colonel, even through his pain, tried to stop the boy by turning the floor into a liquid state, but the second his Ability traveled close enough to Shuuji's feet, No Longer Human lit up and the floor remained solid beneath him as he jumped up onto the desk.

"WATCH OUT!" Atsushi and Kenji uselessly called as a huge red scythe made an appearance from behind the Boss' desk, the old man taking a swing at his own prized grandchild, only Shuuji had predicted it and ducked beneath the swing. With the new small open window in his grandfather's defense, Shuuji made a semi-deep cut all across his chest, diagonally, from left upper thigh to the top of his right shoulder with the stolen knife. The old Boss yelled in pain and rage, about to yell or possibly kill Shuuji, only for all color to drain from his face as he saw the ferocious grin and murderous glare directed at him from the child's face.

"D-DEMON!" The panicked Mafia Boss yelped and swung back with his scythe without adjusting the angle or the grip.

That was what Shuuji wanted, as he turned around so he could block any direct damage from the hit that sent him sailing right through the floor-to-ceiling glass windows of the office.

"WHAT THE f*ck!?" More than one person yelled and more than one person rushed towards the windows as though to catch the boy, Akutagawa and Kyouka even trying to call on Rashoumon and Demon Snow respectively to catch him, despite knowing it wouldn't have worked even if this was the real world they could interact with and not these visions.

"Isn't the glass up there, like, reinforced and bulletproof, Boss!?" Higuchi squeaked at the current Port Mafia Boss and the man sweatdropped.

"Well, you see ... It was actually Dazai-kun who insisted we should put reinforced glass in all the offices ... And the rest of the building."

"Of course it was," the blonde muttered even as they all watched Shuuji start to plummet.

"How thehelldid he survivethis?" A stricken, panicking Naomi asked, holding onto Junichiro as they all watched Shuuji just ...fall. Then they were suddenly able to see the boy up close, as though they were falling with him or that the scene was from a movie and they were just watching it on TV.

"GET THAT BOY! DON'T LET HIM DIE OR I WILL HAVE ALL OF YOUR HEADS!" The Boss screeched and thundered in an intercom of sorts and you could see various Port Mafia members rush towards the windows or down on the street outside, running around in panic like headless chickens.

Shuuji, though, knew there was next to no chance for them to save him. And he was more than fine with that. He's been holding on to an empty world that left him feeling even more hollow inside day by day for far too long.'Kaa-chan is dead. Tou-chan is dead. Matsuki-san is dead. The other Tsushima servants are dead. Aunt Kiye is dead. Even Chibi is dead. And now Ojii-san, no,that monsterwants me, something Kaa-chan was always against ... There's nothing left for me. I'm all alone ... Why should I keep holding on? I have no one to do it for.'He closed his eyes, trying to remember every single vivid detail of the people he had lost, who had cared for him and loved him and he was ready to come back into their embrace through death-

When a blurry, almost forgotten image flashed before his eyes. The night of a huge, full moon lighting up a crater of destruction and despair. Howls of pain and misery and victory and vicious glee. A too hot touch turning pleasantly warm as cool blue light lit up the night.

A boy, no older than himself, with fiery hair and the bluest eyes Shuuji had ever seen ...

A boy who had been a monster but had come back to himself because of a single touch from Tsushima Shuuji and only from that one touch.

Needless to say, Chuuya was gawking at the vision, a slight pink tint to his cheeks. The rest were kinda staring in awe between the vision and the gravity manipulator, though the fear for Shuuji's fate was still very much in the air, especially as he was still falling.

Shuuji's eyes snapped open. 'That's right. I still need to find him! Before the government does!'With a core strength belying all the brutal training he'd had to go through, Shuuji managed to twist himself midair around the time he'd reached half the height of the building. Seeing a few hopper windows open in relative vertical alignment of each other, he quickly partially unwrapped his bandages and put his hands over his head, letting the white and bloodied cotton soar above him. He then angled his body until, finally, he was in alignment with the first window. He closed his eyes and braced himself as he fell past it but the flapping bandages caught on it. The sudden impact was too much for the window and not only did it unhinge and bend, causing Shuuji to continue falling, but the glass also broke, littering Shuuji's exposed arms with cuts on top of the injuries he had already sustained. Shuuji barely winced, instead directed his momentum so he would repeat the process with the next window, and the next.

"What in the ... " The President couldn't finish the thought, staring wide eyed, like every else, as gradually, Shuuji managed to slow down his descent.

"How the hell does that even work?" Tanizaki breathed, not able to believe his eyes. After all, Kyouka had had to rescue him using a parachute and Demon Snow, but the eleven year old was doing just fine with only bandages!

The problem arose when there were no more open windows.

"Oh. So it'sthatday," Kouyou whispered in realization and before anyone could ask her what she meant, a couple of Mafia grunts came out of a fully open window and started walking up the building, arms outstretched as though hoping to catch the child so they could walk him back in with whatever magnetic power was allowing them to do something like this in the first place. Shuuji narrowed his eyes on them, did a quick calculation, before aiming in between them. As he had predicted, they managed to catch his bandages despite missing his body and they managed to hold on for a second before his Ability's effects traveled through the cloth and the two who'd caught the bandages were suddenly fully embraced by gravity. Shuuji also continued falling, slightly slower than before, once again. He managed to snag his bandages on the fully open window, too, andthatone actually really slowed down his fall. He was now only a few more floors from ground level, but still too high up to get out of it without crippling injuries.

He needed to land in such a way that he can run right after or else this whole little endeavor would be useless. It would be for nothing and Shuuji would be locked up even more securely than before.

This was his only chance to escape the Port Mafia, to not fall into his grandfather's clutches, and he wasn't going to waste it.

Three floors before he was to hit the hard concrete bellow, a strange being rushed upwards to meet him. It looked like a reddish samurai woman but she had no legs, no pupils and no mouth. Shuuji immediately realized she was an Ability and probably his last speed bumper before he hits the ground. Though, down below, he can see they've thrown about trash bags, office chair pillows and even the infirmary's sh*tty mattresses had been thrown out from the lowest floors to make an improvised landing zone. Perfect. He still had his knife, so he just needs to stick the landing.

Avoiding and maneuvering around the swordswoman Ability was harder than the grunts or catching onto the windows, but by kicking a bit against the building behind him, he was able to soar right past her head, his bandages catching onto her neck, causing her to bend backwards in a strange manner before his own Ability nullified her out of existence, allowing Shuuji to fall the last bit of the distance at a pace just slow enough that when he landed on the improvised soft area, he could just continue rolling to get rid of the excess kinetic energy before he sprang to his feet and onto the first mafioso that tried to grab him.

"Holy sh*t!" Yosano said with a whistle as Shuuji incapacitated five grunts until he came across what appears to be one of Kiye's former subordinates. The man just lets him go with a nod, having seen how much his boss had loved the boy, and Shuuji repaid him this kindness by harmlessly knocking him out so he wouldn't be suspected for treason.

"Oh, so that's just a thing he does," Chuuya commented, recalling a blown up car and a four years late half-explanation he got for it.

"Are we not going to talk about Kouyou-san having been there?" Gin asked and the redhead lady just shrugged.

"I've been in the Mafia for far too long, lass. But at least now I know why Gold Demon was so easily defeated," the elder Executive replied smoothly, always having wondered about the person who had defeated her Ability that had made the Port Mafia covet her so.

"You're focusing onthat?" Tachihara scoffed. "How about the fact that aneleven year old kidhad just managed to escape the Port Mafia, from the very top of HQ in a free fall, mind you, all on his own?"

"It's still Dazai," Ranpo pointed out. "Doing ridiculous things others could never pull off is kind of his thing."

"Do you think being created by the Book allowed him to survive that fall?" Gin asked her brother and for once, Ryuunosuke wasn't sure what the right answer would be. The feat was incredible, amazing,astounding. No mere human should have been able to pull that off without an appropriate, suitable Ability or at least some sort of helping equipment. But it felt wrong not to think of his former mentor as anythingbuthuman, something they all know he struggles with as is ...

"No, it's just because the mackerel is the type of person who would survive a nuclear war. Only him and the roaches," Chuuya, having overheard the question, answered, sparing Akutagawa the turmoil.

"Are we really not going to talk about the fact that Dazai decided to live after thinking about Chuuya?" Yosano asked with a teasing smirk. The said Executive flipped her off.

"Wouldn't be the first time," Mori chirped, causing the short ginger to become a blushing and shouting mess but unable to outright contradict his Boss out of sheer respect. (And mounting embarrassment.)

Everyone laughed for the first time since the Tsushima manor burned to the ground as the world shifted again.

Chapter 6

Chapter Text

11-12yo

The next few visions weren't as ...steadyas those they've been shown previously.

It shows them months of Dazai's life as an orphaned runaway living on the streets, surviving on Mafia territory despite units looking for him each and every day, all day long. He lived day to day, shoplifting and slowly mastering pick-pocketing to feed and clothe himself, living in abandoned buildings or houses on sale, though it was easy to see the latter afforded him even less sleep than if he were to sleep on a park bench. When he could not afford to get something new to wear after something became so threadbare that it was falling apart on him, he'd sneak into people's backyeards and take a few articles of clothing so he can at least look a little less suspicious if he walks into a shop to steal more clothes.

At one point, they see him with a calico cat that Hirotsu, f*ckuzawa and Mori immediately recognize as Natsume and inform their confused comrades as much when they don't understand the significance of the cat. Little Shuuji noticed within two days that it's the exact same cat following him around and actually starts paying attention to it. They're not sure how or why, but one day, when Natsume the cat comes to check on him, Shuuji nods to the calico with a whispered "Sensei," as a greeting, shocking themandNatsume.

Hirotsu couldn't help but smirk as he realized Dazai had bamboozled even Natsume with his sharp mind.

Shuuji seems to hold out just fine on the streets, especially when Natsume starts leading him around to good spots to pickpocket richer, far-more-deserving-of-the-misfortune people and better, safer places to sleep without alerting anyone of his presence, until the flue season hits in late autumn.

"It's so strange to see Dazai-san sick," Kenji comments what the entire Agency was thinking, since Dazai hadnevertaken sick leave in the two years he'd been wroking with them. Given the man's bad eating habbits, lack of proper sleep schedule and tendencies to eat/drink poisonous things and dive into cold rivers for fun, you'd think he would be the one most using up his sick leave out of everyone. Yet,nope! Dazai was, by far, the healthiest in the Agency in that regard. It's as though diseases avoided him.

"Dazai-kun was always more prone to injury than illness," Mori said with a sigh, recalling the early days when Dazai wasn't completely disgusted to be in his presence for longer than necessary. "Even infection was hard to set in. That, more than Dazai-kun's skills, might be a byproduct of being created with the help of the Book."

"Makes sense," Ranpo commented. "If you write down that you want your dear friend to be able to have ahealthychild, it might be something that extends beyond the birth. After all, children who are born during a complicated labor have 24% more chance to be sickly than kids born in an easy labor." Yosano gave an agreeing nod as she watched with worried eyes how an ill Shuuji stumbled along the streets. His face was flushed and sweaty, his clothes practically soaked on him as the cold wind whipped him mercilessly. The shivers at this point could be either from the cold or from the fever. He also seems to throw up any food he manages to force himself to eat and he was definitely not drinking enough water.

'I need medicine,'was the first thought that reached them.

"What he needs is a doctor," f*ckuzawa said with a worried sigh. "He always hates doing his check ups, right?" Yosano just nodded, glaring at Mori as though it was his fault.

The former military doctor actually looked offended. "I'll have you know Dazai-kun hated being treated when I met him. He always gave me or any other doctor the stink eye. Whatever other grievances Dazai-kun may have against me, his issues with doctors are not my fault."

"I'll believe it when I see it."

"Seeing how these visions have been working so far," Akutagawa said dryly. "We just might."

"DAZAI-SAN!" Atsushi's panicked yell had everyone focusing back on said visions, only to see that Shuuji had finally succumbed to his illness and seems to have fainted in the middle of the street. It didn't take long for people to gather around, talking among themselves or taking pictures instead of, you know, checking on him. "Why aren't they helping him!?"

"Atsushi, relax, Dazai-san is alive and fine," Kyouka tried to comfort him but even her eyes were fixed on the unconscious boy with unsuppressed worry. "We'll probably be seeing him soon."

Finally, someone actually pushed through the crowd of useless people and came over to check if the boy was even alive while the woman that had come with was already calling an ambulance. They watched as the paramedics arrived and Shuuji was loaded into the ambulance. They could see as they checked his temperature and for injuries before determining it was the flue. They started basic treatment when Shuuji briefly came to and started fighting them, trying to escape much like he had the last time he was in a proper hospital, when the doctors had given him away to the one person in this world his mother hadn't wanted him to interact with. Only this time, despite being stronger, older and slightly bigger than back then, he was too sick, too weak from malnutrition to properly fight back and he was subdued far easier than following the tragedy that struck his family.

The Mafia and the Agency could only watch as the drugs put him to sleep again and he was taken to a hospital.

This time, it seems he didn't wake up for a couple of days, until he fully recovered. When he did, this time, he didn't try to escape or fight his nurses, who eyed him warily, having been informed of his initial reaction. Instead, he looked like all the fight had left him.

Chuuya narrowed his eyes. "Something's fishy here. sh*tty Dazaineveractually just gives up or gives in."

'Those drugs make me drowsy. I can't afford to be put into artificial sleep again. That's how I ended up with the old man. Pretending to me docile and frightened will make getting out of here much easier.'

"Knew it."

"Is that why he hates using even pain medication?" Yosano wondered. "Because he doesn't want it to fog up his mind?"

"I assure you that, at this point, that would be impossible, Yosano-kun. Dazai-kun's body is completely immune to drugs - both the medical kind and the ... 'recreational' - alcohol and poison and has been since he was around sixteen years old. It's one of the things that made him a terrific interrogator even when he's someone else's captive."

"So he's secretly just a masoch*st?" Kunikida asks with an arched eyebrow.

"I don't know what you sh*theads are talking about," Chuuya huffed. "Dazai uses pain medication occasionally, when he gets seriously hurt. But he hates using it because they're a convenient suicide method. If Dazai's bothering to take medication, it's because he considers it an imperative to stay alive just long enough to finish whatever bullsh*t he started. Taking pain meds can be addictive or lethal in certain dosages and because of his resistance to drugs, the idiot needs a much bigger dose than recommended. In fact, he's more likely to overdose than to numb his pain. That's why he doesn't like using pain meds when he's actually focusing on something."

"Aren't we all glad to have a Dazai-translator to help us better understand the boy that will became Dazai?" Ranpo asked teasingly but Chuuya just sent him a glare before focusing back on the child version of his partner interacting with a doctor, a policeman and a social worker.

"What's your name, buddy?" The social worker finally asked with a pretty smile on her lips, trying not to intimidate the 'frightened' boy.

'My real name is not an option. Even if I just changed my last name, 'Shuuji' isn't such a popular name these days. The Port Mafia has connections in the healthcare system and with the police. One mention of a 'Shuuji' will have them breathing down my neck before I can escape. And I'm still not nearly well enough to pull off something likethatagain. I'd probably just let myself fall ... So, a new name. A powerful name ... A name befitting the dignity and grace of my parents and Matsuki-san ... A name like-'

"Dazai. My name is Dazai Osamu." And somehow, that felt more right than Tsushima Shuuji ever had.

"Honestly, same," Atsushi murmured. "It was so strange to clearly recognize Dazai-san yet hear him be referred to as Shuuji."

"I completely agree," Mori, surprisingly, said. "The name Tsushima gives me hives."

Kouyou and Hirotsu grimaced with dignity. They, too, disliked the family name. Too much suffering has always been attached to it and after seeing what Tsushima Shuuji went through, they were gladDazai Osamufinally emerged.

The social worker smiled with relief. "That's a very nice name. Say, Osamu-kun-"

"I'd prefer Dazai," the boy whispered and the woman nodded.

"Dazai-kun, then. Can you tell me why you were on the streets with such a high fever? Where are your parents? Or any other family?"

"Dead," little Dazai answered, not even lying. "I've been on the streets for the past couple of months, surviving by following a stray cat around to see where it gets food."

"Oh, that clever bastard," Chuuya said with a vicious grin. "He really did always know how to put the wool over everyone's eyes, huh? Playing the scared little kid when he literally jumped from the seventieth floor just a few months ago."

The social worker's face fell at that, pity quickly filling her expression. Dazai fought the urge to grimace at that. He didn't need pity. He just needed to stay out of his rotten grandfather's clutches. "And you have no one else to stay with? No extended family? Family friends?"

"I'm not from Yokohama."

The police officer finally spoke up. "Do you know where you're from? Where your home is?"

Dazai just shook his head. "Somewhere with a lot of snow during late autumn and winter?"

"He didn't want to go back to his home town?" Kenji asked with confusion.

"Of course not. Having witnessed how capable Shuuji is, the old Boss would have no doubt sent people to monitor the whole Aomori prefecture, let alone the town he's from," Ranpo explained and the freckled blond nodded in understanding.

They asked the boy some more questions before leaving him to rest. Dazai contemplated escaping through the window but knew his face would be all over newsreports and front pages if he left now. Besides, it was far warmer inside the hospital than it was out there. So he stayed, thinking of what he should do next. He did not sleep that night. He pretended when the nurses checked on him, figuring out slowly how to manipulate his heart so the heart-rate monitor wouldn't give him away. He couldn't do it for long, but he could do it long enough for the one minute check ins.

"Holy sh*t, Dazai can control his heart rate? I'm definitely going to test him on that when this sh*t is over."

Chuuya scoffed at Yosano's amazement. "This? This isnothing. That slippery f*cker can do Morse code with his heartbeats these days."

"WHAT THE f*ck!?" An excited and intrigued Yosano and a scared and traumatized Tachihara exclaimed at the same time.

Chuuya looked far too smug while bragging about his (ex?) partner.

In the morning, the social worker came back with news that Dazai will be placed in an orphanage until they can find him better accommodations. But since Yokohama was a big city. all the orphanages were filled to full capacity and so Dazai was once again, finally, leaving Yokohama.'Good riddance.'

Atsushi flinched at the bitter thought, remembering when Dazai had congratulated him on saving Yokohama and saying how it was nowhiscity. He had definitely not resented it then, but it seems that child Dazai did. Understandable, considering all of his memories related to Yokohama so far are terrible.

And then Atsushi flinched for a whole other reason as the world around them shifted again, forwarding them in time by just a couple of weeks and miles, until they were in a place Atsushi, unfortunately, recognized far too well. "Why are the visions showing my old orphanage?" He asked, horrified, as he spotted the little Dazai sitting inside the very same library he'd often sat in himself, reading one of the books. He was definitely reading a much more mature book than Atsushi had read at his age, but for once in a very long while, he seemed content.

That didn't last, however, as the door to the library opened sharply and the Headmaster walked in, steps brisk, hands behind his back in a show of superiority over the seated child and expression harsh. Atsushi was on the verge of shaking, despite knowing this wasn't real, at least not in the present, that the man was dead, that Dazai was alright - as much as someone like him could be, anyways - and despite the revelation that, apparently, the road to hell really is paved with good intentions, considering the Headmaster's 'reasoning' for all the abuse Atsushi had to deal with. Seeing Atsushi's reaction put the rest of them on edge, especially the Agency members, who had at least some idea of what the Headmaster used to do to Atsushi. Kyouka reached out and held his hand and Kenji, bless him, did the same. He didn't even wince when Atsushi's grip turned bone-breaking; Kenji hadn't eaten lunch yet, so he was hungry and therefore had his supernatural strength. In turn, though, Kyouka used her own strong grip to grind Atsushi's hand bones together to ground him in the moment.

Perhaps the greatest surprise of all was when Akutagawa approached and put a palm on his nape, snapping him out of any memories and flashbacks that were trying to drown him, instead letting him focus on the scene unfolding before them.

With dread, Atsushi watched his old abuser approach the younger, more vulnerable,weakerversion of his mentor and savior and bile was surging up his throat at his own helplessness to save him. Because this had already happened. This was beyond their control, just like the night the Tsushima couple died, just like when the manor was attacked, just like when Shuuji jumped off of the Port Mafia Headquarters-

"You've been nothing but a burden since you were brought here, urchin," the Headmaster said, standing right over the small brunet, who didn't even bother to look up from his book. "You don't do the chores you're assigned. You don't come to meals when you're called. You don't show up for the disciplinary sessions you've earned with your impudent behavior. You don't participate in your classes. You don't respect the other caretaker's authority. You don't report the misbehavior of other children. You don't show up when potential parents come. You don't speak to the social workers-"

"I have no interest in playing your games of corruption, crime and punishment," Dazai spoke up in a calm, disinterested, quiet voice that the Port Mafia members immediately recognized as the one he'd used nearly 80% of the time when he'd been a mafioso. There was no emotion in that voice, no particular intonation, just boredom and disinterest. Dazai didn't even look up at the adult he was addressing. "You have no life, no real purpose, no real interests and no authority or credibility anywhere out there, in the real world, so you, all of you, take it out on helpless children that are too scared or too powerless to oppose you. You abuse them and brainwash them if you can to be the punching bags of society and you claim it's for the 'greater good'." Dazai looked up and everyone sucked in a sharp gasp at howemptyhis eyes looked. It was a look no one had seen in four years. It was as though you were staring into a cold, dark, endless void that could swallow you whole in an instant. "You have a skewed and convoluted, poisonous savior complex but are too much of a coward to actually save someone yourself, so you hope your abuse will make good people out of these children. Or, at the very least, people you can repress. You'll find that you're hardly the biggest monster I've ever faced, but your delusions might just make you the ugliest."

Atsushi gawked, the rest of the Agency stared in shock, Higuchi and Tachihara were impressed and disturbed while the rest of the Mafia just either winced or just outright weren't surprised considering it was a talent Dazai was widely known for, being able to find someone's weak spots and press and press andpressuntil they broke, one way or another.

The Headmaster broke in a far too predictable manner, making to viciously kick the child that had so easily and boldly opposed, insulted and seen right through him, resorting to violence to try and beat the attitude out of the boy. But Dazai was having none of it, not with the training he'd received. He dropped his book, caught the incoming foot andtwisteduntil something snapped. The Headmaster howled in pain and toppled over and Dazai just let him, going back to his book even as the other caregivers rushed in and watched as their superior tried to crawl away from the little brunet. The woman that had always supported the Headmaster the most when he was verbally or physically abusing Atsushi came closer as if to slap him, but Dazai just looked up at her.

In this lighting, now, as opposed to earlier, his eyes lookedred. Like a demon watching you from the shadowy corner of the room, ready to pounce and devour your soul. The stare was still cold and calculating and soemptyof normal emotions that the woman flinched away, frozen on the spot. She didn't dare approach.

"Y-you! You are no longer human, if you ever were, foul fiend! Demon! A spawn of hell itself!" She yelled, but was quick to scurry away with the others as soon as they'd collected the headmaster.

Dazai just tilted his head, seemingly in thought.'No longer human? Is that it? That phrase ... It feels right. Yes ... I think that might just be the name of my Ability. No wonder I haven't figured it out before. I never questioned whether I'm human ... Perhaps I should have ...'

"That's it, I'm going to your orphanage and killing that bitch," hissed Chuuya. If they'd had access to their Abilities, he was worried he might have activated Corruption in his blind rage, a feat he'd managed only once, when he was an emotional sixteen year old teenager after Shibusawa had provoked him by mocking his dead friends. They were lucky their Abilities weren't accessible here; they would have all been doomed without Dazai to stop him. "The Headmaster, too. f*ck him."

"The Headmaster is dead," Atsushi said in a daze, disbelieving eyes still staring at the seated form of the child version of his mentor. Dazai, who had only recently gotten out of the hospital, who had watched the deaths of everyone he had even remotely cared about, who had been beaten and repeatedly drugged and malnourished and had spent months on the streets, who lookedso smallcompared to the Headmaster, hadfought back. Verbally, physically, he'd fought back. The hurtful words they threw at him mattered nothing to him. In fact, he seemed more focused on pondering his Ability and why all Ability users just instinctively knew their name, either after hearing it or shortly after first using it.

"So this is how Ability users name their Abilities?" Higuchi asked. "It just ... comes to you?"

"There was an interesting study done some twenty years ago," Mori replied. "Ability users do, indeed, instinctively know the name of their Ability. The Ability is something seemingly rooted in a human's very soul. It's why very rarely an Ability takes a toll physically on its user. So yes, buried somewhere deep within each Ability user, active or latent, lies the name of their Ability. Whether and when the name comes to them or if they find out after hearing and/or reading it, like in this case, varies from user to user. For instance,Ifound out the name of my Ability while studying in medical school, when we started learning Latin."

"Similarly, I learned the name of my own Ability while reading an interesting book on the long and tiring history of the fight for human rights for all," f*ckuzawa added.

"I think I found out mine when I was joking with some of the soldiers I was healing," Yosano commented.

"I just, uh, knew, when I realized I was actually the tiger I thought was hunting me," Atsushi said sheepishly.

"I also just knew from the moment I used Rashoumon with a specific purpose," Akutagawa joined the trend by revealing.

"I knew Demon Snow's name from my mother."

"What about you, Chuuya-san?" Tachihara asked his fellow ginger, but Chuuya just shrugged. He's not even sure whether he should be included in this. Most of these people knew a life before having an Ability. Chuuya didn't.

"Nii-sama learned his during a weather report," Naomi chirped, to which everyone kind of sweatdropped and looked at Tanizaki pityingly. It just sounded a bit cringe ...

"I found out mine from a boy trying to bully me after I was called upon by a teacher to read a poem in class," Kunikida revealed and now everyone was pitying him, too.

"I found out when Soseki-san bought me flowers," Hirotsu said and instantly everyone's attention was on him, wondering if those two had been somethingmorethan they'd seen or been told, but the world shifted a bit, as though on a speed-run, until the library was dark with only the moonlight providing some light. Dazai had seemingly gone through five books in that time and was now bored, just leaning against a bookshelf when it suddenly seemed to give beneath him.

"Huh?" Was the shared sound of confusion among everyone, including a perplexed Dazai.

"Jinko-"

"I didn't know," Atsushi answers before Akutagawa could even finish his question.

"That's creepy," Higuchi whispered to Tachihara, despite it involving her precious Akutagawa-senpai.

Hirotsu overhears them and wonders what their reaction will be if they're shown any of Soukoku's antics. Shin Soukoku were, after all, mere infants in comparison.

'This bookcase can move ... No, not the entire bookcase, just this section. There's a secret tunel here, one not used often,'little Dazai concluded, deciding that, since he was bored anyways, he might as well investigate. He pushes with all his might against the section of the bookcase that had moved and soon, it gives, letting him open up a small tunel, as though only barely big enough to not make a cat or smaller dog claustrophobic. Dazai narrowed his eyes. Judging from the lack of any kind of foot prints and all the dust in the air and on the floor, he was right in his assumption. No one had used this tunnel in at least a year.'But why would a random orphanage have a secret tunnel in the library not big enough to fit even the thinnest, shortest adults? And how did no one find it before?'

And proving that he's most definitely Dazai once again, without any sort of fear or self-preservation to hold him back, Dazai crawled in, curious as to what he may find. Interestingly enough, the tunnel wasn't long before it was suddenly a corridor within which easily a tall human could stand up. However, the corridor itself wasn't long. Within maybe a minute of walking, the little brunet came upon a dead end.

"Was it some sort of shelter?" Tachihara wondered but Gin looked at him as though he were an idiot. "What!? It could be!"

The assassin just rolled her eyes to convey the message of 'You are an idiot' before turning her attention back to the vision. Dazai also seemed rather confused by his find, walking towards the wall blocking the corridor from continuing, hand outstretched. The second his fingertips brushed against the hard surface, however, No Longer Human lit up the narrow space and the wall vanished, revealing a chamber that looked like a maze?

"So it was an illusion," Junichiro breathed. He'd done similar things with Light Snow in the past, but that wall had beensoliduntil the child had touched it.

Ranpo narrowed his eyes. "This maze seems suspicious."

Dazai seemed to think so, too, because he stepped carefully with one hand outstretched in front of him, the other reaching to the side to brush against the wall as he came to the start of the maze. And just like the wall, No Longer Human obliterated the illusion(?) once again, revealing that while, yes, therewasa maze, of sorts, it was just one strip of solid ground not at all aligned with the paths available within the illusionary maze itself. All around it, though, was an abyss of darkness, a drop with no end in sight.

The people watching all couldn't help but shiver at the realization any one of them would have died right then and there.

Dazai just narrowed his eyes. "What on earth is someone protecting to have made such a trap?"

"Protecting?" Kunikida echoed, watching uneasily as the child version of his colleague easily balanced on the thin path available to him. It wasn't thin enough to require walking one foot directly in front of the other, but itwasenough that, should his foot slip, he would fall right over.

"It makes sense," Kouyou said in reply to the not-quite-question. "I rather doubt someone would go out of their way to set up so many obstacles just for the hell of it."

"She's right," Ranpo added. "The secret tunnel-turn-corridor, the fake wall hiding the maze, the fake maze hiding therealpassage ... It's all too much effort for it not to have a very specific guarding purpose. And I think I know what is being guarded."

Hirotsu nodded, having recognized Natsume's style the second the hidden maze was revealed. "This is Soseki-san's doing."

"Never a dull moment with Dazai-san," Kyouka commented, earning a few snickered and giggles.

"I'll have to hold a discussion with him regarding his recklessness, though," f*ckuzawa said with a sigh, more to himself than anyone else, but Mori heard him.

"Please do, old friend. I would so hate for Dazai-kun to die when there's still so much he can do for the Port Mafia and Yokohama."

"I'm sorry to disappoint you, old friend, but Dazai won't be going back to you."

Mori just smiled, as unconvinced as ever that Dazai will forever stay away but thankfully they didn't argue or come to blows regarding it this time. Maybe some other time ...

With No Longer Human keeping the confusing illusion at bay, Dazai easily navigated the more or less straightforward path to the other side of the chamber, walking through the doorway there and entering a dark hallway. This one wasn't as long and had a door at the end maybe some five or six meters away. Still, Dazai stepped carefully and kept a hand on the wall, in case there were anymore traps set by Abilities. It was a good move, as No Longer Human had a constant glow in this tunnel, surrounding Dazai's entire body and lighting up his way as a bonus.

"So it's all an illusion?" Tanizaki asked, but Chuuya shook his head.

"Nope. No Longer Human acts like this only when there's something in the air. Like the Dragon's Breath," he explained, watching as only a few people from the Agency seemed to understand what he was talking about, Ranpo, f*ckuzawa, Atsushi and Kyouka among them. "Though it seems to have acted that way when he walked through Ability-caused fires, like in the manor. The only other way No Longer Human would light up like that would be if someone could constantly keep using their Ability on Dazai, but that's not possible since all Abilities get nullified and stay nullified as long as there is contact."

"So there might be something in the air here that could have been lethal or at least just harmful for anyone other than Dazai?" f*ckuzawa asked with a frown and Chuuya shrugged.

"Most likely. Illusions break around Dazai, as you've seen, so that's the only other plausible explanation."

"Dazai-san's Ability sure is something," Kenji commented and that was that as they watched Dazai open the door to a very familiar room. "Isn't this the place we saw in the first vision?"

And it, indeed, was. Nothing had changed since they first saw the room, as sparsely furnished as before, only dustier and moldier. It looked like no one had been here for a very long time.

"It's not like Natsume-sensei to just leave something so volatile and dangerous unprotected and unchecked for so long," Mori stated with a frown and Hirotsu and f*ckuzawa nodded in agreement, as baffled by this turn of events as the Mafia Boss was. "But I suppose the protection he set up would be enough to deal with anyone besides Dazai-kun. Though that's just the standard Dazai Osamu experience."

"Wait, so does this mean that that guy has the Book?" Tachihara asked, causing everyone to stiffen at that revelation.

"I mean, hecouldhave just left it, right?" Higuchi said uncertainly, but even she didn't sound convinced of her own suggestion.

"It would actually explain a lot, I think," Ranpo said vaguely and did not elaborate his cryptic observation. Instead, he watched as the glowing Book seemed to draw Dazai in. Or it could be just that it's a random book giving off an ethereal white glow in a secret, dusty chamber under a random orphanage and Dazai's a curious kid. They all observed in silence as Dazai carefully lifted the lid 'protecting' the Book, No Longer Human sparking again, indicating some sort of Ability-based protection had been placed there, too, only to prove useless in front of a ten and a half year old child.

The second Dazai touched the Book, it's glow evaporated, leaving the boy in the darkness of the secret room, blinking down in bewilderment at the Book. "What on earth?" He put it down and it lit up again, but the white light vanished when Dazai touched it again. A frown appeared on the brunet's features.'So it's an Ability? I doubt an inanimate object canhavean Ability by itself, but is it the anchor to someone else's Ability? No ... It's a byproduct.'

"How the hell did he figure that out so quickly?" Tachihara wondered but all he got as response were shrugs and "He's Dazai".

Dazai left the Book on the work desk beside the Book's pedestal, letting the Book illuminate the room until he found something to light the candles he'd noticed. Rummaging around the drawers of the desk provided him with some matches, so soon, there was light beside the Book in the secret chamber. With that done, Dazai went back to the Book, opening it to see what's so special about it, only to find it blank. "That's odd." He kept flipping the pages until he finally found a written page. "Oh."

"Oh?" Everyone echoed, puzzled by the strange tone in that single noise Dazai let out.

A curious Kenji walked over and looked over Dazai's shoulder. They knew it couldn't be anything pretty when his face fell. "It's about Dazai-san's birth."

"So he found out how he was created," Mori concluded and for once he didn't know how to feel about this. Usually, he'd use such a clear weakness to antagonize or manipulate, be it the people here or later his former protege, but he's not sure even he was asshole enough to touch on something like this. Instead, he walked over and also read over the little Dazai's shoulder, ignoring how Yosano marched over to hover protectively over the illusion of the child, also reading the things written on the pages. "So Tsushima Tane was infertile, an unfortunate gene that has spread to half of the female members of the Tsushima family, such as her eldest sister Kiye, but 'by some miracle one in a four million miracle', Tanedoesget pregnant. This is how it happened."

"All of this is weird," Yosano commented. "Like, there are entire paragraphs dedicated to this. It seems like Natsume-sensei really did his research before doing this. He could have just written that Tane got pregnant and carried the baby safely to term."

"It might have something to do with the Book itself," Ranpo mused, turning to Hirotsu, who could only shrug.

"I'm not nearly as well versed in the Book's powers as Soseki-san would be. You see, our old Sensei greatly regretted ever letting the Book come into being. When he determined I was unlikely to stay long term, he only taught Soseki-san the specifics. I never minded, because I knew I couldn't play the games they do. Thus, I can't really tell you how the Book ought to be used."

"A one in a four million miracle, huh? What a joke," Dazai whispered, drawing their attention back to the brunet. "It seems I'm not human after all. Just a string of characters in a magical Book," he chuckled bitterly and Chuuya felt like he'd been punched in the gut. "Regardless, now that I've found this, it can't stay here anymore. Abilities are not as one of a kind as people like to present them; someone else with an Ability like No Longer Human could easily take it and do who knows what with this." He considers the burning candles.'Should I just destroy it?'

Then, he hears something. Something that could be the whisper of the wind if only the air wasn't so stale down here, even with the doors opened. It didn't even really feel like he washearingsomething, no. Instead, it felt like the sound appeared directly in his brain. Dazai frowned, looking down at the Book.'Are you sentient?'

He received no clear answer. However, that doesn't mean that therewasn'tone. The whispering sure as hell didn't stop.

"I see. So that's how it is." He's definitely not leaving this Book here now.

"Oh my god,nowwhat?" An exasperated Kunikida asked, dreading the answer.

"Did ... Did the Book ...speakto him?" Tachihara asked cautiously.

"It can do that?" Higuchi also asked, perplexed by the mere idea.

"It has to do with Dazai, of course it's possible," Chuuya grunted.

Akutagawa just nodded. "Dazai-san is just that amazing."

Mori, Kouyou and f*ckuzawa were looking to Hirotsu for an explanation, but he looked just as poleaxed. "This is news to me, too. And I'm pretty sure it would be to Soseki-san and Sensei, too, because I'm sure I've never heard either of them mention that the Book is sentient enough to communicate in any form."

"Maybe it really is a Dazai thing?" Naomi suggested. "I mean, considering he's technically created by the Book? Or with its powers?"

Meanwhile, the vision of young Dazai had found an old, cracked, leather backpack and had stuffed the Book within it, making his way towards the same door he'd come in from when he heard that same whispery sound again. "Not that way, huh?" Heeding the whispers, Dazai looked around the room again until his eyes fell on the lone bookshelf.'If a hidden door in a bookshelf lead me here ... 'He comes closer, pushing at it, but no part of the shelf moves. Yet, when he presses his ear against it, he swears he can hear a bit of a breeze. He crouches down to inspect the ground around the shelf, dragging his fingers through the thick layer of dust.'The dust is no less disturbed here than the rest of the room ... But here ... It feels just the slightest bit rougher than the rest of the floor ... I see.'He stands back up and moves to one side of the shilf, the one closer to the corner of the room with just barely any space for an adult to fit in between the wall and the shelf. More than enough space for a lanky almost eleven year old, though.

"He's not bad, for a kid," Ranpo says with a grin as they watched Dazai push the shelf away to reveal another dark hallway.

"Dazai-san sure is amazing," Atsushi breathed and Junichiro nodded in agreement.

This time, when Dazai touched the wall or walked over the ground of the hallway, No Longer Human stayed brimming under his skin, indicating no Ability was used to hide this hallway, at least not this part, and there was definitely nothing in the air, unlike the first one.'Will this lead directly outside? In that case, this one ought to be even more protected. Which means this leads to a different part of the orphanage.'With those thoughts, he kept walking for what was probably a whole five to eight minutes before he had to crouch down and crawl again.'I see. These halls were made with someone either small enough or with the Ability to shrink or shift to fit. Definitely an Ability that leaves them with strength and enough dexterity and precision.'

"Huh?" The Tanizakis, Kenji, Atsushi, higuchi and Tachihara intoned, not understanding that last bit.

"Look up ahead," Hirotsu says by way of explanation, pointing to where the tunnel seems to end with another wall, only this one is made of bricks. But faint light seems to be coming through some cracks? "That wall is not solid. It's just bricks staked up one atop the other."

"Oh, wow, I would have never noticed that! Thank you, Mister!" Kenji exclaimed and Hirotsu just chuckled.

"Working closely with Dazai-san teaches you quite a few tricks." He looks to Chuuya as he says this, who had been the second to notice the fake wall, only Ranpo having been faster.

"I wonder where he ends up now, this troublesome lad of ours," Kouyou said with an exasperated sigh, but eyes trained on the child as Dazai carefully pushes out first only one brick, cautious of witnesses. When he hears nothing but the thud of the brick from the other side, he knocked the other bricks down and crawls out.

Atsushi feels ready to faint when he recognizes this place.

"A ... dungeon?" Kyouka asks uneasily, but they all stop when they hear a ferocious snarl. Little Dazai whips around just in time for him to dodge the swipe of a big, white clawed paw. The white tiger doesn't follow further as he backs up, the steel bars keeping it in check. Except the animal was giving off a soft glow and Dazai immediately narrowed his eyes. Bravely, or stupidly, he came back within range, reaching back out for the tiger as it aimed to claw at him again.

"DAZAI-SAN!" Atsushi yelled desperately, forgetting himself yet again, only to freeze when white fur made contact with pale skin and the night lit up with No Longer Human's beautiful light, brighter than even the moonlight which had caused the transformation.

"So I was right," the brunet mused as the tiger turned back into a boy, small and malnourished, perhaps even more so than Dazai was before he ended up in the hospital. Gleaming red eyes focused on the white haired boy's still healing injuries, glaring at the bruises showing his feet had been broken, probably impaled by a big, unyielding object, the burn marks on his flesh that were turning into scars before his very eyes and other random bruises and cuts on the younger boy's skin. He couldn't have been older than six. "That filthy scum," he hissed under his breath, wishing he had done worse to the Headmaster. "Waste of oxygen. A useless existence better off de-"

A loud grown stopped the vicious slew of insults and Dazai stared down at the slumbering boy. The grow came again.

"Fine, I'll get you something to eat, just don't wake the whole orphanage, geez," the bandaged boy grumbled, leaving his bag in a dark corner and sneaking up into the kitchen and pantry of the orphanage. He frowned at the dismal choices but having experienced the life of an orphaned street urchin himself, Dazai knew no one was really picky when they werereallyhungry. He also knew he had to grab something that will go ultimately unnoticed by the useless caretakers, as he was sure thatthiswas the one thing they cared to take care of properly. While he was up there, he took a couple of fruits and water bottles for himself before heating up some water and taking the instant chazuke he'd found down to the definitely illegal dungeons underneath the orphanage.

"Is it just me, or does this layout seem ... familiar?" Kyouka asked carefully, fearful she might trigger Atsushi, but the boy was too busy gawking after finding out his mentor had met himyearsearlier than he'd thought and Atsushi had no memory of it.

"It's almost identical to the layout of the basem*nt of the Port Mafia headquarters," Mori agreed, eyes narrowed. "A layout that Dazai-kun himself has created."

"But the basem*nt is bigger than that?" A confused Tachihara pointed out and Gin shook her head.

"They mean the entire layout, from the hidden room with two secret exits to the dungeon part. The layout is the same as the floor plans for our basem*nt, with the library being the position of the assassin training grounds and the dungeon being our dungeon, while the secret room is the safe room where we hid the Boss. Keep up, Tachihara-baka."

"I liked you more when I thought you were a mute."

"Honestly, same," Atsushi recovered enough to agree, looking at the elder Akutagawa as he said it. The Rashoumon user just scowled at him. "Also, this officially means that, technically, I've known Dazai-san longer than you!"

"Bite your tongue, Jinko!" Akutagawa yelled, launching himself on his rival and the others just left them to roll around on the floor as they watched Dazai deliver the food to the still unconscious Atsushi. The boy began to stir when the smell reached him, but Dazai was already packed up and ready to leave.

He only stayed long enough to advise a barely conscious Atsushi. "If they don't feed you, steal the instant meals, like chazuke, soba or ramen. They're harder to notice when they go missing."

" ... Thanks? Invisible mister? ... "

Dazai snorted at that and snuck out of the orphanage with ease, setting off into the world once again. This time, though, with a burden he was wondering if he should have even taken on in the first place. He did have to wonder about that white haired boy, though. Was he locked up down there because of his Ability? And how come he claimed he didn't see Dazai, yet Dazai had felt sharp, almost predatory eyes on him.

That tiger had been weird, too. He'd only looked at it for a second, but Dazai could swear he'd seen a form of intelligence in its eyes ... And now that he things about it ...

It had gone for the backpack, hadn't it.

'I see. So that's how it is.'

"I'm starting to hate that line," Yosano grumbled. "We never get an explanation after it."

"Join the club, sister," grunted Chuuya and Kunikida and Hirotsu could only give long suffering sighs and nod.

"I think Dazai-san figured out that the tiger supposedly can track the Book," Atsushi was, surprisingly, the one to give an answer, even as he and Akutagawa were still wrestling on the ground, trying to push one another down to end the fight. "Fitzgerald said that he heard some rumors or something about how my Ability can track the Book? Dazai-san, as smart and crafty as he is, probably figured that out, too."

"Yup," was all Ranpo said to confirm Atsushi's suspicions.

Mori hummed. "A tracker in case someone does end up stealing the Book, and in the form of a powerful feline, no less."

"Yes, thatdoessound like something Natsume-sensei would do," f*ckuzawa agreed as he walked over to Shin Soukoku and bodily separated them from each other by grabbing them by the scruff of the neck like they're disobedient kittens. "You two, enough. Behave. What would Dazai think?" Akutagawa and Atsushi both stiffened at the mention of their mentor while Gin, Hirotsu, Chuuya, Mori, Kouyou, Ranpo and Yosano just sweatdropped, knowing full well Dazai would find great amusem*nt in their scuffle.

Well, unless he requested them, directly, to work together.

Then he'd definitely pull some emotional manipulation bullsh*t to make them cooperate. Dazai was just like that. And at times, such as this, it was incredibly useful.

Chapter 7

Chapter Text

13yo

"So we've established that Dazai has the Book and that he has, somehow, ensured that at least Nakahara-san and Atsushi survived rough ordeals in their childhood," Kunikida concluded, fixing his glasses and hands twitching because he so desperately wanted to take down some notes on these new findings. "He's also somehow responsible for the old Port Mafia Boss going insane ... Which makes no sense to me, but I've never quite understood obsessive behavior such as that."

Tachihara leaned in to Higuchi. "Does he really have room to talk? Didn't you say he's obsessed with those notebooks of his?" Higuchi just shushed him as she went over to fuss over Akutagawa once f*ckuzawa released him and Atsushi.

In the meantime, the visions were showing Dazai as he traveled, debating which way he should go and where he should settle. He refused to go back to Aomori, the whole prefecture stopped being home a long time ago. And while hecouldadapt anywhere else ... He already knew enough about the streets and slums of Yokohama to know how to survive. So Dazai decided to just go back to Yokohama, maybe he'd even see that cat again that's always stalking him.

Besides, bigger cities are generally easier to hide in, be it from the raging Great War to the government to your own psychotic grandfather. Dazai doubts anyone from the Mafia would have connected the missing Tsushima Shuuji to Dazai Osamu. Yokohama should be relatively safe ... So to Yokohama Dazai went.

The vision shifted again and everyone was definitely used to it by now, no threats of anyone losing their lunch or whatever by the time it showed them Yokohama, two and a half years later. A thirteen year old Dazai was seen running away from three adults. The Port Mafia members were quick to recognize them by the tattoos on their arms as members of a gang that had been whipped out like many others in the Dragon Head conflict six years ago, three years after the events happening in the vision. Dazai, in his now constantly bandaged self, was already battered and bruised from the metal pipes they seem to have used to beat him, causing quite a few people's teeth to grit in rage at harming a child, especially Dazai, but the little genius was able to ignore the pain - it was nothing compared to the beatings he received as part of his 'training' with the Colonel and his grandfather - and keep running, quite a bit ahead of his pursuers despite his shot legs. He'd grown again, but he was also skinnier, too, his hair longer and choppy, uneven and greasy.

He was clutching something in one hand, while using the other to occasionally pull unsuspecting bystanders on the streets in front of his pursuers to slow them down.

"Why is no one helping him?" A fuming Naomi asked, watching as the brunet had to manuever over and around all sorts of obstacles, including people, yet not a single adult tried to help him. Hell, he even ran by a police car, but the two officers inside only watched as they sipped their coffee as the brunet was chased by the gangsters.

"This is disgraceful!" Kunikida exclaimed, offended as the idealist that he is.

"This is normal," Higuchi informed them, though she didn't seem like she liked how callously the policemen ignored the child in trouble, either. "Things used to be a lot more turbulent in the criminal underworld of this city. The best way to survive was to not stick your nose where it isn't its place."

"How cowardly," Akutagawa huffed and the Agency couldn't help but agree.

Then again, most of them didn't quite understand what a gang war looks like, especially not one the likes of the Dragon Head conflict. The three way war with the Guild and the recent conflict with the Rats From the House of the Dead were child's play in comparison. And they were only able to reach such a laughable level on the scale of Yokohama's disasters and not further because, unlike in old conflicts, Soukoku existed to mitigate the chaos, one way or another. Three organizations fighting will also never match a Yokohama-wide criminal war.

"If my memory serves me well," Mori commented, letting the youngsters debate among themselves the police's actions, or lack of. "Dazai-kun has now officially set foot into Port Mafia's territory ... No, he's not quite yet there ... "

"What do you mean, Boss?" Chuuya asks, even as he never takes his eyes off of the young version of his partner. "The Mafia had the whole docks under control, right?"

"It didn't always, though," Kouyou corrected.

Hirotsu nodded. "Dazai-san had a hand in the contributions and territorial extensions the Mafia achieved from the moment he officially joined the organization."

"You weren't kept as up to date back then since you'd also just joined, but you weren't as educated to Mafia customs as Dazai was, considering the lad had spent a year as Ougai-dono's unofficial assistant," the older Executive explained and Chuuya nodded, not surprised. He remembered well how busy fifteen year old Dazai was. He remembered his first meeting with the official member of the Mafia Dazai, too, and how he'd said the Mafia's army was more or less shoved onto him by the Boss. Fifteen to sixteen was Dazai at his busiest, no doubt. Many organizations fell at his feet, earning him some of his infamous nicknames that make people tremble to this day. "Also, Ougai-dono, I can confirm, this part of the docs was still a neutral zone one year before you took over the Mafia," Kouyou added, settling that debate, if it even was one.

"What did he even take that they're chasing him this much, though?" Tachihara wondered and Mori made a face.

"He could have taken a match and, at that point in time, they would have gladly used it as a viable reason to beat a child up."

"f*cking bastards," Chuuya hissed, remembering those times far too well, when retaliation for hurting the Sheep was almost a daily job.

"Get back here, punk!"

"Get him!"

"Don't let him get away!"

"When I get my hands on you-!"

Little Dazai ignored all these calls and kept running, even as he was also running out of breath. The chase had been long and exhausting. He hadn't had a proper meal in a couple of days and falling asleep at night was becoming harder and harder. The city streets were rampant with crime and petty criminals on top of the gangs, yakuzas and the Port Mafia, the latter of which was causing about 57% of the chaos in the criminal underworld now. It's been going on for a couple of years already, the Mafia declaring war on random groups that used to be allies or just never crossed the Mafia. Human trafficking was off the roofs, drugs were practically sold as candy and blood was flooding the streets at least once a month. Dazai does not remember the last time he'd felt a kind touch or been graced with a tender look. Hell, he can't remember the last time someone was simply indifferent of his existence.

Instead, everyone on the streets only wanted to either kill him, beat him, use him or worse.

And as smart and craft as Dazai was, as much as he knew these streets and how to get enough money for food and clothes, as much as he knew how to pick a good shelter for a while, the only reason he was still alive was because of that Book he'd picked up in the orphanage. He swears he's not crazy; that thing talks to him as it pleases, but it's usually very helpful so he isn't complaining even if hewascrazy.

Matsuki-san had told him one can't die by their own hand and had asked him to not let others kill him for the sake of the honor of his parents and his household.

Dazai, for all that he had no particular attachment to this wretched world, will heed his dying words. It's the least he can do for his old servant.

At least until all those involved in their deaths have paid the right price, blood for blood, life for life, soul for soul. Until that happens, Dazai refuses to die.

Except that might not be up to him. He was too tired to keep running for much longer. He was still just a useless kid while they were adults, larger and with greater endurance. If this keeps up, they'll surely catch him and-

He let out an 'Oof' as he crashed into someone as he turned a corner around a block of shipping containers stacked one upon the other. What little air was left in his lungs left him as he fell to the ground and he knew this was it. Still, he looked up, wondering if he'd had any luck to possibly run into a righteous, honorable cop, only to wince in disappointment when he saw the old man. He had a shot goaty and lush, graying hair, curly locks framing a wrinkled face with a scar over his lips, making him look scary, or what would be scary for a normal child Dazai's age. He had silvery gray eyes, sharp and intelligent under bushy eyebrows. He was dressed in the blue uniform of a doc worker, Dazai realized, and he wondered if he'd just doomed this man along with himself.

"There he is!

"Get him!"

"Just hand him over and we'll let you live, Ossan."

"As long as you know to keep your f*cking mouth shut."

The old man ignored them, instead looking down at the brunet at his feet with a peculiar expression on his face. "Are you alright, gaki?"

"Oi! Don't ignore us!"

"Old fart!"

"Why I ought-ta!"

"I'll beat you black and blue, oi!"

They shut up, however, when the old man glared at them. "I wasn't talking to you. Be quiet, barking mutts. You were not given permission to speak."

"Okay, I love this dude's style, he'sbadass!" Whooped Tachihara, high-fiving an excited Kenji.

Hirotsu, however, was gawking.

"You okay, Hirotsu-san?" Chuuya asked and Hirotsu choked on nothing.

The gangsters, of course, decided to 'show him who's boss' and launched a very uncoordinated attack, one almost shooting the guy with a metal pipe that came in close in order to hit him, but the old man just pushed Dazai behind himself and caught the pipe, twisting it out of the man's grip with a surprising strength and then ... Stopped the bullets raining down on him? Dazai watched with interest, trying to understand what was happening, but he was careful not to touch his impromptu savior, since clearly he was an Ability user.

"How rude. Brats these days don't know how to respect their elders at all," the old man said and, with that, heripped reality apartto disintegrate the existence of the gangsters. He then turned to Dazai, arching an eyebrow at the fact he remained fearless in the face of such power. "Now, boy, will you tell me if you're alright?"

"Peachy," Dazai answered convincingly.

And promptly passed out.

"..."

"..."

"..."

"... That was your mentor, wasn't it, Hirotsu-san?" f*ckuzawa asked while Mori just watched as the younger version of his protege was carried off by the old man, in his arms after he realized his Ability did not work on the child.

"Yes," the oldest one present answered. "Masaoka Shiki, or Masaoka-sensei as Soseki-san and I called him."

"The creator of the Book," Mori added and the man with the monocle nodded in agreement. "I find it funny how Dazai-kun seems to keep meeting such important players over the years," the raven haired man said with a menacing smirk. "It's almost as though it's been pre-written-"

"That's a stupid joke," Ranpo cut in, making Mori glare at him, though it not as if the detective was phased.

They watched in silence as Masaoka took Dazai to some cottage built on the edge of the doc area and checked the boy over for any worse injuries than already visible, pausing over the backpack Dazai never let out of his sight in visions following the orphanage ones. "Well, isn't this just interesting. I thought I sensed it near. But to think it would be in the hands of achild... Soseki-bozo really messed up this time, huh? Now," he mused, studying the child he was now in possession of. "What to do with you?"

"Not abuse, exploit or harass him would be a good start," Yosano chirped sarcastically and Hirotsu let out an offended noise at that, causing the female doctor to roll her eyes at him. "Oh, please, as if it isn't a viable option considering the luck Dazai's shown throughout his whole life! I swear Aomori was a safe haven where no one taught Dazai how to be an asshole."

"I wonder how different Dazai-san's life would be if he never left Aomori?" Gin whispered and Chuuya, Akutagawa and Atsushi all tensed, knowing their own lives, at least, would probably be a living hell sooner rather than alter had a certain bandaged suicide-maniac not barged into their lives. But neither of them three was selfish enough to think Dazai - or rather, Tsushima Shuuji - wouldn't have deserved a normal life if only he coould have been gifted it, instead of it being wretched from his little hands so early on.

"To be fair, I don't think the old Boss would have actually kept the promise he made Dazai-kun's mother, even if Dazai-kun's parents had survived. Either that, or they would have suffered the same fate as the rest of the Tsushima family in the succession," Mori mused and everyone turned horrified eyes to the Boss at the implications of what happened to the rest of Dazai's relatives. Violet eyes rolled at their scandalized faces. "Oh, don't look at me like that! It wasn't even me who gave out that order; Dazai-kun did. He said the traditionalists will try to support the family if there was a legitimate blood heir from the family, regardless of how competent they are. I'd suggested we have them as Subexecutives or in other such positions, but Dazai-kun presented some good arguments and I agreed."

"When was this? I don't recall ever discussing the Tsushima family, Ougai-dono," Kouyou asked sharply and Mori just shrugged.

"After Dazai-kun officially joined the Port Mafia, of course. You were too busy with training and educating Chuuya-kun while Dazai-kun was already elbow-deep in Mafia affairs. After the recent 'resurrection' of the old Boss, his concerns and zeal to deal with the Tsushimas made perfect sense back then. Now, with this new knowledge ... "

"He was preparing to die," Chuuya concluded, voice grim. "As he always is."

The vision continued playing around them, in the small wooden shack they were sure no longer existed in the docs area anymore, as almost two whole days passed before thirteen year old Dazai woke up again, rather violently, too. Masaoka had been checking on him, making sure he didn't get worse, cleaning his wounds and such, when Dazai had jerked awake. He stole a gun Masaoka had hidden somewhere on his body instantly and fired three shots, aiming right at the old man's head. The Agency either sputtered or yelped at the display of skill and the Mafia just watched as time and space warped before their eyes as Masaoka rearranged reality to stop the bullets from ever reaching him, making them drop useleslly to the floor.

"Careful there, gaki. You could really hurt someone with that," the old man says with an arched eyebrow, amused.

Dazai, however, was not. "I know. That's the goal." With that, having shifted his leg just the slightest bit to barely be grazing the man's, Dazai shot again. Masaoka had felt the moment reality no longer bent to his command so he knew to dodge, letting out an impressed whistle when a bullet singled his ear.

"You're good, for someone handling a gun for the first time. A natural, one might say. Tell me, boy, what's your name? And why were those fools chasing you across half of Yokohama's port?"

Dazai studied the old man for a moment before deeming him not a threat, even returning the gun to its owner as he shrugged. "My name is Dazai Osamu. They were chasing me because I stole from them."

"And what, exactly, did you steal?"

Dazai shrugged again, like the menace he was. "Oh, just a handful of diamonds."

"I'm sorry, he stolewhat!?" Kunikida and Naomi gaped.

Yosano whistled.

"Where would he have sold them, though?" Tachihara wondered and Chuuya listed off ten places right at the top of his head, places he'd had to deal with back when he'd been in charge of jewel trade.

"Diamonds you spent, by the way," Dazai continued, voice quiet and calm, but also slightly amused and an even slighter bit accusing.

"Of course I sold them," scoffed Masaoka. "I'm barely making ends meet even when living in this shack. You lived off of my food, water and heating, so of course I was going to charge you for it. And I'll keep doing so if you plan on staying here, Osamu-gaki! I don't care if it's honest money or blood money, you have to pay your stay!"

"What a jerk, making a kid work like that," grumbled Yosano. "As if a child should be paying for his bills just because he didn't get his life together."

Hirotsu scowled at her, but didn't get the chance to defend his Sensei.

The little brunet scoffed. "You're an information broker; you're hardly just 'making ends meet', unless you're suck at your job, ossan."

Masaoka arched an eyebrow at the child. "Oya oya, and how did you figure that out?"

The little Dazai rolled his eyes. He started counting off of his fingers nonetheless, Masaoka watching him with barely hidden fascination. "You live near the port; I can smell the sea and the fuel in the air, as well as hear ship horns, so don't bother to lie. You live near the port, disguised as a worker, in a house or shack or cottage or whatever this is but it's so rundown no one would ever think to search, attack or rob, therefore it's the perfect place to hide. Working and living at the docs, though, allows easy access to the free flow of fresh information and gossip. You can also see transactions that take place as well as spy on the merchandise that gets shipped or docked." A second finger went down. "You have several maps of Yokohama with various places circled, underlined or otherwise marked, including routes or connections with pins and rubber bands-"

"I could be a detective or undercover cop," Masaoka interrupted with amusem*nt but Dazai just deadpanned at him and tucked in a third finger.

"You have a strong Ability, some sort of sapce-time displacement-" A gray eyebrow nearly touched the old man's hairline at that, now truly impressed. "-and no one on the streets knows about it, meaning you as an information broker have your finger on the pulse of gossip and overall word of mouth spread of information in the city. An undercover cop, even someone from the Military Police or the Special Department For Unusual Abilities, would not think to do that, they don't have the street life experience needed to think that would be important to keep track of. And finally," a fourth finger was tucked away. "You have more burner phones on that table than electronics shops display. You're an information broker. I rest my case."

"He'sreallygood for a kid," Ranpo said with a huge grin while Mori was cooing about the skills he was usually terrified of Dazai for.

"I don't think I would have figured it out even with all these clues," Atsushi lamented.

"That's because you're dumb, jinko."

"Shut the f*ck up, you emo!"

"What did you just call me-"

"Boys," Kouyou said sharply and both knew not to piss her off, so they just huffed and dramatically turned away from each other, arms crossed.

Chuuya snorted. "You two have been spendingwaytoo much time around Dazai."

Kunikida and Gin just rubbed their foreheads in exasperation, the older of the two feeling a migraine starting to develop.

"Well, aren't you the clever little boy," Masaoka said with a grin. "A bit rude, but most certainly clever and apparently well educated. I'm pretty sure no twelve year old kid-"

"I'm thirteen."

Masaoka waved him off. "Still, that's way too young for someone to realize what I did when using my Ability. I'll tell you, though, that space-time displacement isn't my Ability-"

"Of course it's not," Dazai interrupted him again. "You're Ability has to do with reality, space-time just falls under it."

"... You reallyareclever. Perhaps too clever for your own good," Masaoka mused, a hand coming up to rub at his chin as he thought. "I can't let you go back out in your condition, especially with what you just learned, on top of having an Ability like yours." Dazai stiffened a bit at the mention of his Ability but Masaoka waved him off. "Tell you what, kid. You're clearly an orphan living on the streets, more or less successfully and comfortably. Why don't you instead stay here with me? It's not much, but I have a second cott so we'll both be able to sleep peacefully.However," he put up a lecturing finger. "You'll have to earn your keep. As an information broker, I don't just sell information, I have tobuyit, too, so you can understand why I need a constant income. This place has electricity and water because I pay bills, so that chips my income, too, not to mention the food. If you agree to earn your keep, you're free to stay here for as long as you like and do whatever you want as long as it doesn't include killing or harming me in any way, shape or form. Do we got a deal?"

Dazai considered this, not yet taking the hand offered to him for a shake. "How much would I have to pay you to 'forget' my existence for outsiders?"

Masaoka gave a vicious grin. "Adults have looser tongues around kids. Tell me anything interesting you learn whenever your out and about, and your existence will never be revealed."

'So he wasn't planning on profiting off of me at all from the start,'Dazai mused, yet again surprising his audience. "One more question: where is my stuff?"

Masaoka arched an eyebrow, pointing into a corner where the worn leather bag was propped up. Dazai jumped out of the bed he'd been sleeping on and walked over, crouching down to check whether everything was there. The few trinkets aside that he kept to help himself live on the streets, the most important thing was indeed still there and seemed untouched. The Book glowed merrily and Dazai arched an eyebrow at the lack of reaction the man gave to seeing a glowing book.

'I see. So that's how it is.'

"Oh, come on!" Groaned Yosano in frustration. "Just tell us what you're thinking for once!"

"He figured out Masaoka-sensei is the creator of the Book," supplied Hirotsu with a chuckle, far too used to people getting frustrated by Dazai's lack of explanations in situations like these.

"I'll take you up on your offer, ossan. However, if you turn out to be some sort of creep, those bullets will be hitting home next time."

Masaoka just grinned.

And so began a period of Dazai cohabiting with Masaoka. The man left the young teenager to fully recover from his ordeal before shooing him out back into the world so they can both make some money. The first few weeks, Dazai just does as he usually did before, petty theft and pic-pocketing, while now also keeping an eye and ear out for any information going around on the streets, something he'd never paid as much heed to as he did before. Masaoka always waited for him back at the little cottage with some food and eager ears. He was most definitely enjoying the information he got more than the scraps of money Dazai had managed to bring in. Dazai made a note of that with a frown, especially when he once glimpsed Masaoka counting the moneyhe'dmade and then the money he needed to spend to get some other information. So Dazai picked up the slack, breaking into houses, learning how to disable alarms in stores and avoid security cameras, bringing in more things. Sometimes just food, to stock up, other times outright jewelry.

Masaoka forbade him from going into gang territories to steal from certain spots, since he won't always be there to protect or save him, but otherwise told him he could rob a bank if he can pull it off.

Considering Gen'emon had been one of the most successful robbers before meeting his mother, Dazai thinks he'd be able to pull it off, but it would be too much of a risk and would probably spend more resources than it would bring in, so he scrapped that idea. Instead, a couple of months later, he somehow got roped into joining a parkour act after he saw the group doing some tricks and he attempted them on his own more successfully than any amateur his age should be able to pull off. They made pretty good money on their videos that they post or sell to different sites and stations, so combined with his usual income from pick-pocketing, Dazai brought in a heft amount for Masaoka, who was impressed.

Meanwhile, Masaoka did his best to teach Dazai certain things, too.

Surprisingly, hacking was one of them.

Several card games best used to gather information was also something Masaoka taught him.

He also got Dazai an unlimited library card, as long as he didn't take books home. Dazai rather liked that and didn't care about the restriction. He read through several books a day as it was and if he ever couldn't finish something before closing time, he always remembered where he left off so he just finished it the next time he came. The sweet old librarians liked him and gave him sweets and the younger ones even bought him notebooks and pencils for 'school', probably thinking he was in a bad financial situation given the state of his clothes and probably from knowing Masaoka's legal job that definitely didn't pay well.

Eventually, the library also became a source of income for Dazai; he preyed on the students and pupils of all ages, genders and sizes who had trouble studying certain things. He mostly helped out with maths and such related subjects, branching out first to statistics and then later physics, before he realized that doing other people's homework or even tutoring them can get him a lot of money, so he started vigorously reading not only textbooks, but also the listed references. He became rather famous within that library as the whizkid who could get you to pass any test within three study sessions or less.

Out of all the subjects he studied, though, he found advanced physics and literature the most interesting, but he also found that he was unfairly good at business and political science subjects, too. Most of all, he just liked reading. His braindemandedstimulus, so he started frequenting parks in the early mornings, where he would find retired men playing chess. He sometimes played with them; it had been hard to 'earn' that privilege in the first place, many of them too arrogant or just too grumpy to indulge a kid. But he soon also earned himself a reputation as virtually unbeatable. They almost stopped playing with him, especially in the games where they bet money. Which was a shame. For about a week, that was a good source of income, too. But now he just played for something to tickle his brain, even just a bit.

He, at one point, considered going into information brokering himself, but he knew a child information broker of his apparent talent and his insistence to cover his scars with bandages would make him infamous far too quickly and such information would not only reach the Port Mafia, but would also intrigue his grandfather. Dazai would rather never see that man ever again if he can help it, and the next time he sees him, he'd want to see himdead. It's the least the old, senile fool deserved.

The Agency had to wince at the viciousness of such thoughts, especially in a period of Dazai's life that finally seemed to have settled into a less violent, less dark lifestyle. For all that Dazai was working and paying rent, he had food on the table each and every day - though many were a bit disturbed by the fact that canned crabs were basically the main source of nutrition both Masaoka and Dazai consumed and were quite content with it; Dazai looked happier eating canned crab than they've ever seen him eat any of the rich, healthy, fancy meals in his family home - a roof over his head and someone who actually gave a damn about his well-being, since Masaoka didn't let him go out when it was raining and had found the group he did parkour with to warn them not to force Dazai too much. The older teens and young adults actually liked the boy, so they had no intention of abusing his talents, which was nice.

While it lasted, anyways.

Dazai was reminded rudely that there was still a war going on in Yokohama's underground society and its streets when, one day, he went to meet with the group for a sunset scenic shoot, only to find that a different kind of shooting had happened. Any and all money they had had on them - to pay the participants for the last show/shoot that had happened a few days before - had been stolen, as had been most of their equipment. There was nothing Dazai could do for them now ... Besides avenge them by finding the culprits.

It was the first real test of his information broker skills and he would say he passed with flying colors, because when he called the police and anonymously reported the scene of the crime, he'd also had enough proof to direct them to the culprits. And just to ensure that they can't take a bribe and let them get away with it, he contacted several tabloids as well as a channel on the national frequency, presented himself as a female police officer - his voice was still too high to be a grown man's - and gave a brief report that the 'police' had made and asked them to come to the scene of the crime for a short conference. Needless to say, the policehadto do their job.

"How I miss my devious Demon Prodigy," Mori mourned, causing f*ckuzawa to send him a nasty look that he deliberately ignored.

"I can see why he was so good at his job," Higuchi commented, finally understanding some of the things she'd found in Dazai Osamu's record. If a thirteen year old child had this much foresight and understanding of how corruption works, then it was no wonder he was so successful as an Executive.

"I'm more stunned that Dazai never had a formal education yet was able to helpcollege studentsdo their work," Kunikida breathed, still kind of stuck on that, for which he got a glare from Kyouka and Atsushi, who were more concerned for the fact that Dazai had lost more people he might have come to care about.

"You shouldn't have interfered," Masaoka told Dazai when he returned to their little home that day. "One wrong move and that could have been tracked back to you."

Dazai looked at him with a dead stare. "It was justice."

Masaoka just sighed. "Justice is just a tool. It can cause harm, but not protect or save others. The sooner you learn that, the easier you will live in this unjust world."

"As if living in this bleak, oxidizing world of a dream will ever be easy," Dazai responded with a venom the Agency members weren't used to hearing from him. The Port Mafia was, though, and winced at his words. "There's nothing interesting happening. Nothing exceeds my expectations. Humans all act the same, animals all act the same, there's nothing I can't predict. Sometimes I barely even have to try. Life is boring, existence isexhausting, sometimes I barely have the will to get up in the morning. Nobodyunderstandshow tiring it all is ... I just wish tocease... The only thing that's stopping me from letting someone shoot me is that either they're too hypocritically cowardly to shoot a kid or just the fact that I always hear Matsuki-san's voice in my head telling me no one else is allowed to take my life, unless they are basically worthy of my parents' and my household's honor and legacy. As if I'll ever find someone worthy of it," he said with a sneer, but Masaoka just arched an eyebrow.

"If you're so suicidal, why don't you just do it yourself?"

"I'm sorry,whatdid he just say to a depressed as f*ck thirteen year old!?" Yosano growled and Chuuya would havedefinitelygone into Corruption if they had access to their Abilities. Even Mori's and Hirotsu's eyes were popping out of their sockets at the old man's suggestion, especially Hirotsu's. He hadnotexpected toeverfind out his old mentor had basically suicide-baited achild!

"Suicide?" Dazai echoed, frowning at the new(?) word he had just learned(?), to which Masaoka just nodded.

"Yes, suicide. You know, killing yourself by your own actions. Unfortunately, people do it all the time when they can't find meaning in their life or a will to go on, a reason to continue living. Some do it when they fall into debt they can't possibly repay, or if a business fails. Or some even do it in case they got involved with the yakuza or mafia or some other gang and then screwed them over, intentionally or not, so they end it themselves before they could potentially be tortured."

"But Matsuki-san said it's impossible to kill yourself," Dazai whispered and the old man gave him a pitying look. "Matsuki-san lied to me?"

"Oh, forf*ck's sake!" Chuuya roared, glaring murder at the older Ability user in the vision.

For once, no one even tried to admonish him for his crude language. They, too, were angry with Masaoka.

The vision of that conversation ended there, but a few days later, they saw Masaoka gift Dazai with an unfortunately very familiar red book. Chuuya and Kunikida both actually tried to strangle the vision of Masaoka, only snarling when they both went straight through the man. Atsushi and Akutagawa looked about ready to kill, too, but they held each other back.

Dazai's life changed a bit after that instance. The people at the library noticed he was more gloomy than before and some of them took note of the strange book he started carrying around, occasionally reading it instead of the countless books in the library. He made sure they never saw the title, though. Other times, he'd just stare at a wall or out of the window listlessly, wondering what he should do now that he knew so many techniques existed to take your own life. It was surreal ... It should be depressing, yet it left him feeling lighter than before.

Just the knowledge that there existed a way out made it easier to breathe.

"... Oh ..."

None of them had ever thought of it likethat.

With more free time without his parkouring gig, Dazai actually finally turned his attention to the Book he'd stolen from the secret chamber in the orphanage.

This, of course, immediately caught everyone's attention. They hadn't seen much of the Book for all that Dazai constantly had it nearby. Even when he was out doing the random little jobs he did to earn money for his 'rent', he had the Book on him, in that same backpack he'd stolen it in from the orphanage. So far, the only things they really knew about the Book was that it had power to rewrite reality, that it had had a 'hand' in creating Tsushima Shuuji who is now Dazai Osamu, that its creator was Masaoka Shiki, the very man Dazai was currently living with, and that its guardian was Natsume Soseki,andthat the Book, apparently,communicatedwith Dazai and Dazai only, as far as they knew. To find out more about the object Fitzgerald and Dostoevsky were ready to destroy a highly populated city in order to find interested them a great deal.

The Book honestly confused Dazai. Most of its pages were blank and the only thing written in it that made any sense was the bit about his 'miraculous conception'. The other couple of pages that had anything written on them were inconsequential and seemed more like aborted beginnings rather than anything concrete, not like the pages upon pages of describing how it was possible for Tsushima Shuuji to exist. It honestly baffled him but there was nothing he could do about that. Writing in the Book was more than possible with any utensil but he found that erasing what was written was not as easy.

In fact, only Dazai tracing his finger exactly over the writing can erase what was previously written in the Book.

How peculiar.

"Wait, what?Seriously?" Tachihara asked, gawking.

Dazai theorized that the reason the writing was so hard to remove that it can only be done under one specific condition had to do with the fact that the Book itself was neigh indestructible. Dazai had tried shooting it, drowning it, crushing it and burning it but the Book never had a scratch on it while bullets were either miraculously stopped a millimeter away from the Book or they had outright ricocheted off of its surface. The fire would long burn out while the Book wasn't even singed and the water did no damage to either the writing or the pages of the Book. And the rock he'd tried to crush it with had actually split in two upon making contact with the Book ...

However, Dazai found thathecould easily damage the Book. All it took was a single touch and he could easily tear out pages if he wished to, or any of the other methods would suddenly be far more effective.

It painted some very strange implications in regarding to the role Dazai might have in connotation with the Book, implications he wasn't sure he liked.

One other thing he found out about the Book is that it hadrules.

"That makes sense," Kunikida mused. "Imagine if something of that power had no limitations or no rules as to how it must be used."

For one, the Book can't just materialize something out of thin air if you just write the word for it on one of the pages.

"Oh, so it's not like Kunikida-san's Ability," Atsushi commented with something akin to relief.

'It requires a narrative,'Dazai mused as he reread the paragraphs which had allowed for him to be born.'It can't be something like "This just happened miraculously", based on how much detail was written to indicate a single open window of opportunity for me to be conceived. This covers weeks of biological changes within a human body and briefly mentions each month of pregnancy. This is a very powerful tool in the hands of someone with a lot of imagination and a way with words.'

"So lethal, in the hands of someone like Dazai," Kouyou voiced what many of them were thinking.

"Or Dostoevsky," added Chuuya, eyes narrowing in a glare.

One other thing Dazai had discovered while trying to figure the Book out was that there was a page missing.

This, of course, caused the audience to stiffen in alarm.

"sh*t, that can't be good," Tachihara pointed out needlessly, causing Gin and Higuchi to roll their eyes at him.

The old man couldn't tell him what had happened to the missing page, as he hadn't been the one to remove it. "Itcanbe used, however," Masaoka warned, causing Dazai to glare at his housemate. "Hey, don't look at me like that!"

"Why did you even create the Book in the first place if you were just going to dump it in the middle of nowhere?" The little brunet asked and Masaoka could just shrug.

"My Ability was simply too powerful for me to contain it all by myself," he replied. "No human being should be capable of containing what is basically infinite power, a singularity, a power capable of bending the laws of nature. Humans simply aren't capable of it."

At hearing that, the first thing that sprung to Dazai's mind was the ever-more blurry image of the boy he'd met that fateful night and the beast that had receded back into him at a single touch from Dazai. He remembered the immense power which had caused a huge crater, he remembered how nothing else but himself had survived the heat or the pressure. He remembered those destructive spheres that simply decimated anything in their pathexceptone Tsushima Shuuji, who was now Dazai Osamu.

Chuuya stiffened all over again like he had when he'd learned he'd been the cause of the Tsushima couple's deaths.

But Dazai surprised him, as he always did, because Dazai's next thought was how, for all that power, Arahabaki - not that the young Dazai knew its name yet, back then - had beenclearlytearing the ginger haired boy apart. He remembered the injuries, he remembered thinking the other boy should have been in hospital just like he was when he woke up. He remembered howvulnerablethe veritabledeityof destruction and chaos had been, lying next to him.

Comparing that to what Masaoka just said, Dazai had to agree.

That much power was too much for a single human.

Yet with Dazai, the power had been controlled, just like Masaoka had managed to control his own power by manifesting most of it into an object not connected to him.

Chuuya drew in a breath, eyes wide and tears threatening to spill over as he realized the gist of Dazai's thought process, though he didn't like the undertone for the latter part, where Dazai implied he was what the Book was in Masaoka's case for Chuuya's Upon The Tainted Sorrow. Dazai shouldn't think himself inhuman.

... Then again, with the limited intel he got and Masaoka's words to go on, with No Longer Human constantly humming under his skin, Dazai was, indeed, the only singular human who could handle a singularity,all that power, on his own.

... No wonder Dazai had such a hard time accepting he was human.

Chapter 8

Chapter Text

14yo

Dazai ended up living with Masaoka for nearly an entire year, more or less peacefully, until another tragedy struck.

It was inevitable for it to happen, really. Dazai wasn't exactly the subtlest existence in the world. He drew attention almost effortlessly, his charm natural and his intelligence and skills hard to go unnoticed. His parkour videos were just one source to see his presence back in Yokohama. His tutoring gigs in the library were sometimes photographed or recorded, then made into memes or vines. He even still did his own practice runs around Yokohama, so his hard earned parkour skills wouldn't go rusty. And after he partially entered the information brokering stage, his youth drew attention as much as the information he had to sell.

It was inevitable he would be tracked down and traced back to the little cottage sitting on the edges of the docs, so the lone port worker living there was bound to get some visits sooner or later.

Luckily, the first to find and approach him was Natsume Soseki.

With the fresh backlash of the breaking of the partnership that will one day bear the moniker Zenki Soukoku, he approached his own mentor cautiously. Masaoka did not greet him nearly as warmly as he usually greeted his littler housemate.

"What have you f*cked upnow, Soseki-bozo?"

Hirotsu flinched in remembrance of how their Sensei had been when he disapproved of some course of action or was actually pissed by a mistake they made. Mori and f*ckuzawa, though, twitched at the sharp tone they realized Natsume must have inherited from the old man that he had in turn used on them.

"Masaoka-sensei-"

"Really, I don't know what you were thinking, brat," Masaoka said with a sigh, polishing a knife and not even looking up at his chosen successor and protector of the Book. "I warned you about how using the Book could affect the world, but what did you do? You went and created an entireperson."

"Tsushima Shuuji is no threat to this world, Masaoka-sensei," Natsume defended himself, not daring to sit down without the elder's permission. "He would have only been one more reason for Gen'emon to protect the Book more fiercely-"

"And yet Tsushima Gen'emon is dead and Tsushima Shuuji is gone." Natsume stiffened at those words, but the old man waved him off casually. "Relax, he's alive and healthy. A bit of an insomniac and with something dark lurking within him, but alive and well. He just goes by a different name now. Dazai Osamu. Ain't that pretty." Natsume relaxed at that, only to go rigid again at Masaoka's next words. "You do realize he shouldn't exist, right? That he's a mistake you can't undo now."

"Sensei-"

"He's dangerous. More so than your little friends ever were. And it has nothing to do with his origin from the Book or their genes flowing through his blood," the reality manipulator interrupted the cat-shifter yet again. "Do you know he has an Ability? Or perhaps an anti-Ability, more like.No Longer Human. Poetic, in a way."

Natsume's eyes were wide. "But only those with a soul can possess an Ability! It's why the west's robot-hosts always failed and human clones are always unstable! I wrote him into existence, but I have never given him a soul; the Book can't do that!"

"I'm aware," snorted the said Book's creator. "He went and grew himself one. Or perhaps he's anchored himself to someone else; he seems a bit obsessed with finding some kid he'd never even properly met. He won't give me details to help him find the kid, but I have my guesses. Point is, he has an Ability, a powerful one able to nullify even the effects of my own Ability, or the Book's, thus he has a pretty strong soul, all things considered. But because you didn't plan on him having a soul, he's a blank slate.Tabula rasa. Nich, nada, zilch, nothing, absolutelynothingexisting within him to shape him as a human being. Even more so than normal kids. He's shaped by the world around him and the experiences he receives. And so far, the poor thing's gotten more negative than positive things affecting his life. How do you think that affects someone who has nothing else to fall back on? He has no morals, he has no boundaries, he barely understands how someone like him fits in this world. He relies on the things other teach him-"

"And so you taught him about suicide?" Natsume interrupted for once, sharply and with a cold look in his eyes.

Masaoka finally looked up, returning the glare. "Of course. He does not exist within the same plane of reality as we do anymore, Soseki-baka! He is no longer Tsushima Shuuji, so even if I were to erase what you did from the Book or destroy the Book itself, he'd still exist, and I can't use the Book to erase him, either, since No Longer Human overpowers anything Ability-related before it can really touch the boy! You'vre created a realmonster, you dolt! We can't control him, no one can, and he's an amalgamation of his parents' intelligence and skills as well as the cruelty of this world!"

"But he is still killable," Natsume observed. "Yet you chose to take him in, instead of ending his existence. You're fond of him."

"I'm not even surprised," Mori commented, the first thing anyone said since this vision started. "Dazai-kun has a special charm to him that simply draws people in, even as he terrifies them to their bone marrow. It's even worse when he puts in the effort." The Agency members didn't know what to say to that, what that meant in the grand scheme of things, considering they, too, had taken a liking to Dazai relatively quickly, for all that he'd been the very definition of shady upon any of their first meetings with him, especially when he'd first applied for the job.

"Artificial or not," Masaoka said with a tired sigh. "He is still achild. I've never had a taste for killing or mistreating children, much like you, I suppose." He looked Natsume directly in the eyes. "I suppose that's why you were so upset Gen'emon couldn't be your successor."

"Wait, what?!" The mafioso and the detectives all shouted in shock.

"For all his wicked deeds, for all that he was a killer, a torturer, a criminal of the worst kind, he was forever kind in his own way, no?"

"You've never met Gen'emon," Natsume said with absolute certainty and not so hidden grief. "Why are you speaking as though you've known him for years?"

The elder of the two shrugged again. "The boy talks of his parents sometimes. He sometimes even dreams of them and calls out for them in his sleep. Miraculously, it's never nightmares. Unfortunately, the same can't be said for his aunt and butler?"

"Matsuki-san was a devoted servant at his childhood home."

"Ah, I guess that would make sense. Anyway, the way the boy talks of his parents, you'd think they were avenging angels or something rather than two most dangerous figures to have reared their deceptively beautiful heads out of the thick shadows of the Port Mafia. Besides, Gen'emon had a reputation and you know I collect rumors like trading cards. After all, it's how I taughtyou."

Natsume was silent for a moment. "Would you have approved? Of Gen'emon?"

Masaoka snorted. "I definitely would have approved more of him than the brats you took in until recently."

"Hey!" f*ckuzawa and Mori complained, but were both, for once, completely ignored. Unfortunately for the two illustrious leaders, everyone was far more charmed by Gen'emon, even Ranpo and Yosano, who owed f*ckuzawa quite a lot.

"Not that you'll get to choose the new protector to succeed you," the reality manipulator looked up at Natsume through his eyelashes. "The Book has already chosen and I don't think either of us could pry Osamu-gaki out of its metaphorical fingers even if we decimated the whole of Yokohama or the whole country to do so. It communicates with him, you know?"

The cat-shifted gawked, clearly as bamboozled at this information as Hirotsu had suspected him to be. "Is that even possible!?"

The creator of the Book only shrugged again. "It would seem so. Osamu-gaki sure is interesting~!"

"Then why did you teach him aboutsuicide? You even got him that wretched book!"

"Finally, he's asking therealquestions!" Chuuya and Yosano cheered, still glaring at the old man for doing something so idiotic in the first place. Kunikida had to agree; he'd spent far too much time dealing with Dazai's suicide attempts and worrying which one might take the man's life for it to be good for his blood presure.

"Sometimes, knowing that there's a way out helps."

And, well, they couldn't help butflinchat that answer, since they got that feeling from little Dazai, too, when he first learned of suicide. It was by no way a healthy coping mechanism, but it had given Dazai solace? Yes, solace. It had given him solace and comfort that, should it all become too much, he could still justleave, as morbid as that may sound, especially in context with a child. No child should seek comfort in death, yet that was where Dazai discovered it after the death of his family.

"Helps with what?" Natsume asks cautiously and Masaoka gives him a loaded, sad look.

"I told you the boy wasblank. He'sempty, meant to be filled and shaped by and with experiences and bonds andlife. Like any normal child ... Except a normal child has a pit that can be filled up as they grow. Whether it's his Ability's effect, or it is what is affecting his Ability, Dazai Osamu has a whole, endlessvoidin place of that pit. It would be too simple to call it depression, but that's the closest we could ever get to comparing his experience to that of a normal, regular human. His very existence is heretical, in so many ways, Soseki-bozo, no one will ever fully understand him. That boy was doomed to a tainted, sorrowful existence from the moment you let him come to be."

Andoh, theirony.

None of them missed it, the choice of words Masaoka had chosen.

Chuuya least of all.

He whirled around on the two organization leaders, on the organization members themselves, cobalt blue eyes lit with the same fire that had once brought Dazai Osamu, aged fifteen, closer to understanding what it might feel like to want to live your life to the fullest, to just want tolive, period. "Well, there you have it. You heard it all. You saw it all. He's mine. All of you, for once in your f*cking lives, back the f*ck off!"

"Chuuya-"

"I'm serious, Ane-san," Chuuya growled, clenching his fists. "When we get back, all of you will f*cking back off from Dazai already. Stop making the sh*tty mackerel's life even more of a living hell than his childhood was! No more mind games or alliance tests or whatever the f*ck Dostoevsky and Shibusawa wanted from him! I'mtiredof wondering if this is the time he'll let a stray bullet hit him and end it all! I'mtiredof warily watching each river or port that I pass! It's clear as f*ck that through some strange turns of fate, we've ended up connected, so Dazai'smineand I will not tolerate any more of any of your bullsh*t that might endanger his life or his peace. Both are already f*cking fragile as it f*cking is!"

"Oh, we're gonna get a gravity manipulator by the time we get to the age Dazai left the Mafia," Ranpo whispered to Yosano, who arched an eyebrow at him. "Dazai actually told me this one, I didn't deduce it. You might get the chance to watch Dr f*cks-Up-A-Lot get his dues if Mr Fancy Hat'sthisangry before we even reached Dazai's Port Mafia era."

"As riveting as that will be to watch," the female doctor replied, also in a whisper. "Should we be worried that, instead of gaining a gravity manipulator, we might lose a nullifier? I have a feeling Mr Fancy Hat will just end up kidnapping Dazai to France or America."

"France or the UK," the greatest detective corrected. He did not elaborate at Yosano's arched eyebrow.

"I've never seen Chuuya-san so genuinely mad before," Akutagawa hummed, drawing Atsushi's attention away from the Executive. "Not even when Dazai-san defected and the first news to reach him was that Dazai-san might be KIA. He'd been ready to tear some heads off back then, but this exceeds even that and he's not even properly yelling yet."

"... Do you think he included us, in all the things he said?"

"Of course not," Hirotsu surprised them by answering, smiling gently at Shin Soukoku and their little sisters, all clustered together. "Chuuya-san would not deprive Dazai-san of the things and people that have been giving him purpose to wake up every morning and get out of bed." Needless to say, the three ravens and one silver haired teen were all beet red.

As Chuuya eventually lay in on Kunikida for some of the thoughtless things he'd overheard the blond say about the mutual nuisance in their work life, f*ckuzawa focused on how uneasy Mori looked and the glances Kouyou kept throwing at him. It would seem he would have to have a word with his former partner, preferablybeforeNakahara disembowels him, no Ability or weaponry needed. He also made a note to ensure the Tanizakis, Kenji, Kyouka and Atsushi aren't around for when that inevitably happens.

"Besides, I'm afraid Osamu-gaki's mental state is hardly our biggest concern right now," Masaoka continued, more or less drawing everyone's attention back to the visions. "His creation has definitely drawn unwanted attention. It's not even the Book; those western pigs are just as oblivious to its existence now as they were twenty years ago. It's the fact that, somewhere in Yokohama, there's a spy and they shared the rumor that anactualhonest to god nullifier exists in Japan, potentially in Yokohama."

"That's an old rumor," pointed out Natsume uneasily. If he were in his cat form now, no doubt his tail would be flicking side to side and his ears would be twitching.

"Yes, it started within the Port Mafia, when a child apparently jumped out of a window and disappeared without a trace after defeating an Executive, a star assassin slash courtesan and at least two other Ability users, as well as injuring the Boss," Masaoka retorted with an arched eyebrow, to which Natsume had to smile almost fondly.

"Ah, so much like his parents, that one."

"This is no joking matter, you know," the elder of the two schemers said with cold seriousness. "Osamu-gaki's Ability is, quiteliterally, one of a kind; many people will want it. On top of that, he almost always has the Book with him; if someonedoesfind and catch him-"

"Double trouble, yes," the three-color haired man said grimly. "It would seem my Tripartite plan will be more necessary than ever. Especially with that Russian rat in the game."

"Russian rat?" Masaoka frowned.

"He can't mean Dostoevsky, right? He can't have been involved this early on ... Right?" Tanizaki asked uneasily, hoping someone would contradict him.

No one did. No onecould.

Only Chuuya was aware that Dostoevsky had even been involved in the Dragon Head conflict six years ago, given Dazai had warned him of a Russian in a white ushanka and to avoid touching him if he were ever to confront him, though Dostoevsky had left Yokohama soon after the conflict was settled and Shibusawa was dead a second time over, apparently. (That man must really be hated by death, or by life. He's been killed by Atsushi, Chuuya, Dostoevsky, technically Chuuya again - the dragon counts - and then by Atsushi again before he was finallydeaddead.) Mori was made aware through a report which did not possess nearly enough details to be of his liking, but at least he'd known there was a second party involved, third if you count the cowardly government.

But before that instance, no one could be sure how long Dostoevsky had been lurking around Yokohama.

No one but Dazai and the previous two schemers before him, it would seem.

"I think he's called Fyodor. He has a powerful, touch based Ability that lets him kill anyone with a single second of direct contact with his body, though the circ*mstances of the activation of the Ability are still unknown to me," Natsume explained, unfortunately confirming the detectives' and the mafiosos' dreaded guess. "He, unlike the westerners, is indeed looking for the Book, his goal upon finding it unknown. How he even knows of its existence-"

"There's a page missing," Masaoka interrupted yet again, eyes narrowed. "That's how he might have come to know of it and where to look."

Natsume got a bad feeling. "Can he ... track it? If he got his hands on the Page?"

"Dostoevsky has a Page from the Book?!" Ranpo hisses, mind already running with the devastating possibilities. They need to get out of herenowand tell Dazai of this. Heneedsto know this before he hatches any more plans on how to deal with Dostoevsky- Ranpo's thoughts crashed to a halt as he realized Dazai probablyknew. "Dazai and I need to have achatafter we get out of here."

"Get in line," muttered Chuuya, but that was that.

"Not for as long as Osamu-gaki has it. Even I can't feel it when he's in possession of it."

Natsume and the watching audience could only sigh in relief.

They cried in dismay, however, when the vision cut off there, shouting at the swirling colors to bring it back because this was the most useful information they've received from the start of this whole mess. Only to shut up when the colors settled quickly after. The ground was shaking and most of them were quick to identify this as the time when there was a huge, mysterious earthquake in Yokohama with a very strange epicenter reading. Those who knew of Abilities suspected an Ability user.

The vision was still showing the cottage Dazai and Masaoka lived in, with Masaoka casually sitting in a chair, eyeing the canned crab he had left out for his young housemate, unbothered by the earthquake going on at that very moment, rattling everything in the shack of a home.

They all drew in a sharp gasp when the door to the cottage opened and revealed a younger version of an unfortunately very recognizable individual.

"Fyodor-gaki, I am to presume."

"Excuse my bad Japanese," the Russian said almost uncomprehendingly. "The Book."

"I don't have it."

"You know."

"I don't know where it is, either."

"I have a bad feeling about this," Kyouka said, grabbing onto Atsushi's hand with a bruising grip.

Hirotsu closed his eyes, not wanting to see this. He knew what it had to be and he didn't want to see it happen. He didn't want it to taint the image he had of his old mentor.

Gin and Tachihara placed a comforting hand on either shoulder, not used to their superior being like this.

"Lie."

"This would be so f*cking funny if I didn't suspect how this will end," Yosano said under her breath and Ranpo gave a tense, terse agreeing nod.

"Why doesn't he just defend himself?" Atsushi asked desperately, also suspecting where this was going and how this was going to end.

"My best guess is that he's pretending he doesn't have anything to defend, so Dostoevsky would leave easier, thus sparing Dazai-kun," Mori mused, eyes not flinching away from Dostoevsky bringing a hand up to the old man's neck.

Masaoka said nothing, instead closing his eyes and transferring what little power he had saved for himself to the Book. It was sentient enough, but he wished it was more, because it communicated with Dazai, it protected the boy and Masaoka hated that the kid was being dragged into this mess. Masaoka never told the boy, but he was the only grandson-like individual he'd had in his life and Masaoka would be lying if he said he wasn't fond of him. He hadn't lied to Soseki-bozo. He honestly liked children, or at least thisonechild. He'd tried to give the brat a semi-normal life in the months they've lived together, but it would seem that was going to come to an end.

But Dazai Osamu will always be safer alone than with people weighing him down, so Masaoka Shiki did not regret his impending death.

This will only make the boy stronger.

Not even listening to the broken threats the Russian was trying to make, Masaoka leaned back and embraced death with open arms.

"Yebat'!"

Chapter 9

Chapter Text

14yo

Fyodor's cursing in Russian was interrupted by the shift that showed them, apparently, where Dazai was when the earthquake had started. (Now that they knew Dostoevsky was involved, Shin Soukoku suspected the earthquake was caused by none other than Ivan, the earth Ability user they'd fought in the tunnels recently.) The vision starts just moments before the earthquake hits, showing Dazai watching in boredom as a new kid chickened out of asking for his help with some school project.

A woman one table over from where he usually sits chuckles, drawing his attention.

Kyouka and Kouyou gasp as they see a very pregnant Izumi Suzu, Kyouka's own mother. She'd skipped the kimonos Kyouka was used to seeing her in, instead wearing a knee-length summer dress and a blazer, her hair pulled back in a braid. Her bright blue eyes, so much like Kyouka's, were regarding Dazai with fond amusem*nt only a happy mother-to-be can show a random child they think is being endearing.

Kyouka's father, Izumi Seiji, was nowhere to be seen. Instead, it seems the on-maternity-leave-assassin had come to the library to read parenting books, based on the pile Dazai could see on her table.

It was Atsushi who squeezed Kyouka's hand extra hard, to ground her. Even Akutagawa put a hand on her head and Kouyou moved closer so she can put her own hand on Kyouka's shoulder in comfort. Kyouka just tried not to cry at seeing her mother so suddenly like this.

"You should smile, lad; you're scaring them away," she said with a chuckle, to which the little brunet arched an eyebrow.

"How do you know that's not what I want?"

The lady Izumi rolled her eyes in fond exasperation. "I've been coming to this library for the last two months. I know you make money from tutoring and doing other's work. I also know you've been a bit less approachable for the last three weeks or so. Rumor has it it's because some of your friends died. My condolences."

Dazai studied her, eyes running over her whole body, mind working a thousand kilometers per second as he analyzed her from head to toe.'Trained, seasoned assassin, not affiliated with the underground; six and a half months pregnant, good quality clothes, healthy ... a good paycheck, possibly a good employment plan ... Government or another very big organization that can afford to have her absent from work for kid things ... Only one weapon, strapped to the back? Some sort of knife or short blade, then. Possibly ... No, most probably an Ability user, all range ... '

"How the hell could he figure all that out from just looking at her!?" Tachihara demanded.

"The way she sits suggests a tanto at her back," Gin offers, having noticed the weapon, too, as well the confidence with which the woman carried herself. An assassin can spot a fellow assassin fairly easily.

"You can see she carries herself the same way Ane-san does for the Ability range, considering they have a similar Ability," Chuuya offers next and really, it's easy to compare the two women in their grace and the way they kept their eyes on both things that could break their personal bubble as well as things that might be out of their direct line of sight. "The clothes thing and such is both obvious and subtle."

Ranpo nodded. "It's good quality clothes but decidedly not over a certain price, indicating a desire to not stand out, something you'd usually expect in a professional assassin, especially those hired by the government. Her good health and confidence to walk around while pregnant also shows that she has a permission to defend herself with lethal force should she encounter an enemy, that she'll have someone backing her no matter how many bodies drop to the floor. Deducting she's an Ability user is a bit trickier, as even I can't determine at first glance whether someone has an Ability or not, but Dazai always knows; nowadays, it could be information. Back then, it was either something relating to No Longer Human, since we can't know whether Dazai is aware when his Ability accidentally nullifies another, or the Book, since it seems intent on helping him in weird ways and situations."

"Still, that's so much information ..."

Mori waved Tachihara off with a scoff. "This is just child Dazai-kun. You should have seen him in action after I started training him. Who needs a forensics report when half of that information is already available after one short examination by Dazai-kun without even having to move a body?"

"That ... Is both morbid and fascinating," Higuchi admitted.

'For all that she's most certainly able to kill or capture me, she's not a threat,'Dazai deduced, before shrugging at the woman. He wouldn't exactly call his parkour group hisfriends... Because, honestly, he didn't even know whether they could be classified as friends. He's never had a friend before ... He swears old man Masaoka is the closest he's ever come to having a human friend so far and he thinks that, under usual circ*mstances, that would be considered sad or pathetic. Luckily, he doesn't care. "It's not my fault they're scared of a little kid."

Suzu has to snort at that. "I agree, it's silly, but humans feel more at ease when they see a smiling face rather than looking at someone as smart as you with a bored expression."

"So it's my intelligence that unnerves them?" Dazai asked, tilting his head to the side like a curious cat.

The ravenette just nodded. "Especially when it's a child. Smart kids either fascinate or unnerve adults."

"So which one are you?"

Suzu smirked. "Fascinated." She paused, studying the little brunet. "You know, a little smile would really get you far. You're cute, you have the potential to become very handsome one day. A smile from you could probably have plenty of ladies and gents eating out of the palm of your hand."

"Oh my god, is this where he got it from?" A scandalized Kouyou asked and Kyouka flushed in second-hand embarrassment at her mother's actions.

Fourteen year old Dazai's eyes, however, sparked with interest. "I can get people to do what I want based on what expressions I make?" Suzu looked a bitunnervednow at the conclusion the bandaged boy had come to from such harmless advice, but she figured he just wanted to exploit his parents' good will by looking cute.

"The fact that Dazaicouldhave done that, had his parents lived, is really f*cking depressing," Yosano observed and Kunikida had long since given up on trying to curb any foul language being used.

Chuuya had to resist the urge to look away in shame and guilt.

'If expressions can influence other people, especially smiles that will make others less wary of me ... 'Dazai mused, before closing his eyes and delving deep into his memories, to the prettiest smile he had ever seen. The face of his mother was blurry, something he thinks normal kids would be upset about, but he could still recall the smiles she was able to make. The most beautiful ones were, without a doubt, when she was spending time with her family ... He remembered a particular spring day, watching the cherry trees bloom, back in Kanagi, when his father had gathered a bunch of fallen rosy petals and had showered him and his mother, laughing all the while. He remembers how his mother's eyes had crinkled at the corners and how her whole face had lit up.

Subconsciously, his own face mimicked hers and Suzu cooed at him.

And of course, yet another peaceful moment in Dazai's turbulent life was cut short by a disaster, because that was the moment the earthquake hit. Kyouka nearly broke Atsushi's hand when the library started shaking violently, causing ornaments, chandeliers and bookcases to fall. Suzu barely got out of the way of a bookshelf that threatened to fall on top of her, the heavy wood crushing the desk she'd been occupying. Various people around the library who had come in for an afternoon reading session screamed, only for those screams and cries to be cut short. A wholepillar, made of concrete and very heavy and sturdy, broke up and fell over, blocking exits or knocking down walls. Glass from the windows shattered, raining sharp shards everywhere and Dazai sprang into action, grabbing Suzu and dragging her underneath the librarian's desk, the sturdiest and largest one in the room, the two of them huddled there until the shaking finally stopped far too many minutes later.

The library was now silent, deathly so. Both trained assassin and unaturally observant child strained their senses to pick up the sound of breathing in the room, but all they could hear was the occasional book falling from a stuck shelf or rubble and dust raining down from the upper floors.

"We need to get out of here," Dazai said, helping Suzu out of their hiding spot and to stand up. "Don't use your Ability, it's harmful for the baby, right?"

"How did you-"

"Doesn't matter," Dazai cut her off, properly shouldering his backpack to free up his hands. "Just don't use it unless you have no other choice, okay?" Suzu could only nod, ashamed to be letting a child take charge, but she was in no condition to lead right now. "Let's go."

Dazai's parkour skills proved invaluable in this situation. Combined with his calculating, observant mind, Dazai was able to scout out the best route out of the reading hall they had been stuck in. It took a while, nearly half an hour, to get back into the main hall of the library because they couldn't let Suzu push herself too much, something the assassin was not pleased by. However, Dazai used his new 'expressions can manipulate people' knowledge to discover the perfect puppy dog eyes that will make her cave and rest. They found a crushed vending machine, thankfully, and Dazai stocked up on snacks and water, making sure Suzu both ate and drank before they continued.

Turns out, they weren't the only ones who survived the tragic collapse of the building.

"Is that ... Is thatKunikida!?" The Agency, even the President, exclaimed, upon little Dazai discovering a half-lucid blond boy around his age, dressed in a school uniform and with shattered glasses near his head, collapsed underneath a table that was barely holding up the weight of three bookshelves fallen stacked one atop/against the other like dominoes. He had a nasty head wound and a bloody book near him, indicating the source.

"Why didn't yousayanything!?" Ranpo demanded, but Kunikida was just as surprised as the rest of them. He flustered under all that attention.

"The first thing I remember is riding in an ambulance with a woman and what I thought was her daughter! I don't even remember what I was doing in the library that day, I only know what my mother told me, that I went to ask the genius kid ... for help with ... my math ... homework ... " Kunikida trailed off, jaw dropping and hitting the floor with a metaphorical pang. "I was going to ask sh*tty, lazy Dazai for help with my homework!?" The emphasis on the word 'work' was not missed by anyone and both organizations flinched, for different reasons, both in connotation with Dazai.

Dazai dragged little Kunikida out of his failing shelter as the wood of the table groaned, Suzu taking part of his weight so they could hurriedly shuffle away from the threat of the shelves. They were just making it down the hall, towards the door, when they heard the deafening crack and even louder thud as the table gave under the weight.

Present day Kunikida gulped, never having been aware he had been so close to dying that day.

Someone screamed, clearly thinking that the building was going to start collapsing again.

In fact, it seemed all too likely, as the shock waves of that impact certainly destabilized what was left of the building's infrastructure.

Suzu shook her head at Dazai, but the boy just pursed his lips and left Kunikida in her care. It would only be a few more meters before she'd be out and she'd have plenty of time to get them to a safe distance from the building for when it inevitably collapsed.

"Don't be foolish," Suzu hissed as she tried to hold on properly to little Kunikida so he wouldn't fall and crack his head open even more than he already had. "You can't save everyone! I'm sure the emergency responders are already on their way-"

"They'd be too busy with the rest of Yokohama," countered the boy. "I'll be quick, it didn't sound like it was far. Just get out and find some medics or something. I'll be out in a minute."

"Lad!" Suzu called after him, but Dazai was already sprinting back down the hall from where the cry had come from. He was far too aware of the cracks appearing in walls, of dust and small debris falling from the ceiling that was giving out, the groan of walls slowly collapsing, the very foundations unstable after that freak earthquake. He didn't have any time to waste, calling out to the source of the cry from earlier. If he was lucky, the person would be as young as they sounded, a girl or a very small boy, someone he could potentially carry out swiftly if they can't walk on their own or are just slow.

"He never knows when to leave it well enough alone, does he?" Kouyou mused with displeasure, not liking the danger the boy was putting himself in, even though she knew it was Dazai.

"He could so easily have died that day," Naomi observed with worry.

The look on Chuuya's face was dark. "That was the point."

"... Oh."

Still, it didn't take Dazai longer than a minute to finally find the owner of the voice, a petite black haired girl around Dazai's own age. Her bangs were straight as if cut with a ruler, the rest of her hair in two cute pigtails and there was seemingly a permanent blush on her cheeks even as they were dirtied by dust and tears. She seems to have sprained her ankle and was crying under the somehow still standing stairs to the second floor when Dazai found her.

Dazai said nothing, just grabbed her, hoisted her on his bag for a piggyback ride, ignoring her yelp, and started sprinting back towards the door. The girl screamed in fright when the buildingliterallystarted falling down around them, walls giving in, chunks of ceiling raining down on them as though they were in an action movie with booby-traps. Dazai barely gave a grunt when a chunk of concrete nearly took his head off, leaving a bloody gash near and over his right eye. The girl was downright sobbing now, clinging onto the straps of Dazai's backpack like her life depended on it, which it probably did, both kids covered in dust from head to toe at this point. The run back outside felt eternally longer than when Dazai had went in to fetch the girl.

Dazai was getting tired, he wasn't used to running while carrying a whole other human being. He cursed his Ability in situations like these, where it was completely and utterly useless.'Why couldn't I have the Ability to nullify gravity instead?'

Chuuya perked up at this, but no one mentioned the irony in that statement, as one of the things Dazai will come to nullify the most would be, indeed, gravity.

Instead, the Armed Detective Agency and the Port Mafia were all watching with bated breath and wide eyes as Dazai finally managed to stumble out of the building just as the last walls holding it up collapsed and the whole building broke down like a house of cards. The shock waves from the impact of so much debris and overall material hitting the ground had Dazai stumbling, the air pushed by the falling concrete and metal tripping him over, causing him and the girl to hit the ground and roll painfully a few feet before they finally lost momentum and came to a stop.

Suzu was on them immediately, fussing with clear worry over both children. Young Kunikida seems to have regained consciousness at some point but was so woozy, Suzu had to split her attention between the three kids as sirens finally filled the air of the now dark city streets.

The vision shifted a bit to show some time had passed, but it was clearly the same day, or evening, now. The scene in front of the collapsed library was depressing. The disaster relief teams had arrived and were trying to see if there was anyone else who had survived the collapse of the library and the nearby buildings. Suzu, Dazai, Kunikida and the girl were given one ambulance car to recover in, the children's wounds treated and Suzu checked over for the health of her unborn child. Kunikida was still woozy, especially with the medication they gave him, the girl's ankle was set and wrapped up and all the scratches and other injuries Dazai had received were freshly bandaged. He refused to answer all the adults about the old scars he still carried from his brutal training sessions at the Mafia from a couple of years ago or the ones left from the glass shards when he'd jumped out of that window.

He now sported an all too familiar bandage over his right eye that had Mori twitching in remembrance as the only one of the people present who hadreallyknown a fourteen year old Dazai looking like this.

Some distance away, there were a few news crews gathered to interview some local politician as well as the captain coordinating the relief teams of firefighters and disaster specialists.

"I can't believe they're taking all of your credit," child Kunikida slurred from where he was laying down in the ambulance, earning himself an arched eyebrow by little Dazai. "It wasyouwho saved us ... Why won't they give you credit? ... You risked your life for us ... "

The black haired, as of yet unnamed girl, stayed quiet but nodded. She seems to have been bundled up in her own and what had to be Dazai's shock blanket, the most shaken out of their little group of four. Dazai had insisted that Suzu keep her own, just in case, because of her delicate state, and it would be for the best if Kunikida also kept his since he had a nasty concussion and some bruised ribs from his tumble after that book hit him. But Dazai himself wasn't even that affected. He hadn't gotten seriously injured besides a few scratches along his arms and hands and the new bandages covering his injured eye. The paramedics who'd checked him over were surprised it was only a surface wound and called him luck that he hadn't lost an eye.

"Usually, a child hero would be a great story," Suzu began with a sigh.

"However, given the adults' incompetence to get any survivors out of these buildings," Dazai continued for her. "And the fact that they've managed to bring down that one apartment building a couple of blocks down the road during their search and rescue attempts, they neededsomethingto show to the public. They needed to show that they were competent and that they knew what they were doing. That the additional accidents weren't their fault. So they took the credit for this. Not that I care."

"But that's so unfair," the little girl mumbled. "You could have died when you came back for me ... It's really not fair."

"Life's not fair," Dazai replied blandly, though not unkindly. He just didn't care. Besides, he'd rather his face not be all over the news. Sure, he's heard his skunk of a grandfather was unwell and was bedridden these days even as he wrecked more havoc all over Yokohama with his thoughtless orders and demands, but he's also aware that there's still a standing order to find him and bring him in, as well as an ongoing promise of a prize for whoever manages it. Dazai would rather not have to deal with that if he can help it. He's not even sure if he could leave Yokohama at this point. All of his connections are stationed in and around the city, so leaving would result in him going hungry or getting sick again.

He'd rathernotend up in some other crazy orphanage with someothercrazy artifact in his possession. The talking, all-powerful, reality-bending Book was enough, thank you.

Besides, he was no hero, he was no savior. His life had taught him early on that he was far more capable of destruction than saving.

Sure, he supposedly saved that boy, that fateful night, with a single touch, but that wasn't even his doing, just his Ability acting as it usually would, it seems. Not to mention that he had been unable to protect his parents that night. He still remembered the tremble in their voices, even if he can't exactly remember the correct pitch, as they apologized for failing to protect them, when it turned out he was the one who had failed.

Sure, he helped that tiger boy in the orphanage by turning off his Ability and leaving him some food. But he'd still left him in a clearly abusive environment. Though he's not sure if he would have been able to take care of the both of them. Masaoka-ossan probably wouldn't have taken them both in. He probably would have taken Dazai and just left the tiger kid, since it was Dazai who had his Book. The kid would have been left to deal with the cruelty of street life on his own.

Sure, he managed to save these three from the collapsing library, but how many more people had been stuck in there that he hadn't even tried to search for? Not that there was any time, the logical side of his mind pointed out, but he hadn't eventhoughtabout it. The blond boy and the black haired girl were saved only because they were convenientlythere, within reach, and he'd remembered the burning collapse of his own childhood home. That's the only reason he helped anyone besides the woman, who had beenkindto him.

So very few people have been kind to him in the grand scheme of his pathetic, short life.

But besides these five people, Dazai had not saved anyone else.

His parents died right before his eyes. He couldn't protect his servants and other employees when the manor was attacked, he'd had to watch Chibi and Matsuki-sandie. He couldn't have protected his aunt from his sicko grandfather's obsessiveness. He'd left a bunch of orphans at the tender 'mercies' of those 'caretakers'. He couldn't protect the parkour group that had so eagerly accepted him as one of their own, even if only because videos with a 'cute kid' doing stunts earned them more attention and more money.

Worse still, Dazai was far more capable of destruction and death than he was saving and protecting.

He'd engineered the deaths of his uncle and cousin, had trapped a few dozen people in a burning house and left it to collapse on them as they suffocated and were burned to death. He's pretty sure he'd killed a dozen people during his escape from the Port Mafia building, especially those fools who had tried to catch him while scaling the building. He'd broken bones on a grown man for daring to try to touch him. He'd exacted vicious vengeance on those responsible for the deaths of his parkour group, making sure not a single one of them had a swift and peaceful end. And he's sure a lot of people were indirectly inflicted by the things he'd done.

He was no hero, he was no savior.

He was just too good at destruction for it to reach him and end this miserable continuance that was his existence.

"That's not true," argued Atsushi weakly, sorrowfully. "Dazai-san saves plenty of people! He saved me! He helped save Kyouka-chan! He helps save and protect Yokohama and the Armed Detective Agency all the time! He-"

"Save it for Dazai, weretiger," Chuuya interrupted. "Maybe you'll be able to convince him he's not irredeemable."

"Perhaps," Suzu said, semi-agreeing with the boy, bringing everyone's attention back to the vision. "That does not, however, devalue what you have done today. No one else may know of your bravery today, butwewill. It will have to be enough, ne?" She finished with a smile at the distressed girl.

Before their conversation could go on any further, Suzu's name was called and they all turned to see her husband running towards her, worried sick. Not long after, a medical technician brought a blond woman who looked a whole lot like Kunikida and a couple that had to be the little girl's parents over to the ambulance and started crying all over their children. Dazai started feeling awkward so he kind of just ... squirmed away without anyone noticing.

Though he did have to wonder ... Would his parents have come racing to find him had they still been alive? Matsuki surely would, so they would, too ... Watching the kids and their parents just made him feel ...numb. The same numbness he experienced whenever he remembered the liveliness of the manor he grew up in, the fussing of his parents, the kindness of his servants, the loudness of Chibi ... All of that was gone and he was alone now. It felt weird to see others have what he had lost.

Though he wondered ... Would the old man be worried about him? He sure did make a fuss when Dazai didn't eat enough or when he tried to go days without sleep even if it was just his body that lacked the urge to do it. Dazai wouldn't say the man was parental or even grandparent material, though he was definitely better suited for it than Dazai's biological grandfather, but he could have been an uncle? Were they what people called 'found family' or 'family of choice'?

He'll have to ask him. If nothing else, it will surely embarrass him.

"He's really been a little sh*t since he was a kid, huh?" Yosano snickered.

Chuuya sighed. "This isn't too far off from when we met, so I'm not surprised he's even more mischievous than he was before. Besides, Masaoka was definitely a bad influence on him."

"Here here," agreed most of the others.

"Do you think his death will bother Dazai?" Kouyou mused and suddenly everyone was very uncomfortable at the reminder that, not that long ago, they've witnessed the old man's demise.

"Better question is, does Dazai-kun know it was Dostoevsky behind it?" Mori says, bringing with him even more discomfort and the reminder that they were all basically invading Dazai's privacy in the worst possible manner. "It would at least explain his animosity towards him. He just found Shibusawa unpleasant and pitiful, but he definitely has a bone to pick with the rat."

"Only one way to find out," Hirotsu said mournfully and they all just watched as Dazai made his way back to the humble adobe he'd been calling home for months. The port was in a better state than the city was, very few shipping containers toppled or knocked over, very few spilling their goods. Dazai paused only long enough to grab some canned food - especially crab, of course - and stuff it into his bag before he finally made it to the lone cottage at the edges of the port territory.

He wasn't surprised to find it intact despite quite a few concrete buildings collapsing. After all, the old man could easily reinforce it with his Ability, warping reality to fit his needs despite most of his power being transferred into the Book. He had absolutely no doubt in his mind that the old man was just fine and dandy, probably not even noticing the way the whole of Yokohama shook like a baby deer on ice.

So you simplycan'timagine the surprise he felt when he opened the door, about to call out a rude greeting to the old man that was just part of their routine at this point, only to freeze at the sight of all that blood and the collapsed form of Masaoka. "Oi, ossan, this isn't funny," he said with a scowl, even as his mind started analyzing the scene, trying to find something fake, something out of place, something not quite right as he approached the old man's body. The input his mind was delivering him was not promising and he could feel that cold, familiar numbness creeping back to the forefront, swallowing everything in its wake. "If you don't stop playing around, I'll eat all this crab by myself," he threatened halfheartedly even as he collapsed on his knees beside the dead man who'd taken him in and cared for him in his own way for so long. "You're really the worst, ossan."

The Agency flinched at how empty and dull he sounded and the utter lack of light in his brown eyes, that now also looked more black than any other color. The mafiosos, on the other hand, just tightened their jaws or fists or clenched their teeth. Most of them had met this side of Dazai and it was never easy to see it again, even if they knew it was there all the time, just hidden beneath some very convincing masks.

Dazai jumped when the Book suddenly started communicating with him, more clearly than ever before, the words now almost completely audible, spelling outD-A-N-G-E-Rin strangled, faraway, almost incomprehensible whispers, but still so clearlywordsin ahuman language, something it could never do before.

'I see.'

"Oh, f*ck you!"

Thankfully for Yosano, Dazai didn't leave his thoughts there this time.

'Masaoka-ossan transferred the rest of his power to the Book, making it more powerful than ever ... And he did this after someone found himbecauseof the Book, for the sake of finding it and using it for their own goals, likely how they would have used Masaoka-ossan himself had he allowed them to keep him alive. So he instead removed himself from the equation but made the Book more powerful, thus more dangerous ... I know what I have to do now.'

"I don't like where this is going," Junichiro admitted and no one could really contradict him.

They all had a feeling they wouldn't like where this was going.

Still, they were as helpless as ever as they watched Dazai struggle to move Masaoka to his cot, placing him to lay down on his back, arms over his abdomen, and a cloth placed respectfully over his face. The little brunet then turned on the stove - a gas one, used for both heating and cooking in fall and winter - and went out to get some fuel from the nearby vehicles at the port. By the time he came back, he could literallysmellthe explosiveness in the air of the cottage. He threw in the container of fuel, jumped back, threw the book in front of himself and watched as a spark lit and the whole cottage half-exploded, starting to burn in a raging inferno. The Book took up the damage as Dazai landed out of the reach of the flames and heat, still doing a few back-rolls until he was sure he was safe, the Book fairly following him as it hovered before just dropping to the ground. There wouldn't be anything left of the wooden cottage in under an hour.

Dazai watched the flames for a little while until something colorful caught his attention from the corner of his eye. He almost immediately recognized the calico cat as the one who'd been trying to help him before his short stunt in the orphanage. It let a sorrowfulmurrpbefore looking sharply behind itself. When he focused his hearing, Dazai could just faintly hear sirens in the distance, too.

It was time to leave, it seems.

As he was about the pack up the Book into his backpack, he paused upon seeing the red hard covers of the suicide guide Masaoka had gotten him. With the knowledge that the Book was now even more dangerous than before, he couldn't risk it ever being taken, so he ripped the cover off of the suicide manual and instead used them to hide the Book. To his surprise, the Book ...conformedto the disguise, shrinking down in size just a bit and lookingthinner.

'Well, that's unexpected.'

"The stupid suicide manual is the Book!?" Kunikida exploded, already trying to pull out his hair.

"Huh," went Mori. "Iwaswondering what he'd done with the Book since I know for a fact I didn't find it with Dazai-kun when we met."

"I'm guessing that's what comes next?" f*ckuzawa asked and Mori gave a so-so gesture with his hand.

Luckily, they weren't left guessing for long, because soon enough, the scene before them shifted and it looks like it's been a couple of weeks since the earthquake. Many parts of the city were still heavily in reconstruction but it seems like life has more or less gone back to normal and people barely even mentioned the earthquake anymore.

Dazai, though, could not stopthinkingabout the earthquake, Masaoka's death, the Book's new power and the fact that someone knew about it and they were after it. And that someone was both bold and ruthless enough to kill for it.

With the Book now more dangerous than ever and with Dazai lacking a good way to secure it, he knew he had no other choice.

He found it funny, how Masaoka may as well have given him a purpose for his heretical existence perhaps without even realizing it.

"WHAT THE f*ck!?" The Agency, Chuuya, Higuchi, Tachihara and even the usually rather quiet Akutagawas all screamed as they realized Dazai was standing on top of a bridge, backpack full of heavy stones - which he carried with surprising grace for such a lanky teenager more focused on speed and agility than actual strength - and the now red-covered Book tightly clutched in his arms. No, not even justclutched. Dazai knew his limbs will lose strength when he dies, so he'd made sure to tape the Book to himself.

Dazai was the only one who could destroy the Book, thus potentially saving the world from the chaos and calamity that may come from it falling into the wrong hands. It was no noble act on his part; he's not sure if he could even bring himself to give a damn about a world that has never given him or done anything good for him since he was born. No, it was Matsuki-san's words about his family's pride and honor that had him wanting to die a 'noble' death, a death worthy of the name his parents had given him, even if he hadn't been Tsushima Shuuji in such a long time.

Moreover, if he was going to leavethat boybehind without ever having found him and making sure he was alright, he was going to do it for 'the greater good', whatever that might even be.

Chuuya, as always, twitched and looked disbelieving at the fact that he'd apparently been living rent-free in Dazai's mind since they were eight, even if Dazai barely remembered how he even looked like at fourteen.

Besides, this even felt like something the Book would have wanted. After all, it had beenitthat had created Dazai in such a way that he may one day be able to destroy it. Only his touch can undo all of its invincibility, leaving it vulnerable to the rest of the world in a way it could never be before. So the only way to destroy the Book and spare this world the potential chaos was to destroy Dazai Osamu - formerly Tsushima Shuuji - himself along with it.

He'd chosen drowning, as that was the way least likely to cause trouble for others. This river had strong currents and led straight into Yokohama bay. Even after the ropes rot or his own body does enough to slip free, he'll be carried away into Yokohama Bay or out to the open sea before he could cause trouble for anyone. By then, the paper making up the Book would be long destroyed and he wouldn't have to worry anymore. No one would. The fabric of reality would finally be safe from the meddling of incompetent human hands.

And Dazai would finally be free from this world and this life that was simply not worth living with the amount of pain it caused and the numbness and thevoidit only spread further and further inside of himself.

"Where the hell is Natsume-sensei!?" Barked f*ckuzawa, panicking as he saw fourteen year old Dazai starting to lean forwards on the railing of the bridge, towards the water. "He was with him in the last vision!"

"Dazai must have ditched him," Ranpo replied, a frown on his face. "He knew any normal person would have stopped him. Even scumbags of the earth take pity on children," he said, casting a look at Mori, who was watching the scene intently.

As if on cue, a high pitched voice squealed. "Look, Rintaro! That stupid boy is trying to fly!"

"Elise-chan, wha-"

D-A-N-G-E-R

Eyes snapped open and to the side, fourteen year old Dazai took the plunge upon seeing the little girl lunge after him. Clutching the Book closer, he angled his body for a head-first dive, wanting to make sure he drowns in the water and doesn't die too fast lest No Longer Human release the Book from its all-encompasing nullifying grasp. He startled, however, when the blond little girl with the strange man in a white lab coat grabbed him by the foot, stopping his fall for just a second before she vanished in a flash of bright, nearly white-blue light.

"Elise-chan!" Was the last thing he heard before he broke the surface of the water, quickly plunging into the depths of the river.

They didn't watch Dazai sink, instead the vision focused on a shell-shocked Mori. "A nullifier? No, that can't be ... Can it? ... Well, I'm certainly going to find out!" Without hesitation, the Mori of the past threw off his coat and jumped, diving in after the strange boy.

"I never would have thought you so fearless, old man," Yosano grumbled but Mori, for once, made no dramatics of how such a comment hurt him. Instead, reddish-purple eyes were focused on his past self finding little Dazai and realizing he was far too heavy for such a skinny boy. He showcased his intelligence in realizing that the backpack was the problem and within the second, a scalpel sliced through the leather straps, making Dazai float, almost letting the current carry him away just as the boy had ultimately planned, but Mori caught him, secured one of his arms around him and quickly swam them both towards the surface. He gasped for air when it was finally made available to him, glanced around before making his way to the closest shore. The current had taken them some fifty meters away from the bridge they'd jumped off of, but that was fine. As soon as he makes sure the boy is stable, he'll find a way to summon Elise back and have her retrieve his things.

When they were finally on solid ground, Mori barely caught his breath before he started doing compressions to get the boy breathing again. "Sorry to ruin your day, but I wasn't the best of my class for nothing," the man said with a crazed-gleeful grin, not even taking a minute to have the teen coughing up the water from his lungs and even vomiting some out of his stomach before collapsing back into unconsciousness, breathing labored and not quite right, but still steady andthere. Mori collapsed to sit next to his patient, trying to regain his own breathing. He was lucky resuscitating the boy hadn't required mouth-to-mouth; he wasn't sure he had enough air in his own lungs to perform it.

Chuuya was now glaring at the former doctor, who still didn't seem to be noticing it. Instead, he was watching as Elise reappeared before him, having gone to retrieve his coat. Instead of wrapping himself up in it, he covered the bandaged boy, startling when Elise vanished again. And then he laughed, a truly chilling sound, as he realized what he had just discovered.

And thus the life of Dazai Osamu, fourteen years old, changed forever.

Chapter 10

Chapter Text

14-15yo

Dazai wasn't entirely sure how he felt when he woke up after his suicide attempt.

He was cold, his chest hurt with each breath he took and the bandages were scratching his skin. He also had a bit of a headache, something he rarely experienced, and the beeping sound of the machines helping him breathe and hydrate him were only making it worse.

"Good evening, Dazai-kun," an unfamiliar voice said from the side and Dazai's one uncovered eye followed the sound to the source of it, finding the same man he'd glimpsed at the bridge before jumping. He was still unfamiliar but Dazai didn't need the Book to spell outD-A-N-G-E-Rfor him to realize this man was shady and dangerous. There was an intelligent glint in his eye unable to cover his cruelty and it had Dazai scanning him from head to toe while he introduced himself as Mori Ougai, Dazai's 'physician' at this 'hospital' where he was 'brought in' because of a suicide attempt.

'Accustomed lair, very intelligent, in his thirties, probably early thirties, 32-33 years old, skilled, trained but discredited doctor, for moral and ethical reasons rather than actual skill issues. Ability user, all ranges, best in close to mid range. Trained in combat ... A military doctor then, probably participated in the Great War. The way he holds himself suggests he's accustomed to holding some sort of authority and is comfortable with making life-altering decisions ... A leader-type, then. The set of his mouth and eyes suggests incredible capability for cruelty, a torture and interrogation expert? Well, you should know never to anger someone who knows how to put you back together, since they also most certainly know how to take you apart ... sad*st but can take a hit ... Recently divorced? No, notquite... Butsomething... somethingsimilar... '

"I guess calling our fallout a divorce isn't too incorrect," f*ckuzawa mused, an embarrassed flush to his cheeks.

Mori, on the other hand, was both observing and cataloging all the things Dazai had deduced of him upon their first meeting as well as hiding behind his hair lest the others see his own blush, too. He has a feeling he knows what might be shown in these visions and for once, it's not even about how he'd acquired his position.

Dazai knew way more of his far more embarrassing secrets than his treacherous rise to power.

'Ambitious, cunning, patient ... Impatient at the worst possible time ... Manipulative and abusive as the situation calls for it ... At least five small blades and a gun, so armed at all times ... Most interestingly enough, an information broker ... Right from this clinic ... How intriguingly clever.'He paused, thought about it, before deciding.'The type that is both fascinatedandunnerved. But he's the paranoid type ... He'll kill it if he can't control it.'

"I wonder if Dazai-san analyzed all of us like that when we met?" Kyouka wondered and Atsushi just nodded.

Higuchi, Tachihara, Tanizaki, Naomi and Kunikida were all gawking at the ease with which the fourteen year old deduced so many things, despite three of them seeing Ranpo at work almost constantly.

Speaking of the detective, he was giggling to himself at how well Dazai could read the world that so rare few people besides the two of them and a few other unfortunate individuals could.

"There's Soseki-san," Hirotsu said, drawing everyone's attention to where he was pointing out the cat lounging on a windowsill on the street across from Mori's clinic. It looked not unlike any other cat, but they knew how to distinguish the shifter from other felines now.

"So he's always just watching over this guy? Isn't that a bit creepy? Especially when he was a kid?" Tachihara asked, scratching his head.

"I'm honestly more surprised someone like Dazai Osamu hasn't confronted him about it," Higuchi commented to herself but the Akutagawas, at least, nodded in agreement.

"Dazai-kun, if you help me with one little thing, I promise I will teach you how to mix medicine that will give you a painless death," the Mori of the past vowed and Dazai, spotting several lies but knowing he can't show his true cards just yet, faked excitement. "Wow, really?"

"However," Mori interrupted this 'celebration'. "Whatever happens next will be strictly confidential. I need your word not to say anything."

'Is he looking for an alibi? ... This just got interesting ... An ambitious, cruel man, an information broker with leadership skills, an expert manipulator and liesmith, a former military doctor elbow deep in the underground's business, looking for a child to give him an alibi? No, it's not that I'm a child ... It's that I don't mind if I die. He needs an easily disposable witness ... A suicidal kid is easy to dismiss. Fascinating.'"Yup, I promise~!"

"And yet he babbled in front of half of the Agency and the entire command of the Black Lizard," Mori lamented with a sigh. "Still, not only his testimony, but his skills more than ensured my accession to the position of Boss. But now that I know the old Boss is his grandfather ... It makes me question quite a bit of things. Why did he do it? Why didn't he betray me later? Why did he cleanse any and all traditionalists who stubbornly supported the Tsushimas' resistance to my leadership?"

"It's simple," Ranpo replied. "He hated them, as much as they hated him."

"Dazai doesn'thate," Chuuya corrected. "He can't muster up the energy to bother with it. Hedoes, however, hold grudges. If you cross him, your fate is sealed. That's it. But I don't know anyone whom Dazai might actuallyhate."

"I think Dostoevsky might actually be a candidate," Kunikida suggested, pushing his glasses up higher on the bridge of his nose.

"That's Dazai hating himself," Chuuya waves him off while Ranpo nods in agreement. As if either of them thought that was a perfectly normal answer to give in any situation.

"Mind elaborating that," the blond half-demanded, but Chuuya just rolled his eyes and even glared at him a little.

"You're his partner at the moment, you should know this by now."

"It's why Soukoku is superior," Mori cooed to f*ckuzawa faux-sweetly, making the older man's eyebrow twitch in annoyance. Mori was (unfortunately) spared from being strangled by a fast forward rewind of the visions, showing Dazai's recovery under Mori and then the visits to the Port Mafia, Dazai now being introduced as Mori's assistant. "Ah, this is a month beforeithappened." He paid great attention to the whispers going around this time as some of the higher ranking subordinates seemed to have recognized Dazai as the missing Tsushima.

"Is that ... you know,him?"

"He's actually still alive?"

"I thought he was a myth!"

"Damn, the kid really do be having soulless eyes!"

"I can see the resemblance-"

"Shh! Don't say that, you idiot, do you want to get us both killed!?"

"Someone actually managed to capture him?"

"Nah, it can't be him! I was there when he ran away! Ain't no way anything human could catch that little demon!"

"I agree; he's got Gen'emon-sama's genes. That shady doctor wouldn't be able to capture him."

"I don't know ... Something's fishy about that guy ... If I were to cross him in hell one day, I'd rather stick with the devil."

"f*ck both himandthe devil, just keep me away from that brat!"

"But is it really him? The missing Tsushima?"

" ... Guess we'll find out real soon, huh?"

The old Boss definitely recognized Dazai. Having been obsessed with his deceased favorite daughter and her husband for the past four years, the second those feverish, sickly yellow eyes settled on the fourteen year old boy going by Dazai Osamu, the old man perked up. For a couple of days, his good mood managed to overcome his sickness and he even managed to leave his bed for a bit. Even his decisions seemed more rational. This convinced everyone that Dazai was indeed Tsushima Shuuji. Some of the traditionalists, hardcore supporters of the Tsushima Boss even came up to Mori to individually thank him for his services. Dazai had a lot of fun watching how the doctor struggled not to twitch at inadvertently shooting himself in his own foot.

Still, Mori got a lot of recognition and credibility from managing to bring back the missing Tsushima, even without realizing it. Dazai just kept quiet, letting Mori think the recognition was caused by his medical skills improving the old man's health. He could not keep quiet, however, when a couple of the traditionalists approached him, bowed to him and addressed him by the name he no longer used, wishing him a warm welcome back to a place he would consider hell if he could be bothered with it.

He was polite when speaking with them. He knew making them angry or suspicious now would only cause unnecessary problems down the line. "I wish to be addressed as Dazai Osamu from now on. My birth name causes me too much pain by remembering my parents and aunt." For years later, he wasn't sure if these people were that gullible or if they were just that eager to kiss his ass since it was clear the old man won't last for that much longer and his will had long since declared Tsushima Shuuji to be the successor to the Mafia.

"I'm sorry,what!?" Kunikida, Higuchi and Tachihara exclaimed with jaws hitting the floor.

"Ah. Thatwouldexplain why the traditionalists listened to Dazai-kun's testimony as something reliable and credible, at least long enough for me to ascend to the position of Boss before realizing I had no intention of following in the old Boss' footsteps," Mori mused. "It's not that I had a kid as a witness, and kids are bad at lying, but because I had thatparticularkid as my witness. Anyone other than Dazai-kun would have probably landed me with three bullets to the chest a long time ago."

"Seems like you owe Dazai more and more as the days go by, Ougai."

"Weallowe Dazai-kun more than we are aware of, Yukichi~"

Regardless, they would stick to tradition, expecting a Tsushima heir and following a Tsushima's orders and rule for a while, so he didn't care much for them. Ultimately, they would be Mori's problem.

However, even if most of the traditionalists were content to just leave him and Mori be as the old Boss soon lost the energy boost he got from having his obsession back in his reach again, the Tsushima family and their closest supporters hoping to put their own favored Tsushima on the Mafia throne were far less willing to let fate play out without dipping their disgusting fingers into some pies.

It's why, one day, Dazai returned to the clinic where he and Mori lived under siege. Not too unusual, all things considered; Mori was an information broker and an underground doctor. Sometimes, people thought that they couldforcethat scummy man into doing what they want. Usually, Mori and Elise dealt with it before it escalated to this level but as Dazai approached the building on almost soundless feet, he noticed the men guarding the place were wearing protective gas masks and No Longer Human lit up around him when he got within range.

'An Ability spread through the air, capable of knocking people out,'he presumed, sighing as he started patting himself down. The coat Mori gave him was a convenient place to store all sorts of crafty, handy little tools, including bladed weapons. He thinks hiding a gun would be easy, too, but Mori hasn't given him one yet despite having taught him how to shoot from one.

"You taught a fourteen year old to shoot from a gun?" f*ckuzawa asked with heavy disapproval.

Mori gave him a deadpan stare. "I drafted two fifteen year olds into the Mafia and drafted an eleven year old into the Great War. Do youreallythink I care about a fourteen year old knowing how to shoot a gun? Well, actually, Ididcare. Dazai-kun was to be my witness! I could not afford to let him die~"

"You basically sent him to his death during the Arahabaki case," Chuuya deadpanned and Mori sweatdropped at how unimpressed the ginger seemed.

Dazai took stock of what he had at hand as he analyzed the situation at hand. He could easily just leave Mori here to die at the hands of no doubt Dazai's own greedy relatives, but Mori was actuallyinteresting. As much as Dazai hated to admit it. He was the first person whom Dazai had met who seemed to actuallymatchDazai's mind. Not in intelligence; Dazai had a feeling Mori's experience was the only thing keeping him level with the fourteen year old. Mori definitely wasn't as intelligent as his father or Masaoka-

"Hey!"

"Shut up, Ougai/Ougai-dono."

-but there was something dark andwickedwithin that man which spoke to something deep within Dazai. It both disgusted him and intrigued him. Not only that, but Mori seemed invested in challenging Dazai's own intelligence, insisting on teaching him various skills and other things. He'd given him proper medical training and seemed rather delighted how Dazai didn't flinch away from blood and how incredibly steady his hands were when holding a scalpel. He was intrigued by how quickly Dazai sucked up all the knowledge from his medical textbooks - far more detailed than the ones he used in the library to help med students study, actually, so he not only reviewed his own knowledge but learned many more new things along the way - and the few times they'd played chess after Mori realized he knew how to, Mori had been almost manically gleeful to find that they've both won, lost and tied with each other an equal amount of times, mostly based on how bothered Dazai was to play.

In short, living with Mori had proven to be more or less interesting, though not enough for Dazai to say he was attached to the doctor. Mori was unlike anyone he'd given half a scrap of his attention to so far and not in a good way. Had Dazai wanted to die any less, he would have run the other way as soon as possible, but since he was looking for a painless way to die, sticking around to raid Mori's medical cupboards was for now the best option.

If nothing else, Mori was going to help him avenge his aunt. Maybe even his whole household, even his parents, depending on how useful he turned out to be. But for now, Mori was planning a coup against Dazai's grandfather and the Tsushima patriarch had it a long time coming.

'This is why I don't trust adults to do a good job at anything,'he thought with a sigh as he settled on a plan and finally took action.

"You never mentioned Dazai saved you, Ougai-dono," Kouyou accused but Mori looked as perplexed as the others did.

'But first,'Dazai thought, taking out the phone Mori had given him and looking through the pathetically small list of contacts Mori had installed in there as the people he trusted with Dazai and whom he trusted Dazai with. Dazai hadn't even met many of the people on the list, but there's no way he was going to call the Colonel. He'd be a good supporter for Mori's takeover but Dazai has a feeling he might just slit his throat if he had to see him right now. Instead, he chose the contact of a lowly grunt with a powerful Ability, Randou. Dazai had a feeling he'd come in handy. He hadn't met him yet, either, butsomethingwas telling him he ought to be interesting.

"Oh, forf*ck's sake," Chuuya cursed and at this point, no one even asked. The visions were clearly going to show alot, most probably including something that would explain Chuuya's reaction.

Mori, Kouyou and Hirotsu, on the other hand, just shook their heads and marveled at how the strings of fate intertwined and tangled, connecting human lives whether they like it or not.

After calling for backup, Dazai finally approached the building. Having lived on the streets for so long, Dazai knew all the best ways to blindside someone, to take advantage of their surprise and the fact that people underestimated kids. These people here were lowly grunts, they wouldn't immediately recognize him as either Mori's assistant Dazai or the missing Tsushima Shuuji come back to life to haunt his treacherous relatives. They'd probably think he was an injured kid looking for treatment, given he was cover from head to toe in bandages, as far as the eye could see, anyway. So affecting an injured gate and making a face depicting pain, the bandaged boy approached the standing guards.

"Who goes there!?" One of them immediately demanded and Dazai 'whimpered', shying away in 'fear'.

"It's just a kid, give it a rest," the other snorted, clearly bored of guard duty. "Probably a wimpy street rat. What's got you so spooked, huh?"

"The King of the Sheep is a 'kid' and a 'street rat' and I don't seeyouitching to pick a fight with him," grumbled the first guard and Dazai did his best not to perk up at this. Information about the Sheep, especially their 'King' was mostly based on rumors, but they were a juvenile group acting as a gang and taking up the territory of the slums in Suribachi City, a settlement built in the crater Dazai had been retrieved from about six years ago, now. He thinks one of the Sheep actually approached him to join, at some point during this last year, but Dazai had been content with living with the old man, tutoring kids and young adults, reading books and doing parkour with the group that was now long gone. So was the library and Masaoka. If they asked now ... No, he'd probably still say no. He himself was still a kid, for all intents and purposes, he hadnointentions of babysitting other kids.

This King of the Sheep, however, was rumored to have a very powerful Ability. Gravity manipulator, they called him. Capable of flight and coming out unscratched from any gunfight he entered. A kid Dazai's own age with very distinguishable features, though no one could point out what these 'distinguishable' features were. Lazy gits couldn't even get such simple information right, too scared of the 'tenfold payback' the Sheep, or their King, were known for.

But that isn't important right now. He'll deal with that some other time.

"Well, well, well, would you look at that," Yosano teased, sending Chuuya a sh*t-eating grin. "For once, Dazai put yousecond."

Chuuya glared at her. He said nothing of all the times he came second to another redhead who had stolen the centerpiece to Dazai's heart and took it to the grave with him, leaving a shattered mess for Chuuya to put back together, if only Dazai would have let him.

"Is Mori-sensei in? My wounds really hurt and the bandages are itching. I really need him to change them and give me meds," Dazai asked, making his eyes look huge, being sure to keep his face turned away from the light so his pupils will dilate. He wonders if these idiots would mistake him for a junky. He was skinny and pale enough and had pretty big eye bags to pass for one. Not that it matters.

"Sorry, kid, no one's allowed in or out," the second guard said casually, taking out a cigarette and lighting it, only to get scolded by the more anxious guard. As the two squabbled, Dazai took out the scalpels he'd hidden in his sleeves. Guided by Mori's teachings and his own readings, he jumped up a little to reach the paranoid man's neck, grabbing him in a headlock and swiftly slicing the sharp blade over the soft skin and tendons of his neck. The blood splashed the other guard in the face, blinding his eyes and he began to panic, but Dazai was on him just as swiftly, letting the first guard fall to the ground as he threw a scalpel to embed it in the other guard's throat. He also fell to the ground, still alive, choking on his own blood and Dazai took mercy on him, slicing to end his misery.

The Armed Detective Agency members, for the most part, looked sick at such casual violence from the child version of their coworker, despite having seen him do similar things before. f*ckuzawa and Kyouka were taking it the best, though the little girl looked a bit queasy to be reminded of her own unfortunate past as an assassin. Yosano, on the other hand, had refused to look at all. She bet Dazai greatly regretted letting Mori live these days.

The Port Mafia, on the other hand, were just surprised this happened at all, since Dazai had never taken any credit. It seems that the only one who had any idea of this event had been Randou and he'd taken this secrete to the grave like many others.

After he was sure the guards were dead, Dazai took their guns and extra magazines before heading into the clinic itself. He knew his way around fairly well so he was careful of the spots where the floor creaked and knew just how wide to open any doors before they made a noise that could alert his opponents of his presence. The first floor was stupidly unguarded, but the fact that the stairs to the second floor had two guards kind of made up for it. Dazai was lucky the stairs didn't directly face the entrance doors. It would have made things unnecessarily difficult. As it was, he just took out the gun from the bored grunt from before. It seems he was smarter than you'd think; his gun had a silencer.

Dazai took careful aim and just as one of the guards shuffled, restless, he fired, shooting him in the ankle, causing it to give out. The guy fell with a grunt of pain and as his colleague called out his name, he fell down the stairs, taking a nasty fall. Even from several meters away and in this darkness, Dazai could make out the ugly, unnatural angle his neck and head were in and he could see that he was not breathing.

"sh*t!" The other guard cursed, carefully coming down the stairs, afraid he might fall, too. Thankfully, the dead guy's arm had also had an open fracture so there was a lot of blood everywhere, so the other guard didn't even notice the shot ankle. "sh*t! Of all the things-" He didn't get to finish, as Dazai carefully threw another scalpel to slice his mask open. He was unconscious on the ground in seconds. To be sure he won't be coming back to bother him, Dazai slit his throat, too.

After doing one last check of the first floor, Dazai started climbing the stairs, counting the rooms and calculating the probabilities of where Mori might be held right now. He decided the most likely probability was Mori's own office. It only had one entrance and one window to defend and the least dangerous equipment that is easily accessible. Now that he was out in the open, with No Longer Human still actively repelling the air-transmitted Ability and giving off its glow in this darkness, he had to be extra careful. He figured each room was guarded, so he took some coin he had in one of his pockets and let it roll down the hallway. With how quiet it was, even such a slight sound attracted someone's attention.

"Go see what it is!" Someone barked the order and someone else came out of one of the rooms at the very back,grumbling. This pleasantly surprised Dazai - his opponents were apparently idiots who only guarded the front and the back. Meaning all the other rooms were empty. Dazai suddenly had much more to work with. Still, he waited until the grunt came closer, carelessly 'inspecting' everything.

"There's nothing here!"

"Just take a f*cking look!"

"Oh, for f*ck's sake, fine!"

'Lack of proper communication,'Dazai observed, even as he readied the gun with the silencer.'They're uncoordinated, unaware four of their people are already dead and that there's an intruder already inside. Pathetic.'

"Well, now we know why Dazai-san always gets so angry when someone doesn't report in despite being perfectly capable of it," Gin commented and her brother grunted in agreement.

Once the grunt called out once again that there was nothing, Dazai shot him in both his knees when he was close enough, before cushioning his fall so he could slit his throat before he can scream. He was unlucky with this scalpel, as it somehow got stuck in the man's throat.

"T-that can happen?" Tachihara asked uneasily and both doctors present in the watching group gave grim nods. The ginger with the band aid gulped.

Luckily for his depleting supply of scalpels, this guy had a knife on him, increasing the number of knives in Dazai's collection to three. With the two guns and additional ammunition, it ought to be enough.

He was able to lure out two more grunts who were sent out to see where the one he'd just killed had disappeared off to and he made quick work of them, too, knives aiming for the heart instead of the way he'd used the scalpels before. These two were lucky shots. They had machine-guns. Dazai would not have survived an encounter withthose.

"Jesus Christ on a motorbike!" Tachihara wheezed, earning himself disgusted looks. "What!? It's kinda cool. But are you all seriously going to ignore what's going on here?" He asked, gesturing to where two more grunts came out of one of the rooms, definitely having heard the commotion this time, shootingmoremachine-guns and forcing Dazai to hide in one of the empty rooms he'd managed to reach. Looking around, his eyes glinted in victory as he spotted an oxygen tank Mori rarely used for any of his patients unless they were exceptionally useful. Like in Dazai's case. A quick tap against the metal surface confirmed that it was one of the full ones and Dazai quickly brought it over to the door. He shot a couple of times at the grunts with the gun without the silencer, making them duck and cease fire for a moment, the moment he needed to throw out the tank, take aim with the other gun and hit his mark.

Immediately, the pressurized oxygen exploded outwards and the continued attempted shooting actually just set the grunts on fire in the ensuing even bigger explosion. Dazai covered himself in his coat as the heat spread through the hallway, some flames even almost licking his clothing before all that excess oxygen burned out. Poking his head around the corner foundthreedead grunts and another heavily injured one; backup, most probably. The injured one probably won't live for long; the mask was damaged so he'll definitely be going to sleep and with the blood-loss, he'll either go into shock or straight to death's door.

Dazai almost pitied him, but he had to duck around the corner as three more people walked out of the room at the very end, Mori's office. The place he presumes the doctor is being held. He hadn't gotten a good enough look at them, so he wasn't sure if any of his useless relatives were on the scene, but he's sure of one thing he'd glimpsed: skin. A face.

He'd found the Ability user.

However, the other two were also heavily armed and one of them had some sort of decaying, touch-based Ability, based on how he accidentally destroyed a table with a pretty pricey vase on it simply by bumping into it. Mori's gonna be pissed about that; he actually liked that vase. But that's a problem for later, becausemorepeople came out of one of the operating rooms closest to Mori's office, the last unchecked room. Now there was a total of seven people and Dazai did not have enough guns or knives to finish this on his own.

The Ability users were of no consequence to him, No Longer Human would keep him safe, but he was still no less impervious to guns than a regular human.

Still, he needed to hold out until backup arrived. And he needed to take out the Ability user putting everyone to sleep.

Laying down on the floor and letting only the tip of the silencer gun peek around the corner, Dazai took a deep breath and tried to visualize where he'd seen the mask-less person; he hadn't heard any movement or shuffling of feet, just hushed whispers and some gagging at the scene he'd made with that explosion. Everyone should be in the same position he'd last seen them in. Trusting his calculations and memory, he pulled the trigger.

A thump announced a body falling to the floor, followed by surprised and frightened yelps.

No Longer Human stopped illuminating his skin.

'Bingo.'He adjusted his aim a little and still, even among all that shuffling, he managed to shoot someone. Preferably that decay Ability user. He doesn't want the whole building giving out and coming down on their heads. He's had enough of that a couple of months ago.

"In the room near the end of the hall!"

"Open fire!"

"Shoot, damn it!"

"Damn," Dazai muttered to himself as they started moving, shooting and carefully coming closer to his hiding spot. There wasn't much places to hide in this room, definitely not anything that could save him from the gunshots. He adjusted his aim and he thinks he managed to kill at least one more, but he'd also managed to hit someone somewhere non-vital; an arm, shoulder or side. Too bad it wasn't a hip; they wouldn't be able to move.

"Just kill this little sh*t!"

"Meow," came from behind him and Dazai whirled his head around. He found a familiar calico cat sitting on the window, watching him with those far too familiar eyes, tail lazily swishing from side to side.

"So, you've finally decided to show yourself," Dazai said to it in a whisper. "About time." He shuffled away from the doorway, hiding from direct sight as the remaining grunts finally arrived to the room, ready to open fire, only to be immediately met with only a cat.

"A dumb cat?" One of them muttered.

"You should know better than to badmouth your betters," came a man's voice before the cat was engulfed in an explosion of light, then anactualexplosion, taking down half the room with it, though thankfully no walls, just the window and the cabinets and equipment Mori had kept in there. The grunts lay dead outside the room, necks and spines broken from connecting to the wall. Meanwhile, Natsume Soseki, in all of his human glory, smirked down at his late friend's only son. "We finally meet, Dazai-kun."

Dazai, to the surprise of everyone and yet no one, just gave a respectful nod. "Sensei."

They were shown no more of the interaction between Natsume and Dazai, instead the scene shifted to when reinforcements finally arrived and Mori was already close to wakefulness. Randou lead the charge, prowling through the clinic with his Ability around him as a shield. He sighed in relief when he found doctor and 'assistant' both alive and well in the trashed office, both a bit bloodied and dirty, but overall fine.

Dazai, though, zeroed in on his Ability. Those yellow squares looked rather familiar ... He just couldn't quite place his finger on where from.

"Dazai-kun, are you alright?" Randou asked, attending to the child while some other Port Mafia 'medics' checked on the Boss' personal doctor. In Randou's eyes, the boy looked awfully small, in that oversized coat and clothes a size or two too big. There was also an empty look in his visible eye that he confused for shock, so Randou, despite freezing himself all the time, took off his jacket and wrapped it around the child. Dazai blinked up at him, startled, and that just prompted Randou to wrap his scarf around him, too. "No need to worry, Dazai-kun, everything will be alright now. Can you tell us what happened?"

Chuuya snorted at the way Dazai had the European spy wrapped around his little finger just for blinking his big, pretty eye a couple of times. "To think just a year later, Rimbaud would be the first to realize Dazai has the potential to be a master torturer."

"Masterwhat now!?"

Kunikida was ignored in favor of watching Dazai and Mori get escorted out of the clinic.

Mori tched. "It took meweeksto fix that place up and replace everything that was broken or damaged. On the plus side, though, Dazai-kun and I were instructed to live in the headquarters, making plotting a whole lot easier. The deed was done just two weeks from these events."

Even as more and more people milled all over the place, taking Mori out and inspecting the scene they'd walked in on, Dazai's focus stayed on Randou.'Interesting,'he thought to himself and the others perked up, realizing he was about to analyze the man from head to toe.'Randou-san is said to have been found while suffering amnesia. Even 'Randou-san' isn't his real name, but rather what we call him ... He's definitely a foreigner ... He acts in a peculiar way ... He was not a mere civilian before the Mafia picked him up. For one, he seems like someone used to keeping secrets ... A spy?'

"Dazai-san sure can be scary," Atsushi mumbled, only to be wacked over the head by Akutagawa.

"Shut the hell up, jinko."

"Screw you!"

'An amnesiac foreigner former(?) spy with a powerful Ability ... A subordinate recruited not long after the Suribachi explosion ... An Ability manifestation I am seemingly familiar with ... I see. I'll need to keep an eye on Randou-san. With all his kindness and secrets, he's bound to be very interesting.'

"sh*tty mackerel had Rimbaud all figured out a long time ago, huh. I should probably use this as proof of his cheating so he has to stop calling me his damned dog for life," Chuuya grumbled without any heat. Everyone else just sweatdropped, though those less in the know wondered what the hell he was talking about.

The scene changed again, finally to an event some of them recognized. It seems to have fastforawrded to two weeks later, as they watched Mori lean over the sick Boss, who looked more skeletal than when they'd first seen him after Dazai came back. He now looked like the man Chuuya had watched take swings at his partner back when they were fifteen. He still remembered how afraid he'd been when that red scythe had seemingly struck Dazai for the second time and the relief and amazement he'd felt when the cast shattered, the scythe shattered, revealing the steel underneath that Dazai had apparently been lugging around all day.

"How are you feeling, Boss?" Mori of the past asked professionally, arms crossed behind his back in military parade rest, observing the man who'd become more and more unstable after his brief bout of good health.

"Kill them. Kill them. Enemy organizations, the Military Police ... All those who stand against the Port Mafia, kill them," the sickly Boss commanded feverishly, eyes distant, seemingly seeing something only he could, crazed and desperate and not like one of the most powerful underground leaders in Yokohama.

"That's irrational," Mori countered, tone inflation flat, but deep disapproval in his eyes at such recklessness. A waste of resources and men, not to mention that it would drag them into a war unlike any other in Yokohama's history. The Military Police would be on them in no time, something they couldn't afford.

"It doesn't matter how many people die. Just kill them. Kill them, kill them, kill them all." He kept on muttering as Mori sighed and took out a scalpel.

"Understood, Boss," the doctor said 'subserviently'. "As you wish." With a swift flick of his wrist, Mori slit the old man's throat, blood spraying and coating him and the wall nearby, before it spread over the bed and the sheets, staining it a deep red. "The Boss tragically succumbed to his illness," Mori announced as he straightened up, turning to face his companion with a crazed look in his own eyes. "He left a will appointing me to be the next Boss." They all turned in the direction past Mori was looking in now, the direction present Mori had been facing this whole time, now that they think about it, and were startled to see fourteen year old Dazai, draped in Mori's coat and bandages, only one eye still visible, the blood moon behind him making it look red and as though it was glowing, emotionlessly watching as his relative's blood soaked the sheets and painted his 'guardian's' face. "You are a witness to that fact."

Dazai did not care, did not react. He just watched the Tsushima patriarch's body grow cold and wondered if he'd had a hand in the man's madness. He'd had the same expression on his face that he'd seen on him one of the few rare times he'd caught glimpses of him after his parents' death. His maniacal need to control the world to keep the last thing remaining of Tsushima Tane and Gen'emon had caused everyone so much trouble and had led to his death.

'Good. Perhaps my family can finally rest easy now ... No, there are still people who need to pay. I can't die just yet.'

But soon, after he settles everything, he will have to.

And he'll take the Book with him.

Chapter 11

Chapter Text

15yo

"Mori-sensei, I can't believe you made a child watch that," f*ckuzawa said with an angry scowl, to which the man in question just shrugged.

"Dazai-kun was already beyond help when I'd found him. What he witnessed under my supervision mattered little in the grand scheme of things that messed him up. You already saw the life he'd lived before we met; stop blaming me for all of Dazai-kun's problems."

"I have a feeling you've caused more permanent damage with whatever youdidmanage to affect, bastard," Yosano accused but Mori just smiled 'sweetly' at her. She glared death at him.

"It's starting again," Kenji said to distract her, not liking that she was so mad and sad. Truly, a precious bean.

The vision rushed through a year of events, mostly showing Dazai's life with Mori as they both settled into the life of two murder conspirators and fought to survive under the suspicion of the rest of the organization. Dazai wasn't even a member, but his hidden status as the old Boss' grandson kept him involved. Hell, the only reason neither of them were executed on the spot was because the traditionalists believed him, or at least understood the old Boss was beyond saving and they thought a new Tsushima would be taking over, with Mori as just the figurehead since he was so young.

However, Dazai had no desire to take over the Port Mafia, or even really join. Sure, it seemed like a lot of fun. Especially with how he could unnerve people with just his presence. Even the ever graceful, deadly as she was beautiful Ozaki Kouyou was wary of him, even before she discovered her greatest weapon, her Ability, was useless against him. Not that she wasn't perfectly capable to chop him up with her own bare hands, of course, but Elise has a tendency to stick around him when he left Mori's side most of the time, her eyes as dull as his and the grin on her face one she shares with Mori when he's about to slit your throat with a scalpel.

Dazai thought them all idiots; if he wanted to defend himself, it's very unlikely anyone but him would walk away. It wasn't even that he was co*cky; he knew his skill level was dismal compared to even ordinary grunts, since he was young and his battle experiences were successful mostly due to strategies, not strength or speed. He ought to fix that, but he can't be bothered. Besides, escaping was easier and faster and rare few could math his knowledge of the city or his skill in parkour. Only if someone could fly would they be able to catch up to him.

Living with Mori as the Boss was becoming bothersome and boring, though. The man may have some good ideals as a leader - though the morality of those ideals was more than questionable - but he had absolutely no idea how to properly run an organization like the Port Mafia. Despite having been a member for a while now and knowing some of the ins and outs of the workings of the organization, he'd expected to be in command of competent, trained soldiers, not thugs the Mafia had taken in so they could shoot and stab. The change in leadership wasn't accepted as openly as he'd hoped, though he hadn't been stupid enough to actually expect it to go smoothly. Still, the members did not trust the new Boss, even with Executives and Subexecutives supporting him.

Making Kouyou an Executive and Randou a Subexecutive when they were so clearly his supporters did not endear him to the traditionalists holding similar positions. The Tsushima family, especially, did not take kindly to an outsider taking their patriarch's post. Unfortunately for all of them, Mori learned on his mistakes and was never caught in a similar situation as the one Dazai saved him from in the clinic. The scalpel and gun wounds were, this time, indeed caused by Mori and not by his assistant, though Dazai had found it interesting how everyone had thought it had been Mori who'd fought the assailants off that time before he'd passed out. Dazai had never corrected any of them; being underestimated was a weapon, a tool, sharper and more useful than any scalpel.

Other than the attempts at both of their lives, the things that made life boring was that it was basicallyDazaiwho was teaching Mori the basics of running the Port Mafia as an organization while Mori was trying to impart on him how to run the Port Mafia as acriminal organization. It was funny and weird. Dazai had more knowledge on accounting, finances, employee privileges that would keep the subordinates loyal, even trade routes and business deals, since he'd once ran both his household and had been involved in running Tsushima Corp even if his aunt Kiye had been in charge of it in the eyes of the rest of the world. Mori, though, treated running the Mafia like a chess game, which wasstupid.

Running the Mafia was more like Shogi, anyways, but both games were toosimpleto compare to running an organization full of people who can at times be unpredictable. Well, to anyone who isn't Dazai, he supposes. To him they were all painfully transparent in their goals and ambitions.

He advised Mori to get rid of the traditionalists, for all that they were keeping quiet for now. Their dissent was only silent because they were waiting and plotting. Mori did not heed his advice, claiming it would be too suspicious if he just offed whoever opposed him.

Mori was anidiot.

"Hey!" Protested the Mafia Boss, while Yosano and Ranpo snickered and Kouyou and Chuuya had to hide their amusem*nt since he was still their superior. Mori just sighed. He couldn't really say anything, since Dazai had, of course, turned out to be right and he'd just been lucky Dazai had accepted to join the Mafia officially by the time they finally made their move. Dazai had been brutal in dealing with them and Mori finally understood why.

"I guess this is one of those instances where you learned to just leave everything to the lad, making him the most overworked person in Port Mafia history," Kouyou couldn't help but comment and Mori groaned at that. The Agency, upon hearing that, shot him hateful but also skeptical glares. Because Dazai? Overworked? It sounded like a joke in their ears but they figured they'd find out soon enough.

Dazai had also told him to deal with the rest of the old Boss' family. The Tsushimas were all too greedy to ever let the Mafia remain in Mori's hands, lest of all if they believed he was just a front for 'Tsushima Shuuji'. Mori, proving that hewasan idiot despite being a very smart, very paranoid bastard, also claimed that it would be suspicious. Dazai told him it was completely normal. Mori disagreed.

Dazai wondered what that said about him, for knowing that the only way to secure your rule in a cold, merciless world like the Mafia was to get rid of the competition, while Mori thought that playing the long game was worth the risks of a revolution and another coup. Mori's following and newly established authority was definitely not strong or stable enough to survive that.

Adults were all sostupidandweird. Dazai didn't understand them one bit. Why not just deal with everything before a problem arises? Honestly, at times, he felt like he was a different species from the humans that surrounded him.

... Maybe he was. It wouldn't surprise him. He was, after all, created with the help of the Book.

"No, listen," Ranpo began. "I completely get Dazai. Like, a 100%. Everyone is anidiot. Had f*ckuzawa-shachou not told me it's my Ability that made me different, I would have kept thinking everyone else was some strange creature that just refused to tell the truth despite knowing it. Moo~ Why did stinky Mori get to find Dazai? I would havelovedhaving such a sassy little sh*t around when the world made no sense!"

"I'm not stinky!"

"Believe me, Dazai at age fifteen would be too much for you to handle," Chuuya countered and Hirotsu had to nod in agreement. "I mean, you'll see what I mean in a short while, anyways, but, like, he'd have driven youup the walls."

"I'm sure I could have kept him in line," Yosano said ominously but Kouyou just snorted.

"You don't think we tried that?Hewas the one who ended up being intimidating. He's a born talent in regards to torture. The fact that you can heal yourself would have only made him worse. Not to mention that he could always kill you if he got bored; he's the only one who could do it before your Ability saves you."

"... Damn, you're right. So he's a little sad*st?"

"He doesn't care," Akutagawa was the one to answer, surprisingly. "Dazai-san rarelyenjoyedtormenting others. Well, except when he pranks people. But genuine torture sessions were just a part of the job. He didn't care for the screams; if anything, it annoyed him. He especially disliked it if bodily fluids of his victims got his bandages dirty since he only allowed Chuuya-san to change them."

Naomi turned to the brunet at the same time Higuchi did. "How are you two not together yet!?" They both asked and Chuuya flushed brighter than Kouyou's hair or Kyouka's kimono.

"HAH!?"

"They're still in denial," Hirotsu said helpfully, causing almost everyone to graon in frustration while the short Executive sputtered denials.

Since Mori rarely listened to him, the bandaged boy mostly acted as a sounding board, internally rolling his eyes or cringing at the mistakes Mori made, or his complaints when something didn't go his way since he didn't heed Dazai's advice. Months passed in a similar manner and the most annoying thing about Mori proved to be that he simply refused to let Dazai die. He'd cut off the ropes Dazai tried to hang himself from, he kept sharp objects out of his reach, painkillers or other such drugs were mostly locked up somewhere, despite them both knowing Dazai had better lockpicking skills than even Mori. He tried keeping a tracker on him and sent out poor Randou to pick him up when he got into dangerous places or was about to jump off a bridge or building, trying to guilt trip him since Randou was always shaking from the cold. Dazai was not guilt tripped in the least, despite somewhat tolerating Randou and finding him interesting, but he couldn't be bothered to waste energy on arguing anyone on why they should just let him die.

Surprisingly, Mori never did try to hide his guns ...

He probably figured out Dazai was trying to have a clean suicide.

He didn't know Dazai would never actually kill himself in a manner that won't take the Book out with him. But he wasn't going to tell him that. Overdosing, hanging or slitting his wrists were definitely not the way he would go. He still thinks drowning would be the best way to ensure the Book gets destroyed, thus keeping the world safe from the danger of it falling into the wrong hands.

Why he doesn't destroy it separately from his own death, Dazai can't quite understand. He had a feeling it will come in useful, thus he left it alone, disguised as his little red suicide Book that no one wanted to touch.

"Hey, now that I think about it, didn't we all at least once read something from Dazai-san's suicide manual?" Atsushi asked and Kunikida's face colored with dawning realization.

"Yes, we did! I specifically remember you reading from the Complete Guide To Suicide during that accursed hallucinogenic mushroom incident!"

"Then how come the Book isthatbook?" Kyouka asked, catching on to their train of thought.

"He has two," Gin supplied. "A real one and the Book disguised as it."

"I swear that guy's a nutcase- OW! Akutagawa, what gives- OW OW OW!"

"How dare you speak ill of Dazai-san!? Filthy scum! You're lucky our Abilities are restricted here or else I would have fed you to Rashoumon, even if it would give it indigestion!"

Everyone ignored the two as the fastforward finally stopped, returning to 'normal time', the visions this time showing Dazai and Mori in Mori's office in the clinic.

"Ah, so we're finally here," Mori murmured. "The day Soukoku finally meet properly for the first time."

"Oh? This is before sh*tty Dazai went to Suribachi?" Chuuya asked, paying a lot more attention to what was happening than during the fast paced display of Dazai's life with Mori the Boss. Past Mori was currently complaining about not having weapons for his subordinates to fight with, not having enough money and not having the trust of said subordinates, only to whine more when Dazai basically dissed him for being a bad leader.

"He was so mean~" Moaned in agony the former doctor.

"Good," Yosano and f*ckuzawa said decisively, making Mori pout more until an exasperated Kouyou whacked him over the head.

"I swear you don't get paid enough for this," Ranpo commented to Hirotsu, who only sighed and gave an agreeing nod. Ranpo grinned up at him. "Why don't you join the Agency? You'll get to see your old partner a lot more often than if you stick with the Mafia, I bet!"

"I fear the Port Mafia might just fall apart if I leave," was the dry reply, which had Ranpo almost laughing while rolling on the floor.

The sad thing was, no one could contradict him.

Eventually, the vision showed Mori assigning Dazai to figuring out the rumors about the old Boss coming back to life, giving him a Silver Oracle and promising to teach him how to mix medicine so he could die peacefully and painlessly.'As if I don't know how to do it,'Dazai thought with an internal roll of his eyes. He's read one too many chemistry, biology, medical and pharmaceutical books at this point for him tonotknow, but whatever. He plans to be a thorn in Mori's side for a while longer, especially now that he'd realized he ought to fear him for his miscalculation could cost himeverything.

"I've never seen or heard you that scared before, Ougai," f*ckuzawa commented and Mori gave him aLook.

"You've never seen Dazai-kun truly serious before, either. If you had, you would know true fear. We humans like to convince ourselves of things like heaven and hell, god and the devil, good and evil. But when we're faced with something that mayactuallybe an embodiment of any of those things, we get scared. Truly and deeply scared. It's in our nature. And Dazai-kun? Let's just say that heearnedthe moniker he'd once held."

"Moniker?" Kenji asked curiously and Mori grinned at him like a fox who'd just raided a chicken coop.

"TheDemon Prodigy."

"WHAT!? NO WAY THAT BANDAGE WASTING MACHINE IS THEDEMON PRODIGY!" Kunikida exclaimed, while the pieces seemed to be falling into place for Yosano and Ranpo just seemed to be confirming to himself something he'd already long since suspected, be it since they first saw the look in Dazai's eyes when he's planning to end someone or even long before they were shown these images. When no one seemed to agree with him, Kunikida turned around helplessly. "Right?" He asked desperately but the Port Mafia members just shrugged while the rest of the detectives were in shock over the moniker, even if they weren't exactly familiar with the legendary mafioso's misdeeds.

Well, all except Kyouka. She'd heard rumors and it was taking some effort to connect the image they formed with the image Dazai kept up in the Agency.

The scenery changed again, showing Dazai and Hirotsu walking around what most of them could identify as the slums of Suribachi City. Dazai was taking the lead, choosing seemingly random directions to walk in, random passerbyes to question, random people to bribe, entering random establishments to interrogate in the dirty streets and shaky houses of the settlement created in the very crater Chuuya had made practically eight years previous, more or less. Hirotsu just followed him, keeping an eye out for any danger and answering the few questions the boy asked him, too.

"So this is how the legendary cooperation with Dazai-san began, Hirotsu-san," Gin commented and the old man nodded, smiling fondly.

"Dazai-san," the Hirotsu of the past was saying as he followed Dazai, who had just told him about a rather gruesome suicide method involving metal plating solutions. "This area is in conflict. Please be careful."

"Conflict?" Dazai repeated questioningly, not really listening as Hirotsu explained about the GSS, Takesakai or the Sheep, Port Mafia's greatest contenders.

"RUDE!" Tachihara exclaimed, indignant on Hirotsu's behalf, who just sighed fondly. After having worked with Dazai for so long, he was now able to tell that Dazai had, indeed, not been paying full attention to what he was saying back then. Instead, he seemed marginally lost on thought.

H-E-R-E H-E-R-E H-E-R-E

'Here? What is here?'Instead, he was busy trying to figure out what the hell the Book had been trying to guide him to since he'd set foot into Suribachi. It wouldn't shut up, so Dazai had had to compensate his original plan and route to make it stop being so annoying. But it wasn't exactly beinghelpful, just saying things like 'here' or 'this way' or 'wrong'. At least it was distracting Dazai from thinking about his parents, that disgusting Kashimura and the ginger boy he still didn't know the fate of. That fateful night felt like both an eternity ago and like it had happened the other night. Some things were so fresh in his mind, he hated it. Seeing his parents demise was one thing he would have preferred to forget, hearing their desperation at the thought of not being able to protect him. On the other side of the spectrum, he wished he couldrememberthat boy he'd saved(?) that night, the boy who had lost himself to the beast and had returned to himself with a single touch of Dazai's hand.

His attention returned a bit to the real world around him as Hirotsu talked about the boy leader of the Sheep, someone Dazai had heard plenty of rumors about. The gravity manipulator, King of the Sheep, Nakahara Chuuya.

H-E-R-E H-E-R-E W-A-I-T H-E-R-E

Before he could focus on why the whole gravity manipulation thing plucked at his memory or the fact that the Book had finally added one more word to its every annoying vocabulary, his phone rang and Dazai wanted to groan. He just knew it was Mori calling. He picked up regardless of how boring all of this was so far. After all, it's better to be safe than sorry. Dazai didnotwant his grandfather coming back from the dead. "Hello? Yeah. My investigation's complete. I learned a lot." Hirotsu was just watching him, fascinated and surprised, but appreciative more than anything. Competence was something the Mafia currently lacked in concerning amounts. "Yup, I've come to a conclusion. The previous Boss, he was here. He's risen from the pits of hell. There were several eyewitnesses. Perhaps he had some lingering attachments to this world?" He said mockingly, ignoring the fact that he could practicallyhearHirotsu stiffen.

Not that he could really pay much attention to it because the Book was suddenlyyellingat him.

H-E-R-E! H-E-R-E! H-E-R-E! H-E-R-E! HE-RE! HE-RE! HERE! HERE!

It was actually getting louder and more coherent, more insistent, and Dazai was only absentmindedly telling Mori he'll give him more details once he returns before he wasliterallylaunched through into a wall by the force of a mighty kick.

"DAZAI-SAN!" The Hirotsu of the past, Atsushi, Akutagawa, Gin, Tanizaki and Naomi all screamed, watching as the wall crumbled under the force of the impact, dust blowing up all over the place. Chuuya suddenly seemed both sheepish but also far more intensely intrigued by the visions.

The dust and debris settled and revealed Dazai's assailant.

Suddenly, Dazai couldn't breathe, and it had nothing to do with the dust in the air or the foot pressing lightly on his chest. Sunlight illuminated a head of flaming red, almost orange, shining off the slightly curly strands. Dazai was sure he had a concussion because for a second there, he thought it looked like a halo. What's more, he was actually a bit enchanted by the way the light bounced off that shiny hair ...

To top it all off, blazing blue eyes met his, arrogant and soalive, no doubt from all the adrenaline rushing to the other's head, but they were a color that could put the ocean and the sky both to shame. Dazai was having a hard time looking away.

But most of all, it was thecombinationthat had whatever remaining air knocked out of his lungs.

Orange/ginger hair ...

Bright eyes, most likely blue ...

A boy around his age ...

'No way ... right?'

H-E-R-E H-E-R-E H-E-R-E H-E-R-E H-E-R-E Y-E-S Y-E-S Y-E-S Y-E-S H-E-R-E H-E-R-E Y-E-SHIM!

About eight years have passed and Dazai had almost forgotten the features he had wanted seared into his mind until his inquiries were answered. The one thing that had been keeping him tethered to this life besides revenge for his loved ones and the need to destroy the Book with himself. And it was here, now. The boy he'd wanted to save,reallysave ...

But could he be sure? Was this pretty boy with a might kickreallythe boy with the beast within himself?

Chuuya flushed and avoided everyone's eyes when they turned to look at him, doing his best to ignore them.

Kouyou and Hirotsu sighed in exasperation.

Mori just wished Soukoku would get their sh*t together already.

"Hahaha! Whaddya know, it's just a kid!" Fifteen year old Nakahara Chuuya, dressed in some jeans, shoes and a green jacket zipped up almost the whole way mocked with a laugh. "The Port Mafia's lacking so much in manpower I could cry! Sending out kids to do their dirty work."

"That hurt, you know. I don't like pain," Dazai commented, not at all intimidated, eye scanning the other from head to toe. He already knew who this was. This was the very Nakahara Chuuya Hirotsu had been talking about before his phone had rang. Had the Book brought him here for him? Was that the proof he needs? No, something wasn't right here.'The rumors about grandfather ... Mori-san sending me out ... The King of the Sheep ... And here, in Suribachi, eight years later ... There's more to this than meets the eye.'

"I'm gonna give ya a choice, kid," teen Chuuya said, his accent completely different from what everyone was used to. It sounded like how a delinquent would talk and, considering he's a street kid, it made sense. "Die after coughin' up some information or die now. Choose whatever ya like."

"No wonder Dazai-san mocks your interrogation skills, Chuuya-san," Gin dared to say, earning herself an embarrassed glare from the ginger in question.

"I was only fifteen!"

"I can't believe Chuuya-san was a punk," Tachihara snickered, earning himself a hard elbow to the gut that made him yelp.

Kenji, on the other hand, was beaming like the sun. "Mr Fancy Hat was so cool even without the fancy hat!"

Yosano just snorted. "Cute."

Chuuya glared at them all, embarrassed. Still, he figured this was better than diving straight into his own personal drama and trauma. Though, it would be interesting to see it all play out from Dazai's point of view. He'd always wondered how his partner had reacted to Chuuya's mere existence as they learned more and more about it.

"Then kill me now."

"That suicidal maniac," Kunikida groaned.

Kid Chuuya, though, was kind of excited. It wasn't often someone challenged him or wasn't scared of him and his power. "Huh! I thought you'd cry and run away. Yer a surprisingly gutsy kid!" Though he was a bit unnerved by how easily the kid just chosedeath. He couldn't help but wonder if there was something wrong with him. He was covered in bandages and his visible eye was soempty... Yet Chuuya felt ... kind of drawn to him? Like he was familiar?

"Wait, you guys' reaction to each other wasmutual!?" Tanizaki exclaimed and Chuuya just shrugged.

"It might become clearer later, but the second I touched sh*tty Dazai for the first time, my world may as well have been flipped upside down. I have never had that much ...peacebefore. Excluding the chaos Dazai himself brought into my life, of course. But my Ability was finally turned off completely and there was no longer any noise in my head. I remember thinking I was a bit lightheaded but I'd brushed it off on the adrenaline from getting to fight two Ability users that knew how to put up a fight."

"Noise in your head?" Tachihara asked but Chuuya didn't answer.

"You're a kid, too," Dazai countered, flatly indignant.

"Yeah, everyone says that before figthin' me, but they quickly realize I'm not just some kid," the slightly older of the two replied, kicking Dazai again. His hands remained in his pockets the whole time. "Now tell me everything you've fathered about Arahabaki."

"Arahabaki?" Dazai questioned, before the puzzle pieces started falling into place. He was still missing a few of them, but he had enough to more or less put the picture together. "I see. Arahabaki."

"Seriously, screw you, Dazai," Yosano grumbled for who knows which time and Chuuya agreed. He would havelovedto know the genius' take on this whole thing before they started antagonizing each other.

"You know something about it?" Punk Chuuya asked.

"Nope, never heard of it."

That just earned Dazai another kick.

"I swear, was he always this infuriating?" Kunikida grumbled and Chuuya just snorted at him. He hadnoidea what he was singing up for, huh.

Kid Chuuya was impressed by the fact that little Dazai could take his kick. "Awesome! You wanna try the record? The longest was nine times."

'Nine kicks? Who are the weaklings this guy hangs out with? The Colonel used to hit way harder than this. Still, I hate pain and I'dreallyrather not deal with Mori-san'streatmentsright now. Things have only just begun getting interesting.'"If I talk, you'll let me go?" He nearly rolled his eyes at Chuuya's little tough guy talk. Just for that, the first thing he told him after agreeing to talk was: "You should drink more milk." Chuuya gave him a confused look, not sure where he was going with this or what it had to do with the topic at hand. "You're way too short."

The watching audience sweatdropped.

Kunikida gave Chuuya a consoling look, which the ginger ignored, feeling nostalgic as he watched the younger version of himself acting like a kid for once as he bickered with Dazai.

"I'm only fifteen, I'm still growing!"

"Ah, Chuuya's iconic line," Kouyou said nostalgically, smiling fondly at the little punk that would become her protege whom she'd mold into a gentlemanly mafioso. Well, gentlemanly as long as he wasn't around his partner, that is. Then all bets were off.

"Fufufu~ Then I'll put a curse on you," Dazai said with the most childish smile they have seen from him so far. What was the most amazing part about it was the fact that it wasgenuine! Most of them couldn't help but coo at how adorable he looked, all excited to tease a kid his own age. "I'm fifteen, too, but I'm gonna grow much taller than you'll ever be!"

Ranpo grinned. "I think we should get Dazai to do more of his 'magic'. Clearly, he's a master sorcerer," he snickered, only avoiding the kick Chuuya had sent his way because he'd been anticipating it. It still knocked his hat off and he pouted at the angry ginger.

"You may be a sh*tty genius, but don't think you're the same as sh*tty Dazai! I'm actually going to f*cking kill you and there's nothing any of your stupid friends would be able to do to stop me, oi!"

Following that childish exchange, things changed pace, though, as proper introductions were made and Hirotsu stepped up to save and protect Dazai. They all more or less just 'ooh'-ed and 'aah'-ed as Hirotsu and Chuuya measured up their Abilities, Hirotsu's experience helping him keep up with Chuuya a lot more than any other Ability user has so far. The team-up of Dazai and Hirotsu sure did attract attention, as did Hirotsu's worry when Dazai was also blasted away when he used his Ability on the nullified Chuuya. Before Chuuya could get too into it. an explosion of black flames happened, engulfing the area, knocking out everyone but Dazai in its radius.

Dazai kept close to the ground, one arm raised up to protect his head and eyes so he could look towards the source, No Longer Human lighting up to protect him from any byproduct of the Ability and his own grip and low position allowing him to hold on instead of get blasted away like everyone and everything else. "The old Boss?"

The event lasted only a handful of seconds before his grandfather's apparentghostdisappeared and Dazai stood up, looking around the wreckage. It looked like a far smaller-scale event similar to what had happened eight years ago.'An imitation? But for what purpose? Does this have something to do with that Arahabaki? Isn't there a silly rumor about it regarding the creation of Suribachi City? But what does that have to do with my sleazeball of a grandfather? And, most importantly, Chuuya?'

"You reallydolive on that boy's mind rent free, 24/7," teased Yosano, not for the first time, but Chuuya was too focused on watching as Dazai walked through the wreckage, finding Chuuya first, checking him over, before looking for Hirotsu. Upon making sure they were both alive, he called for backup so they could be moved to the Port Mafia headquarters. Hirotsu needed treatment and Chuuya needed to have a little chat with him and Mori. He now was a witness and he may actually know more about all of this than an ordinary person might think.

"I always did wonder about you boys' first meeting," Kouyou hummed and Chuuya just shrugged. "You kicking Dazai around sounds on brand." The younger Executive just shrugged again.

"What can I say? Dazai was annoying from day one."

"Yet that never detered you from staying by his side," she pointed out.

Chuuya said nothing to that, because it would be meaningless. There's no denying the truth.

Not when Soukoku's foundations were being revealed, one vision at a time.

The vision shifted again, drawing their attention back to the matter at hand.

Chapter 12

Chapter Text

15yo

The confrontation between Chuuya, Mori, Dazai and Randou was briefly shown, not displaying anything new or surprising for the better part of the population making up the audience. They snickered at Dazai's exasperation over Mori blatantly revealing the rumors about the old Boss' death to be true, incriminating himself and Dazai both should Chuuya spread the word. They had cooed over Chuuya's blatant concern - both over the other's health and at being surrounded by weirdos - over Randou's constant chilled state. They outright laughed when Soukoku had one of their first ofmanytrademark bicker-fests, right in front of Mori, completely disregarding his authority.

They were intrigued by Dazai's observations of everyone in the room, from Chuuya's questioning glances at Mori and how intrigued he seemed to be of him as a leader, to Randou's reluctance to leave Chuuya out of his sight ... To the way he did not quite like the gleam in Mori's eyes when he'd commented on them getting along so 'well'.

He also did not really appreciate the little 'lecture' Mori was giving him ... Though he completely agreed regarding the concept behind it. He just never liked what any of Mori's lessons to him implied.

f*ckuzawa and Yosano sneered in disgust at Mori for using children to blackmail other children, but thankfully, the interactions didn't last long before Dazai and Chuuya were walking through the streets, heading towards Randou's residence, with Chuuya fruitlessly trying to make Dazai cough up where they were headed and Dazai ignoring him and mocking his height even though the two fifteen year olds didn't have nearly as great of a height difference as they do later in life.

"Dazai's just always been a sh*tty mackerel bastard," Chuuya said with a long-suffering sigh.

"Is this why Dazai never flinched away from our explanations that the Armed Detective Agency dealt with 'supernatural' cases?" Kunikida asked with a sigh, referring to the 'ghost hunt' Dazai and Chuuya of the past were basically sent on.

Chuuya, Hirotsu, Kouyou and Mori snorted.

"Thisghostis the least supernatural thing Dazai and I have faced," the ginger countered.

"I don't want to know."

"I get the feeling that you will, anyways."

Kunikida despaired.

The fairy comment when Chuuya yelled at Dazai was comedy gold. Or so the Agency thought until Dazai followed it up with: "Sorry, but would you mindnottalking to me? I'm busybreathing." Yosano, Ranpo and Tachihara roared with laughter at the sheersassinessof it while Kyouka and Gin admired how Dazai avoided Chuuya's kick while he'd been jumping along some fence, as though he could already read him.

"I don't understand how Dazai-san thinks the jinko and I could ever measure up to Soukoku," Akutagawa commented and Atsushi wanted to be offended, he really did, but he actually agreed with Akutagawa on this one. They may have their own bond slowly developing each time they worked together, but Dazai and Chuuya were already almost on the same wavelength after knowing each other for not even a full day. "It's like asking an anthill to compete in height with a mountain."

"Dazai-kun does not want Shin Soukoku to be the newSoukoku," corrected Mori. "If you haven't noticed, despite Yukichi's and my own partnership being the first in this little succession cycle, we areallnamed after Soukoku, the partnership made up of Dazai-kun and Chuuya-kun. Each of our partnerships are different but Soukoku is, as Yukichi's little successor would say, the ideal, hence we were namedoldSoukoku andnewSoukoku, but neither of us are reallySoukoku. We're the prequel and the sequel, not the real deal, but we each have our own roles to fulfill. Zenki Soukoku was placed as an anchor by Natsume-sensei. Shin Soukoku is still in the works and I don't quite yet know Dazai-kun's goals for you two, but Soukoku? For all that they were brought together to protect Yokohama, again and again, I always thought thattheywere exclusivelyfor each other. I wanted to test out Natsume-sensei's favorite saying:Only a diamond can polish another diamond, but Dazai-kun and Chuuya-kun grew beyond that."

"We're notthatspecial," Chuuya said halfheartedly, only for Mori to roll his eyes at him.

"These visions are just further proving my point."

Before they could continue the discussion of what the purpose was for Soukoku or Shin Soukoku, Dazai made yet another declaration that was simply impossible to ignore. Teeny, tiny Soukoku had been bickering again about not wanting to be seen walking around together when Dazai just dropped the bomb.

"Fufu, look at us getting along," he said, purposefully mocking Mori's words from earlier, but he'd deny it to his grave that the next words out of his own mouth surprised him, too. "That's what makes me love you," he said, getting up close into Chuuya's face with the ginger staring at him completely stunned and flabbergasted by the move and the words leaving the slightly younger of the two's mouth.

Present day Chuuya flushed and tried to hide his face behind his hat. This was one of the moments he would never be able to forget and he blamed Dazai for a lot of the questions this very memory raised in the days, months and years following this interaction.

The rest of the Port Mafia and the members of the Armed Detective Agency turned to gawk at Chuuya, a strangled "WHAT!?" trying to leave their mouths, but they were simply too stunned to speak, even as Chuuya turned Dazai down in the vision and the brunet backpedaled in a rather awkward manner.

"Chuuya-"

"Not now, Ane-san!"

An explosion in the vision drew their attention back to Dazai's past. They watched as a GSS member appeared, made some threats and chitchat before Chuuya and Dazai made their own approaches to the situation, resulting in a beat up soldier, a snatched communicator and more GSS soldiers armed to the teeth arriving to fight them.

While Chuuya had his fun playing with their enemies' bullets and taking them out in a way thatclearlycould only be classified as showing off, Dazai's mind was split between several trains of thought interlocking, intertwining or intermingling together before they would all dissipate into separate categories all over again.

'If Ojii-san is indeed truly back, even if he's just a zombie or a ghost, the trick with the cast will be a good diversion, but I have a feeling it won't be enough. That aside, if he's really back or if even the rumors reach the rest of the Tsushimas or any of the traditionalists, they'll definitely rise against Mori-san and create a lot of complications and clean-up work. While Icouldjust let the Mafia weaken enough for an enemy organization or even the government to take it apart, Mori-san's idea to govern Yokohama's underworld is nothing to scoff at or throw away. Yokohama would surely benefit from it and things like what happened to my old parkour group could be prevented ... What's more, this reeks of Sensei's influence; no way Mori-san came up with it himself.'

"Dazai-kun is even ruder to me in his thoughts than out-loud," Mori complained with anime-style tears streaming down his cheeks.

'Partnering me with the chibi isn't a coincidence, either,'Dazai continued contemplating as he reached up to clean the blood from his cheek caused by a stray bullet, licking it off of his finger with a detached sort of curiosity.'He wants Chuuya to join the Port Mafia, of course. A heavy hitter like him, in Mori-san's hands ... I'm not sure whether I should allow that ... Especially with this Arahabaki story ... I'm almost 99,9% certain Chuuya was involved, somehow, in that explosion, eight years ago ... If he was, he may need protection from the government. And who better than the Mafia?'He paused, considering his options even as he noticed a discarded gun.'However, the Port Mafia would need far more influence and power than it currently possesses, thanks to my idiotic grandfather ... Tou-chan had once brought glory to the organization ... And it's kind of fun? I need to drag the chibi into it with me. How else would I protect an idiot like him, all brawn and ignoring a potentially useful brain.'

"If you tell me Dazai joined the Mafia for Chuuya, I will personally tie you two up and force you to marry," Kouyou threatened, but Chuuya sputtered denials. He was spared from trying to defend his weird partnership with Dazai by the sound of Dazai repeatedly shooting the blond GSS member who had already been bleeding out to death, a crazed look on his face.

It had been the first time Dazai Osamu had taken a life so up close and it was completely different compared to the way it had felt when he'd killed someone with blades. The weight of the gun settled easily in his hand, his finger pulled the trigger as though he was born to do nothing else and seeing how effectively a single shot could end someone's life, or how easily blood spread as he put more bullets into a human body ... Dazai himself is not sure what emerged from the depths of his soul in that moment, but it was a different kind of numbness to the one he had felt when his parents, Matsuki, Chibi, his parkour group or Masaoka died. This sort of numbness wasn't nearly asnumb.

It was strangely fulfilling, speaking to something deep within Dazai, to hold the life and death of another in his hands, to have such control after his life had been in the hands of anyone but himself. And to hold suchpower... He felt, for the first time, as though he could perhapsdo somethingto prevent people from dying when he doesn't want them to.

The power-rush from it had his adrenaline pumping properly for perhaps the first time in his life. It clouded his mind, his judgement, and he realized perhaps being in the Mafia could befun. Could hebelongin such a place? Undoubtedly; even without having joined, he knew he was drenched in Mafia black by birthright. Would it be worth it? His mother hadn't wanted that for him, but ginger hair flashed in front of his eyes and he realized he may as well have no choice at all.

If Chuuya was indeed the boy he suspected him to be, the Port Mafia, stronger than it is now, would be the only place where he could be protected from the government.

And Mori was too incompetent to make that happen fast enough.

Also, it turns out that the ginger flash he saw earlier wasn't his mind's tricks, but Chuuya actually coming up to him and kicking the gun out of his hand in a standing split. It was very impressive. And Chuuya's strangely intact sense of morality tickled somethingelsewithin Dazai.'What a strange and fascinating human being.'

Mori was wailing at this point. "Dazai-kun joined the Mafia forChuuya-kun!?"

Chuuya tries to look smug and superior even as he's flushing with uncontrollable embarrassment and cursing Dazai's name to hell and back for making him feel this way. "This just confirms it that the mackerel is mine." He probably shouldn't feel so gleeful to know Dazai thought this much about him since they only barely met and knew each other for a handful of hours, many of which Chuuya had spent unconscious due to the blast Rimbaud had caused back then during the 'old Boss' ghost's' fourth 'appearance'. But, well Chuuya was willing to die for Dazai, to quite literally put his life in his partner's hands, so to know Dazai valued it so much ... Yeah, they'll have to sit down and have a very long talk because things can't remain like this between them anymore. The world was clearly turning crazier and crazier by the day and it will only be a matter of time before Soukoku will be needed again for some apocalyptic event.

"We all joke about Mr Fancy Hat living in Dazai's head rent free non-stop, but damn, it really is startling to realize it'sactuallytrue," Yosano said with a whistle and Ranpo and Kouyou just snorted at that.

"Verlaine-shishou would probably have some thoughts on that," Gin and Kyouka intoned and this time Chuuya snorted, waving them off, not at all interested in what his 'older brother' would think about Chuuya's partner or their overall relationship.

"It's none of his damn business."

"Are we all going to ignore the fact that Dazai-san keeps referring to Nakahara-san as 'chibi'?" Naomi asked, making everyone look at her. She threw them all disappointed looks for not recognizing the significance of her observation. Well, possibly aside from Ranpo and, as it would seem, Hirotsu, who just grunted. "You know, like his childhood dog who he cried over, the first living being he openly mourned about? And seemingly the only dog he ever liked and respected?"

"Now that you mention it ... " Atsushi trailed off uncertainly, not wanting to piss the gravity manipulator off.

Chuuya, on his end, wasn't even sure if he should feel offended by the dog comparison and the mocking of his height or not at this point. 'Chibi' was Dazai's absolute favorite to call Chuuya when he's not using his actual name, which he so rarely did and always said like it was a treasure or a caress. 'Slug' was a close second, followed by a plethora of other teasing remarks, butchibiand the 'more affectionate'chibikkowere just ...special. Chuuya, in all the years he'd known Dazai, had never learned why, until these visions started showing his partner's life.

But was there really any deeply rooted symbolism like Naomi was suggesting? Or was it just Dazai being an ass about his height?

"It is possible that Dazai-san has started out using the term for mockery, but that it turned into something more intimate and private along the way, as he and Chuuya-san got closer," Hirotsu offered, easily stealing the spotlight. "After all, Dazai-san noted very early on Chuuya-san's strength and loyalty, even to those who he deemed unworthy of it, hence all the ...ahem, dog jokes. But it seems that a part of Dazai-san has always, at least subconsciously in the beginning, admired those traits in Chuuya-san, for he had compared him to his father's most loyal companion other than his mother and Matsuki-san. As Tanizaki-kun-"

"You can just call me Naomi," the girl in question corrected, feeling things would get awkward if the siblings kept wondering which one was being talked to or referred.

"As Naomi-kun pointed out, Chibi was a dog Dazai-sanrespectedand, perhaps, even loved. Chibi was protective, strong, loyal and determined. Dazai-san has not lived the most normal childhood-" Everyone snorted at that gross understatement, even Hirotsu himself. "So perhaps he had no other ways to genuinely compliment people than to compare them to people and, in this case, animals he'd liked or respected in the past." Hirotsu paused, then, too, and seemed to flush as he realized something. "He once jokingly called me 'Ossan' ... I need to take that boy out to more art galleries and museums," he whispered with a fond smile.

And, well, no one needed an explanation, for either the comment or the smile. Masaoka had certainly been someone Dazai had respected, perhaps even admired, and he'd definitely been affected by his death.

And Hirotsu, it was no secret, had always had a soft spot for Dazai. To know Dazai regarded him so highly would no doubt leave his heart all warm and fuzzy.

"So I should be honored when he jokes I'm his dog?" Chuuya asked dubiously but Ranpo was the one who answered this time.

"I think you'll have to hear him out when he says it. Dazai always says more than just the words that leave his mouth. It's a whole new art form trying to decipher the true meaning of his words. Even I have trouble with it at times. I figure you, though, will probably understand without any issue."

Chuuya said nothing to confirm or deny the obvious.

They all just turned back to watching the visions as Dazai and Chuuya entered the mansions Rimbaud had used to live in. The place was in ruins from the GSS blowing it up. Rimbaud - or still 'Randou- back then - was, on the other hand, perfectly fine, beside the constant chill, casually sitting in a plush red chair and burning books and documents(?) to feed the fire so he'd warm up a bit.

Kunikida nearly had a stroke when he saw that but Mori and Chuuya frowned as they realized something, especially when they realized Dazai was specifically eyeing the stack next to Randou's chair.

"Was he trying to get rid of evidence?" Chuuya asked, crossing his arms and glaring at the fire. "The f*ck!? How many of my own files did he destroy!?"

'Isn't there that one information broker who has the Ability to erase destruction on objects made of wood? I wonder if I could broker a deal with her? I have a feeling those papers and files are of much more worth than just literature.'Fifteen year old Dazai mused, even as he questioned Randou and listened to his version of the events of seeing 'the old Boss come back from hell itself'. Dazai wasn't even paying all that much attention to the story itself or the nonsense about gods and ghosts, but he still caught the one detail that made the whole story's credibility crumble.'The sea, huh? I see.'

Yosano didn't curse this time, instead turning to Chuuya for an explanation. The ginger haired man shrugged. "Suribachi is about two kilometers wide crater deep enough to hide buildings of several stories in almost any direction. Unless you're standing on the edge of the settlement, without descending into the crater, it's impossible to see the sea. Rimbaud said the incident happened near the center of the crater, likely where the military base was stationed, once."

"So it would have been impossible for him to see the sea!" Higuchi exclaimed, understanding the logic behind it. "That's such a small detail that I would have never caught it if it was just a spoken report!"

"And Dazai's already been suspicious of him for a long while as it is," Ranpo commented even as he watched Dazai claim to have figured it all out to his audience of two. Randou seemed surprised while Chuuya tried to figure out just how Dazai could have deduced the perpetrator. "See the way he hasn't taken his eyes - well,eye- off of him once since the story started? He was noting down his tells, determining how much of what was said was actually true and which parts were lied about the most. Two things caught his attention the most: the mention of subordinates and the description of Arahabaki. I think it's the extreme contrast of them that did it."

"You mind explaining?" Tachihara grumbled, completely lost.

"The part about the subordinates was a complete, absolute lie. On the other hand, the description of Arahabaki was the first full truth he'd uttered since he started telling the story. Of course it caught Dazai's attention, especially the Arahabaki part; he was, after all, a living witness, too. One whose memories of the event have never been tampered, at that."

"Tampered?" Kenji echoed and Mori was the one to answer.

"Randou-kun, as we called him in the past, had a rather severe case of amnesia. He remembered the essentials of living and operating on his own, even how to use his Ability or speak five languages, but he had no memories of his own life or even his personality. He'd dragged himself out of the wreckage on Suribachi by himself, survived on the streets for a while however he knew how, before he was recruited as a grunt to the Mafia during the old Boss' reign. He most certainly never told us when he regained his memories, but it seems that Dazai-kun had figured it out long before these events take place."

"You mean when they met?" The Agencu President asked and Ranpo nodded.

"Don't you remember? Dazai had the impression of this Randou guy being accustomed to keeping secrets."

"Do you think he'd suspected that Randou was involved in the Suribachi explosion?" Kouyou asked, but even Ranpo didn't know the answer to that one. Even with an insight into Dazai's mind and thoughts, he still remained a mystery.

"f*cker," Yosano grumbled fondly while Chuuya just added it all to the list of things he and Dazai needed to talk about.

"Hah? Why are they just showing us walking around like that?" Chuuya wondered when the vision shifted again to display, just as he said, Dazai and Chuuya's fifteen year old self walking through the streets near Suribachi, Chuuya grumbling at Dazai, who'd proposed they play at a nearby arcade instead of, you know, focusing on the mission. "I was sure they'd skip right to the arcade thing!"

"Arcade thing?" Kouyou asked suspiciously and Chuuya refused to answer.

Meanwhile, Dazai was, apparently, having several trains of thought running around his mind again. Some were crazy party and prank calculations no one wanted to touch with a thousand foot pole if they could avoid it, though Chuuya growled as he realized what those thoughts were referring to when he caught his name a few times. Others were suspicious directed at Mori, at Randou, at Chuuya and the Sheep's relationship, despite never having met any of them at that point just yet. Some other thoughts were circulating his memories of that night, eight years ago, trying to connect it to this seemingly crazy talk of Arahabaki and whether it really was Chuuya, the boy who had lost himself to the beast. He was aware that boy could be long gone, snatched back up by the government or perhaps even killed in that red-haired-boy-slaughter incident a couple of years back, during the reign of his useless, crazy grandfather.

But there was justsomethingaboutNakahara Chuuyathat made it impossible for Dazai to discard him from his mind like he'd done so many other randoms he'd met over the years. He was stuck in his mind similarly to how that boy from back then was ...

A completely different, isolated part of Dazai's mind was also having a bit of an existential crisis as he, too, finally noticed the way he occasionally addressed Chuuya.'Why did I call him 'chibi' so many times!?'He internally berated himself.'He's nothing like Chibi! Chuuya is hotheaded and violent and loud and not smart enough to be compared to Chibi. He's just a stupid sheepdog who doesn't realize he's probably being exploited by a bunch of brats who got too high on the power-trip that is Chuuya's protection. They lucked out with finding such a powerful Ability user, but a single Ability user is no match for an organization full of them. Even two Ability users is usually too much for one. It was Chuuya's own battle-instinct that prevented the combo of me and Hirotsu-san from defeating and potentially killing him, had that been our goal ... But Chibi's instincts had been immaculate, too ... And he was protective, loyal and a great asset to the manor's security ... Damn it, Chuuya is not like Chibi! For one, he'll never grow!'

"Hey!"

'But hewouldmake a great asset ... And I have a bad feeling about all of this. I can't quite put my finger on it, but something's definitely fushy here and I have a feeling this ginger idiot might be in danger.'

"Okay, I want to feel touched he cared, but also f*ck you, Dazai!"

'If hewasinvolved, in any way, in the Suribachi incident ... 'He remembered that man, his parents' former friend. Kashimura Kansuke ...'He resembles Chuuya ... I don't like it. What's more, for all his yapping, Chuuya isfun... Have I ever been around a child my age for extended periods of time while both parties are conscious and accountable for it? Is this what it's like to have friends?'

"... Oh ... "

'I guess I'll have to find out. The arcade will be a good place to judge and deduce a few more things. If my observations of him so far are correct, I should be able to easily goad him into silly bets with odds set against him. He seems fairly adept at calling me out on any lies or nonsense I spout, but will he notice cheating? For someone who seems fairly in tune with me, perhaps he will? But he'll probably get so competitive that he'll think he can win regardless. A consequence of having such a powerful Ability that tactics, strategy, subtlety and craftiness outside the many ways to use gravity are pushed to the side ... That, or he's used to taking orders and instructions from someone else, who only cares about the final results ... But he's the 'King', right? Interesting ... He's the leader ... Or is he just the face? How intriguing, the Sheep.'A dark look crossed his face. "How infuriating."

"What was that bastard?"

"I said you're infuriating in you shortness."

"OI! Just for that, I'll kick your ass extra hard, you hear me!"

"All I hear is some chihuahua yapping at me ... Heh. Chuuyahua."

"BASTARD!"

Hirotsu sighed. "Some things never change."

Present day Chuuya actually wasn't embarrassed of his younger self's antics. Hey, they were just kids, trying to understand their own place in the cruel world, finally meeting someone who actually treated them like a kid and who didn't run away at each other's oddness. Chuuya was not ashamed of his fifteen year old self's antics. Hewasa bit self-conscious of the ones his sixteen year old self did or went through, but sixteen had been a weird, hectic year for Soukoku so he ought to get acarte blanchefor that one, too. Life was just weird six years ago.

"Dazai-san was rather obvious about sabotaging that game," Kyouka noted dryly and Chuuya flushed in embarrassment. In hindsight, Dazai reallyhadbeen obvious, for his usual standards, at least.Especiallyfor his usual standards, actually. He'd just hurried Chuuya off to buy them the tokens - with Mafia money, as the boy hadn't tried to mooch off of him for their challenge, probably so Chuuya would be distracted long enough for him to make his move - before he'd bought a soda from a vending machine and dumped it over the controls, then cleaning said controls so they wouldn't feel sticky.

"Remind me never to bet against Dazai," Ranpo commented more to himself than anyone else. "I have a feeling he could win any bet he enters."

"Surely any physical bets would be a sure loss for someone like Dazai," Kunikida argued and then almost had Akutagawa claw his face off for insulting Dazai if Chuuya didn't catch him by the collar of his coat before he could reach him.

"Yeah, no, physical bets aren't a surefire win against Dazai, either," the ginger-haired Executive countered. "He's a slippery, manipulative, clever little bastard who knows how to cheat his way around most physical challenges without actually exerting himself overly much," he 'explained' while effortlessly holding the Port Mafia's Silent Hellhound back from attacking Kunikida. "He's also actually stronger and faster than you lot think, obviously, but I guess we'll get to actually see that here," he gestured to the visions, which was now showing the fateful match Chuuya had lost.

"You were such a dramatic teenager, Chuuya-san," Tachihara teased but Chuuya didn't smile or really react except scowl. The other ginger frowned in confusion, turning to Higuchi. "Was it something I said?" But the blonde could only shrug, just as confused, because the images they were seeing now looked pretty normal. Just two fifteen year old kids bickering over a bet, perhaps a bit more dramatically than normal kids ever would, what with Chuuya half-standing on the gaming counsel he'd been using to lose said bet, and yelling far louder than most people would dare for fear of being kicked out of any establishment. But given this was Chuuya and literally no one could overpower him to kick him out ...

"Is that where the dog comments come from? I always wondered about that," Gin admitted and Chuuya felt like face-planting into that arcade game all over again.

"But if I win, you're my dog for life," a smug fifteen year old Dazai with the smuggest smug smile that has ever been smugly smiled. And honestly, none of them could blame teen Chuuya for falling for it, since most of them had the urge to slap that smarmy expression right off of his face. The fact that fifteen year old Chuuya didn't was the real wonder here ...

"Now that I think about it," Higuchi suddenly commented. "I think this is the first time I've seen Chuuya-san acting this way?"

"It was normal," Akutagawa retorted, not adding theUntil four years agothat all of the Port Mafia members except her and Tachihara were thinking.

"... Oi, Akutagawa, the way you said that sounds really rude, you know."

"My apologies, Chuuya-san."

"... Damn, I wish that sounded more genuine, but I'm not sh*tty Dazai, so I can't ask for more."

"Oh, oh! Who are they, Mr Fancy Hat?" Kenji excitedly asked, most of the Agency and Tachihara and Higuchi completely missing the importance of Dazai's question regarding young Chuuya's completely different fighting style where he didn't use his hands. "They look pretty cool! I've never seen someone with pink hair before!"

Yosano looked Yuan and Shirase up and down judgmentally. "They look like punks."

Kouyou was, meanwhile, glaring death at the two newcomers while fifteen year old Chuuya hid behind the arcade game, trying to stay hidden from his fellow Sheep.

"What's wrong?" Dazai asked, a bit weirded out by Chuuya's sudden change in behavior.

"Hewas weirded out byme!?" Chuuya of the present screeched, offended and everyone kind of just sweatdropped.

"Shut up for a second, damn it," his past self hissed to Dazai with his hood over his head, hiding his very distinguishable hair. The brunet turned towards the door, where Chuuya had been looking before, and spotted the two Sheep members, recognizing them based on the blue bracelets.'Ah, so they were able to follow the little clues and rumors I spread to here, huh. So nothing that happens in Suribachi or surrounding it can stay on the down-low ... Good to know, for future references.'

"Wait, he planned that?! Who am I kidding, of course he planned that!" Chuuya huffed, crossing his arms and glaring at what happened next.

"Oi! Nakahara Chuuya-kun! We have to get to work~! Boss' orders, you know!"

Ranpo, Yosano and Tachihara burst out laughing again the second Dazai yelled out for the whole arcade to hear, undoubtedly drawing the Sheeps' attention. They were rolling around on the floor when Chuuya asked the brunet if he was a mental case, trying to whisper-shout but mostly succeeding in the shouting department. Meanwhile, Hirotsu, Mori and Kouyou were rubbing at the bridges of their noses from having to witness the unadulterated, original Soukoku shenanigans all over again, but before Mori was running Dazai ragged for the Mafia and before Kouyou started her mostly successful reform of gangster Chuuya into gentlemanly mafioso Chuuya.

Higuchi was gawking at how childish someone so feared like Dazai would later be was acting right now, Kunikida was stuck between being sympathetic towards Chuuya and rubbing away at his own headache and the President just sighed at his employee's past antics. Kyouka and Atsushi were watching with an amused, slightly fond smile, glad those two could act like kids like that while Akutagawa was just attentively watching as his mentor interacted with his current superior. Kenji was just vibrating with excitement at the playing while the Tanizaki siblings ... Well, the less said about them at the moment, the better. They had apparently gotten bored - or, well, Naomi had - and were ...busy.

Shirase and Yuan, as Chuuya introduced them the second time Kenji asked, ran over and reported the situation to Chuuya, completely ignoring Dazai at first, who just lurked in the background and took note of the dynamics. They were what someone less intelligent might mistake for 'friends', and usually, Dazai's not try to claim any expertise in this field, but he still knew thedefinitionof friendship and this was not quite it.

'Pinky has a crush on Chuuya; what unfortunate taste, he's clearly not one bit interested in her, or is completely oblivious to her flirtations.'

"Oh my god," Chuuya groaned, feeling his cheeks warm up. And just for the record, he had been perfectly aware of Yuan's feelings for him ... He'd just not felt the same. Hell, he was sure that even if they had stayed friends to this day, he would have never seen her as anything other than a sister. The same goes for Shirase or anyone else in the Sheep. In fact, very few people had ever interested him back then, or even now. It wasn't even his fault; he'd always been around someone far pretti-

'Not that her feelings are 100% genuine, either,'Dazai's thoughts continued, those reddish brown eyes flicking from teen to teen as they interacted.'Just like wannabe leader over there, she's part of a greater manipulation scheme. This guy, though ... He's a self-centered idiot.'

"Oh, wow, he'sreallyroasting them, huh?" Tachihara mumbled. "What's his deal with them, anyways? Why the sudden animosity? Like, usually, he doesn't seem to give a sh*t, but he's all up in their business all of a sudden ... What gives?"

"The lad easily deduced that they were manipulating Chuuya and didn't like it," Kouyou explained plainly. "Dazai's always been a bit possessive over Chuuya ... I guess we'll discover why, pretty soon," she teased, but Chuuya was frozen on the spot as he realized he'll get a chance to re-watch the first time he'd seen Dazai drop the fake mask and show his true anger for the first time since they'd met. In the following years, he could count on one hand the amount of times Dazai had really been pissed at anyone over anything but Chuuya remembered this interaction like it happened yesterday ... Because that was one of the first times actual, genuine emotion had flashed through Dazai's eyes except during their bet and later, during their fight against Rimbaud.

'Their manipulation tactics are so childish and heavy handed I could cry,'the bandaged teenager thought, internally cringing.'Worse still, they'reactuallymanaging to guilt trip Chuuya ... The chibi is not gullible, he can see through lies or misdirections I dish out, so why is he letting them boss him around? I see.'

"f*ck you."

"We get it, Yosano, but could you please refrain from doing that?"

"No promises, Shachou."

f*ckuzawa sighed.

'He owes them ... He's an outsider,'Dazai considered them as he came to this realization.'If he's truly the boy from eight years ago, as I'm more and more sure ... Then he had nothing and they've scouted and recruited him in his time of need, offering him a place to 'belong' ... And then they continued using him as a weapon against their enemies.'This caused a spark of something Dazai has so rarely felt in his life that he almost didn't recognize it.

Irritation.

Dazai, after all, knew a thing or two about another's plans to use someone they feel they have leverage over as a weapon. After all, his grandfather had planned to do the same to him, had Dazai not escaped. No doubt the rest of his mother's family, with the exception of his aunt Kiye, would have tried it, too, had they not been so intimidated and irritated by his existence and the Tsushima patriarch's obsession with him. He has a feeling Masaoka and Sensei, to a degree, have similar, if less nefarious plans for him, too, what with his possession of the Book and his ability to destroy it. Mori, though, woulddefinitelytry to use him ... If only Dazai wasn't suicidal and so dangerous to him.

And there had also been two others ... A mysterious scientist and Kashimura Kansuke ... Dazai knew they wanted to use him and his Ability for further human experimentation related to Abilities ... So yes, Dazai definitely knew a thing or two about others wanting to take advantage of him or his Ability. But he never let it happen.

Chuuya, though, he rolled right over on command.

'Just like a dog,'he thought distastefully, but this time, it wasn't directed at dogs or Chuuya, but rather at the silver haired boy and the pink haired girl who had come to demand Chuuya go out and use his Ability to fight their petty battles for them. Because Dazai was pained to see the similarities between Chuuya and Chibi ... And Chuuya and Matsuki ... They had both been loyal to the end, but their loyalty to their masters had beenearned. Gen'emon, Tane and Shuuji Tsushima had all treated them with dignity and respect, even if Shuuji had always been disgruntled when Chibi got too excitable around him and had never played with him or had rarely ever pet him. Matsuki and Chibi had bothdiedfor Shuuji ... ForDazai.'Loyalty is so easily exploitable,'he thought with something akin to disgust.'And yet-'

"How interesting!" Dazai chirped, the fake cheeriness of his tone drawing teen Chuuya's attention to him while his mere presence surprised the Sheep themselves. He asked about the rumors about Arahabaki they had collected, confirming one of his own theories on the way and tried not to make a disgusted face when Shirase asked if he was a prospective new member.As if! Mori was annoying and being his sounding board was getting more boring by the day, but the Mafia had resources Dazai knew he'd need if his theories turned out to be true. "It's as I thought."

Unfortunately for his slowly worsening mood, more heavy-handed manipulation followed, with Chuuya just taking it like a beaten dog with its tail between its legs, then an argument and Dazai realized just how f*ckingstupid, arrogantandENTITLEDthe Sheep were because they had Chuuya's loyalty and protection.

Fulfilling duty as someone with the upper hand?

Pulling that sh*t after their idiotic stunt that got them captured by Mori's men in the first place?

If Dazai had been their leader, outnumbered or not, Gifted or not, he would have dealt with every single idiot who'd been involved in this mess.

Did they not realize that they had put Chuuya in a dangerous position by allowing someone as dangerous as the Port Mafia to get their hand on such 'precious' hostages? It's a wonder thesebratshad survived this long, Chuuya or no Chuuya.

'I hate entitled, arrogant brats like them the most.'They reminded him too much of Bunji, or any other of his elitist pigs cousins and other relatives.

"Oh, sh*t, he wasmadmad," Chuuya realized, watching with wide eyes as his partner's feelings spread and solidified into a sharpened blade ready to cut down his enemies at the drop of a hat, the blink of an eye. Chuuya couldn't help but feel touched. He added this to another thing he and Dazai ought to discuss because Dazai had manipulated Chuuya one too many times to count for his own schemes ... But Chuuya had never realized just how different it was compared to how the Sheep had treated him.

Dazai had no issues using other people as weapons, as tools, as canon fodder ... But Dazai had never done something like that toChuuya... And that ... Thatchangedthings, okay? Sure, he'd known it before, but to have it so blatantly spelled out to him ... He was getting the feeling that he won't be able to ever get angry at Dazai by the time these visions end and all of his partner's eccentricities regardingthemcome to light ...

Dazai interrupted Shirase and Chuuya's further discussions just as Shirse and Yuan tried to urge him to leave with them, slowly, sarcastically clapping his hands. Fifteen year old Chuuya glared at him suspiciously, noting yet another change in Dazai's demeanor he had either not seen or had only caught glimpses of before. It was clear he did not know how to treatthisDazai quite yet. "Interesting. You guys are truly interesting," the brunet said, voice a sharp contrast to the smile on his face. If it could even be called that. It was certainly an expression that could cut glass ... The look in his eye maybe even diamonds. "The battle enthusiast, strong and powerful Chuuya is like a wolf being glared at by the flock of sheep," he said mockingly, noting how Shirase was getting more riled up than Chuuya was. The redhead seemed more wary of Dazai than he was irritated by his words. Had he already realized ... ? And yet he stayed? Truly, that kind of loyalty is admirable ... If it wouldn't be the death of him, considering he had granted it to clumsy brats who not only weren't loyal to him in turn, but didn't eventrusthim ... Question was: did he trustthem?

"I wish I could say I hate how easily he sees through everything," Chuuya muttered, ignoring the looks everyone was throwing his way as they watched the beginning of the end of the King of the Sheep.

Dazai, of curse, wasn't done yet. "I guess sitting at the top of an organization is harder than I thought," he continued sarcastically. "I'll have to give Mori-san a massage later."

"Did he-"

"Yes," Mori interrupted, answering Kenji's shameless question.

Kouyou and Hirotsu arched an eyebrow at their Boss. "Really?"

"Yes, really," Mori replied with a sigh. "It lasted all of five seconds, which is how long it took for him to find a bundle of nerves that left meliterallyboneless against my desk and barely conscious from how it had forcefully expelled all tension from my body, even the usual tensions muscles contract in order to keep the body upright. I couldn't move for about an hour."

"Was that the time you were late for that one Executive meeting so the Colonel had to go and pick you up from your office?" The woman asked and Mori nodded. "I guess that explains why you were so out of it ... Wait, what did Dazai do in the meantime? I distinctly remember the Colonel mentioning Dazai had been in your office reading through some documents when he came back with you ... "

The former doctor shrugged, though he did not look as nonchalant as he would have preferred.

f*ckuzawa frowned. "I think I'm beginning to see why you feared the boy."

"Fear, f*ckuzawa-dono," the Boss corrected. "Present tense."

"... Right."

The scene at the arcade kept going, from Dazai claiming he and Chuuya had to get going, thus Chuuya can't fight the Sheeps' petty conflicts for them, to Shirase freaking out on Chuuya about working with the Mafia to then Shirase freaking out even more upon finding out Dazai was from the Mafia and drawing a knife at him.

"... Hey, is it just me, or does he-"

"Look like that one meme of a cat being threatened by a knife but being faily nonchalant about it? Yup."

"Good to know I'm not the only one."

"There's a meme with a cat?"

"We'll show you later, Shachou~"

"He's such a sh*t-stirrer," Tachihara said between barely muffled snickers as Dazaiveryfalsely'got scared'.

Mori cooed as their phone call came up. He'd always wondered just what the other end of the line had looked like, because Dazai had sounded like he was having vicious fun and the tone in his voice had had all the hairs on the back of Mori's neck standing up with the dangerous undertones in it. Mori had not been aware before that point that his little accomplice had the emotional range to be genuinelyfurious. It had definitely had him on edge, especially after Dazai officially joined the Mafia. He never had figured out what had triggered it, since he's never seen it since then until their reunion during the Guild debacle ... Now he knows, though.

He made a note to not overwork Chuuya from now on.

"He released the hostages?" Atsushi asked, perplexed. "Why would he do that? Isn't the point of hostages to have some sort of leverage against your enemy?"

"You actually did it, just like that? Because a teenager told you to?" Kunikida couldn't help but ask the Port Mafia Boss himself.

Mori and Chuuya both snorted.

"It was a calculated move on Dazai-kun's part," the Boss dismissed the blond with a wave of his hand. "Besides, I was interested to see what he would do. As we watch these visions, you'll see that Dazai-kun's calls are questioned less and less by the hour."

"You'll also see why he released the hostages soon enough," the gravity manipulator added. "It was a very good scheme to get the Sheep to show just how little they trusted me."

Shirase and Yuan, of course, couldn't see beyond the surface of Dazai's move when the Sheep were released and instead thought that they could just walk out of that arcade with Chuuya in tow. Chuuya, though, hadn't taken his eyes off of Dazai since he'd made himself an active participant of this ... 'debate'. "You ... What are you planning?"

"It's a token of our friendship," was the sirupy reply with a beaming smile, the most fake one Chuuya had seen from him that day. Which was saying something. "Now, let's go. We have a job to finish."

Shirase laughed and Yuan attached herself to Chuuya as they said he wouldn't be going anywhere with Dazai now that he no longer had leverage. But Chuuya couldn't look away from the brunet and Dazai did not break eye contact for a single second. In fact, he detached himself from his comrades when they tried to tug him away causing another argument. Chuuya did not bother to explain or defend himself. "Arahabaki first."

Dazai had to refrain from letting interest show on his face.'Oh? So it's not just that they don't trusthim...Hedoesn't trustthem...Not with this ... Now I'mreallyinterested as to why Chuuya is so adamant to find out more about Arahabaki and the way it is involved in this case.'

Of course, mentioning their bet and the way Chuuya become as focused on Dazai as Dazai was focused on Chuuya, the two of them practically in a world of their own even with a whole arcade full of kids watching the drama, only pissed Shirase off more. Or perhaps it was that, for once, Chuuya was actively, genuinely defying his 'instructions'. As if he has the right to order 'the leader', 'the King' around. As if he has the right, thepowerto make anyone, let alone someone as strong as Chuuya, use their Ability howhepleases.

Well, Dazai lives to knock people a few pegs down when they do something incredibly stupid in his presence.

"Lay off him already. It's Chuuya's own decision, how he wants to use his own Ability." That certainly seemed to stun these idiots, even Chuuya himself. Had he never been told he can use his Ability how he chooses? Mafia green and selfishness might actually do him some good, if he was this selfless. "Even a five year old child child knows that much. This discussion is over." With that, Dazai turned around and started heading towards the door at a steady pace. He had absolutely no doubt Chuuya would follow.

He was, of course, right, as seconds later Chuuya caught up to him and they walked out of the arcade together, Shirase's frustrated yelling and screaming mere background noise as they once again zeroed in on each other, entering a world of their own.

'Well, then. Let the games begin.'

Chapter 13

Chapter Text

15yo

"Well, that was ... interesting," Higuchi commented awkwardly as the visions shifted, fastforwarding a few hours, even though Shirase's words about Chuuya's lack of family or friends outside the Sheep still echoed in their ears.

"And I thought mine and Akutagawa's first meeting was tense," Atsushi tried to joke but it fell a little flat to his ears.

Chuuya, though, wasn't nearly as affected by it all as he thought he'd be. The memories seemed far more painful than actually watching these events from an outsider's perspective. Or perhaps just Dazai's perspective, because it was easy to go along with his indignation, hisrage, apparently, at the way Chuuya was treated by people he lumped into the same category as his distasteful elder cousin.

"So we will see how Mr Fancy Hat joined the mafia," Ranpo half-asked, half-commented, tsking at the lack of snacks he could munch on as he justknewthings were only going to get even more interesting.

"I always did wonder that, actually," Tachihara commented. "Like, Chuuya-san is strong and charismatic enough to be a leader of his own organization, so how did he end up in the Mafia?"

"Careful, idiot," Gin hissed.

Chuuya shook his head. "The last thing I want to be is a leader of an organization. Least of all the Port Mafia."

"I don't know whether to feel relieved or offended by that," admitted the current leader of the Port Mafia.

Chuuya just shrugged. "I know some people think I'd be good for the position, but honestly, that's too much stress and too many restrictions on my movements. I can't protect others if they're all dead-set on protectingme. Besides," he shrugged again. "The Port Mafia as it stands is a product of sh*tty Dazai's work-"

"Is this about the jewel trade?" Mori asked, exasperated. "The Port Mafia isnotDazai-kun's leftovers!"

The fedora-adorer snorted. "No, it's nothing like that. I meant that the Port Mafia as it is can't be run by just anyone. Even you're struggling sometimes, Boss. I'd probably go crazy and anyone else would die under the workload twice over."

Mori sweatdropped at that. "I suppose you are correct ... "

"It' can't bethatbad," f*ckuzawa said with a frown. He runs a much smaller organization, therefore a whole lot more work passed through his hands since there's only so much that can be delegated onto the rest of his employees.

There was a crazed look in Mori's eyes as he turned to face his former partner. "Oh, Ihopeit shows the demon Dazai-kun was. You deserve the trauma even more than we do, it seems, doubting Dazai-kun like that." The rest of the Port Mafia who had been present for Dazai's reign of terror collectively shuddered as they recalledthat time.

"Never was I more sure Ougai-dono was indeed a masoch*st than after he left Dazai-kun in charge."

Yosano arched an eyebrow at Kouyou. "Surely it can't bethatbad?"

"Famous last words," muttered Hirotsu as the vision finally settled.

It left them all blinking in confusion, even Chuuya, who had actually been there to see the leftovers of this event.

The vision started off by showing Natsume in cat form yawning inside an abandoned warehouse, feline eyes trained flawlessly on the windows of what used to be an office but was now acting as space for a ...party? Dazai and Randou were there, the teen directing the long haired Ability user as theydecorated, with streamers and banners that bore messages of congratulations for Chuuya leaving the Sheep. Dazai sure did go all out with the celebrations. Randou seemed to think so, too, but he was both wary and kind of amused by the teenager's 'excitement' about this party and what it will stand for.

"Oh my god, he did the hand and chin thing even as a kid," Kunikida groaned while Atsushi chuckled, happy to see that his mentor had had at least afewsomewhat happy moments in his childhood, that the Dazai of then and the Dazai of now were, indeed, the same people.

"I'm not familiar with what the young people are into, but," Randou sweatdropped as he peeled away a rug to reveal the trap underneath. "I'm pretty sure a pitfall is not one of those things ... "

"WHAT!? OH, I'M GONNA KILL HIM THE NEXT TIME I GET MY HANDS ON HIS SCRAWNY NECK!"

"Hehehe, it's not just a pitfall," teen Dazai said gleefully. Chuuya of today paused in his indignation, his bullsh*t senses tingling. He listened carefully to what this past version of his smarmy partner was saying. "All the members of the Sheep will gather here," he explained, with absolute certainty in his ability to make it happen despite them hating his guts right about now. "And Chuuya, who will be in the middle of all of them will step on here and fall though~ Of course, a trap like that isn't enough to faze someone like Chuuya."

"Glad you figured that out, f*cker."

"All he needs to do is kick the floor and come right back up. But to bad~ There's no place to jump off of," Dazai gleefully explained as he waled around the long table in the middle of the room to get to the other head, where he jumped up and took an awkward crouching seat. He looked like a deranged, edgy, emo bird like that. "He'd be like a pond skater at the bottom and I guarantee he would die by drowning~ Even for Chuuya, it would be difficult to escape from the muddy sludge down bellow." Dazai giggled to himself some more, creeping the Agency and Higuchi out. Tachihara was more interested in this 'prank' than anyone should ever be, honestly. "This party's main guest of honor ... While Chuuya-kun is struggling down in the mud bellow, raining from above is twenty kilograms of flour!"

"... I'm sorry,what!?" Even Mori had to yell, all of them gawking as much as Randou was as Dazai explained his 'brilliant plan' for this 'party'.

"At the same time the pitfall opens up, he'll be enveloped in a mass of powdery snow, more than I could consider to be romantic," Dazai 'swooned' and giggled. "Chuuya's gravity manipulation can apply to any physical body he can touch, meaning, because the flour is so refined, it's impossible for him to touch every single particle, so he can't fly out of there. as a result, he'll be so focused on dispelling the particles around his mouth so he doesn't suffocate after somehow managing to breathe, as his only resistance, he'll scream foul names up at me. All while I'm up here, using it as banquet music and eating elegant snacks. Ah~ I'm getting really excited~" He looked over to his companion, secretly amused by thelookon hisface.

He lookedtraumatized.

'Adults are just no fun~'

"What's the matter, Randou-san?"

"Ah ... hmm ... That's ... Uh ..."

"I don't blame him," Kouyou muttered as they watched the foreigner try to gather his thoughts after what he heard.

"You're very well suited to being a torturer for the Port Mafia ... " He finally settled on and that gave Dazai pause. Was he? Probably. He had intricate medical knowledge that could easily be used for torture. He's been told his eyes are unsettling. He has no qualms about breaking humans. And driving people mad seemed like a fun way to pass time ... Well, 'fun'. And torturewasa way to get information, but did he want to get all dirty on the regular? He'll have to think about that.

"Well, Rimbaud definitely wasn't wrong," Mori and Kouyou wryly commented. "The lad was definitely the only interrogator whoalwaysgot his victims to talk," the redhead finished, making the Agencyshudder.

"Wait, isn't this basically a childish, watered-down version of the plan to take on Verlaine-san?" Hirotsu observed and Mori, Kouyou and Chuuya all titled their heads as they thought about it.

"... Huh. I guess it is. Just with less Ability users and more flour."

"We should have just done this to Verlaine instead," Chuuya grumbled, often getting peeved anytime someone mentioned his brother in the context of what happened when he and Dazai were sixteen.

The vision next showed Randou asking Dazai about his bet with Chuuya and, of course, Dazai revealing the real culprit and how he'd come to his conclusion, confirm the other's own musings from earlier about the sea being the key to his deduction. Randou defended himself by saying Dazai had no proof. Dazai's pretty sure that, at this point, Mori wouldn't even demand it from him to act, just so he'd be an ass to Dazai and prove his 'superiority'. Randou mentioned his bet with Chuuya again and Dazai sighed.

Chuuya flushed in slight embarrassment even before his scream for his dramatic entrance could be heard in the distance, becoming louder the closer he got. Kouyou sent him reprimanding looks for his brashness as he slapped into Randou and catapulted the spy through a couple of walls and glass windows until they both stopped in the main space of the warehouse.

"Do you ever do anythingotherthan screaming, Mr Fancy Hat?" Ranpo teased with a grin, but Chuuya just flipped him the bird, getting indignant reactions from Kunikida and Kouyou for his rude gesture around children.

What followed was another little bicker-fest between partners-to-be, since they both insisted thattheyhad won the bet.

"Sorry, Chuuya-san, but that Dazai guy won," Tachihara said with a sheepish grin and Chuuya snorted.

"Just like every other bet that followed, the bastard."

"Then why do you even keep making bets with him?" Higuchi asked, curious.

"As if I'd ever turn down a challenge from that stinky fish! He'd never let me live it down!"

The scene continued playing in the background, teen Chuuya explaining how he'd figured it out because Randou had been the only one who claimed to have seen Arahabaki itself, not the former Boss during the incident. Randou questioned him if his story was invalid because gods didn't exist.

"It's the opposite," Chuuya corrected, face solemn. "I figured it out because godsdoexist. I'm sure of it." Dazai stayed quiet, just listening, wondering if he'll finally find out what the big deal with this Arahabaki is. He just knew it had something to do with Chuuya ... And those experiments eight years ago.

"So you're confident that Arahabaki exists?" Randou questioned, narrowing his eyes at the redhead.

"Yeah. You saw it too, didn't you? Eight years ago. I mean, there's nowayyou could've given such a precise account otherwise."

'That's true. This also confirms two things. One, Randou-san had, indeed, been there, that night,'Dazai thought, his own eyes narrowing as the only adult present got to his feet from the little crater Chuuya had landed him in.

"Chuuya, I have a question for you. Do you know where Arahabaki is right now? Tell me, boy," he demanded.

Dazai made sure to keep his intonation flat. "If you know, you should tell him." Chuuya grunted, throwing a disgruntled look Dazai's way, but Dazai paid it no mind. "Randou-san is going to be executed for endangering the Port Mafia. So there's no harm in letting him know."

Fifteen year old Chuuya was getting frustrated that even Dazai was pushing this. "Damn it, what the hell is it with everyone? Why does everybody wanna meet that thing? Jeez, it's not like it has the power to revive the dead or something. Thatthingdoesn't have any kind of personality, it doesn't have a mind of its own. It's like a typhoon or an earthquake," he growled, almost to himself, and Dazai was now almost certain.

He just needed confirmation.

'Two, Arahabaki ... '

"It doesn't need to have a personality. It's pure destruction," Randou responded, drawing Chuuya's attention back to him. "Its devastation has no limits. It scorches the earth, it stings the skies and rumbles the air."

Well, Dazai could agree with that description. He remembered very well the reason why he was the only survivor of that event ... Because ofNo Longer Human.

Only he hadn't been the only one, had he?

No, two others survived, two scientists.

And, of course, one more. Dazai thinks he remembers it now. A yellow light of a cube-like shape ... Yes, just like Randou's Ability.

' ... almost certainly ... '

"Thisthingfrom the other side is unfathomable, Chuuya-kun. That power is enough for me."

Liar.

"Whereisthis thing beyond human comprehension? The thing that burned me alive and left me always feeling so cold."

Chuuya regarded Randou and Dazai regarded Chuuya before the redhead walked over to the man, with slow and steady steps. "I'll tell you if you really wanna know." Randou stayed quiet as Chuuya finally looked up, meeting his eyes. "Arahabaki ... " He began. "Is me."

' ... indeed Nakahara Chuuya.'Dazai still couldn't help but feel just a tiny bit surprised, because this ...Thisproved one other thing.'And Nakahara Chuuya ... ishim.'

"Chuuya-san,what!?" Screeched Higuchi and Tachihara, while the Agency was too busy gawking to utter a sound. Kenji was practically sparkling at realizing Chuuya was evencoolerthan he'd thought.

The man himself, though, did not appreciate all that attention. "It's more complicated than that," Chuuya huffed, not meeting anyone's gaze. "Arahabaki or not, I'm stillme." He looked back up to the younger version of himself, explaining how he remembered being taken out of the void, Dazai and Randou silently and intently listening to him. "It's something I struggled with for quite a while ... And those two f*ckers both had a hand in making me accept that."

"I see," Kouyou mumbled, more to herself than anyone else, even though everyone heard her. "I always did wonder why you respected the traitor so much when he had literally tried to kill you on your third meeting ... I'd say Randou, too, but I get the feeling now's not the time to tease you about your bond with Dazai."

Chuuya rolled his eyes at the joke already made but didn't comment on it, just letting her have her fun. Besides, it's not like the statement reallycouldn'tapply to either of the dark haired individuals he was with that day.'Fifteen was a crazy time. Sixteen was just plain insane. Everything that followed just became your regular Tuesday.'

"To find answers, I've decided to follow this case," fifteen year old Chuuya said, staring intensely up at Randou. "Tell me everything you know."

The chilled man smiled. "Very well, then. If anyone has a right to know, it's you." As he said this, he started using his Ability, cubes of subspace forming above one hand that he then fired at Chuya, launching him across the warehouse. Dazai whipped around after the other teenager, shocked by the fact Chuuya had gotten hit at all. Not even Hirotsu had managed that.

"Why didn't his gravity stop that attack?" He asked, more to himself than Randou, but the man answered anyways.

"Unlike the bullets, the subspace I control doesn't abide by the laws of physics. It is another world entirely, closed off from this one, and I alone hold the key" Randou explained, even as he let a small cube hit the ground, from which a huge realm opened, engulfing the entire building, though Dazai noted that while the rest of the world turned a yellowish tint, his world was only illuminated by it, like from a light source. He'd been left outside. Separated from the subspace trapping Chuuya in that warehouse. "As such, only if I allow you to, you may enter, and only if I allow you to, may you leave."

"You left me outside the subspace you deployed," Dazai decided to make his observation known, loving the minute signs of discomfort Randou showed at his intelligence. That woman from that night in the library had really been right. Adults could only befascinatedorunnervedby a child's overwhelming intelligence. However, Randou was at an advantage here. Dazai may be outside of his subspace, but he was still trapped. Worse still, he hadChuuyatrapped inside a place where the laws of physics don't apply as he's used to. "Then you must know whatmyAbility is."

The reminder might have left Randou even more uncomfortable if Chuuya didn't barge in with another battle cry, though usually the shorter boy was much more successful in his battles than the one he'd just entered. In fact, this had to be the first time Dazai's ever seen Chuuya run away and hide, rather than face his opponents head on.

Then again, not even Hirotsu could match Randou, for all that Hirotsu, in a way, held a much higher position than the traitorous Subexecutive.

"To be fair, I think that's the first time I've seen Chuuya-san flee rather than charge head on, too," Tachihara observed and even the Akutagawas had to nod in agreement along with Higuchi and, of course, the Agency, though they had a whole lot less experience with Chuuya's battle habits than the others did.

Chuuya himself, though, just shrugged. "Eh, the things I usually fight don't require more than that, since I can easily overwhelm them with brute strength and power alone. Rimbaud and later Verlaine were, quite literally, the only exceptions. They were too well trained, too powerful and too experienced for teenage me to win on my own, so sh*tty Dazai's plans were required. In short, for all that I've fought adragonand a Cthulhu wannabe recently, those two were Soukoku's toughest opponents. f*ck Shibusawa, Shibusawa waseasyonce we found him."

"Only a diamond can polish another diamond," Mori chirped, earning himself aLookfrom f*ckuzawa at quoting Natsume so blatantly.

"Any Ability that touches that idiot gets nullified," fifteen year old Chuuya observed as he hid behind the quarantined space Dazai was trapped in. "You try to quarantine him with your subspace ... You make a good opening for me."

"His existence is truly heretical," Randou said, drawing Dazai's attention to him more than Chuuya. "The ultimate anti-Ability, with no peer even back in the West."

Two more things clicked for Dazai. One, someone out there had an Ability similar enough to his own thathewas dumped into the same category as them, though Dazai rather doubted they could really compare. Randou's words confirmed that. No Longer Human seemed to be the ultimate nullifying Ability. The second ... "The West? Is that where you're from?"

"Still," Randou - if that was even his real name - smirked in a creepy way and Dazai narrowed his eyes.

Then the Book got frantic.D-A-N-G-E-R D-A-N-G-E-R D-A-N-G-E-R DA-NGE-R DAN-GER DANGER

And then Dazai felt a strange stirring behind him and he whirled around just in time to avoid being cleaved in half by a gigantic red scythe he was, unfortunately, far too familiar with. still, he hadn't been fast enough, and it sliced through his shirt and the sling holding his cast-encased arm. Blood immediately spurted everywhere from the open wound and Dazai's momentum had launched him back enough that he fell over when the sudden crashing waves of pain hit him.

"DAZAI/DAZAI-SAN!" Nearly half of their group yelled, eyes wide as they watched the teenager get injured seemingly out of nowhere, all of a sudden.

Dazai looked up, already knowing what he was going to see - his grandfather, back from the dead, moving around as though he was far healthier as a cadaver than he'd been alive when Mori had freed them of his continued existence.

The old man smirked down at him with malice. "How've you been, son?"

"Well, this was a reunion none of us needed," grumbled Naomi, clutching onto Junichiro's arm as they watched with worry as the injured, teenage version of one of their friends faced down his past abuser.

Dazai, though, didn't seem fazed. He'd been expecting something like this, after all. He just hadn't thought Randou was the one behind it. "You look well for someone who's been dead, Boss. Or rather, former Boss." In fact, he seemed more bothered by his wound than the fact that there was a zombie standing in front of him. Then again, even back when he was ten, he'd never been hurt likethis. Or perhaps it hurt this much because he hadn't been in pain for a very long time and so he was no longer used to it?'I'll have to train my pain tolerance back up again. I hate pain, but I hate it incapacitating me for this long even more.'He'll deal with that later, though.

"There's no way he could have hurt that idiot with his Ability," a concerned and confused Chuuya commented beyond the confines of Dazai's own prison. The sound of his 'annoying' voice reminded Dazai that he can't just sit around the whole day, clutching his chest as he bled out, no matter how painful it was to move.

"You got it," the brunet called out to his companion. "The former Boss' giant scythe isn't an Ability. It's real."

Chuuya only looked even more concerned. "So it could kill you, then."

Dazai had to ignore him for the moment, because he needed to find out waht the deal was with this Ability. "The former Boss is dead. What did you do, Randou-san?" He asked, turning to face the man, because he had a feeling his grandfather's corpse won't move without a command from him. It had something to do with this subspace, he was sure of it. Did he feed energy into the corpse, thus allowing it to move?

"My Ability can turn corpses stored in my subspace into supernatural beings I command," he replied, casual as you can be when you reveal you can make zombies, basically. "I can only control one at a time, though." And of course, his target was Chuuya. Neither of the teens was surprised by that in the least. For all that he was so young, Dazai was almost completely certain Chuuya was now the most powerful Ability user in Japan. After all, the only other person who could have challenged him, Masaoka, was dead. And therehadto be a way Chuuya could defeat Randou.

After all, Chuuya and Dazai first met after Chuuya - or Arahabaki - was through with beating Randou into the ground, eight years ago. Chuuya had only stopped when he'd come into contact with No Longer Human, thus getting his Ability nullified and ending Arahabaki's rampage.

Finding out that Randou was a western spy wasn't even a surprise at this point. How could it ever be, compared to the fact that Chuuya eitherwasorcontaineda god of calamity in his body and that fact that certain Abilities can apparently bring back the dead?

"Dazai-kun, if the Boss were to learn what you just have, he would attempt to have me assassinated."

'So? Is that my problem? Just leave the country like anyoneelsesmart enough fleeing from the Mafia. You're not special.'

"Ah, snarky Dazai's back. I missed him," Yosano hummed, trying to lift the mood but they were all far too focused on the danger the two teenagers were in. Sure, they knew they both survived; they wouldn't have met either of the twenty two year old men today if they hadn't, but they all knew this was an extremely close call. Chuuya himself had said it.

"I regretfully ask you to die here with Chuuya-kun."

'Well, would you look at that? He's actually regretful ... However, I can't say I'm all too keen on heeding his plea. I can't destroy the Book this way and I've been trying for years to make sure that chibi over there is alive and will live a long life free of stupid adults trying to control his every move ... Though, if he joins the Mafia, Mori-san-'He cut his own thoughts off, as the memory of his conversation with the man before this whole mess started flashed before his eyes.'No danger whatsoever, my ass. Is he trying to get rid of me? Did he know what Randou-san was after and tried to get rid of a traitor, a loose end and the greatest threat to the Mafia's expansion?'"How exciting."'If I join, will I get to play these types of games on the regular? Plans, strategies, battles ... Fighting withChuuya... That might just make life interesting enough for me to find another reason to live besides guarding the Book and guarding the chibi ... And if not, where else can I die than in the Mafia? I've decided ... 'He turned to Chuuya, looking pass his grandfather, or what was left of him, and calling for his attention. "Hey. Let's kill them. Together."

Needless to say, fifteen year old Chuuya's surprise was very understandable, considering one of the first things he learned about Dazai was that he was suicidal. "HAH?! Didn't you want to die?" He asked, curious though also clearly relieved that Dazai won't just roll over and die, leaving him most definitely trapped in there and sentenced to certain death.

"I'm starting to like working for the Port Mafia."'Well, not really, but as if I'd ever explain any of the things I could get out of it to a chibi puppy like him.'

"He's really starting to annoy me all over again," Chuuya of the present growled while most of the others tried to hold in snickers.

Dazai gave a bit of a sh*t explanation about how death was basically just a part of life and in order to understand life, you need to embrace death. Sure, he partially believed it, yes, but he's not sure if he'd ever understand people. He was clearly not human himself, his emotions stunted, his morals more questionable than a questionnaire or people's theories nowadays that the Earth is flat despite even the ancient Greeks having proven otherwise. He simply did not see the world the ways others did, he found no value in living and ever since he found out he could destroy the Book, he knew his only purpose in existence was to destroy it. Whether whoever wrote him into existence intended it that way or not didn't matter; fate had said its piece and Dazai now had to live with it.

However, he figured there's no need to just roll over and submit to it, either. Not yet, anyway. Things were, indeed, getting interesting. Being around Chuuya wasfun. He was anenigma; Dazai wanted to understand him. Not just his Ability, but this stupidly loyal boy who let himself be used just so he could stay with the people he cared about. Dazai just hoped he grew out of it, unlike his height.

"OI!"

Chuuya listened to what Dazai did say, their forming bond and tacit understanding still too new, too young for him to see through to something deeper in Dazai's soul the way he'll be able to soon enough. Instead, he focused on the most pleasing, satisfying and relieving thing from Dazai's little speech. "In other words, the suicidal maniac wants to live," he said with a smirk, figuring things were about to get interesting, fun,exciting.

After all, Dazai was the first person Chuuya has met who seemed to understand him, to read him like an open book and who never once coveted his Ability, nor the god inside him. Chuuya was indeed annoyed by the bastard, but he would have found it a shame if nothing happened of this strange understanding and trust that had inexplicably developed between them in the day and a half they knew each other. "Is that it?"

"I've come to think it's worth trying. That's all," the bandaged boy replied with a smirk of his own.

Of course, his useless grandfather had to interrupt just then, attacking him again with his scythe. Dazai, though, was too used to his moves and he'd gotten better, faster, more agile over the years with his life on the streets. It was easy to dodge the consecutive slashes and maneuver past him. He ran towards Chuuya, hand outstretched, only for Randou to push the wall of Dazai's prison away from him, even pushing Chuuya away.

"There you have it. You understand, right?"

"Don't give me orders."

"Huh?" The Agency members, even Ranpo, surprisingly enough, intoned, along with the Akutagawas, Higuchi and Tachihara. Hirotsu, Mori and Kouyou, who have heard or read reports of these events, knew what was going on and Chuuya, well, he was just watching fondly the first time he partnered up with Dazai. That day sure did change both of their lives forever. It was an unforgettable experience, that first time he and Dazai fell in sync. Then again, they never did fall out of it, so it's theonlytime they fell in sync. They just got better at accepting it over the years.

They watched as Chuuya and Dazai each had their own battles, Dazai dodging his zombie grandfather's attempts to kill him and Chuuya trying to battle Randou, gravity versus cubes that defy physics. Chuuya even got his ankle painfully twisted with Randou's Ability before he was throwing against the confines of Dazai's quarantine. Randou laughed as he launched what would be a devastating attack, but Chuuya survived by increasing his own gravity and density.

Dazai noted that Chuuya was finally where he needed to be and prepared for his own part of the plan. He just needed to get there.

"Hey. Want me to tell you why I was keeping both of my hands tucked away until now?" Chuuya called out, though whether it was to Dazai to answer his question from earlier that day or to Randou was up in the air. "I thought that if I ever felt like I was about to lose," he said, taking his hands out of his pocket, For The Tainted Sorrow glowing more brightly around him than usual. "That feeling might give me a reason to be fond ... of my humanity."

Randou ... lost his marbles a bit at that moment, though his enthusiasm to stop feeling cold all the time was understandable.

Dazai was having one of it, though. If Chuuya was going to die some day, it's whenDazaiis already dead and the Book destroyed. "Come on, Chuuya!" He called out, dodging more slashes from the cadaver.

Chuuya kinda 'surprised' him by planting himself in place, arm outstretched, Ability glowing red all around him like the stubborn fire in his blue eyes. "Youcome, sh*tty Dazai." And, well, Dazai would grin if he could spare the moment to. Maybe stupid Moriwasright and they get along just fine.

Present day Chuuya grinned for him, though. He couldn't help but like these events from Dazai's perspective.

Dazai managed to get around the old Boss, closer to Chuuya, and he turned around, his casted arm in front of him as the scythe finally connected.

"DAZAI/DAZAI-SAN!" Teen Chuuya and the Armed Detective Agency - sans f*ckuzawa and Kyouka - and the Akutagawas exclaimed once again. Randou made a satisfied sound ... Only to get confused when the scythe not only failed to kill Dazai, but it also served to launch him towards Chuuya, the steel Dazai had hid beneath the fake cast now revealed.

"As expected of Dazai-san!" Akutagawa and Atsushi both said, the latter with a cheer, while the Agency just let out stunned laughs at the stunt.

"Chuuya!" Dazai called, the momentum from his grandfather's hit carrying him, much like it had that day he'd jumped off of the Port Mafia building, towards the wall that seperated him from the ginger.

"Come, Dazai!" Chuuya called back, increasing the output of his Ability even more when Randou caught on to their plan and tried to move the wall of his Ability out of Dazai's reach. But Chuuya held strong, even as what must be an unbearable force tried to push him back, staying in place, keeping the wall in front of him as Dazai finally reached him. They interlocked fingers as No Longer Human lit up the whole building, glowing bluish-white letters floating through the air as the Ability nullified the subspace, freeing Dazai and Chuuya to move as they please. The second the Ability was gone, as No Longer Human's light still lingered, Chuuya launched himself after Randou, punching him into the ground from a little piece of earth he'd levitated to use as support.

"You cannot escape gravity!"

On the other end of the warehouse, Dazai approached his grandfather's corpse, still glowing yellow with Randou's Ability, but clearly on the verge of disappearing as strings of kanji from No Longer Human's light effects closed in on him more and more, slowly engulfing him. "If Randou-san's subspace vanishes, naturally, so will you." He commented as he approached. "But ... " He went low as the old man roared and tried one last attack. With skills this person in front of him had watched him get beaten bloody to attain, Dazai snuck under his guard, punch ready. He aimed straight for his opened mouth, letting the steel casing he'd been lugging around all day to break the man's jaw, stopping the cadaver in its tracks, its eyes wide. "Let me thank you for once," he whispered to it, taking his fist out and leaving the corpse to dissipate with Randou's Ability, the warehouse finally falling into darkness once again as the sun outside was setting.

It was finally over.

He reunited with Chuuya near Randou's crumbled body and they had one more exchange of quips before they 'interrogated' Randou, who was very willing to talk. His real name was Arthur Rimbaud and he was a French spy sent to capture or destroy Arahabaki. He had not been alone that night that Suribachi exploded; he'd had a partner, whom he claimed he'd killed after he'd betrayed him. They had been the ones responsible for Chuuya getting out in such an explosive, destructive way. Dazai wondered if he should blame this man and his partner for his parents' deaths. He feels like that's something normal people would do, but Dazai still feels as though Kashimura Kansuke and his scientist friends were the ones to truly blame.

"HA!" Kouyou surprised them all by crowing, pointing a not-elegant-at-all finger at Chuuya's face triumphantly. "We told you!" Behind her, Mori and even Hirotsu crooned agreements and victory while Chuuya just flushed with a relieved smile that his partner did not blame him for the death of the Tsushima couple.

"Chuuya-kun," Rimbaud called, surprising the teen while Dazai just observed them, simultaneously filing away all that they'd learned and already planning what he'll give to that information broker with the wood-recovery-related Ability. Perferable before the grunts get to Rimbaud's mansion and ransack it, destroying anything Dazai might find useful. "I suspect you aren't Arahabaki itself, but a human being chosen as a vessel to keep Arahabaki under control. But you are strong, not as Arahabaki, but as a human being."

"Well, thanks," the slightly older teenager said awkwardly, turning away, towards Dazai, though he did not look at him.

"Whatever may live inside you, you are already you. Is that not enough?" Randou got philosophical at this point, but Dazai was a bit more focused on howstupidChuuya was.

"OI!"

'Chuuya? Not a human being? Preposterous.'

"... Hah?" The Executive in question grunted, surprised.

'For one, if he were reallyjustArahabaki, he'd cease to function or maybe even exist the second I touched him, since it seems Arahabaki is the source of his Ability. For another, didn't he say that Arahabaki didn't have any thoughts, feelings or personality? IfChuuyadoesn't have personality, then no one is human, that little gremlin.'

"... I'm not sure whether I should feel insulted or flattered ... "

'There's a whole lot more to this story even after getting some of our questions answered ... Well, it looks like I've found myself a side-project that will keep me from getting bored. I'll start proving Nakahara Chuuya, my dog for life, is human before the day ends. I just need to go get the ashes from Randou-san's fireplace.'

" ... " Chuuya couldn't even say anything at this point.

He was so touched, he may as well be moved to tears.

The others just let him have this moment as the scene shifted once again after Rimbaud breathed his last breath.

Chapter 14

Chapter Text

15-16yo

"So, is no one going to comment that Dazai and Chuuya won against a powerful Ability users byholding hands?" Yosano asked. "Because that seems like a big deal to me considering they're always going on about how much they hate each other, annoy each other or are disgusted by each other."

"Shut up," Chuuya grumbled without any heat. He knew he and Dazai had done more questionable andsus, as Elise would say these days, things than just holding hands. The number of times the snuck into each other's beds in the middle of the night to deal with their own types of terrors alone would elicit raised eyebrows from an outsider and Chuuya sure f*cking hoped that won't be shown.

It wasn't even out of embarrassment. No, it was the vulnerability in each of those times or similar scenarios that Dazai showed that Chuuya was not willing to let be seen, not without the brunet's permission. Dazai, while he was in the Mafia, had picked exactly two people to be truly vulnerable with and Chuuya was the only one left in the world of the living, therefore it is his duty to protect those vulnerable moments from prying eyes. Because no one else would, or could, for that matter.

"So the power of gay defeated an even gayer person?" Ranpo 'asked', as though that wasn't a stated conclusion, and Chuuya choked on his own spit while Yosanocackled. Kunikida looked like his soul had left his body, Akutagawa just gave a cough of discomfort, Atsushi was blushing to his ears and Kouyou made an exasperated noise in the back of her throat.

"You know what they say," Hirotsu said with great 'wisdom'. "Behind every gay person, there's another, more evil, gayer person."

Now Ranpo choked on his spit and Kouyou cackled, pointing a finger at Mori, who gawked at the eldest member present.

f*ckuzawa arched an eyebrow at his mentor's former partner. "That says a lot more about Natsume-sensei, and by extensionyou, than it does about the 'Soukoku generations'." Now Shin Soukoku, Chuuya and Hirotsu were all blushing messes while Mori crowed in victory, grinning at f*ckuzawa like he'd hung the stars and the moon. The older man had to look away, when Ranpo turned to gawk at him and the slight pinkish flush emerging on his cheeks. Yosano made a disgusted noise and muttered about needing strong sake or a ton of wine.

"What is even happening?" Higuchi asked Kyouka and Gin, the only ones currently acting at all normal, because the Tanizaki siblings were being themselves while the world whirled in colors around them and Tachihara was having his second Bi crisis in his life upon finding out Chuuya was interested in men. And, well, Kenji's just clueless about it all so there was no point in asking.

Gin shrugged. "It's a competition of gayness. By the way, I still think Soukoku is winning."

Kyouka immediately disagreed. "No way. No one is gayer for each other than Atsushi and Akutagawa-san."

Higuchi had to disagree withthat. For many reasons. "Have you seen our leaders!?"

Gin gave them both deadpan looks. "Dazai-san decided life was worth giving a try after reuniting with Chuuya-san, whom he'd been thinking about almost constantly for eight years at that point. Chuuya-san fought adragonfor Dazai-san, even when everyone thought Dazai-san was dead or too far gone to be saved from the clutches of other evil gays.Trustme,no oneis gayer than Soukoku."

"Ranpo and Poe-kun might be."

"AKIKO!"

Thankfully for all of their sanity, the vision settled again, showing a cliff-side cemetery that made Chuuya's spine shoot upright as though someone had thrust a rod through it. He would have been perfectly happy never reliving this moment ever again, even though he and Shirase are technically cool now, and he especially didn't want to see it through Dazai's point of view.

Once, it would have been because he would have suspected Dazai would have enjoyed his misery and how pathetically low someone as powerful as Chuuya has fallen. Now, he isn't sure he'd like to see what had happened to the Sheep, because Dazai may have promised not to hurt the kids, but Dazai's revenge was far worse when it wasn't physical retribution. There is a reason the criminal underground as a whole agreed that it was a greater mercy to die by the Demon Prodigy's hand than to be left alive in the aftermath.

"I always did wonder what Dazai-kun did with what was left of the Sheep," Mori mused to himself.

"He didn't write it in the report?"

Mori gave his female Executive aLook.

"Right. Of course."

Yosano made a frustrated noise. "Oi, don't be getting cryptic now too! Dazai, even in his own thoughts, is bad enough!"

Mori tried to give her a pleasant smile - not that she would have appreciated it - but it came off as a pained grimace. "I'm sure it will show, very soon, but to put it plainly, Dazai-kun was a very busy bee from the moment he officially joined. Let's just say that he hadwordsabout how the Mafia was run."

"I do believe he called it worse than the wild west," Hirotsu oh so helpfully added, getting a betrayed look from his Boss. The old man just shrugged. "It's what Dazai-san said."

"And when is he ever wrong?" Gin added, her snark masked as a question. Best part? Mori could not disagree, because Dazai would surely find out and Mori was still trying to get back in his good books.

Dazai, in the vision, arrived to the scene just as Shirase revealed himself to Chuuya, who had been leaving Rimbaud's makeshift grave that the Mafia had finally bothered to give him, on Dazai's insistence, no less. Dazai couldn't believe it was so hard to convince adults that leaving out the genetic material of a very powerful Ability user was not a good idea after they found out the government had had a hand in human experimentation, to the point of artificial humans being involved.

"They left him out to rot for three days?" Kunikida asked with a disgusted grimace and Atsushi looked green in the face.

None of the Port Mafia members seemed particularly offended or put off. They just shrugged. After all, traitors weren't exactly buried with all honors.

Dazai looked behind himself at the men and women in black suits and dark sunglasses. They were hardly what one would consider the elite, but they were Dazai's fifty little helper ants from now on and he intended to whip them into shape soon enough.

"Aren't those Dazai-san's men?" Akutagawa asked and the Agency looked at him as though he was dumb. He glowered at them.Theyhadno rightto doubt the significance of his question when they did not even fully understand the context.

Chuuya saved both sides from going up in arms by answering. "Yeah, most of them stayed in his squad until four years ago. They were too well trained to die that easily." Akutagawa nodded, glad to have been correct in his assumption.

"Isn't this guy like some big hotshot? When he was a mafioso?" Tachihara asked, rubbing at the back of his head in confusion. "So why wasn't he surrounded by the most competent men in the organization?"

Everyone from the Mafia except Higuchi threw him disgusted looks. "Hewas."

"But-"

"Shush."

"f*ck you, Gin."

Their first orders? Take out GSS without harming the Sheep. It would be crucial in getting Chuuya to join the Port Mafia and actuallystay. Or at least stay long enough to find out Dazai had scoured Rimbaud's villa and delivered all the preserved documents to Mori, so they would later be sealed away inside the archives, accessible only to the highest ranking members of the organization. Chuuya will have a long-term goal to strive towards and that will keep him out of trouble long enough for Dazai to deal with the bullsh*t the other documents, files and papers revealed. He'd paid a hefty price with that bitch for the use of her Ability, but it was worth it.

Knowledge was power, even against the most powerful. Information was the once currency which was priceless. It's why people were ready to pay any amounts of colored paper and forged circular pieces of metal or even any gallons of blood for it.

Very few people Dazai's met so far truly understood this, Mori being one of them. It was the only reason he could respect the man, because his intelligence was canceled out by his lolicon tendencies.

"I'm not sure whether to be flattered or cry."

"Cry."

"How mean, Yosano-kun~!"

"Die."

Dazai shushed his troops and strained his hearing, barely managing to catch a few phrases here and there, but it was loud enough for him to discern voices, and so far, only that silver haired guy and Chuuya were talking. He signaled for his men to get ready. If his instincts and his ability to read tones of voice were right, it wouldn't be much longer before they'll be going on a littlehunt.

The vision shifted to show the two (now former) Sheep members talking, Shirase ambling over closer to Chuuya, who kept his hands in his pockets and din't suspect a thing. "So we all talked it over and came up with a solution."

Chuuya turned to face Shirase, probably the only reason he didn't getliterallystabbed in the back. "If it's something you decided together, I won't-"

"Bastard!" Hissed Yosano, Tachihara and Kouyou when the knife sank into soft flesh. You Chuuya's surprised expression showed just how little he'd expected that to happen. Unfortunately, his constitution was weak to poison and the knife had been rubbed in rat poison, as Shirase explained, earning more outraged yells from the audience. "That bitch!"

"You wouldn't have had to go through this if you weren't so damn strong," Shirase said, glaring at the collapsed Chuuya, still sitting with a knife in his gut at the edge of the cliff where he'd stumbled and fallen. Behind Shirase, on the rise above, a bunch of armed GSS soldiers took their cue to show themselves, machine guns pointed at Chuuya. In between each soldier, a member of the Sheep appeared, staring down at Chuuya with fear, rage and something close to resentment in their eyes.

Present day Chuuya had to look away. He hated reliving this exact moment, when he realized his friends, hisfamily- or what he thought them to be, anyways - saw him as amonsterbecause of a power he possessed, a power that was shoved into him by fate or the scientists or who knows what else in between. They had feared him even without knowing the beast he housed ...

"This is the solution we chose!" Shirase was kind of yelling now, so the words were clear enough for someone with as sharp a hearing as Dazai to discern. They caused a scowl to quickly settle over usually blank features, visible eye simmering with annoyance not unlike the one they'd glimpsed from him in the arcade. "We'll team up with the GSS. We all came to the realization that if you were to side with the Port Mafia, you'd get everyone in the Sheep killed!"

'Oh, you canbetI'll get everyone in the Sheep killed,'Dazai thought viciously and the detectives all flinched or shivered at the fact that their coworker had absolutely zero cares about killing more or less innocent children.

"Remind me to give Dazai-kun a lifetime supply of his favorite teas," purred Kouyou, viciously pleased with Dazai's protectiveness of Chuuya, as twisted as it might at times be.

"Sure, Ane-san," Chuuya agreed. "If you remind me to buy that mackerel a crab farm or factory or something."

"Deal."

"I would never betray the organization!" Chuuya's desperate defense reached Dazai far more easily than Shirase's annoying voice. The slight strain in it only made his trigger finger itch more, but he refrained from indulging.

The Port Mafia was no playground, but he has a feeling it will be amuchless toxic environment for Nakahara Chuuya than the Sheep could ever hope to achieve. And the irony in that does not escape him. Instead, it just makes him want to resort to scalpels and knives, instead.

He thinks Randou might have been right about him being a natural as a torturer; he's sure he'd actually enjoy immensely watching the light fade from the eyes of these ignorant brats.

"This is the smarter way to fight against the Port Mafia!"

'Not if I can help it,'Dazai viciously promised. He would leave not a single GSS soldier alive and not a single one of those brats will ever think of picking a fight against anyone else ever again.'This will be a good practice run for the serious cleaning house, later.'

"I suppose I was the fool," they watched as fifteen year old Chuuya mumbled to himself, sweat or tears sliding down his hidden face, no one could tell and Chuuya sure as hell wasn't going to say anything. They all sneered at the soldiers shooting at a child, though they commended them for protecting the other kids by pushing them behind themselves. They all still glared at Shirase as he instructed the GSS grunts on how to possibly defeat Chuuya, though thankfully he didn't seem as knowledgeable about his weaknesses as his sneak attack suggested. Young Chuuya was now sitting at the bottom of the cliff in the little grove of dirt and rock he'd made, finally taking the knife out of his side. "'Leader', my ass. I was the one ruining the organization."

"Chuuya-kun, should we have a discussion about this?"

"There's absolutely no need to, Boss."

"Hmm ... "

"Hey, Chuuya," Dazai called, drawing the redhead's attention to the brunet squatting on a rock like a monkey. There were a couple of dozen men behind him, all dressed in suits and dark sunglasses, clearly Port Mafia grunts. Not that either teen could really pay all that much attention to anyone but each other. "You look like you're in a bind," came the slightly mocking 'greeting'.

"Why are you here, sh*tty Dazai?" The former King of the Sheep demanded. "Are you here to kill me, too?" Which would be highly disappointing for the ginger, especially after what had just happened. Sure, he and Dazai had known each other for maybe two days, but they had clicked in a way that was hard to explain. Chuuya was not sure how he'd react if Dazai turned against him, too, though they had no loyalty nor no proven trust between them. It was all blind and instinctual ... And Chuuya was beginning to wonder if his instincts were failing him, too.

"Well, you couldn't have been more wrong," huffed the female Executive and Chuuya shrugged sheepishly.

"I was in a bad place, okay? Besides, no one can argue that Dazai wasn't an extreme bastard back then."

"Touche."

Dazai didn't outright refute him, though he was tempted to point out how stupid it would be for him to want to kill his own new dog for life that he'd recently acquired. It seemed like a bad time to rub salt in the wound. When Dazai had started this scheme to put a wedge between Chuuya and the Sheep, he had not expected things to escalate to this level. GSS and a knife to the back? Definitely. Poison? That Shirase guy deserves to be put under Mori's scalpel for that alone, never mind the way he so callously discarded Chuuya after all those years of loyally being the Sheep's sword and shield.'Oh, well, not like it will matter now. I'll just make sure he can never approach Chuuya again. Maybe I'll ship them all out of Yokohama. Thatlovelylittle orphanage sounds like agreatvacation spot for these street rats.'

For now, he rambled on about how Mori wanted Chuuya to join the Mafia and how he had sent Dazai to both recruit him and to destroy the little alliance GSS and the Sheep had made. Not that either group was of consequence now that Chuuya was no longer a member. Dazai didn't bother to point it out to Mori; it was just a waste of bullets and manpower to go after them. The GSS could easily be bought over ... Whichwouldbe a problem loyalty-wise, but Dazai's sure they can be persuaded. And even if they couldn't be, should they ever decide to attack the Mafia, well, GSS did not have a single Ability user in their ranks. Executive Ozaki would have been more than enough to deal with them; she was strong enough on her own, clever, and had a wonderful Ability she controlled as well as she did her blade.

This little show, though, was all for Chuuya's 'benefit'.

Dazai wondered just how many atrocities it would take for Chuuya to realize just how wicked and rotten Mori was to the core.

The Executive in question turned serious eyes towards his Boss. Mori did not flinch but also did not defend himself. Had they had access to their Abilities, Chuuya would have been engulfed in a threatening red, air thrumming with power.

He did not like the implications Dazai had just made.

"Wait, did you seriously just send a fifteen year old kid to deal with a rival organization?" f*ckuzawa asked with a scowl.

Mori could only shrug. "It was to see how well Dazai-kun could accommodate to leading a unit. He would be wasted as a lower ranking member, not to mention that I still had to keep him around as my witness. Of course, keeping him close proved to be a marvelous decision, since Dazai-kun turned out to be one of the Mafia's greatest assets. There's not a single thing in the organization that he hasn't had a hand in creating, implementing or fixing. Even in the past four years, things he'd done before, his plans for the future and the such were things we used to keep the Mafia improving."

"Dazai-san was right; you sound like a very demanding employer," Atsushi dared to say and Mori lookedoffended.

"Excuseyou?I'mdemanding? Wait until you seeDazai-kunat work! I'mmercifulin comparison!"

"Not to Dazai-san," Hirotsu muttered. Mori was too busy with his dramatics to hear him, but some other did. The Agency threw disgusted, disapproving glares Mori's way for exploiting a child.

"We're killing them all," Dazai threw out the bait and Chuuya took it, hook, line and sinker.

"Including the Sheep?" He challenged threateningly, managing to make For The Tainted Sorrow answer his call despite the poison still weakening him.

"There's no change to our policy," Dazai commented casually. Which was utter bullsh*t. It was a new policy Dazai had just drilled into Mori's head. The former doctor had been hesitant to issue such orders so soon after taking over, mostly for fear of how his Executives would see him as similar to the old Boss. It could cause a lot of trouble down the line ... Which was anidioticconcern. They were theMafia; it's not like they abide by Geneva Convention!

"Now that I think about it," Hirotsu mused. "Isn't that what Dazai-san issued out for most of his subordinates and especially the interrogation units as ... ato-do list?"

Kunikida turned towards the President, not sure how to react. "Are we sure he's qualified to be a member of the Agency?"

Mori immediately jumped on that. "If you don't want him, I'll be happy to-"

"Yes," Ranpo and f*ckuzawa answered together. "He is." And that was that. Yosano just glared at Mori, who pouted again at being denied.

Meanwhile, Dazai threw in his own bullsh*t bait that he's surprised Chuuya took. "That said, if someone, a peer ... Someone who has information on the enemy ... can advise us, I wouldn't mind changing our policy."

At this point, even fifteen year old Chuuya could tell he was being baited, but he couldn't refuse to bite. "A peer's advice, huh?"

"Right," chirped Dazai with a startlingly deadpan voice. "A peer in, say, the Port Mafia. I could trust the advice of one of my own~"

"So you want to make a deal? You devil."

Dazai couldn't help but smirk, tickled by that and the expression on Chuuya's face. Though he regretted seeing their hard-earned camaraderie slowly draining from those blazing blue eyes. He hadn't even realized it was there until now. He almost reconsidered everything ... But he refused to back down now. Chuuya was almost literally two steps away from getting some actual protection.

Dazai had failed to find and protect that boy from eight years ago once.

He wasn't letting it happen again, even if he had to drag Chuuya kicking and screaming to safety. And wasn't that just ironic. He had a feeling it will be, if nothing else.

With a smirk, he continued his taunts. "Although, anyone who lost to me in a game is bound to get worked to the bone in this organization."

And, well, Chuuya's temper was as short as he was, especially combined with the emotional turmoil of the day. The look in his eyes definitely had a few of the men behind Dazai quaking in their underwear, but Dazai wasfascinated. Becausehe could see it. Even though the anger and the hatred in those sharp words, "I'll shred you someday", the blaze of life and vitality, ofpowerin those blue eyes ... It was all the same. There was no denying it.

Chuuya - Arahabaki, god or not - washim, the boy Dazai had searched for.

It sent a shiver down his spine he didn't quite understand, but he liked it. It made him feel more alive than even the fight against Randou had. "I like that expression," he confessed shamelessly. "You really look like a wild beast." Dazai will have to be careful of that flame in those eyes; no, he wasn't scared of getting burned. Instead, he feared the darkness and the black o the Mafia might extinguish it.

All the more reason for him to get more involved in Mori's harebrained schemes ... Someone has to look out for this shorty Dazai had formed an unfortunate sentimental attachment to enough to nickname him after the only dog on this planet he could say he actually liked.

Chuuya, of course, took up Dazai's offer and Dazai, of course, just repeated his order to his men not to harm the brats. He'll just forcefully deport them out of Yokohama. The younger ones could end up in good orphanages, where they might even find good families to adopt them, thus giving them a better life than on the streets of Suribachi. The older ones, especially the ones involved intoday'ssh*tshow canrot. Though he's definitely sending that pink haired girl to that orphanage. Maybe they'll put her in a cage in place of the tiger boy.

After all, she has crazier hair than even him.

"... I don't know whether to be touched or insulted."

"Oi, jinko, did Yuan ever end up in your orphanage?" Chuuya asked, just so he could know whether he should yell at Dazai about that, too. And ask him why Yuan, specifically, deserved to end up in that hellhole. Dazai had been overall indifferent to Shirase's existence a mere year later ... Or he hadn't had the time to focus on such small fry when he had to plot and scheme around Verlaine's existence in Yokohama.

"Sorry, Chuuya-san, I really wouldn't know. They rarely left me to interact with other children."

Chuuya shrugged. It's in the past now ... Though he would have liked an answer.

Watching his own younger self realized he'd been played from the start was cringe-worthy on his end. He'd been dancing to Dazai's tune from the start. These days, he was much better at detecting Dazai's schemes, though he still mostly went along with them. Still, watching the first time he realized Dazai was smarter than he'd given him credit for ... Was also rather fascinating, because he couldn't help but begrudgingly appreciate that cunning intelligence. It had saved both their lives and the entirety of Yokohama far too many times following that day forward, to the present point in time. The brains of Soukoku to Chuuya's brawn ... It reallywaslike they were a single soul separated in two bodies, how some of their enemies and allies both have described them.

"That son of a bitch ... I'm game, then."

"So that's how you joined the Mafia, Chuuya-san?" Akutagawa couldn't help but ask and Chuuya shrugged as the scene changed again, this time showing him and Kouyou walking to a meeting, him in a whole new outfit showing he was now a Port Mafia member. The eye-catching detail everyone noticed was the sudden presence of Chuuya's iconic black leather choker.

While his men had been off following his very strict, very detailed instructions that even a toddler couldn't mess up, Dazai had returned to Chuuya's side with a medic so he wouldn't actually expire on them from something as stupid as rat poison. When everything was done, Dazai had followed Chuuya to the Mafia infirmary and waited for him to wake up. Sometime in between that happening, or even before the confrontation at the cliff-side graveyard, Dazai had acquired the very choker Chuuya wore to his day and had made Chuuya wear it. Chuuya, despite the insinuations of it, had liked the style and even more the fact that it covered a certain brand on the back of his neck that he'd always worried people would see.

Therefore, Chuuya had incorporated it into his outfit even as Kouyou, his new mentor and the one who got him the new clothes, frowned at it.

"Yeah, that's about it, I guess," Chuuya replied with a shrug.

"So Chuuya-san was recruited by Dazai-san, as were you two," Tachihara commented, nodding towards the Akutagawa siblings. "Anyone else?"

"You say that as if three of some of the highest ranking members of the organization weren't recruited by the same person!" Snapped Higuchi at his lackadaisical attitude.

"Well, I mean, technically Verlaine," Chuuya offered, causing even Kyouoka and Gin to gawk, neither of them having known Dazai had recruited their assassination mentor. "And, of course, Oda."

Atsushi titled his head. "Oda? That sounds familiar." Then he paled. "Like the grave? S. Oda?"

"Oda, as in Oda Sakunosuke?" Demanded f*ckuzawa and Chuuya nodded to them both.

"Yeah, the one and only."

"f*ck," Ranpo said with feeling, earning quite a few raised eyebrows, but he said nothing else.

Not that he could, because fifteen year old Dazai and eight year old Q had appeared on the screen along with Mori, Dazai in more casts than the last time they've seen him. Both teens let out indignant sounds when they spotted each other, starting another bickerfest in seconds because Dazai was pissed Chuuya was under Kouyou's command and not his own.

Only he wasn't angry at all.

After all, Kouyou was too important of a figure in Mori's schemes for him to make her actively hate him, therefore he won't piss her off by doing anything untoward to or with her charge. This will give Dazai time to make the Boss busy enough that he'll stop eyeing Chuuya with that glint in his eyes. Dazai still has no idea where Mori got Kyuusaku, but he won't let him lay a hand on Chuuya.

"I wouldn't!" Screeched Mori when Kouyou turned on him with a ferocious glare.

"It's a legitimate concern," Ranpo growled, not helping Mori's case.

Still, as the teens bickered and Q watched them in entertainment and fascination, Mori and Kouyou of the past sidled up to each other. "Was it really such a good idea to have these two in the same organization? Now what, Mori-dono?"

"Oh, this was before you guys became friendly," Chuuya realized and the two adults shrugged. Well, Mori shrugged. Kouyou was still glaring at him.

"Only a diamond can polish a diamond," was all Mori responded, thinking of his past partner and their mentor, Natsume, to which pretty much everyone cringed now.

"Is it just me or is partnership a theme here?" Tanizaki pointed out. "Failed ones, especially."

"Soukoku did notfail," the creator of said partnership snappily corrected.

"They're in different organizations."

"They still work together better than anyone else and trust each other immeasurably."

"Soukoku and Soukoku-matters are none of any of your damn business!" Chuuya shouted as the word fastforwarded before them again to what seemed like a week or two later, showing short instances where Dazai made some radical changes, before it settled in front of a familiar manor in Yokohama.

"Oh sh*t," Tachihara breathed and they all tensed, except Mori, Kouyou and Hirotsu, who had known this event was going to take place. It was Dazai and his squad, now double in size since he'd proven himself a capable commander and he'd finally convinced Mori to get rid of the opposition when one of the traditionalists had openly argued against Mori during an important business meeting, making vague threats against the Boss' position on the 'throne'. Mori had wanted the Black Lizard to take care of it, but Dazai would not let the Tsushima name die out at anyone's hand but his own.

It had been over a month, at this point, since he'd first been given this squad, even if some of them are considerably never than the rest. They were all as competent as he could train them in that time, but they were well enough trained tolistenandobey. He had a few Ability users in his squad and he'll have to acquire more, but for this job, basically only guns would be enough. The Tsushima family has long since outlived its purpose and now it would only present a safety hazard for the Port Mafia and, by extension, Yokohama.

"We're ready when you are, sir," one of his underlings reported and Dazai nodded, expression empty, eyes set on the house.

"Kill them all. I don't want a single soul to leave this house. No prisoners."

His men shivered at the order but followed nonetheless, raiding the house seconds after his order. The door was broken down, the servants and all other occupants were gunned down, all his useless relatives were killed, by knives and bullets and Abilities. Dazai himself picked out his targets, the ones who'd badmouthed his parents, the ones who'd coveted his manor or his business, the ones who'd opposed his aunt Kiye or who' covetedherposition. Some of his cousins that were the closest to age to him were also slain by him; he cared not for their bullying, but he cared not to see their faces in the world of the living anymore, either.

It was a massacre that left the entire land the manor was built on reeking of copper and iron, the smell of freshly drawn blood mistakable even to the stupidest, most oblivious civilians.

"Cover it all in gasoline," was his next order. "I want this manor to be up in flames before the hour is up."

"Yes, Dazai-san!"

"Make sure it gets hot enough the bodies will be unrecognizable even on a chemical level."

"Sir, yes sir!"

As they set out to do that, Dazai casually walked over bodies and puddles of blood, heading towards his aunt's office. He spared not a single glance to any of the riches in the house. His men dared not steal anything. They touched nothing without his permission, having learned early on that hewillnotice. And they feared him enough that even though they have a devastating advantage in numbers, they didn't dare protest, let alone raise their weapons against him.

This was not, after all, the first raid he'd lead.

"Jesus f*cking Christ, Dazai," Kunikida breathed, looking a bit green in the face at such casual cruelty.

"Why is he going to his aunt's office?" Kenji asked with a confused tilt of his head and really, all they could reply with was a shrug. They'll just have to wait and see.

When he did reach the office door, he had to pause, realizing it was locked. Ithadbeen locked for the past five or so years. And knowing his clever aunt, she'd probably booby-trapped it so that if anyone tries to make a forceful entry, they'd be blown sky high. After all, besides running the Yokohama estate, she was basically the Tsushima's records keeper. Anything and everything regarding their family is kept in her office, in her computer. A project she herself had started and one of the reasons her father had acknowledged her as the only one other than Tane as a truly useful child. However, that's as far as Kiye had wanted to get involved with the family business, initially, but she'd taken over the red lights district when she saw how the women and girls were treated there. The red light district was now in Ozaki Kouyou's care and Dazai had been pleased when he'd inspected her work so far, finding it to his aunt's standards, though there were still ways to improve. He'll deal with that later.

For once, family business first.

Kiye must have known her nephew would come back to her office one day; it was the one place in this accursed mansion that Dazai had liked, when he'd had to stay in Yokohama after his parents' deaths. He knew his way around it like he knew his way around his own manor in Aomori. He also knew Kiye was more than aware of what his cousins and other relatives used to do to him, locking him in rooms and closets and that one time pushing him into a bathroom cupboard and blocking it so he wouldn't be able to get out. She had also known he had been able to get out each and every time, that he'd learned and practiced his lockpicking skills. She'd tried to help, but for all that she ran the mansion and was the oldest child, practically a candidate to be successor, the others hadn't really respected her authority. She'd been too sickly to be strong on her own and, well, she'd also been too busy running Dazai's stuff to protect him from minor inconveniences.

The point was, she knew Dazai could pick locks.

Her lock was meant to be picked, but by someone with precise skills.

Skills Dazai possessed.

Getting in wasn't hard. Dismantling the bomb he'd predicted to be there wasn't any more difficult than that, either. Locating the three secret safes in the room, including the personal one within her desk's drawers, was piece of cake. Sorting through them took maybe half an hour and burning the things he did not want anyone to find out was just precautionary, to make sure such important documents, especially ones regarding his birth, could not potentially fall into Mori's hands.

He'd only just managed to convince Mori to get rid of all Tsushimas. Mori did not need to know a former one was standing right beneath his nose. And the coveted successor, nonetheless.

The personal safe is what had made him pause. Inside it were files regarding his own parents, something Kiyemusthave known he would want. She'd kept it safe for him. It included memory chips he would have to get something to upload them on to view their contents. The safe also included a book.

A children's book, no less.

A fairy tale book.

"Oh," Chuuya breathed, eyes wide, as certain things started falling into place.

Dazai carefully lifted the book, leafing through it, seeing titles likeSleeping BeautyorSnow White And The seven Dwarfes. He's heard of them. They were popular fairy tales, animated some time ago and were supposedly a big hit with kids. Dazai's even sure he watched one of these stories when he was a kid, about a boy who would never grow up, a fairy and a girl and her brothers who flew with them to Neverland. He remembers liking it. He thinks he remembers Kiye having been a guest at the manor when it had happened. He caressed the book, incapable of not marveling at his aunt's last ditch effort to spare him some childhood joys he'd not gotten to experience.

He opened the first page and found a dedication written in his aunt's neat, precise handwriting.

To my dearest Shuuji, the best nephew in the world.

May your imagination take you to a better place when reading this book.

And may you never stop being a child.

From your loving aunt Kiye,

read it with joy.

Kenji and Higuchi gave sniffles at the touching memo while Dazai just clutched it harder in his hand, feeling that particular numbness he had thought had gone away with his rage towards the Sheep resurface. He took the book and hit it away inside the pockets of his coat, before he picked up the folders for Mori and swept out of the house ready to be burned, reuniting with his men. They were waiting for him, seemingly relieved to see him exit the house none worse for wear, let alone injured. Dazai ignored them, instead demanding a match from one of them with an outstretched hand.

He had a house of memories to burn.

Hours later, after he'd reported to Mori and gotten the doctor off of his back, Dazai found a quiet place in the blind spot of any camera and sat down, opening the files he'd found on his parents. In them were things and pictures he'd never seen before. He learned something new with practically each page about the parents who'd so desperately wanted him and loved him for the little miracle he was to them.

For one, neither Gen'emon nor Tane knew Dazai wasn't a normal 'miracle' child; they never knew of the Book's existence, let alone involvement in their ability to have a child at all. However, Gen'emon and Sensei seem to have been friends; there were pictures of the two of them and even a picture of Natsume Soseki cooing over a curly haired brunet baby in his arms.

The second thing he learned was that his father had been the youngest Executive to grace Port Mafia's halls while his mother, even though she had never officially joined, had been trained by some of their top martial artists and assassins. For self defense, more than anything, but she'd never shied away from using those skills to protect her family. Not that Gen'emon was slacking off, either. Their collective kill count was truly impressive, indeed.

The third thing Dazai learned was about how they met. That, also, lead him to a short file on Kashimura Kansuke, though it's only labeled asKansuke. It appears that he and Gen'emon had been rather infamous on the streets of Tsugaru, Aomori. One of the reasons he and Tane settled down up there, later on, was precisely for that reason. Anyways, Kashimura and Dazai's father had met at a young age as street rats and decided to team up, at around age ten, according to the 'testimony' Gen'emon gave upon becoming a Mafia member. They used to steal from the rich and give to other orphans, something Dazai noted was not too dissimilar to the Sheep's actions, if they weren't trying to start conflicts over territory, that is. They were partners in crime as they prevented any local loan sharks from forcing people to depend on them or took out gangs that tried to terrorize the already struggling citizens of their poor neighborhood.

When loan sharks were replaced with banks, they started robbing banks. They made a perfect team, really: Kansuke had an Ability which controlled vibrations of his surroundings while Gen'emon had a shielding Ability.

Remembering how touching him had been the reason Dazai's parents died forced him to stop reading, take a deep breath and force those unwanted emotions and that cruel emptiness down. He was numb enough as it was. He did not need more distractions. Especially not when he'd accidentally hit a jackpot of information regarding a problem that might arise down the line.

"He's just a kid; he should be allowed to grieve," murmured Naomi, watching with sorrow as tiny Dazai acted as though there was nothing to be sad about and just continued on his way.

"Emotions are a weakness," Mori said rather unkindly. "It was something Dazai-kun and I agreed on. It's why he asked me to train him to be as numb as he wants to feel."

f*ckuzawa turned fuming eyes on his old partner but Mori just looked back with an unflinching, unfeeling gaze, utterly remorseless for helping a child reach a whole new level of numbness.

No one missed the creak of leather gloves or the growl from a certain redheaded individual.

"So that's how Kashimura and the other one survived," Ranpo mused, not to save Mori from getting what he deserved, but because he couldn't care less about what would happen to the Boss while they were still here, where Abilities were useless. He'll be cheering Chuuya and anyone else on as soon as they're out of here and they can all collectively make Mori suffer. By then, everyone will see how much he deserves to, too, so no one will hesitate to participate. "He had probably managed to change the vibrations of the air to prevent most of the damage from decimating them like it had the rest of their surroundings. Three utterly interesting ways to counter the crushing force of gravity exploding out of control. How fascinating."

As Dazai continued reading the files, he found out that his parents met during the fifth bank robbery Gen'emon and Kansuke had successfully pulled off. Inadvertently, unintentionally, they had saved Tane in the process, too, as she and her mother had been ambushed at the bank during the robbery. The boys had protected Tane and defeated the assassins, unfortunately painting half of the bank's lobby in blood in the process. They had to run and Tane had demanded they take her with them since she was also technically wanted by the law. Tane, in the aftermath, ended up staying with the two for a whole week before her family found them and that was, apparently, when the love triangle formed.

"I am unsure of whether even Gen'emon or Kansuke-kun were aware of it at the time, but there had already existed romantic and sexual tension between them. It was easy to conclude it was one-sided and introducing Tane into the mix of it only made it worse, as now Kansuke-kun longed for two people forever out of his reach, as Tane had had her eyes on Gen'emon from the moment he'd grabbed her to protect her from the bullets, as she'd told me herself upon returning home."

"I almost want to feel bad for the guy, but I get the feeling he's even more of a dick than we currently know," Yosano huffed, crossing her arms and Kouyou nodded, trying to see how relevant this observation noted down by her former superior could possibly tie into everything she knew about the already complicated Tsushima history and the even more complicated story of Dazai.

Kansuke and Gen'emon finally got caught, with the help of Natsume Soseki nonetheless, when they were about fourteen years old. Usually, criminals at such a young age would just be sent into an orphanage or to some sort of social rehabilitation or something, but they were powerful Ability users and they'd stolen enough money that they couldn't be left off the hook. Instead, Natsume had taken an interest in the incredibly intelligent Gen'emon and paid his bail, promising to keep an eye on him and 'make a man' out of him. Coincidentally, Tane had heard of her two friends getting caught and had come to the police station to get them out. Only she got there as Gen'emon and Natsume were leaving and, well, she was a girl in love; she focused on Gen'emon and Kansuke was left to rot, seemingly.

'Good,'Dazai thought pettily. He read through the rest of his parent's history, how upon coming to Yokohama, Gen'emon was soon recognized for his potential by the Tsushima patriarch since he was around Tane all the time. He officially joined the Mafia at fifteen and made it to Executive at eighteen with a reputation that made the criminal underworld tremble, bearing nicknames like the prince of crime and black ghost. Eventually, he and Tane realized their feelings and then got married, with the Boss' blessing. When Tane expressed a desire for a 'normal' family, they both submitted a plea with her father and were miraculously granted the chance. They left Yokohama and the rest, as they say, was history.

Dazai took a long moment to shuffle through the other pictures in the file, including the wedding day pictures, pictures of when Gen'emon seemingly adopted Chibi, pictures with their whole family after Dazai was born, with Matsuki and even the other servants having seemingly been dragged into standing in front of the manor and posing, probably still surprised by how casual their employers were with them. Gen'emon and Tane were truly beloved bosses.

It just made it harder for Dazai to categorize how he felt about Randou and his partner. He knew exactly how he felt about Kashimura and his accomplice, though.

He made a note, too, to never let Chuuya find out he was technically involved in killing his parents; should they ever, miraculously, manage toactuallyget along, that will probably kill the idiotic chibi.

"Well, he ain't wrong."

"Shut the f*ck up, sh*tty ass detective."

"Whatever you say, Mr Fancy Hat."

After carefully tucking the photos away so they don't get damaged, Dazai turned his attention to Kashimura. The file had newer additions, from five years ago instead of just what little knowledge Kiye had amassed from Gen'emon's stories from their childhood and then, later the beginning investigation Dazai had asked from Mitsuki and Kiye after his parents' deaths.

For starters, Kashimura was his wife's name. Kansuke turned his whole life around after someone from the military noticed his Ability'd potential for warfare and, having nothing to lose since it became clear his partner wasn't coming back for him, Kashimura dedicated himself to the military, which is how he eventually married one of his superiors' daughter, one Kashimura f*cku. It was an arranged marriage as far as sources could tell, as Kansuke seemed far more interested in his career than his home life. Thereisevidence of them having a child ... Only official records state that their son, name not revealed, supposedly drowned when he was about six years old. Kansuke is presumed dead by the government, or at least in their official data, but Dazaiknowshe saw him that day at the hospital.

Closing all files and leaning his back against the wall he'd sat down next to, Dazai closed his eyes and sighed.'Just what sort of drama have you dragged me into, you silly chibi?'

"So Dazai suspects Kashimura and Nakahara might actually be related?" f*ckuzawa hummed in contemplation, looking towards Ranpo for an answer.

The great detective, though, could only shrug. "It's all ... greatly confusing, if I'm being honest. Something else reeks here of rot and corruption and I can't quite pinpoint what. You know, besides the blatant human experimentation and such."

"Do you think he really might be related to Mr Fancy Hat?" Kenji asked, looking towards the ginger haired man he admired so much. "I mean, they do look similar to each other ... "

"That's not exactly the best standard to judge someone's blood relation," Chuuya himself countered blankly. "I've been told Verlaine and I resemble each other, but there's no chance of us being actually related by blood. We never officially checked ... But he's French and I'm Japanese ... Well, as much as either of us could be labeled as such."

"Don't you start that again now, Chuuya," admonished Kouyou and even Akutagawa nodded with a slight glare.

"I'll tell on you to Dazai-san."

Chuuya arched an incredulous eyebrow at the black haired man with the white tips of his side-bangs. "Is that supposed to be a threat?"

"Yes," Akutagawa replied calmly.

"I'm not afraid of sh*tty Dazai."

"Of course not, why would you be?" Dazai's first student replied with a tilt of his head that hemusthave learned from his mentor himself. "He's your partner."

"Former partner," Chuuya corrected but that earned him snorts from nearly everyone, barring maybe Kunikida, Kenji and Kyouka, two out of obliviousness - though for different reasons - and one because she simply rarely did things like that. "What?"

'I don't doubt Kashimura will make a reappearance.'Dazai's thoughts reaching them interrupted the little showdown of Chuuya vs the rest regarding Soukoku's partnership status.'Especially if my suspicions are correct ... And they always are. So I'll have to prepare for the inevitable return of Rimbaud's partner, the Assassin King Paul Verlaine himself, and those two idiots from back then. How troublesome.'A long pause, in which Dazai looked down at the files again with narrowed eyes.'The organization needs some changes. Post haste.'

Mori almost whimpered at the look on Dazai's young face while Hirotsu and Kouyou shivered. Chuuya had still been too new back then to realize that the workload dropped on all of them wasn't normal and had just adjusted to it like it's something to get used to while working for a new, much more serious, much bigger and better organized criminal group. He'd only felt the horrors of the second reform, when Dazai became Executive and could officially be declared Mori's right hand man and second in command.

"What's up with you?" Naomi asked, feeling a whole lot more relaxed around these people after however long they had been watching these visions. They were all just lucky that it seems they felt no tiredness, no need for food or water, because this felt like they've been at it fordays. Even standing all this time hadn't caused any fatigue or soreness.

What a unique Ability had snared them all.

"Just watch, lass," Kouyou instructed and, indeed, the visions shifted again. It was all in fastforward again, with occasional pauses to let them watch a particular moment take place. One such moment was Dazai with his men in a shooting range, training them to fire only on his command, no matter what their instincts would usually tell them.

"You are my arms and eyes, you do as I tell you. You obey my commands and follow my instructions to the letter. When I say jump, you don't ask how high, youknow. When I say fire, you fire and youhit your targets. Don't waste ammunition, I won't give you extra and I'll leave you to die. Don't lie to me, I'll see through it and I won't hesitate to torture the truth out of you. If you try to rebel, if you try to kill me, go ahead, I don't care, but don't think your death will be a swift and painless one. And when we meet in hell, be prepared to spend it with me for an eternity; I will not be merciful. The devil himself will be my cowering assistant as I peel the flesh from your bones one milliliter at a time."

A short training montage showed how, within a month, Dazai's unit was more disciplined and probably better trained than most Military Police units, maybe even better than some army units.

"Good. Now, spread out and train the rest of those bumbling fools. They must be at least half as competent as you lot; I will not allow myself to be surrounded by incompetent, bumbling, useless idiots."

The other thing they got to see in between the fastforwarded visions was Dazai sitting down Mori and his Executives during a meeting and presenting them with several piles of paperwork his subordinates brought in while trailing after him like loyal bodyguards. Kunikidagapedat the younger version of his work partner, usually so lazy and utterly disinterested in paperwork, instill one of the most rigid bureaucratic systems he'd seen so far. There was a form for everything, for every type of trade, for every interrogation that took place, for every execution, for every raid. The forms had to be filled out by field commanders, Subexecutives, Executives and even the Boss himself before they can be archived.

"This is the only way to ensure we can keep track of not only all of our physical assets, but our human resources as well," fifteen year old Dazai explained. "We will never again realize too late we are running low on ammunition or weaponry, it will be harder for spies to hide in our midst, no money or other profits could be stolen from under our noses and for us not to realize until it's an obscene amount that is missing. We will also be able to keep track of who made mistakes, which orders have been issued and if we ever have to placate another organization, we will know exactly who is at fault. This could save us from needless conflict and also ensure that only those truly responsible pay the price, rather than loyal members. Punishing loyal, obedient subordinates will only create dissent among them and we cannot afford that with how young the Boss' rule still is."

Then they were hit with a fastforward of two or so more months, in which Dazai breezed through different fields in the Mafia, making changes as he saw fit, changing leadership in certain places, making profit, results; leading raids, ordering or carrying out executions, torturing prisoners - training Kouyou's interrogation team, a few times - before it settled on another pause again. It started with a phone call that Dazai answered inside a strange, metal room with only a single light bulb, a mattress, a desk and chair and a fridge keeping him company in it, as well as dozens of files, maps and other papers strewn across the floor in front of him.

"It's me," was his answer and Mori's voice came through the device shortly after.

"Dazai-kun, always a pleasure to speak with you." Dazai rolled his eyes, not that the Mori of the past could see it.

"Rude!" Mori of the present shouted, causing Yosano and Ranpo to cackle, even Chuuya snorted and Kouyou and f*ckuzawa had to cover their mouths to hide their amusem*nt. Kunikida, though, looked almost as though he was sympathizing with the Mafia Boss, which left him with a constipated expression a second later as he realized it himself.

"What do you want, Mori-san? I'm busy." Dazai huffed, shuffling some papers around so he can compare the earnings of various departments, making a note to speak with the Colonelagain. His team seems to be lagging behind and all of their submitted paperwork wasatrocious. Dazai wasthisclose to orderingallof them down to the newly modified basem*nt's torture rooms.

"Hey, is it just me, or is this guy rather informal with you, Boss?" Tachihara had to ask and Mori sweatdropped.

"Considering I literally owe my position - and my life - to him a dozen times over and counting, I've never demanded he address me as 'Boss'. Elise-chan made it worse, of course, by calling him 'stupid Dazai', but Dazai-kun always knew she was my Ability so he takes his revenge in different forms, including by undermining my authority, especially over him. Plus, unlike all my other subordinates, including my Executives, Dazai-kun was the only one I actually lived with."

"In other words, he has blackmail on you," f*ckuzawa commented and, for some inexplicable reason, Mori flushed as red as his scarf.

Ranpo, immediately getting it, gagged, looking sick to be alive at that moment and like he was about to commit a Dazai.

Mori's blush worsened.

f*ckuzawa, bless him, remained oblivious.

'Am I contemplating personal revenge? That's new. Oh, well, there are easier ways to deal with that, should the urge persist. Nobody lives that long in the Mafia, especially after pissing someone so high up off.'

"... If I find out Dazai purposefully got the Colonel killed during the Dragon's Head Conflict, I'll be punching him in the face again as soon as we get out of here, If*ckingswear."

"Ah, yes, you're reviewing how well your little changes have taken effect. Well, this might even be of help, in that case," the Mori of the past said over the phone and Dazai really doubted it, since Mori these days seemed like he justlovedpiling more work on Dazai in between the 'training' sessions he had with him. Dazai was almost grateful for being kept so busy, if he was honest. Having nothing to do but stew in his own boredom left too much time for Dazai to overthink and, well, while that's not exactly abadthing, leaving him with his own thoughts wasn't exactly a good thing, either. Lately, he'd been extremely tempted to go after the Diet members because his own research into the Suribachi incident was showing more and more of the government's specific involvement in such unethical procedures.

And e's aware he's being a hypocrite as a mafioso, but the Port Mafia under Mori's rule had made it clear that human trafficking and drugs were a line not to be crossed. Dazai himself had made sure todealwith those who tried to work behind their backs for some extra cash. It was not pretty.

But, hey, the small fry had been good practice for his guerrilla squad. He'd even gotten the chance to command the Black Lizard through Hirotsu, who was possibly the most competent, least prejudicial person in the Mafia. Dazai rather liked him. He also didn't try to belittle or look down on Dazai because he carried around games and played them while his subordinates carried out the orders he'd given them. Hirotsu was cool and often reminded Dazai of Matsuki. He was easy to respect and even grow fond of.

The Hirotsu of the present actually had to look away and make sure he wasn't crying, something he got teased for by his fellow Black Lizard Commanders and Chuuya. It couldn't be helped. Besides Q, who had mostly only been in contact with Elise, the Boss or Dazai, Dazai himself had been the youngest person in the Mafia and Hirotsu had seen him get hurt too much on their very first mission together, underhiswatch. He had gotten a bit protective and, well, Dazai had always treated him more gently than he did any of his other subordinates or coworkers, excluding Chuuya, his partner, and his two drinking buddies, who weren't even under his command for all that Dazai commanded everything and all as the Boss' right hand man.

"You see, Dazai-kun, Chuuya-kun has finally finished his training under Ozaki-kun and we are planning to let him, as you might say, run loose a bit. You know, extend his leash."

Chuuya growled at his Boss, who made an uncomfortable noise of clearing his throat and refused to meet his gaze.

Dazai frowned, already shifting his papers as he looked through the options for what he knew Mori wasactuallyasking him.

"Of course, I'm considering leaving him, technically, under Pianoman and his Young Bloods group. They could use some more brawn, Iceman can only do so much, but none of them arejustthe Young Bloods, so I need to assign him a job of his own. Any thoughts?"

'The Young Bloods, huh?'Dazai has heard of them, of course he has. Mori had asked him just a month ago whether he has anything against forming such a group when it was proposed by Pianoman, a very successful young mafioso. Dazai had met Pianoman and he considered him to be 'alright'. He wasn't overly impressed but he doubts very many people would be able to impress him after meeting a literal godling such as Chuuya.

Still, he was a good addition to the mafia, especially with his skills to counterfeit money. That's always useful. There were even rumors he might make it to Executive if he continues his work as it was. Still, those were just rumors and it's not like the spot of 'Executive' had as much meaning as it used to. After all, Dazai was just Dazai and he ran half the organization for Mori most days.

However, the Young Bloods ... Dazai was the youngest official member of the Mafia, even if it's only by two months in comparison to Chuuya, and he's by far the most successful in the whole organization, competing with Executives and even fixing their slip ups. Yet he'd never been invited to the Young Bloods ... Nor had Mori tried to force him to become a member ...

Well, probably because Mori wanted to keep an eye on him and probably because, unlike Chuuya, he wouldn't be stupid enough to not realize being placed under an Executive candidate meant he was being closely observed. Chuuya would probably be all high alert, thick walls up to protect himself from the recent betrayal of the Sheep, but Dazai knew the members of the Young Bloods; they were just the type of people a brutish chibi like Chuuya would like. There's a possibility they'd genuinely come to like him, too, probably because of his naivety that comes from being raised by kids and teens who knew even less about the real world than him. If Dazai is right, and he always is, they'll probably get protective of him ... They'll probably even risk their own necks to not report everything he does in a day ... Dazai will have to keep an eye on them, to make sure they're not putting his dog up for either adoption or execution.

In the meantime, however ...

"The black market jewel trade should be flashy, tacky and sparkly enough for a former street rat like Chuuya to keep him interested," he mused, finding the papers he'd been looking for, detailing his recent work regarding the trade routes, contracts, contacts, dealers, customers and smugglers in that field. It had been a mess. He'd just wrenched it out of the Colonel's intelligent hands and the man had actually been more than happy to let it go, since he had been more interested in the conflicts that may come from it than making a proper profit. "He should be strong enough to deal with anyone trying to be a smartass and double-cross us while I'm sure that Ozaki-san has refined his tastes enough for the puppy to actually know what to do. If not, well, we have a few specialists who can teach him. Also, Chuuya himself is flashy, tacky and sparkly enough to trick the buyers and sellers into believing he's not just a brutish chibi but actually a man of 'taste'," he said with an over-dramatic shudder that could be heard over the phone.

Mori chuckled at his dramatics but carefully considered his offer. The jewel tradewasone of Dazai's recently optimized projects and, well, if someone else f*cks it up, Dazai can just fix it again.

And so, by the end of the week, Chuuya was running around trying to learn about jewels and jewelry like a headless chicken while Dazai made a note to keep an eye on the black market lest fire-haired chibis also find their way there, not as an investor, but as a selling point. He's raided it a few times before, already; one more time won't hurt anyone.

"Okay, I feel like there's a lot to talk about here," Gin started. "Are Dazai-san's raids on the black market a frequent thing?"

"They were," Hirotsu answered with a shrug. "One too many of our useful Ability users got captured and almost sold, including ones Dazai-san himself personally trained to follow his orders. In fact, a very useful ice Ability user named Karen had been rescued and recruited from a black market raid Dazai-san led, probably a few months after this particular event." Mori nodded, remembering both the glee and the exasperation he'd felt when Dazai had dragged that not completely sane young woman into his office to indoctrinate her to the Mafia and directly into his own squad.

"I don't know a Karen," Higuchi mused, having tried to place a face to the name.

"She's dead," Chuuya answered and Hirotsu nodded, to which the blonde winced.

"Is no one going to talk about the fact that ... Dazai-san had ... 'sessions' with the Port Mafia Boss?" Atsushi asked uneasily and Yosano glared at Mori.

"Yes, I caught onto that, too. Care to explain, Mori-sensei?"

Mori grimaced when he noticed all of them staring at him. "Torture training, increase of pain endurance training, resistance to drugs training, increase of sleep deprivation, hunger, thirst and asphyxiation training. Dazai-kun quiteliterallyasked me to 'indulge' him soon after he joined the Mafia officially. I admit, Iwasgoing to introduce such training regiments myself, soon enough, but he beat me to it and I didn't say no."

"Of f*cking course you didn't," hissed the Agency doctor, looking like she wanted to use her Ability on Mori quite a few dozen times.

Atsushi, Akutagawa and Kyouka were pale in the face.

Chuuya was silently fuming, truly scaring his Boss, because silent anger from Chuuya wasnevera good thing.Especiallynot when hispartnerwas involved.

The visions sped up again, showing Dazai's day to day life. Sometimes, they'd see him bump into Chuuya and the two would bicker and argue and end up in the very same arcade as the first time they made a bet, acting like ordinary kids. Sometimes, they'd actually be summoned to go out on a mission together and would leave a bunch of property damage in thier wake, prompting Dazai to improve the cleanup crew. It showed other things Dazai did in that year, from studying foreign languages, to other changes he made in the Mafia, his own missions, chasing Mori around to stop wasting money on clothes for Elise when he could just envision her in something else, tracking Mori down to make him do his own damn paperwork with the creepiest expression on his face that any of them had seen. Raids, alliance meetings, forging a proper front for the Mafia since they had all decided to make five skyscrapers in the middle of Yokohama their HQ, improving the Mafia's information networks, blackmalling and bribing political figures, cops, businessmen ...

Dazai's days as the wraith of the Port Mafia sure kept him extremely busy and the Agency members were impressed by the ease with which he handled it and the grace with which he added his own side projects onto that already enormous workload. His daily attempts to find leads on Kashimura or more information on Verlaine and Rimbaud outside the files in the Mafia's archives, or his meetups with Natsume, who also seemed to regularly ask favors from him, or his investigation of Masaoka's death, something he'd not had resources before to privately conduct but knew would be a must; whoever had gone after Masaoka would undoubtedly come back after the Book and whoever so causally committed a murder in broad daylight and in such a messy way would not have any qualms against doing other horrendous things to get it again.

Still, despite all that, he still managed to take the time out of his day to check in on Q, knowing that leaving the kid alone with Mori so much can't be good to them. He occasionally had enough time to play a little game with them or read to them - usually from the fairy tale book his aunt had intended to gift him - in between wiping out the traditionalists' rebellions or blackmailing the prime minster. He managed to introduce Mori to proper tea etiquette, which seems to have warmed him up in Ozaki's - Kouyou, as she told him he could call her - books as well. He eventually met the Young Bloods, even, who would soon enough start calling themselves the Flags, during the seemingly numerous times he had to take Chuuya off of their overprotective hands when none of them had the time to take him home after the redhead got drunk under their oh so careful care.

Still, despite the Flags nt being overly trusting of him, they had involved him, kind of, into arranging for Chuuya's birthday party ... The date of which they could only even know because Dazai was better than any guards or any firewalls in the Mafia, considering he was the one trying to update and improve both, so, really, stealing any amount of data would be disgustingly easy for him, if only Mori wouldn't suspect him, eventually, and make things more complicated than they had any need to be. So, yes, he made it possible for the Flags to find out Chuuya's birthday and even steal a photo or two from the files, if they were competent enough. He's not sure what they did with them, if they even got them, but they did not make an appearance for Chuuya's birthday.

Still, he had coordinated with them well enough to distract Chuuya long enough for them to set up the party, then he'd left them to celebrate. He was busy enough as it was, that day, and Mori hadn't been too happy with him suddenly going off the grid so Dazai's bound to do starvation training and poison or drug training at the same time in the foreseeable future. But that's fine, he didn't care either way. His grandfather, and the Colonel under him, had done much worse.

Besides, he was sure Chuuya wouldn't have even wanted him to stay for his party.

It was clear to Dazai from day one that there would never come a day when Chuuya genuinely stopped hating him.

The Chuuya of today felt his heart stutter at how offhandedly yet matter-of-factually Dazai concluded this, as though there was no way Chuuya could ever come to appreciate his existence. Worst part was that it was impossible to deny that Chuuya didn't act that way towards Dazai, his own insecurities mixing with how twisted at times Dazai could act making it impossible for Chuuya to appreciate the boy that would become his partner until much, much later, when they both accepted no one in this world could understand them like they do each other.

He really needed to have a talk with Dazai and make up for the things he'd said and done over the years as much as Dazai did for him. They had been hurting each other for too long to let it continue. Their partnership might actually end up suffering if they leave it all unaddressed for any longer.

The visions sped through a few more things, including Dazai's sixteenth birthday, the day spent mostly alone except for Hirotsu buying him a game consul. Chuuya hadn't even known it was Dazai's birthday that day, or that it had passed, until they saw each other again a few weeks later during some business party for Mori Corp and some girls roughly their age tried getting to know them better and Dazai had to correct him about his age. It had been an awkward moment but Chuuya had dragged him to their favorite arcade after closing hours and they spent the whole night trying to beat the claw machine for one specific toy out of the bunch of prizes without Chuuya using his Ability or Dazai cheating. They ended up depositing the toys near a safe-house in Suribachi that orphans usually slept at and only kept a blue fish and a pinkish slug plushies they'd accidentally acquired while trying to get the poop emoji plushy Dazai had wanted.

"Aww," Kouyou couldn't help but coo, only to sweadrop as the poop plushy ended up on Mori's desk the next morning without any evidence as to who it could have been taht put it there, if not for the vision showing Dazai bypassing all systems he'd installed for this prank.

"Why does he keep being so mean to me~?" Mori wailed, anime-style tears streaming down his face in rivers.

"Suffer."

"Yukichi~!"

"Are we sure this man is the most fearsome criminal in Yokohama?" Tanizaki couldn't help but whisper to Atsushi, who tilted his head at him in confusion.

"Dazai-san or the Mafia Boss?"

The ginger haired detective sweatdropped. "Both."

The visions finally settled to show some ballroom event or something, full of recognizable, now mostly deceased criminals at the heads of their syndicates, with Dazai basically being the only representative from the Port Mafia. The teenager was dressed in a three-piece suit with tailored dress pants, half-west and shirt thatextremelyhighlighted his lithe, slim waist that was partially from his own natural build and partially from how little he ate on the daily. He looked bored out of his mind to the point that he couldn't even keep up his flirty persona despite how much attention his outfit was catching.

"Oh my god, Dazai's slu*tty waist era."

"You say that as though it's ended," Ranpo said with a snort and Yosano thought about it before agreeing.

"I swear, if we were to give him a corset, he'd have a shapelier, slimmer waist thanme."

"Dazai-san sure was blessed with some great genetics," Naomi agreed with a sigh and even Higuchi and Gin nodded.

Kouyou, on the other hand, perked up at seeing the outfit. "Oh, I remember that one! The lad was meant to seduce the host to steal some information and he heard the woman was interested in, as he'd described it,twinks." Mori, Hirotsu, Kunikida and f*ckuzawa all choked on their spit. "So he asked me for some help. Let me tell you, though, that I've never had more fun dressing up a boy as I had that time. Did you know his hair is even softer and fluffier than it looks?"

"Chuuya-san, you're staring."

"Shut the f*ck up, Akutagawa, before I tell Dazai you were a big enough simp to take pictures of him when he was doing paperwork."

"Dazai-san posed in those pictures, actually."

"..."

"..."

"..."

"..."

"Say, Ane-san, do you still have that vest? I think a little tailoring would be enough to have it fit today."

"... I don't want to know."

"Good. Soukoku business is Soukoku business."

"..."

"Executive Nakahara, Idohope to get my detective back in functioning condition."

"SHACHOU/YUKICHI!"

Thankfully, for both Dazai and this disastrous conversation, the bandaged teen's phone rang and without any decorum towards his conversation partners becausetheywere the ones boring him out of his mind in a way not even the Colonel could manage with his subpar reports during Executive-Boss + Dazai meetings, Dazai took it out and answered it. "It's me."

"Dazai-san," one of his more competent subordinates, one of the ones he'd personally trained initially when he got them under his command, greeted, sounding a bit frantic. "We have reports of a sighting, in Yokohama-"

"Who?" He demanded, already turning away and gesturing for his other subordinates from around the room to leave their posts, as they were making an exit,now.

Because he has only three people on his watch-list for his subordinates to call him in the middle of another task: Kashimura Kansuke, the individual thus far known as the scientist N and Paul Verlaine. He did not like the idea of either of the three of them showing up when he was away from Yokohama for the first time. It'll take him at least an hour to get back from Tokyo and depending on who it is, that hour could be crucial.

"Paul Verlaine."

'f*ck!'

Chapter 15

Chapter Text

16yo

By the time Dazaididmanage to get back to Yokohama - after threatening a lot of people to get a train moving only for him and his subordinates - sh*t had already hit the fan spectacularly, all things considered. He'd alerted Mori to Verlaine's presence. The Flags were, unfortunately, unresponsive and when the team he'd sent to check on them reported them dead, Dazai pulled up the tracker app he had in his phone, connected to the chip hidden away in Chuuya's choker.

"I'm sorry, what!?" Mori and Kouyou hissed, turning to the redhead in question, who didn't seem the least bit surprised. In fact, he just shrugged. "You knew about this?" The female Executive demanded and Chuuya just shrugged again. "And you let him do it!?"

"Situations like these made it obvious why it's a good idea," Chuuya countered, to which Mori narrowed his eyes.

"And I presume you have the same for Dazai-kun?" The threat regarding knowing Dazai's location and not revealing it in the two years he was completely off the grid was unvoiced but still very present.

Chuuya had to refrain from rolling his eyes. "Sure. Since the Dragon Head Conflict, I made him wear it in between his bandages, most usually the ones over his eye, but he left it behind in theburning ruins of my car that he blew up." He scoffed. "Now be quiet. I never learned what Dazai was up to during this bullsh*t besides the things we did together or the things he willingly revealed while I was punishing him for Detective Murase's death. I'm interested to see just what sort of bullsh*t he got himself into while I was fighting for my life and my right to call myself human."

As he starts heading towards Chuuya's location, he is updated on everything that has happened so far. Verlaine has broken into Mori's office while he was blessedly away spendingmoreof the Mafia's money to steal Chuuya's files and retrieve a hat from Randou's collected items. In the process, he has killed two guards, immediately making Dazai note that at least four should be present at all times, a change he'll make later. They wouldn't be much of a difference against someone like Verlaine, but at least if there were more of them, at least one will be able to signal an intruder and perhaps they'll have the chance to react before said intruder leaves the building. As it is, only Dazai's superb security detail that he's spent a month planning and implementing in the office, with secret cameras and sensors and the fact he's prepared his men for this sh*tshow, allow them to know the perpetrator.

That, on top of him killing the Flags, suggests he's after Chuuya, as Dazai has suspected. However, unlike Arthur Rimbaud, Paul Verlaine has no intention of killing Chuuya; in that way, he's similar to Dazai, for he wishes to keep Chuuya for companionship's sake, as two not-entirely-human entities. Only, quite unlike Dazai, he doesn't realize the only thing that's less than human about Chuuya is his shortness; otherwise, Chuuya was far too human and anyone who doubts it is an idiot. And, well, Dazai's not about to let an idiot take his dog away.

Verlaine would probably mistreat him enough to stunt his growth even more.

"Okay, this is going beyond being a little sh*t," Gin commented with a sweatdrop. "Poor Chuuya-san. Also poor Verlaine-shishou."

"Why would you pity Verlaine-shishou?" Kyouka asked her fellow student of the Assassin King himself and Gin sent her a pitying look.

"Oh you sweet, sweet, innocent summer child. Verlaine-shishou's gotnothingon Dazai-san."

To Kyouka's surprise, Hirotsu and Kouyou nodded.

"Just watch, child. All will make sense."

But Verlaine was hardly the most interesting figure that poked its head out of oblivion in Yokohama. It seems that Verlaine's presence had caused a bit of a stirr. Dazai's subordinates that he'd stationed to oversee any changes on the internet that might be attributed to some of the work notes he'd found in Randou's burned documents had also alerted him that at least one of the other two personas on his watch-list have reared their ugly existence back into 'the world of the living'.

To top it all off, his subordinates monitoring customs and international travel spotted not only a foreign plane crashing in a forest not far from Yokohama, but also intercepted a comm interaction that alerted them to the presence of an Europol agent, one Adam Frankenstein, who is actually essentially an android.

'And I thought being created with the help of a magical Book was weird. Next thing you know I'll find out there are abominations in the deep that look like Cthulhu or something.'

"Well, damn, way to jinx it, mackerel."

"Nakahara-san?" Atsushi kind of asked and Chuuya waved him off.

"One of the Guild members. Maybe we'll see it later."

Atsushi accepted that and they all just watched as Dazai started barking orders, be it over the phone or to his men directly before marching off to reach Chuuya's location as indicated by the tracker. His men followed him about halfway there, only for Dazai to pause when he felt a strange presence near him. Without breaking stride, he sent his subordinates in another direction, giving them some idiotic task to fulfill while firing off one last coded message to the Boss so the lolicon could go hide in the safe room he'd installed a couple of months after he joined the Mafia down in the basem*nt. He looked up from his phone just in time to dodge the knife thrown his way.

A familiar knife. One of Chuuya's favorite. He grabbed it as it whizzed past his shoulder, nullifying the gravity that enhanced the throw and casually twirling it between his fingers with a skill no normal sixteen year old could ever match. "You can come out now, Verlaine-san. I know you're here."

Slow clapping revealed Verlaine's position first, before he jumped down in front of Dazai from a nearby building, leaving a crater in his wake.

"Wow, are you sure you're not related?" Tachihara dared to ask. "Because, like, this is my first time actually seeing him and, like, he looksjustlike you, has the same Ability, the same fashion style and the same flare for dramatic entrances."

Chuuya glared at the band-aid wearing ginger while Kenji got excited at another person with a fancy hat that doesn't fall off when they walk on walls or jump off of buildings. "Yes, I'm prettyf*ckingsure we're not actually related."

Tachihara put his hands up in a surrendering gesture as he realized he'd probably touched upon a sensitive spot.

Gin and Hirotsu both whacked him over the head for his idiocy.

"I did not realize Dazai-kun had more than one personal interaction with Verlaine alone," Kouyou mused, eyes narrowed and this brought Chuuya's attention back to the vision, face suddenly paler than before as he realized what this must have meant at the time.

"Bravo, Dazai Osamu-kun. I've heard you were sharp, but rumors do not do you justice," the platinum blond European complimented. "I thought I had you fooled when you sent your men in a different direction, but it seems you only wanted to minimize the casualties? No, that does not befit the image I got of you. Tell me, Dazai-kun, why have you left yourself open to an attack no one could save you from?"

Dazai tilted his head to the side, still playing with Chuuya's knife. "I figured you'd have no reason to kill me. Well, at least not yet."

"Yet, you say?" This intrigued the older male, causing him to stop raising the glass shards he'd collected from a window he'd broken nearby. They hovered behind him threateningly, but he could sense, as well as the audience watching this vision, that Dazai was not scared one bit. "And what makes you believe you can stay my hand? Your Ability is hardly enough to defeat me, amazing as it may be."

'I wonder how the Book would fare against this guy?'Dazai mused to himself, but did not allow temptation to lead him astray. Whether Verlaine was aware of it or not, his presence had lit a fire in the underworld and now all the moles were running from the smoke. He'd made Dazai's job infinitely easier, if only he'd stop trying to make it difficult again by trying to kill him. Dazai was currently too busy for that and Verlaine's method would be too quick. The Book would receive no damage, let alone be destroyed. TheleastVerlaine could have done was come in the winter months.

That way, Chuuya would have never had to be involved in an attempt Dazai has tried only once so far. Slitting his wrists, letting himself slowly bleed out in the snow while letting the Book get soaked by both liquids was not an entirely bad way to go, if only certain chibis wouldn't get in the way. Instead of succeeding, Dazai was essentially put on suicide-watch, led by none other than Chuuya with the assistance of his nosy friends.

... Friends that were now dead.

Dazai subtly grit his teeth.'I cannot die yet. That fool will be insufferable after this. He'll probably drown himself in wine without at least Doc there to admonish him on his alcohol intake. And he'll want to make Verlaine pay. I can't die until the chibi calms down. I have a bad feeling ... I have a bad feeling I need to get somewhere ASAP.'

The Book, far more coherently talkative these days, agreed.

HURRY-HURRY-HURRY CLO-SE CLO-SE CLO-SE HURRY-HURRY-HURRY CLOSE-DANGER-HURRY

"You need information, do you not?" He asks oh-so-innocently, tilting his head in another direction, widening his visible eye to better sell the image. "Not even someone as great of an assassin as you could possibly go into such a big endeavor without proper intel. You only have a vague idea, the very beginnings of a plan, but you have no direction, no targets. And what is an assassin without a name to target?"

The shards of glass slowly lower to the ground. "And you'd provide me with these names?" Verlaine asked skeptically and Dazai shrugged, tucking away the knife. Chuuya would probably want it back, later.

"If it's to save my hide? Sure~!"'And if it's to buy enough time, of course. The clock is ticking, my preparations are not yet complete, the prey is aware of only one of three hunters ... Only one shot, for us all to finally learn what happened that night and to make those involved pay ... How interesting~ Let the game begin.'

He was honestly still kind of surprised Verlaine let him go, despite knowing his offer was persuasive enough. Verlaine was a man on a mission, self-imposed and totally misguided as it may be. The information one of the most figures within the Port Mafia could offer him on a silver platter was too good to refuse, even if it meant he was, apparently, letting one of Chuuya's 'attachments' live a bit longer. Dazai doubted Chuuya felt any such attachment towards him; he would hardly be reason enough for Chuuya to stay, if it ever came to that. Kouyou Ane-san, Hirotsu-san or even Mori-san was a much more likely source of attachment to the Mafia than Dazai was.

Verlaine was also stupid to think Chuuya would ever go with him after he killed his friends. Chuuya despised Dazai for simply creating a rift between him and the Sheep - well, saying he 'created' it would be taking too much credit; it had long since been there and Dazai had only become a part of the reason it could no longer go on being ignored - so the chances of him leaving with Verlaine after what he'd done to the Flags ... Dazai's heard his subordinate's voice shake over the phone, and that'safterhe'd trained them to keep cool and collected no matter the bloodbath they walk into.

He resolves he does not want to be there when Chuuya finds out.

"I would have f*cking preferred it if you had been, you asshole," Chuuya grumbled tiredly, grief making his usually proud shoulders slump. He didn't even have it in him at the moment to be pissed at the fact Verlaine had tried attacking Dazai. Being reminded of the Flags' death exhausted him. Though he made a mental note to break Verlaine's nose later, when the horror at the thought of having lost Dazai back then, too, finally sinks in and inevitably transforms into a protective rage. Verlaine would deserve it.

It does not take Dazai long to find Chuuya. He doesn't even need the tracker anymore.

The feeling in the air is too familiar for him to ignore it and for a second, he wonders if the past eight-nine years have only been a dream and if he was still stuck in that same night his parents had perished. The only thing managing to keep him in the present was the fact that not only was it all lighter, it wasliterallystill bright out, the light chasing away the memories of a serene full moon washing the tragedy in silver rays as two fates were intertwined forever.

He follows the feeling, No Longer Human lighting up around him, dispelling the force trying to make him faceplant into the ground, like it was doing to everything and everyone else in its vicinity. The closer he got to the center of it all, the source, the bigger the mess was. There were cars thrown around, concrete and building walls dented and crushed in. Hell, there was a car stuck in a wall ... There was also the Europol android agent also lying around uselessly, crushed by the force of uncontrollable gravity. The air was hotter here, Dazai could tell, even if the heat couldn't actually affect him, No Longer Human's cooling light countering any side-effects of this uncontrolled version of For The Tainted Sorrow.

When he finally found Chuuya, it was within a small crater, writhing and screaming in pain, utterly unaware of his surroundings, lost to himself. There were strange symbols crawling across his skin, in a blazing black fire that seemed to be curdling his blood right then and there. The sounds he was letting out did not resemble any noise a human would make ... There were black flames around, in certain places, and Dazai remembered that night, he remembered the rumors ...

Without a doubt, now, he could tell, once and for all.

Chuuya - and Arahabaki - was the boy from that night.

'Verlaine will die,'was his casual thought as he walked towards Chuuya, ignoring the black, scorching, destructive flames, the howling wind, the trembling earth, the shattering gravity. The boiled surface of the road cooled under his shoes and Dazai grimaced as he realized he'll have to get new ones. He also made a note that there used to be a building here; he'll definitely have to upgrade the cleanup crew again. Preferably with someone with a building Ability. Otherwise, the Special Abilities Department will constantly be on their ass about the destruction the Mafia's members wreck.

"Oh, is that how Yamamoto-san joined?" Higuchi asked, having once worked in the same office as the other woman, before she got lucky to be assigned to Akutagawa's team. "But wait, why doesn't she go out into the field anymore? That Ability is incredibly useful!"

"She's Dazai-san's," Akutagawa answered his subordinate.

"Huh?"

"Any and all members of Dazai-san's personal unit have resigned from active fieldwork four years ago," he explained. "They were too well trained, too accustomed, to following his orders to the letter that when left to their own devices or to follow orders from someone else once he left, they were more often than not like sitting ducks. So instead, because they are far too useful to fully discard of them, they were all allowed to resign from active fieldwork. They're basically paper-pushers now and perfectly content that way, since they can keep Dazai-san's legacy safe by forcing everyone else to adequately do their work."

"But I saw her out in the field recently," Tachihara argued with a frown. "Short, with bluish hair in a pixie cut, right? Yeah, I'm pretty sure I saw her out and about these past couple of months."

"Why would that be surprising?" Gin asked, tsking at the obliviousness of her colleague. "Dazai-san is back. Have none of you noticed that the work regulations and the overall workload has increased since those first missions to capture the weretiger?"

"What do I have to do with this!?"

"Nothing, jinko," Akutagawa shot him down immediately. "It's just that that's when we realized Dazai-san was back."

"And no one wanted Dazai-san to start looking into what the Mafia has become in his absence," Hirotsu finished with a sweatdrop. "Being terrorized into doing proper paperwork was barely bearable when he was one of us ... I don't think we would have survived Dazai-san's less than gentle prodding that would no doubt come from the outside if we did not meet his standards. Which we don't, but please don't tell Dazai-sa-"

"He knows," Chuuya unsympathetically informed him.

Mori went as white as a sheet.

"So we ignoring Mr Fancy Hat creating a black hole in the middle of Yokohama just to discuss Dazai's apparent paperwork devil-god status? Okaaaay," Ranpo said sarcastically, drawing everyone's attention back to the chaos going on in the vision.

"How is this even the result of an Ability?" Kunikida asked, petrified, and Chuuya laughed bitterly.

Just around the time when Chuuya's body exceeded the pain a sixteen year old boy could bear, Dazai finally reached him. Dazai looked strangely well put together in all that destruction and chaos, in the middle of this Earth-made hell, as he was still dressed for the annoying formal party that had been part of his mission. His bandages especially stood out with his black clothes and the scorched city around them. And especially considering he was able to stand up straight, unlike everything else.

He reached down and casually grabbed Chuuya's arm, lifting it up. "How unsightly, Chuuya," he said gently, the words supposed to be teasing but he had no humor within him to be found. The second he touched the ginger, No Longer Human lit up brighter and nullified Chuuya's raging Ability, forcing it back under control. The abnormal gravitational field that surrounded them immediately disappeared, along with Chuuya's pain as his body finally received the long-awaited, unbelievable relief.

For the second time in their young lives, Dazai Osamu - once Tsushima Shuuji - saved Nakahara Chuuya from the throes of Corruption, even if this was not even the calamity fully released.

Chuuya tried to look up, recognizing his rival's and the number one menace of his life voice, but he was so exhausted that even if he had managed to open his eyes, all he saw was black. "You ... "

"Can't you at least have a pure, clean death?" The brunet boy spoke as he hefted Chuuya's smaller but heavier body across his back, carrying him away from the wreckage on his shoulders. He had a feeling he knew where Chuuya deserved to be. It would be cruel, in a sense, to let him see, but he deserved to know, if he didn't already. So Dazai walked past the busted fire hydrants, the collapsed buildings, the trashed cars, the scorching hot patches of concrete, in the direction his mental map of the city told him was the Old World bar.

"Dazai ... " Was the last sound Chuuya made and he had thegalto be frustrated. Dazai huffed, unable to believe how ungrateful his little dog for life was. But he'll let him off, just this once.

Neither of them had the time for childish bickering. Not now.

Eventually, once he left the wreckage, he reunited with his squad. Some of them tried to offer to carry Chuuya in his stead, but there was no way he was letting one of these incompetent idiots drop the slug. Chuuya was hurt enough as it was and the wounds had only started closing up. It was some sort of unnatural healing but Dazai wouldn't question it. Instead of letting go of his burden, he gave some more orders and watched them scurry away. As such, he bore Chuuya's weight all the way to the Old War, grumbling about how heavy such a short boy is, the muscle-brained brute. Still, he resolved to get stronger.

He had a feeling this wouldn't be the last time he had to do something like this.

When they finally made it near the bar, Dazai sighed in relief. Chuuya had started mumbling in his unconscious state, clearly on the way to waking up and Dazai didnotwant to share an awkward moment about all of this when he was lucid again. Still, he couldn't help but wonder: Chuuya had told him he had never dreamed in the life he remembered and they both speculated it might have something to do with Arahabaki and the experiments and procedures it took to stick the god inside of Chuuya. Could it be that being in contact with No Longer Human while he's asleep finally allowed him to dream?

"I'll actually have to get Dazai to try that with me," the Chuuya of the present grunted, watching with a frown as Dazai gently lowered him in the alleyway beside the Old World. "Also that wasn't really a dream, I think? It was a memory more than anything ... "

"That still counts, Chuuya-san," Kyouka said gently and Chuuya reached over to ruffle her hair. Kouyou just watched them affectionately.

"Why would he just leave you there?" Atsushi asked as they watch sixteen year old Chuuya stir awake just in time to see Dazai's retreating, shadowy figure leave him alone. It was kind of hard to watch someone as strong as Chuuya struggle to call out to the person who would become his official partner but fail and it was even harder the glimpse they got of Chuuya's reaction when he stumbled into the bar and discovered the state of his friends. It wasn't pretty and it explained why it had taken the coroner hours to make them presentable enough for a funeral, later on. "Oh," Atsushi breathed, relieved and yet still with tears clinging to his eyes in sympathy to the younger Chuuya's pain, as the vision spanned out to show that Dazai had not yet left and instead lingered outside, listening to what was going on inside the billiards bar with closed eyes and a tense jaw.

"Trust Dazai to always be there right when I needed him the most," the gravity manipulator growled, wiping at his eyes with the heels of his hands, chasing the tears away. He hadn't cried for the Sheep. He doesn't really remember crying for the Flags, either; the mess back then was all such a blur. He cried later, he's sure, but not then. He feels overwhelmed now, his grief renewed, yet the knowledge that Dazai had still been right there beside him, even when they hadn't been partners ... "I really need to buy him a whole factory or farm of crabs. Damn that f*cker. How dare that f*cking mackerel always act like he doesn't f*cking care, goddamn it!"

"Dazai-san always had a quiet, caring side," Gin whispered, as one of the only two people in the Mafia who had seen Dazai care for those he considershiswhen no one else was looking. She wonders if it will show all the times Dazai had stuck around when Ryuunosuke got feverish because of his sickly lungs to make sure his protege would live through the night. He was no doctor, yet he had enough knowledge to treat that much and he always refused to let either Akutagawa anywhere near the Boss when they were so young and vulnerable.

The Boss' preferences for girls reached twelve, but for boys it was up to fifteen, the age when, as they learned through these visions, Dazai bore his fangs and horns and Mori had to recalculate, had to realize how his 'optimal decision' had backfired, had to contend with the demon he'd let haunt his halls.

Yet still, Gin had not taken off her mask until recently and her brother had only allowed himself to be treated by the Boss after Dazai left and there was no one left to make sure his lung disease didn't progress too fast for his body to keep up in any shape or form.

Gin made a note to ask the Agency doctor if there is any way to treat her brother's lungs. Even if it is just to cure the damage and not the disease itself. Preservation is the second best cure, after all.

"Yes, Dazai-san is very caring," Atsushi agreed with her with a sheepish, fond smile and she could see why her brother competed with him so much yet still hated tolerating him. They were both saved by the same man they deeply respected and they both craved to be fully acknowledged by him in ways the other already has been. It will make them both stronger, if only they could set aside their silly grudges and jealousy over the spaces they have carved out in Dazai's heart.

'Besides, if they want to be number one in Dazai-san's life, they'll have to fight Chuuya-san for it,'she thought with a sweatdrop.

The visions shifted a bit again, showing some of the preparations Dazai was making, including an interesting conversation with the Colonel, perhaps the first they were seeing since the man helped 'train him'. The Executive had been miffed by how many orders Dazai was giving him for being such a lowly Mafia member, but the future Demon Prodigy was having none of it. He grabbed a hold of the lapels of his shirt and dragged him down so they were more or less at eye-level. With direct contact, the Colonel's Ability became useless and the second they sensed their boss' hostility, Dazai's squad trained their guns and Abilities on the Executive without an ounce of hesitation.

There was a dark, cold look in Dazai's eyes and his tone was one of disinterested malice. "You should be grateful I'm giving you a purpose, you outdated scum. Your Ability is the only good thing about you, but it's not unique. Your martial arts skills are far surpassed, by both the Assassin King and Chuuya. Your experience does not measure up to Hirotsu-san's and you don't have enough wit or tact to kiss Ane-san's boots. You are a relic of the past whenageruled the Mafia rather than competence and skills. Brute strength is not ourmodus operandianymore. So you will eithertake the kneeto theBoss' right hand man, thelead strategist of this entire organization, or I willexecute you on the spot, as I should have five years ago. If you in any way endanger this operation," he leaned in closer, his eyes a murderous abyss that swallowed up any light that could hope to reach them. "Iwillkill you and it willnotbe short, clean or pleasant. Have I made myself clear, Executive?"

"Crystal," spat the Colonel but demurely bowed his head until Dazai stepped back and turned to leave. "You won't last long in this place with that attitude, brat! This isn't your family business anymore!"

Dazai looked over his shoulder with a dull expression. "The Port Mafia could crumble for all I care. But I will not die within it, not for it or because of it. I'd rather burn it to the ground myself. It is only a useful tool, a rock to dull or sharpen my edge depending on how I use it. If it no longer has any use to me, I care not to stay. And if you think Mori-san would ever have the guts to try and kill me ... Well, let's just say he won't."

"You sound damn sure about that, don'tcha?" Grumbled the elder male, still held at gun point by Dazai's escorts.

Dazai laughed. It was not a nice one. It chilled to the bone, it crawled under your skin and you can bet you will be taking it into your nightmares with you. It caused a repulsed, disgusted and utterly terrified shiver to run through all those unfortunate enough to hear it.

"Because, Colonel-san, there would be nothing to gain, no optimal nor logical conclusion to my death. After all, you don't kill the golden goose~"

"You'll stop laying gold eggs one day, boy. They all do."

"Hmm ... Good thing I'm not 'them all', isn't it?" Dazai turned around and went on his way, as he still had a trap to lay out and some more preparations to make.'It's what makes me No Longer Human.'

"I don't mean to be insensitive," f*ckuzawa dared to say. "Butcanwe call Dazai human?" Chuuya had him by the neck before he could even finish the sentence. f*ckuzawa did not flinch away from blazing cerulean eyes that promised a painful death. "Don't misunderstand me, Nakahara, I don't doubt Dazai'shumanity. I'm questioning whether the termhuman, as inhom*o sapiens sapiensis the correct one to use for someone like him, who had been created through a higher power than mere nature."

"And you thought thatsixteenwould be a good time for you to wonder about such things!?" Mori hissed, also looking seconds away from reaching for a scalpel. Kouyou and Hirotsu looked no better and even Ranpo looked disappointing with the President. "Yukichi, sometimes you are so completely, utterlymoronicthat I wonder how and why Natsume-sensei choseyou."

"By those musings, we would have to question Atsushi's existence, too, given he's a weretiger," Yosano said with a disappointed scoff.

The swordsman just sighed. "You're mistaken-"

"Save it," hissed Chuuya. "Before I break this alliance along with your neck."

"How dare you talk to the President like that, Mafia scum!?"

"Stand down, Kunikida," f*ckuzawa ordered before refocusing on Chuuya. "I deserved it for my carelessness. I apologize, Nakahara-san, and I will apologize to Dazai as well when we get out of here if you deem it necessary. However, I would never dehumanize one of my employees. The words were careless but my intention was only to find out more about Dazai's origin, so we may know if there may be some sort of special assistance that he may require from us that we haven't considered or employed before. His existential situation is unique, quite possibly he is the only one in the world to exist in such a way, and we need to know whether there are repercussions we were not made aware of."

"Dazai is human," Chuuya hissed, tightening his fingers around the man's neck before letting go. He looked seconds away from spitting at his feet but refrained. There was already enough tension in the air, both from the visions and from this interaction. "He thinks, he feels, he bleeds; he's human. He has enough issues with his self-image as it is; you bring this sh*t up with him, no matter how carefully or not, I will personally show you what it feels like to be crushed by the unyielding force of vicious gravity. You got me?"

"I understand, yes," f*ckuzawa nodded, bringing up a hand to rub at his neck. It had truly been a long time since he'd met a person physically fitter than himself. He does not want to contemplate what a Chuuya with access to his Ability and weapons would be capable of.

"That place doesn't seem friendly," Kenji, as oblivious to the tense air as always, says, bringing everyone's attention reluctantly back to the visions, only to see that the environment had changed considerably. Mori stiffened and made sure to be out of Chuuya's direct line of sight while Hirotsu brought up a hand to rub at his nose tiredly.

Chuuya, for once, looked as confused as the Agency did. Hell, even the Akutagawas did not know why a waste disposal sight, littered with rotting and and eroding shipping containers stacked on top of each other like a bunch of corpses. There was not a single soul to be found on the site, especially since - correct - rumors spread real fast that toxic waste was illegally dumped there. It existed slightly on the outskirts of Yokohama and was considered the loneliest place in the entire city, even compared to Suribachi right after the explosion.

And in the middle of it all, in a shipping container in a just barely better state than the others, was where Dazai lived, a-f*cking-ppearently. Worse still, it was easy to recognize the interior the vision showed them as the one displayed before, when Dazai delegated the jewel trade to Chuuya over the phone with Mori.

"Youf*cker!" Yosano and Chuuya thundered, rounding on the Port Mafia Boss while the Akutagawas hissed like enraged cats and Atsushi and Kyouka cowered their mouths in distress, as though they were about to vomit. Ranpo was holding onto f*ckuzawa's hand to keep him calm, becausetheycertainly can't afford a war with the Mafia, and the Tanizaki siblings were holding onto each other, faces green with the realization of where the teenager had lived. Kunikida also looked sick to the stomach and Higuchi and Tachihara recoiled, pitying the man. Even Kenji had stopped smiling.

Hirotsu closed his eyes and stayed to the side while Kouyou stepped in front of Mori to protect him from the enraged pair. Killing him now, when the Mafia still needed him, would not do anyone any good, whether Chuuya and Yosano were willing to accept that or not.

Dazai's phone was ringing inside the container, but he made no move to answer it. He sat alone on his circular chair in the container, staring into the darkness, ignoring the device on his desk. His hands were folded, his eyes too calm for someone in the presence of a dangerous, deadly individual like Paul Verlaine, who had just opened his door and stepped inside. Those dark pupils absorbed every minute movement, every single muffled noise the assassin made as he made himself at home, looking around the little metal shell in mild disgust and something akin to pity.

"You live in a terrible place, Dazai-kun," Verlaine said with a light tone to his voice. Pretending like this was a normal social visit between friends. as though this geniality could fool someone as paranoid and untrusting as Dazai. "Honestly, what are you so afraid of that makes you live in such an awful place? Property tax?"

'While, sure, that's a rip off as it is, nothing is scarier than continuing to live with Mori-san's pining,'Dazai thought with an internal grimace and the Boss himself flushed as he realized some of his carefully kept secrets might just come to light. He avoided the eyes of everyone, one f*ckuzawa Yukichi especially, as they all turned to regard him with distrusting yet curious eyes.'This place is a relief compared tothatmuch hom*osexual pining coming from a man with an obvious lolicon complex while living in a cramped space together.'

"You better not have tried-"

"NO!" Mori screeches. "I WOULDNEVER! DAZAI-KUN WOULD EVISCERATE ME!"

Ranpo gagged when someone asked who Mori was pining after, anyways.

Mori actually buried his face in his scarf and swore to himself that he'll get Dazai back for this by revealing all of Soukoku's most embarrassing moments.

'Besides, this place isn't all that bad. I'd consider this an improvement to that orphanage. And if I could be bothered, I could probably fix this place up to Masaoka-ossan's cottage's standards. I like the isolation, most of all. It's pleasantly dark here, so I can actually get some sleep. And it's easy to open up the floor of the container to make a secret pocket for me to keep my most important personal possessions out of Mori-san's hands, including the Book and my parents' files. More importantly, for all that this was a power-move on Mori-san's end, he's actually relinquished a lot of control by letting me have a place of my own where he can't put up cameras to monitor me. All in all, this is an extremely failed attempt at getting more control over me. Did he think living in such a small place would bother me? I lived in a cage under my grandfather's 'rule' ... Best not to let Mori-san find out about that ... The poisons and drugs he possesses actually hurt more, so no doubt he'd try to train me to withstand the torture methods containing stifled movements and cramped limbs. Ah, such a pain ... '

But also not what he should be focusing on. He's in the presence of the deadliest assassin in the world, the most powerful Ability user he's met to date, barring perhaps Masaoka had he been in his prime and without the Book's existence taking away the brunt of his power.

So, completely contradicting his words with his bland, emotionless tone and not a single twitch in his expression, Dazai answers Verlaine as 'seriously' as he can without rolling his eyes at his own words. "I'm scared of you, Verlaine-san."

"Bullsh*t," almost everyone in the little audience blurted almost immediately, even Atsushi, who didn't curse because he's too nice, and Kouyou, who was too elegant for such vulgarity.

"I don't think I've ever seen Dazai scared of anything."

"He'snotscared of anything."

"He f*ckingprancesaround Arahabaki, the f*cker!"

"Dazai-kun is just built different."

"I mean, hejumped off a buildingand faced down a charging tiger; what's there to be scared of after that?"

"Dazai-san is simply on another level."

f*ckuzawa watched with Hirotsu as the others - Mori included - gushed about some of Dazai's stupider but no less brave stunts, marveling at his recklessness and despairing over his absolutely inexistent fear of death. Hirotsu just looked exasperated and f*ckuzawa felt for the man. First he had to deal with Natsume, then Mori and then Dazai ... The man deserved a raise.

"Do keep the boy safe, yes?" Hirotsu surprised him by requesting, making f*ckuzawa arch an eyebrow at him. "I know it's near impossible, because Dazai-san is simply to independent and too unpredictable, but please try."

"He is one of the Armed Detective Agency members," f*ckuzawa said, as though that said it all. And it did. The Agency protects its own.

Hirotsu still shot him a doubtful look. "Just make sure he keeps out of the Mafia's torture chambers. While he may be perfectly capable of getting out himself and over 60% of the Mafia knows not to mess with the Demon Prodigy, former as he may be, there's still a lot of the newbies who think they can prove themselves by hurting him, or worse. I don't wish to be even partially, indirectly responsible for why Chuuya-san levels Yokohama to the ground."

"Noted."

Verlaine was clearly amused by Dazai's little lie. "What a liar," he cooed, going further into the container. "You're not afraid of anything," he observed accurately, not looking away from the brunet's one visible eye. "If I could see you're eyes, I'd be able to tell. Even while trying to kill you a couple of days ago, you seemed to feel almost nothing."

"I have a rather uncommon opinion when it concerns my death," he replied dryly, almost rolling his eyes at the understatement of it all. He may currently not be actively trying to die, but that's because he's finally made himself stipulations for when he'd allow it to happen and how. Until then, he continues to search for a purpose to continue living, primarily within the Mafia, since they were the first ones who managed to introduce him tosomeform of intrigue. Morality means little to Dazai besides wondering if his mother would cry if she were to see him today or if she'd be proud of her blood flowing through his veins. His father would just support whatever his mother decides, as long as Dazai was happy ...

Except Dazai doesn't evenrememberwhat true happiness feels like. He thinks he's felt it, once upon a time, as Tsushima Shuuji, in the loving arms of his parents with Matsuki just down the hall and Chibi barking around their feet, the rest of the staff bustling around the manor with his aunt Kiye occasionally traveling up north to visit them. He doesn't thinkDazai Osamuhas felt a single shred of happiness in his life ...

Perhaps the closest he's ever truly come to it had been when he was messing around with Chuuya, the only person to treat him as just a kid, no matter how messed up he is, the only person to see through all of him and somehow still find it in himself to give a sh*t.

It's exactly why so many of his death's stipulations are based around Chuuya, one way or another. Including taking care of Verlaine, that scientist called N and Kashimura Kansuke. Finding out about the chibi's past and proving to him he's human are things he can delay once the dangerous ones are taken care of. Making sure Chuuya can never lose himself to his power had jumped to his number one priority thanks to what happened the other day.

Dazai was really tempted to shoot a few bullets into Verlaine for that, but he knows it would be fruitless. A dagger with one of his bandages wrapped around it, however ... He'll have to test how well No Longer Human transfers with a medium that was not his body.

"The hitman business is doomed," was the nonchalant note and Dazai wondered if he meant because Dazai didn't fear death or because Daza himself hadn't entered it; after all, stone-cold hitmen with nothing to fear or lose were rare these days. Someone always had something to lose. Dazai would know; he's extremely good at finding it. He watched him as the blond walked over and grabbed the documents he'd left out on the desk. His bait. "This is the inside data on the Port Mafia?" He asked as though he wasn't holding a goldmine of information that any even remotely smart information broker would come in their pants to get their hands on or any other organization would sell their souls to get it. To Verlaine, they may as well be just bundles of papers, or so he acted. They were as invaluable to him as they were to anyone else.

Dazai, though, just kept them out in the open like they were an average sixteen year old's unfinished homework.

"How much of that data was fake or inaccurate?" Ranpo asked Mori, who could only shrug. Dazai had had one too many solo projects Mori had had little to no insight on until he received a report and in those reports, he'd be lucky to get any details at all.

He now understood why: information for information, basically, like any proper information broker would deny. Mori was to finish his piles of paperwork if he wanted to get his detailed reports.

"Two days ago, I told you I wouldn't kill you so you can give this to me," the foreigner said, slightly suspicious but also curious. "It's a necessity for my job. But what's your reason? What reward do you get out of this? Don't sit there and tell me you sayingPlease don't kill mewas a joke."

"It's simple," Dazai smiled faintly. His voice was low, as if it were the sound of a growl in a nightmare. "I want to see the Port Mafia burn."

"At this point, I wouldn't even be surprised," Higuchi commented, though she looked a bit shaken. She'd never thought that a sixteen year old could be so unnerving, yet she'd also seen a younger Dazai do other unnerving things. But this somehow felt different.

It felt like an ongoing truth that could come to bite them in the ass any day now and seeing all these visions, she was starting to believe it wouldn't be hard for Dazai Osamu to do it. Especially as they hadn't even reached the beginning of the Port Mafia's so called 'golden age', the time when the Demon Prodigy had truly prospered and shot to new heights.

"Is this why you chased Dazai-san out of the organization?" Hirotsu asked his Boss and Mori just sighed out with a shudder.

Verlaine in the vision formed a serious expression on his face, no longer unorthodoxially endeared by the little tete-a-tete he was having with the teenager. He stared at Dazai as though he'd only now first seen him. "Didn't the Port Mafia pick you up and raise you?" Came the careful question and Dazai wanted to scoff.

'Oh, the Port Mafiadid indeedtake me in. Forcefully and for the price of my aunt's life, ultimately, at the behest of my crazy grandfather. And then later by Mori-san, who only wanted a disposable witness and then someone who can do his work for him. I feelrealspecial here, being called inhuman, regarded as a tool or the Boss' bitch. Honestly, if the Mafia wasn't so useful, both to me and Sensei's Tripartite system, I would have let it burn six years ago.'To Verlaine, he just said "That's right."

"Then why?"

And oh, how was he supposed to answer that question? He couldn't say it's to spite his grandfather or the rest of the Tsushima, because that would reveal his former identity. He couldn't say for revenge, either, for that exact same reason. He couldn't reveal that it's a good way to keep Chuuya safe - Verlaine would just proceed to destroy the HQ buildings and, really, Dazaidid nothave the time to go over reconstruction blueprints right now.

He could even spout some bullsh*t about morality or justice, but he doubts Verlaine would believe something like that coming from the Port Mafia's wraith.

And, well, there's only one answer that may one day become the truth. So he gave a smile full of grief that seemed to scream out of him with all the things he'd lost because of the existence of this syndicate. A truth that may come to be but a lie filled with too much pain that Dazai himself would never be able to fully process. "Because I've grown bored with it."

"Is that something we should worry about for the Agency?" Tanizaki asked nervously and, well, no one really had an answer for that.

When Verlaine narrowed his eyes at him a bit suspiciously, Dazai gave another lie. "In the end, I didn't find anything."

Anything worth living forwent unsaid.Anything interesting enough to stave off the sweet call of deathwas implied. It left the members of the two organizations feeling rather uneasy.

Even though it's a lie.

After all, Dazai had found Chuuya.

But was that really enough?

"Ah, I see," the elder of the two said in response, closing his eyes as he apparently understood all that Dazai was implying for all that they've only talked two times in total so far. "Well, I understand your feelings. I embarked on a journey with the hope that something would change me. But the place I went was full of useless junk, so I came straight home. I've also experienced something like that. Breathing, eating, exercising, that's not living. It's why we travel."

Dazai couldn't help but listen with intrigue. This would be the first time he's met someone just as unattached to this world as he was, just out of touch. Chuuya didn't count, because for all that he stood out like a sore thumb, he still found a way to exist and belong with everyone else in this weird oxidizing world of a dream Dazai so desperately wishes to wake up from and find himself in a world where he was able to save his parents. his servants, his dog, his aunt, Masaoka. He'd only been able to save Chuuya ... And those three from the library. Did Dazai ever even catch their names? He doesn't think so.

He watched as Verlaine picked up an ordinary silver coin, flicking it up into the air and catching it. "I'm grateful for your help, Dazai-kun," the platinum blond man said, sounding somewhat sincere in respect to the odd companionship they'd managed to find in each other in that brief moment. He flicked the coin again and it sailed past Dazai's head, piercing the metal wall behind him, the wind roaring in his ear. It crashed into the waste outside his container with a sound akin to thunder. It sailed away, on and on, who knows where besides Verlaine himself. The force and the speed, though, left the metal of his container's wall smoking and steaming where that little coin had thorn a way out so effortlessly. "I'll pay homage to your despair and kill you last," was the promise Verlaine gave him and Dazai would be honored if he wasn't amazed by howstupidthat was.

In this city, in this world, Dazai was the only one who could pose a threat to the almighty Verlaine. Dazai could nullify his Ability and Verlaine would be easy pickings to a well-hidden sniper.

Dazai was almost tempted to do it, but he couldn't.

He needed Verlaine to chase out the others for him.

So he remained seated, undisturbed by the threat, physical or verbal. "I anxiously await your arrival," he said with a smile. Verlaine nodded to him, as though inAdieu, and turned to leave, but Dazai couldn't help but ask. "So, which one are you going to now?"

Verlaine turned around and smiled, like a magician who had just shown off his mysterious magic trick.

'Oh god, I'm glad he's not a clown, I'dhateto be around a clown.'

Chuuya burst out laughing at that, actual tears falling down his face at the unexpected thought and how hewishedhe could have recorded that thought. Verlaine would be sooffended, especially since he really had retained some sort of mysterious, inexplicable camaraderie with Dazai after he joined the Mafia.

Kouyou had to cough into her hand to avoid ruining her make-up should she join in, as she was tempted to.

Kyouka just stared in utter amazement at thegallit took to eventhinkthat. InVerlaine's presence. Gin just patted her on the shoulder, as if to comfort her over Dazai's Dazainess. Kyouka was just lucky she joinedafterthe brotherly disputes with Dazai as mediator have been settled. That was more of a hell on earth than anything Soukoku could grace their enemies with.

"You already know. I'm heading to the police station."

That shut Chuuya up as he remembered Dazai's more or less indirect hand in Detective Murase's death.

'Hook. Line. Sinker.'

"It's scary how often Dazai-san's plan go exactly as he wanted them to," Kyouka mumbled and the younger Akutagawa carded her fingers through her hair.

"You get used to it, eventually."

"Dazai-san is always right," Ryuunosuke added and, well, no one could quite dispute that. Not even Mori or Ranpo. Not easily, anyways.

After Verlaine left, Dazai waited an appropriate amount of time before he started making calls again, walking out of his container. A car awaited him on the edges of the dumpsite, one of his squad in the driver seat and one holding the door open for him, the other hand holding a laptop for Dazai. He took it and was pleased to see his instructions had been followed thoroughly. Several footage from various cameras showed a live feed of different sites he needed for his plans for the near future and only one showed an interrogation room in the police station.

It showed Chuuya, the Europole android and an unfortunate Detective Murase, reportedly younger brother of the scientist going by N and once a security guard for the military facility Chuuya had escaped from. Dazai'd feel bad for him, but the man means nothing to him. Besides, he's more entertained by his attempts to one-up Chuuya to get him to betray the Mafia. Chuuya wasn't that stupid; in fact, quite the contrary, all things considered, since he could see through a lot of Dazai's own bullsh*t. Murase stood no chance against him.

He zoomed in on the 'signed note' Chuuya handed back, because he'd noticed the chibi was real proud of himself and even the android seemed amused.

Eat sh*t

Dazai snorted.'Ah, slug, never change.'

"Such a foul mouth, lad," Kouyou scolded and Chuuya sheepishly rubbed the back of his neck.

"Dazai has a direct link to monitor the police station!?" Kunikida screeched, focusing on the more important revelation.

The Port Mafia didn't bother to point out they'd inherited it from him and still used it to this day. His screech was not pleasant to the ear, after all.

The rest of the day went by too quickly, too monotonically considering what all was at stake. Dazai's plan was unfolding as he wanted. He spent hours on the preparations, the briefing with his team, convincing Kouyou that no, she shouldnottry to engage Verlaine alone for daring to attack her 'darling little brother'. Honestly, though, if it wasn't such a security and hazard risk, he'd let Kyuusaku deal with Verlaine, only there was no telling whathisAbility going out of control would do. Chuuya's had been devastating enough; Dazai would know, he was the last living witness.

Verlaine could only be worse.

Besides, controlling Q might be even harder than dealing with Verlaine.

Dazai didnotneed more problems on top of the ones he was currently solving.

Murase's death served its purpose; Verlaine had found N, but so had Dazai. He wasn't surprised that there was another secret military research facility, nor was he surprised some of the original scientists from a decade ago were involved again. He could find no clue whether Kashimura was, but he did capture a lot of scientists he could interrogate for information when he infiltrated the place. The security feed was laughably hackable so Dazai knew where to find Chuuya, that unfortunate backstabbing dogsh*t pile that was Shirase and the Europole android agent. He even had eyes on Verlaine and N! He finally had confirmation about the scientist and he wasn't letting him go this time.

After he interrogates him about everything there is to know about Chuuya's nature, about the experiments and about singularities - the true objective of the experiments - Dazai will take great pleasure in torturing him for the heck of it. Dazai rarely sought revenge, but N had destroyed one too many lives Dazai cared about to let him live or die peacefully.

Still, that would have to wait.

He first needed to find the terrible trio causing so much trouble right now.

Mr robot just happened to be the closest one.

Besides, Chuuya was strong and stubborn.

He'll last long enough for Dazai to reach him. A little torture was nothing compared to what he'd lived through when his Ability had been stripped of his careful control.

"You weretorturedand Dazailet it happen!?" Thundered Kouyou, glaring at the image of the sixteen year old Dazai making his way through the base, not bothering with avoiding guards and not avoiding to kill them, since the less security running around the place, the better for the exit.

Chuuya shrugged. "I could handle it ... Mostly." He still remembered far too vividly the hallucinations he'd had at the time and was glad they weren't showing them. HIs image of Dazai at that time and how that had reflected his own self-image ... He thinks he ought to apologize to Dazai for that. That hadn't been fair of him, no matter how he was feeling at the time or how coldly Dazai could act towards others, as he'd never been overtly cruel to Chuuya himself. And, well, seeing all of this happen from Dazai's point of view ... He really had been too harsh on 'the wraith'.

Still, for all that the cruelest voices in his head during that hallucination belonged to Dazai, they had somehow kept him sane long enough to hold out, to survive, to get out of those bounds and to keep on clinging to what little humanity he could prove. Seeing the Sheep and the Flags had done more damage to his confidence that he was allowed to be alive than Dazai's taunts.

In a way, as they always did, Soukoku had reached out to each other when they needed it the most.

And, well, Chuuya would really have to thank Dazai for that.

Chapter 16

Chapter Text

16yo

Adam meeting Dazai was an interesting moment of humor considering howNot Funnyage sixteen for Soukoku was. Dazai saving Adam from a soldier he couldn't react fast enough to with the use of a taser had been a bit unexpected, considering he mostly used real guns as far as any of them were concerned. Adam's surprised expression to see skinny sixteen year old Dazai as his savior was priceless and Chuuya made a note to tease Adam about it.

"How boring," Dazai complained as he tossed aside the used up weapon. "Even with electricity, killing people is just killing people. I'm bored of it."

"That's still so disturbing to hear from a sixteen year old, what the f*ck," Tachihara couldn't help but comment and Kyouka and Gin turned to him to arch their eyebrows at him.

"I'm fourteen."

"And I started my assassin training at around twelve," Gin added but Tachihara waved them off.

"Yeah, but, you don't- It's not like- It's just different, okay? You don't do it for fun!"

"Dazai doesn't do it forfun, either," corrected Chuuya.

"But he's bored of it!"

"So? So am I? Do you have any idea how much blood is onmyhands? It gets old real fast."

"Is everyone in the Mafia a psychopath?" Kunikida asked with a glare and sneer.

"Actually, Dazai-san prefers to call us all highly functioning sociopaths," Hirotsu corrected.

"Except Mori," Ranpo corrected him, in turn.

"Except Mori."

"Hey!"

"Thou shalt not talk," Yosano said 'sweetly' and Mori sweatdropped.

"Nice to meet you, Investigator-san. Where's Chuuya."

"Still living in that boy's head 24/7," Yosano teased yet again and Chuuya just rolled his eyes at this point. The comment had been made one too many times and now everyone had just accepted it as a fact of life. It wasn't even wrong, so there was no point denying it or saying anything else.

"Chuuya-sama is-"

"Has he already been captured?" Dazai interrupted as he stepped over the downed soldiers. "Or maybe it's around the time you've rescued him," he said sarcastically, arching an eyebrow at the poor android that's been struggling so much to find Chuuya and rescue him from the clutches of a mad scientist. Dazai'd feel bad for him, but he didn't feel bad for anyone, so Adam was hardly going to get the honor of being the first. "That's not any fun. That means I missed Chuuya being tortured and bawling his eyes out."

"Just how much of what happened those few days was within the lad's predictions and calculations?" Kouyou asked, directing it to Mori and Chuuya, as she herself had only been updated on the plans she would be involved with and why Verlaine had been such a threat back then. She certainly made a note to speak with Dazai about letting the boy she considered her little brother to get tortured. They'd be havingwordsin regards to that, no doubt.

"My honest guess?" Ranpo answered instead of them. "Just about everything, judging from these visions."

"I still think the most concerning thing about all of this is that we were dragged in here to watch this," Atsushi mumbled, looking a bit pale at the mention of torture. "Or that anyone even managed to get all these memories(?) to show to us in the first place."

"That's not something we can deal with right now, jinko," Akutagawa pointed out and, well, he was right.

"Tortured? Chuuya-sama?"

"I didn't know robots could get upset," Kenji marveled. "He must be a really friendly robot, huh?"

"He is," Chuuya confirmed with a grin, also endeared by how worried Adam had been for his safety.

'Chuuya-sama, he says ... Did he forcibly change his protocols in order to prioritize Chuuya's safety and well-being during this mission instead of the orders he's been given? I ought to pick his brain - processor? - at some point to find out what, exactly, the west's intentions are with the chibi ... And whether they know aboutmeorit. Because if they do ... Someone out there might be responsible for Masaoka-ossan's death.'Not something he could focus on right now. He had a highly advanced android in front of him, strategizing as according to the parameters set by his coding and undoubtedly thinking about how No Longer Human would be an irreplaceable, priceless trump card in the fight against Verlaine that will inevitably happen.'Sorry Investigator-san, but this ismyshow. Kindly fulfill the role I set out for you and do try to keep that chibi safe when I'm not around.'

"'Why has he come here', you ask?" Dazai said, noticing almost literally how the gears in Adam's head were turning. "I'll tell you. I'm here because this is part of the plan. 'What plan', you ask? I'll tell you. Everything. From beginning to end, the events of this Verlaine incident have been in the palm of my hand. 'What do you mean', you ask?" He continued, rapid-fire, watching in amusem*nt as he obviously overworked the robot's processor. It was funny; even a highly advanced super computer could not keep up with him. It was also a bitboring, if he was honest. What good is a supercomputer if a child of sixteen could outpace it so easily? Is there nothing in this world that Dazai could not predict, that could truly surprise him?

Well, aside from Chuuya, but that's because Chuuya is just ...Chuuya.

(No, Dazai is not willing to admit that, in certain circ*mstances, Chuuya was his blind spot. Because he'snot. Dazai can always see Chuuya. It's just that certain things that the illogical little chibi does don't makesenseto him ... )

"Do we even need to say it at this point?"

"Shh, Akiko. I want to see Dazai crash an android into overdrive."

"Shhyourself then, Ranpo."

"Hush."

The doctor huffed and everyone just sweatdropped.

Chuuya was just glad that they shut up so he can watch this comedy show that was Adam trying his damnedest to understand and keep up with the whirlwind of mad genius that was Dazai.

"Everything, literally everything - from Verlaine's targets, to Detective-san, to Researcher-san - has been based on the information I gave him."'Well, not the Flags. Unfortunately, that is something Verlaine has done all on his own, creating quite the mess for me to clean up and for the chibi to deal with. What a pain.'

"Well, that's a relief. If I'd known Dazai was behind the Flag's deaths, I'd string him up by his own bandages from the top of the HQ building."

"No you wouldn't," literally everyone said and Chuuya ignored how right they were. Because no, he wouldn't.

"In other words, the protocol for his assassination plan has been the protocol for my plan. Now you want to ask, 'Why would you do such a thing?'" Dazai could already see the suspicions forming in the android's mind and he wanted to snort because, really, waseveryonethat afraid of him? Adults were sostupid. He can't believe Chuuya was the only one with half a functioning brain in this lot! He continued before the other could come up with any crazy theories and, heaven's forbid, start attacking him. He'd come in useful so destroying him now would be a waste and he'd have to re-tweak his plans later, which would also be a bother.

He wasnotin the mood to explain himself to the Colonel or watch other, more incompetent members struggle to grasp the orders his own squad passes down.

He was surrounded by idiots.

"Felt."

"That's rude, Ranpo."

"Sorry not sorry, Shachou. That's whatyoutaught me."

"It was to earn time before he reached his biggest assassination target. His final target is the Port Mafia's Boss, Mori Ougai."'And as tempting as it is sometimes to just kill him off so he can't annoy me with his horrendous paperwork skills or the way he's burning through money on dresses he can just imagine into existence on his pedophilic Ability, he's still too useful for all that he's actually useless to me.'

"Why is Dazai-kun somean~!" Wailed Mori.

"Suffer."

"Yukichi~!"

Kouyou facepalmed out of embarrassment and Yosano consolingly patted her on the shoulder before boldly taking a hold of her hand, shooting her shot because why not. She internally cheered when Kouyou did not take her hand back.

Chuuya and Ranpo watched them and rolled their eyes at their sister figures' shameless flirting.

Then again, the Tanizakis were back at it again so no one could be more shameless than them.

And even Kunikida had given up on it all, not even covering Kyouka's, Kenji's or Atsushi's eyes when something scandalous was happening.

"Mori-san was originally going to be the first target killed, but I manipulated the information so he was the last on the list."'After all, letting Verlaine-san just kill him would leave me too busy with the sh*tshow within the Mafia itself as the right hand man now dealing with a headless organization to deal with Verlaine-san, let alone N and, possibly, Kashimura, though I've yet to find evidence of his involvement in this second research facility ... Has he not rejoined the project? Or was he just lucky enough to have the night off? How unfortunate; I'll have to deal with him separately.'"Thanks to the time I earned, the preparations for his inverse assassination are almost done. But before that, we need to make the final touches," Dazai said with a smile as he held out a hand to help Adam stand up. He wasn't as heavy as he'd imagined, for a man made of mechanical parts. "At this rate, Chuuya will kill N and if that happens, he will no longer be a human being."'Something I will not allow to befall him, that silly chibi.'"But I want to see Chuuya suffer as a human being. So, let's go stop him."

"f*ck this sh*t, I'm buyingJapanfor him when we get out of here," Chuuya declared, running his gloved hands through his hair and blushing furiously. His heart was pounding like crazy in his chest, ready to burst with fondness for his partner whom he'dclearlyspectacularly underestimated all those years ago, or even now.'I owe himso muchfor all the sh*t he went through because of me ... And for all the cruel sh*t I've said to him over the years. For f*ck's sake, how can he even stand to be in the same room as me, let alone still care about me in his own Dazai way?!'

"See?" Hirotsu said goodnaturadely, patting Chuuya on the shoulder. "We told you. Dazai-san, indeed, does not see you as a monster, for all that you've unfortunately had a hand in his parents' death. In fact, he clearly tresures your humanity as much as you do. Now, if only he'd treasure his own ... " The old man sighed and Chuuya suddenly got a determined glint in his eyes.

"We'll convince Dazai-san that he's human," Kyouka beat him to the punch with the declaration, but the Armed Detective Agency and the Port Mafia, sans Mori, cheered in agreement and Chuuya had to grin with vicious glee and satisfaction that, by the end of this, there will be nothing for Dazai to hide so it will be far too easy to prove to him that he was, indeed, human, flaws and all.

Dazai led the way to Chuuya and didn't really pause even when they found Shirase fainted in an equipment storage room. He barely spared the time to wish he wasn't in such a hurry so he could properly harass the Sheep, but that was hardly on his list of seemingly endless priorities regarding this case. So he just let Adam seal him shut in the room so they - Adam and Chuuya- can pick him up later, since Dazai couldn't care less. "Good work. Next is Chuuya."

"Please wait, Dazai-san," Adam called out even as Dazai kept walking. "When talking about Chuuya-sama earlier, you said 'as a human being'. Do you know whether or not Chuuya-sama is human?"

Dazai paused as the strange sort of hope(?) in the android's voice as Adam looked at him, clearly expecting Dazai to have all the answers in the universe. Which was preposterous, considering they don't even know that much about the depths of their oceans, let alone what goes on beyond their planet's atmosphere. Also, could people please stop expecting Dazai to have all the answers? He's kind of overworked right now!

"Now that I think about it, Dazai-san never took any days off or a vacation," Akutagawa commented, earning Mori another round of glares from the Agency while the other mafioso from that time could only avert their gazes, for they had never thought to offer to lessen Dazai's workload. He was the Demon Prodigy and they had all expected him to work beyond the usual human's dropping point.

Which he did ... And he prevailed and flourished ... But that didn't make it right.

"I'm forcing Dazai to take leave for a month after this is done," f*ckuzawa decided. "He's been working himself to the bone recently as well. I'm sure the Agency is more than safe in Ranpo's capable hands while our strategist rests."

"Yeah, well, good luck either way, 'cus I'm definitely forcing him to rest," Chuuya commented and no one contradicted the ginger.

'Still, how to answer this question ... Because the truth is, I only have my intuition and no tangible proof. Not yet. I need to find that 'other Chuuya' the top secret files in this place mention. There was indeedaChuuya before the lab ...But is it the same Chuuya as today, body-wise? That's the real question here. Chuuya's humanity by itself is non-negotiable. "Humanity" is more than just biology, after all.'

"That ... That makes sense," Naomi dared to say. "After all, if it was just biology, what would separate us from the other primates we share ancestors with?"

So, really, regarding the physical aspects, there's was only one correct answer Dazai could give. "I don't know." And, really, in any other situation, it would be either frustrating to say as much or funny to watch all that hope suddenly vanish. Like a kid being told Santa wasn't real for the first time.

"Santa isn't real!?" Kenji cried out, tears threatening to spill down his cheeks.

" ... Damn it, Dazai!"

"Both N and Verlaine said that Chuuya wasn't human. I didn't think that was the case, so I read this notebook, Rimbaud's notes ... You could say the entire incident started because of this," he said, showing the old, leather notebook he'd been keeping on him since Verlaine was reported in the country. It was an interesting read, certainly, full of state secrets Dazai's been slowly implementing into long-term plans should the westerners come for them again. Dazai had been very careful when he'd retrieved its remains from Randou's fireplace and had it restored with the help of certain Ability users slash information brokers. He'd sold off some of his so far most valuable secrets for the sake of getting this notebook back to its prime and it had certainly been helpful for more than state secrets.

"How did you manage to get that?" Came the predictable question and really, there's no way Dazai would sell out such a valuable resource, especially after he'd managed to 'rent' the woman's services for the foreseeable future. Especially not for free; Adam had certainly not even approached Dazai's going rate, let alone reached it to even begin bartering.

"You're more than welcome to try to find out, but no matter what I'll only tell you lies. I'm a liar, after all," he said with an enigmatic smile, even as he practically felt Adam use his scanners to monitor his vitals.'As if that would work on me. Controlling my breathing and heartbeat is the easiest thing I've learned.'

"Dazai-san says what?" Atsushi's jaw dropped.

Hell, even Yosano's and Mori's did.

"That'spossible!?" Screeched Higuchi and Naomi.

Kunikida and Chuuya just rubbed their foreheads, one because he realized this was something else he'll potentially have to deal with to disrupt his schedule, the other because he'd known - of course he had - and recalled one too many times when such a trick was necessary to fulfill Dazai's latest harebrained scheme.

"We don't really have time to hold a tea party and chat," the bandaged teen said casually as though he wasn't messing with a very advanced moblie, sentient supercomputer this whole time just by being himself. "First comes finding Chuuya."

"Yes, yes, I get it, we know," Chuuya himself interrupted before Yosano or Kouyou could tease him again.

"How will we do that?" Adam asked, now more willingly following after Dazai after getting a taste of just what all the Port Mafia's wraith was capable of.

"Finding Chuuya is always easy," the teen singsonged. "If you head towards whatever is making the loudest noise, he'll be there."

Which was accurate. The whole place shook and it was all coming from one direction, though the beat of the destruction Dazai could hear didn't quite match up. He deduced the Verlaine must have acted according to his expectations and had come to rescue Chuuya and deal with N once and for all. However, Dazai could not allow that, for several reasons. N had far too many answers that Dazai sought. More people were trying to run away and, well, Dazai called in his unit: scientists were to be captured alive, the security personnel was to be eliminated on sight. Thankfully, all the lab assistants wore stereotypical lab coats so it was easy to distinguished them from the armored and armed soldiers, limiting the level of incompetence his squad could potentially display. Though he had to admit they'd all improved greatly and he could trust them not to mess up without him there to hold their hands.

As they continued towards their destination, before Adam could question him more, Dazai spoke again. "There is no evidence saying Chuuya is a human, but there's also no evidence saying Chuuya isn't one. Verlaine's an outsider, so to speak, who wanted to steal Chuuya. It's not like he directly confirmed that Chuuya was a man-made Ability. As for N, he could very well be lying." And Dazai's almost certain that he was. After all, Dazai knew something no one else did.

He knew of the existence of Kashimura Kansuke. He knew of his involvement in the project. He knew that he had a son he had willingly sacrificed for science. He knew his son was reported and registered as dead in all official government documents.

He also knew the government was behind this project.

He knew how much the government lied, how corrupted it was.

Dazai, after all, made his living based on that corruption.

More than anything, Dazai knew that a young Kansuke had a striking resemblance to Chuuya.

So he knows, N is lying when he says he is Chuuya's father. He is no more Chuuya's father than Mori was Dazai's. So without proof that the 'other Chuuya' is fake, the stakes are still 50/50 of Nakahara Chuuya's body being biological, naturally created the way all other living beings were, or artificial with Chuuya's consciousness shoved in there for the Ability to take root.

After all, Abilities can't exist without human souls.

And something as strong as For The Tainted Sorrow could not possibly be housed in a hollow, artificial soul. It was too powerful not to belong to an equally powerful soul that was Chuuya and Chuuya alone.

Randou had been right about one thing, if nothing else. Chuuya was indeed strong as himself, not just as Arahabaki and regardless of what lived on inside of him, he was stillChuuya. The idiot ginger just needed proof. Dazai will get that proof; even if it's the last thing he does.

So he just needs that damn 'other Chuuya'.

"I wishIhad a partner that willing to prove my humanity and right to exist," Gin sighed teasingly longingly, yet there was a truth to her words.

"Dazai-san really out there setting standards. Right, Onii-sama~?"

"H-hai, Naomi."

"You should step up, f*ckuzawa-dono."

"Andwhywould I?"

"... That hurts, f*ckuzawa-dono."

"Good."

"Hey, at least we now have expert advice on how to track down Chuuya-san no matter what!" Tachihara joked, only to get deadpan stares from absolutely everyone. "What?"

"You're a f*cking dumbass, Tachihara, we all already knew that."

"Gin!" A scandalized Akutagawa gasped. "What would Dazai-san say!?"

"Good job on educating the hopeless?"

Hirotsu snorted.

"Oh, yeah, how come Dazai-san doesn't curse?" Atsushi asked and the Port Mafia collectively shrugged, even Chuuya, so they turned to Ranpo, who also shrugged.

"Apparently he's a mama's boy."

"Ooooh," they all intoned.

"Right. Tane hated others cursing around him so she probably wouldn't have wanted the mackerel to go around cursing, either."

"And his upbringing would explain why sometimes he sounds so posh."

"But didn't he, like, live longer on the streets than in the luxuries of his childhood manor?"

"No one forgets lessons from Tane-sama," Kouyou and Hirotsu said in sync, ending that discussion in time for them to watch Dazai instruct Adam on how to most successfully hack the facility's systems and have the whole place do what they want. The fact that Dazai was just giving instructions and couldn't be bothered to do it himself left them all sweadropping. Espeially since he looked like he wanted to take out some popcorn and watch the gravity 'brothers' duke it out after Chuuya refused to kill N while he was still useful.

"First take control of the fuel distribution system. The research materials will ultimately be burned here to destroy evidence once the staff has evacuated the facility. Which is why the fuel supply system will stay up until the end. Take hold of the entire facility using that as a foothold." And Adam did as instructed while Dazai silently mourned the fact that the wood-related Ability user had been killed just last month, as things would have been a lot easier had her services still been an option. He was sure some Europol or other European state's secrets, from whichever country, would be valuable enough to pay it off.

"I wonder if it will be okay," Adam said to himself, but Dazai heard and asked what he meant, intrigued by the worries of a robot. "Verlaine. When we find Chuuya-sama, I'm sure Verlaine will be there waiting to fight us. I wonder if we'll be able to win against him."

"Who knows," came the flippant reply. "Of course, I can think up a way to win-"'Just not in these conditions ... Or even in these conditions ... Poison ought to do the trick for the most part ... No Longer Human would be too risky long-term.'"-but it's not really a victory for him if we just died. There's only one thing I can say about Verlaine."'Well, that Iwantto, to a Europol agent.'"There isn't a single person in this world who can beat Verlaine in simple hand to hand combat."'Not yet, at least.'

"Ah, yes, you and Verlaine are rather equal in that regard these days, yes?" Kouyou asked Chuuya, who only shrugged, like it wasn't a big deal at all. Gin and Kyouka stared at him incredulously, knowing far too well just how strong their Sensei is.

Understanding Verlaine came easy to Dazai after he realized he could understand Chuuya in ways he doesn't understand other humans, so when Adam asked, he answered, referencing Rimbaud's notebook rather than his own observations from their two brief encounters where Verlaine had been rather genuine with him. "He possesses a gravity manipulation Ability as well as his skills as a spy. He's got a disturbing amount of strength and doesn't have any weaknesses. But he has something to fear. Himself," he looked up at Adam with an all-knowing smile. "Just as Chuuya has Arahabaki, a singularity also exists inside of Verlaine that's out of his control. If it runs wild, he along with everything around him would cease to exist. It would be like the nightmare of Suribachi City all over again."

But also much worse. Dazai remembered Suribachi well. The explosion was one thing he doubts he'd forget even if everything else were somehow wiped from his brain. Releasing a singularity, a veritable god of destruction, real or not, was devastating, but Arahabaki and Verlaine's singularity were not one and the same.

Arahabaki had had enough of something like awareness to zero in on specific targets. It had locked on Dazai and that's what ultimately saved Yokohama and Chuuya himself from the wild, untamed version of For The Tainted Sorrow.

Rimbaud's few notes on Guivre, the singularity within Verlaine, suggested that it craved not even the challenge destruction brought, but that it just destroyed everything, that it could not zero in on a single target. It would not try to make contact with Dazai, the way Arahabaki had. Dazai would instead have to go toitin an attempt to nullify the Ability. And judging from the stats of Rimbaud's notes, that wouldn't be easy. It would be downrightsuicidal... But it would potentially be too quick of a death for the Book to be destroyed with him.

Today, apparently, was not the day to die.

Also, Dazai drew the line of laziness when he noticed the skeleton he was hoping to autopsy or otherwise examine start fighting Verlaine and Chuuya.'Time to go save a slug. Yeesh.'

Tanizaki turned an uneasy look towards Chuuya. He gulped. "A-and this i-isn't even t-the w-wildest part of t-th-the year?"

"Oh, yeah, no. This isn't even the wildest part of theday. Like, wait another couple of hours. It gets wilder." The illusionist gawked at his fellow ginger.

"HOW!?" Tachihara and Atsushi squeaked, astonished, worried and afraid.

"What could be wilder thanthis?!" A stunned Kyouka asked with a hand gesturing towards the disturbing fight Dazai and Adam were now racing towards. And Shirase, but literally no one besides maybe Chuuya cared about him.

"Well, yeah, it appears that later on this year, I fought aghost-"

"WHAT!?"

"He means Shibusawa Tatsuhiko."

"That doesn't make it any clearer or better, Ranpo!"

"Meh."

"And when we were seventeen, since we're literally constantly flirting with life and death due to Dazai's suicidal tendencies and the state Corruption leaves me in - and, apparently, because we're both kind of hosts(?) to something above human, I guess - weactuallymet Life and Death-"

"Lad,what!?"

"I think Dazai might have even discovered someone as close to amermaidas it can get-"

"Okay, now evenIwant details, Mr Fancy Hat!"

"Too bad she's dead now, but Dazai thinks that the thing that attacked him in the water while he was finishing her off might be whatever eldritch abomination Lovecraft was-"

"I'm sorry, Chuuya-kun, butwhat!?"

"Yeah, that was around Dazai's eighteenth birthday, I think. And, well, then, obviously, we didn't fight together for four years, but then we fought Lovecraft, who was, as I said, some sort of tentacle eldritch abomination-"

"Onii-sama, I'm scared."

"Me too, Naomi."

"And then there was that dragon singularity a couple of months ago when I had to role-play with Snowzai in order to save Yokohama-"

"I want to be you when I grow up," Kenji and Kyouka said, one with sparkling eyes and admiration, the other with a deadpan and awe.

"So let me get this straight," a haggard Kunikida began, trying to list it all off. "You and Dazai ... Fought a zombie, a cloned human, some sort of Godzilla-wannabe, a ghost, a mermaid, a tentacle monster from eldritch nightmares, adragon... On top of knowing an honest to godandroidand, apparently,Life and Death!?"

Chuuya shrugged again. "Yeah, that's pretty much it. Crazy, right?"

"... I'm sorry, buthow, exactly, did Natsume-sensei dare think we're at all fit to be in any sort of relation with these two?" f*ckuzawa asked Mori, who could only shrug.

"Dazai-san expects us to live up tothat!?" Atsushi's jaw hit the floor.

"Which is exactly why you need to shape-up, you useless jinko."

"f*ck you, Akutagawa. f*ck you with a thorny stick."

"Whoa, there! Calm down, Atsushi! Where did you learn that sort of language!?"

"Certainly not from Dazai, apparently."

"Kunikida-san, actually."

"KUNIKIDA! FORSHAME!"

"You little snitch!"

The visions around them continue, showing events as Shirase helps Chuuya out against the 'other Chuuya' while being his wimpy - is it wimpy or is it good survival instincts? - self, the skeleton disappearing - something Dazai was not very pleased to find out and put it on Shirase's 'tab' as one of his most annoying and useless deeds yet.

"To be fair, he was just trying to help."

"Dazai-kun would not see it that way."

"Sheesh."

Adam's funny entrance with "Did a dinosaur go rampaging in here?" got some laughs despite the dangerous situation he was in with Verlaine on the verge of killing N. Dazai's own entrance surely caught the Assassin King's attention.

"You won't get anything by taking him home and torturing him, Verlaine-san."

"Why was he so surprised to see Dazai-san?" Kyouka asked and Chuuya shrugged, since he was the only one present who had any actual details of these events besides what was said in an official report.

"I think he just didn't think Dazai's come to help me out, or anyone, for that matter. The mackerel of back then and of now are not the same people ... Though I might have to review my stance on that, after all of this is done."

"Good, you should," the former assassin told him and Chuuya sweatdropped.

"Dazai-kun ... "

Dazai almost paused.'Did I actually hurt his feelings? Well, hedidscold me for my living arrangements ... Is it just an adult thing? Theydorealize I'm probably more capable to take care of myself than they could ever be, right? Living with Masaoka-ossan proved that, if nothing else.'

"It appears that I'll be taking on the role of Dazai's official adult figure from now on."

"Now hold on, Yukichi-"

"This is non-negotiable."

"f*ck you, f*ckuzawa-dono."

"You wish."

"!?"

Ranpo almost threw up right then and there.

Yosano also looked a bit green in the face. "Flirt somewhere else!"

"Hey. What a coincidence, meeting in a place like this," Dazai went on with his greeting, strolling over to Adam's side as though he owned the place ... He probably could, actually. He's sure he still has enough of his old Tsushima ties to make it happen ... If this place even survives today, that is.

"You coming here must mean ... I see. So I've been betrayed."

"Holy sh*t, he actuallydidhurt his feelings!"

"It's hard for people to hear that they've been betrayed. I've been on this side from the very beginning."

"'This side'? Do people like you even know what 'this side' and 'that side' means?" Hell, Verlaine wasn't even being mean or condescending. He apparently completely forgot about the robot and the mad scientist he'd been trying to kill just a moment ago as he ... bantered (?) with Dazai.

"Fufu ... I knew it'd be fun talking with you," Dazai said with a vague and bottomless smile. Though internally he was rolling his eyes at the platinum blond man.'Of course I know the difference in sides!This sidehas my dog on it andthat sidehas N and Kashimura, people I want to kill in the most painful, excruciating way possible ... I already have plans and I even booked one of the torture rooms~!'

"That kid is f*cked up in the head."

"Good morning to you, too, Columbus."

Verlaine returned Dazai's smile and Adam kind of just awkwardly watched their little stare-down for a few moments, left to his own musings about how to settle this situation. And then came the sudden change as Dazai basically felt it in his bone marrow.

"Ah, Verlaine-san," he began with a sigh, because he did actually kind of like this Frenchman more than he thought he would. They'd have to deal with his Chuuya problem but Dazai thinks he might actually be able to tolerate Verlaine in the way he rarely could anyone else. Which is why he gave him a warning. "I'd duck if I were you."

Of course, Verlaine was dubious as he watched Dazai lower his head to about his chest level, but the next moment, a sizable piece of debris flew past him and Adam like a cannonball, sailing right over Dazai's head and breaking off into two pieces there, one crashing straight into Verlaine's defensive arm and scattering.

"What the hell are you doing, Dazai!?" Came the recognizable angry voice of Chuuya. "Don't come into my sight without my permission!"

"Hey, Chuuya~ How was your torture session?" Dazai laughed and chirped, facing the approaching redhead. "I had a plan to come in and save you but decided against it cause it was boring-" He nearly choked on his own spit as he registered something not within his calculations, despite knowing Chuuya would be tortured.

And that is: Chuuya was shirtless.

Like, completely shirtless. Dazai had not once seen Chuuya shirtless before. In fact, the only people hehadseen shirtless so far were his torture victims, but they barely registered to his brain as something more than pieces of meat for the beating. They were a project, a mission, a job or just completely useless and a waste of time.

He most certainly did not let his eye trail over ever defined muscle, every speck of random freckles or moles, every trail of blood, sweat and whatever that other strangely colored liquid is and then let the images be seared into his brain. He most certainly had never wondered whether the skin was as smooth as it looked or if the muscles were as hard as people always described them.

He'd most certainly never had a sexual crises in the middle of a life-threatening mission!

'Of all the times for you to lose your freaking shirt, chibi! When the hell did he get thoseabs!?Whyam I evenlooking!? Oh my f*ck, why is my face heating up? I haven't had the urge to take off my neck or face bandages since I got them, why are they suddenly suffocating now!? And I'm sweating? And my heart is palpitating!? Am Idying?! Did I inhale some poisonous gas without noticing? Now isnota good time to die!'He paused, his genius mind crashing as it caught up to the inevitable realization.'Am I having a gay panic right now?!'

Yosano, Ranpo, Naomi, Kouyou and Tachihara burst into laughter.

Kyouka, Atsushi, Gin and especially Chuuya blushed at the thoughts they were hearing.

Mori cackled maniacally, spouting something about Soukoku and diamonds and fate and darkness that no one quite understood.

Hirotsu heaved a huge, deep sigh that felt like he was letting his soul leave his body just so he wouldn't have to deal with this anymore.

Kunikida might as well have fainted.

Higuchi and, surprisingly, Tanizaki and f*ckuzawacooedat 'baby Dazai's baby gay panic'.

Kenji and Akutagawa just stood to the side and watched, one smiling with a mind full of pleasure at his friends' joy, the other wondering if Dazai would acknowledge his strength if he got rippling abs like Chuuya, too.

Still, they all had to congratulate Dazai for not showing externally that he was freaking out, keeping the gay panic to himself and compartmentalizing his sexual awakening to be dealt with later, instead focusing on the ongoing sh*tshow. Wasn't hard to focus on the real world troubles when Nakahara Chuuya was screaming at him and Verlaine was studying them until understanding dawned on his face.

"I see. So it's you guys."

Chuuya and Dazai stood side by side, turning their attention as one unit back onto Verlaine, expressions surprisingly identical, postures complementary to each other, covering each other's weaknesses and blind spots as though they've done this a million times before. As Adam watched them face off against quite possibly the most powerful man in the world, he couldn't help but think that there was something similar to perfection about those two.

"Because they'reSoukoku," crowed Mori, preening that his contributions to society were finally being properly acknowledged after he'd been roasted in half the visions he was even mentioned.

"Don't take other's credit as your own, Ougai."

"I'm not, Yukichi~"

"Oh my god, just flirt somewhere else already!" Ranpo snapped and the two leaders blushed, their faces showing an even worse internal gay panic than the one sixteen year old Dazai had just displayed.

"I heard you two killed Rimbaud all by yourselves."

"You want revenge, Verlaine-san?" Dazai falsely guessed, studying the blond, frowning a little at the subtle things he was picking up. The little tells of emotion and sincerity. Picking the world's deadliest assassin apart like a kid would a frog during dissection week in a high school science class.

"Nope," Verlaine replied and Dazai's mind went off with'Lie'immediately, especially with the distant look in Verlaine's eyes. Dazai almost wanted to give him lying tips, he was that bad.'Still better than chibi, though,'he couldn't help but note, even as he listened to the artificial(?) human say: "He was dead to me long before you guys killed him; nine years ago, the minute I shot him in the back."

And this was also a lie, obviously, but this one made Dazai a bit ...angry. Because he'dlikedRandou, just a tiny bit, and he'd made an impact on Chuuya to keep him from fully doubting his precious humanity. Verlaine was not only spitting on that since he came to Japan, but he was now outright spitting on the man himself, too.

Dazai took a step forward. "Do you know what I came here like this, Verlaine-san?" He asked, not expecting an answer but enjoying the startlement his tone of voice caused in the android, the little Sheep and even the Assassin King himself. "Because I've succeeded in earning us time. You will die for the crimes of making an enemy out of the Port Mafia," he said, not a threat, apromise. One of many he'd given in the past year and many more that will be made in the years to come.

Verlaine simply shrugged at the cold death threat, not taking it as seriously as he should, as all others will, once Dazai earns himself the deadly nickname of the Demon Prodigy. "We'll see. I've been threatened with that many times before, but I always get off in the end." He moved as though to escape with N, but Dazai's quiet voice stopped both him and the gun Adam was pointing at him.

"Your Ability is powerful, but I have a general understanding of it. All we have to do is crush you to death with something more powerful."'Well, that, or defy laws of physics through other forces of attraction. Also, note to self, tutor the slug in advanced physics and other related fields of science. I think it's time that little fool actually understands the things he's doing.'

"I should have guessed," Kouyou says with an exasperated sigh. "Though, you did do pretty good with your studies, if I'm not wrong."

The ginger haired Executive shrugged. "sh*tty Dazai is an unfairly good mentor. We even tried out some theories, for chits and giggles. Many of them are not very good for a battlefield and some can only happen during Corruption so it was a lost cause testing those out, but it was fun and I learned a lot."

Kunikida grumbled about the only test he failed in school because he missed the opportunity to study with the 'miracle tutor' before he vanished with the destroyed library in that earthquake.

Verlaine laughed, looking delighted that someone apparently understood his Ability. He even challenged Dazai's claim to that before using said Ability to veritably vanish with N, leaving a huge hole in the ceiling of the facility, opening up an escape route for the four intruders still stuck inside. And while Adam had been a bit shaken by the whole chaotic event, Dazai and Chuuya themselves hadn't moved a single inch, staying side by side, their Abilities' properties keeping them each respectively safe. They did look up at the ceiling - or lack there of - expressionlessly and with open mouths. They had not yet looked so child-like in these visions of their sixteen year old selves as they did now.

"Hey, sh*tty Dazai. You said you had a general understanding of his Ability?" Chuuya asked, both of them still staring up with that childish sort of amazement at seeing something cool. Hell, they each looked just a little bit excited at that moment as they realized there was a bigger challenge ahead of them than they had previously thought.

"Yeah," Dazai replied as the wind gently whipped their hair and the oversize coat on his shoulders.

"But ... Do you really understand?" Chuuya asked, kind of skeptical, and even Adam looked like he was doubting Dazai's claim, but Dazai, though?

Dazai wasdelighted.

Because he just realized some of his theories wereright.

'Physics lessons with chibi are going to besofun~'

" ... Were they,really, Chuuya-san?"

Chuuya shot Tachihara a venomous look. "Yes, theywere. A little tough and I probably would have had more trouble understanding all that sh*t had it not been for the mackerel, but it was fun. And very, very applicable."

" ... Should we just leave it to Dazai to train new recrui-"

"No," Akutagawa immediately interjected, glaring at Ranpo for even suggesting it, who only rolled his eyes but didn't push it further.

The next scene they see is unfairly comical in contrast to the horrors of the lab, the reveal of how little people outside of Dazai knew about Verlaine's true might and the torturous, tragic past of one Nakahara Chuuya. That is to say, they were greeted to the sight of Chuuya taking his revenge for Dazai's scheming by tying him upside down from a street lamp as Chuuya spun him around while Adam and Shirase watched them bicker and simultaneously exchange information and tactics. It was insane and neither android nor Ability-less human could really understand what was going on, but in the future, this would simply be known as 'Soukoku's usual shenanigans'.

When Adam voiced his confusion, the poor robot could not quite compute Dazai's explanation that it was to save time, since Chuuya was angry with him and he couldn't have Chuuya angry with him when they needed to rely on each other for his plans, thus Dazai let himself be strung up so Chuuya could take out his anger. The revenge was painless, since Dazai was still needed in good health, but it did eventually 'make Dazai puke'; as though this was enough, compared to the training Dazai used to have to toughen up his stomach.

Shirase, if it was possible, was even more confused and probably thought them aliens.

Dazai and Chuuya proceeded not to give a f*ck.

"I've never tried stringing Dazai up before," Kunikida mused to himself and both Chuuya and Akutagawa turned to him with murderous intent so intense that he had no choice but to back down.

"Isn't 190 ways of exacting revenge a bit of an overkill?" Atsushi dared to ask and Chuuya snorted.

"Please! That mackerel has 27 notebooks filled up with 'grievances' he has with me! 190 revenge options is hardly as bad as that."

"They're obsessed with each other," Yosano deadpanned to an embarrassed Kouyou, who could only confirm it.

"And here everyone says Onii-sama and I are bad~!" Pouted Naomi.

No one bothered to tell her why what she does with her brother was not normal; they've all given up at this point.

"Can we agree that slowly feeding someone poison should never be put in the same sentence as giving a baby candy? Yes? Alright We're all already getting along so much better now!" Tachihara sarcastically cheered and Junichiro even indulged him in a high five.

The next scene started considerably differently than the last one, with Verlaine forcefully stopping a train, tracking down Mori, trying to kill him only to find out it was a body-double when Falling Camellias blew him away, through a window and landing on the moldy leaves outside, rolling around until he lost momentum against a tree before standing up. "Not bad," he complimented.

Gin, Chuuya and Tachihara all cheered for Hirotsu and Akutagawa and Higuchi even clapped while the old man gave bows for his performance.

Dazai made his own grand entrance just as Verlaine was contemplating that someone saw through his assassination plans. "Hey, Verlaine-san." The blond looked over as he picked up his hat to the small figure of the sixteen year old sitting on the edge of the flipped over train.

"Dazai-kun," he returned the greeting. "I've heard of the phraseIntelligence isn't dependent upon your age, but ... My apologies, you're terrifying."

Dazai listened to his words, noting with wonder that, despite what was said, Verlaine firmly didnotfall into the category of adults unnerved by extremely intelligent kids. In fact, he very firmly fell into the intrigued group, yet he could acknowledge that someone like Dazai is to be feared.'How fascinating.'Dazai could almost be tempted to keep him.'Hewouldbe a good asset to the Mafia, as well as for eventually tracking down Kashimura and dealing with him for the last time. Something to ponder ... I'll have to bring it up with Mori-san later, after he's done pissing his pants in the back wagon.'

"Of course that's when he was already plotting on recruiting Verlaine," Chuuya said with a snort and crossed arms while Mori was once again wailing at Dazai's meanness towards him.

"You did this yourself," Dazai replied dryly. "This time around, you moved too much in accordance with your own personal feelings. I knew you'd do this much. Why are you so fixated on Chuuya?"

"Does he really have any right to ask?" Higuchi questioned with a pale face. "Isn't he, like, practically obsessed with Chuuya-san, practically since they met? Thefirsttime, nine years ago?"

"To be fair, Chuuya-kun is just as obsessed with him as Dazai-kun is, so it's perfectly fine," Mori reasoned, only to get slapped over the head by f*ckuzawa. "Yukichi~"

"Quit your whining; you're an embarrassment to yourself andme."

The little tete-a-tete continued with Verlaine bringing up the 'brothers' issue, to which Dazai replied rather blandly. "It's really strange, actually. First of all, what makes you seriously believe that Chuuya's your younger brother?"

"Finally! Someone said it!" Yosano exclaimed dramatically and Chuuya just rolled his eyes at her. He's been doing that a lot, he's noticed. He ought to check in with a doctor after this was over, just to make sure he didn't strain anything.

" ... What?" The dumbfounded and confused Verlaine asked with narrow eyes, but Dazai was as undeterred as ever.

"You saw it too, right? Chuuya's 'original' they experimented on. He became a skeleton and died," he explained, swinging his legs like a little boy sitting on a park bench rather than one of the most dangerous individuals in Yokohama's history, drenched in blood to the gills with darkness wrapped around him like a comforting blanket. "They practically looked the same. Their Abilities were awfully similar. They have plenty of other commonalities, too. What if instead, that skeleton was the man-made gifted lifeform and the living Chuuya, whose only redeeming factor is his vitality, was the original?" Something Dazai had suspected and wanted to prove, only for all thoseidiots, the chibi included, to foil his plans by letting that skeletondisintegrate. Dazai had beenthisclose to putting a bullet between Shirase's eyes when he'd seen that thing happen on the security footage. He was still tempted. "Can you read through the limited documents on his past as someone not personally involved?"

Verlaine, of course, denied it.

Dazai wondered if he should pity him, so desperate for a connection.

'Not unlike yourself, 'ey, sh*tty mackerel? Is that why you spared him when you found him alive?'Chuuya wondered, filing away yet another piece of proof Dazai was more human than he believed. He'll need all these convoluted puzzle-pieces in order to ingrain that thought into his sh*tty partner's brain, once this was over.

"If you look into it, you'll know right away," the brunet said casually. "Luckily, this time around, the folk over at the research facility can demonstrate how to rewrite the string of equations inside Chuuya. If I captured a researcher using the Mafia's power, I'd gladly tell you what the equation said. Then we'd really know what Chuuya is. Fortunately for you, we have a lot of time~"

"You're talking as if you're convinced Chuuya's a human being," Verlaine said with a scoff.

Dazai sighed. "I am convinced."

The Chuuya of todaygawked.

Everyone else gave him judgmental side-eyes, because they've been telling him this thewhole timethey'd known of his dilemma, especially in regards to how Dazai saw it.

Then Dazai laughed. It was fond but also self-deprecating, in a way. "An artificial string of equations couldn't create that humanity I despise so much~" Verlaine started walking towards Dazai with heavy footsteps, done with the games and demanding where Mori was in a threatening voice. "In other words, you don't like giving in?"

"Of course not."

"Is that so ... Then it's your loss," he said with an actual regretful look.

Before a sniper's bullet hit Verlaine directly in the head, making him bend backwards and fall down the slope he'd just climbed to approach the teen. After rolling three times, he came to a stop and threw a harsh look up at Dazai, flinching slightly as he noted the moon in the background making Dazai's eyes look like glowing red gems in the night. Like a demon was staring straight into his soul. "A sniper? Th-" Another bullet hit him, bouncing off of his forehead now that he was on guard, but it still almost knocked him over to the side with the force of it.

"Your Ability only works when you touch the target," Dazai said, voice deadpan and empty, looking down on his latest victim. His prey. The Assassin King himself. "Meaning, a bullet is sure to hit you. Only you'd stop it right away, right? Which is why if we hit you with a bullet from a high caliber sniper several times faster than a normal bullet, you'd still bestruckthe minute you stop it with your gravity. And-" He lifted a hand, the firing of guns lighting up the night on his command from all sides, the top of the hill, the gaps in the groove, from behind the leaf litter, from the trees, all fifty sniper bullets rushed at the European all at once, in perfect harmony, just as Dazai had drilled into their heads when preparing for this ambush.

All the bullets hit and Verlaine had to cry out. Then the strange phenomena of Verlaine trying to flee an attack happened, with the platinum blond heading towards the trees in hopes of recuperating and gaining back his equilibrium. But bullets kept hitting his back and he couldn't help but marvel at the efficiency of getting fifty snipers out here in such a short time. His clothes were getting torn up at this point, bullets digging into his skin, leaving bruises and grazes. The shots were getting faster and faster and all Verlaine could do was cover his head in protection.

Gin and Kyouka were startled by howsmalltheir mentor appeared as he tried to protect his body under the onslaught.

"You chose the wrong enemy, Verlaine-san," was said with a faint smile. "My countermeasures for your gravitational Ability are foolproof. After all, whether asleep or awake, I'm constantly thinking up ways to annoy Chuuya~"

Crickets could be heard among the watching audience, some shuffling, some clearing their throat uncomfortably.

"So-"

"Shut. Up."

"Okay, yeah."

Verlaine, of course, tried to fight back. Key wordtried. He withstood the rain of bullets and tried to grab and use a nearby tree, to throw it, only for it to be chopped in pieces and, well, no one could hold back a cheer as they recognized Kouyou. "Hoho, if you look close enough, youdolook like my subordinate," the female Executive from six years ago commented as she and Gold Demon made their appearance. "But you're just the selfish older brother that wants to take away our boy so arbitrarily. I'll forgive you once you're scrambling out of here with your limbs cut off."

"Sexy~" Purred Yosano, to which Kouyou just smiled firtatiously.

Chuuya was stuck between fondness for his older sister figure and her protectiveness of him and disgust at having to witness her flirt and be flirted with.

When Verlaine tried to attack Kouyou, it was revealed she was far from being a lone Mafia Ability user Dazai had dragged out into the woods for this nonsense. Or rather, the most spectacular ambush in modern history. Because Verlaine's feet started sinking into the ground, revealing the Colonel's involvement. No matter where Verlaine tried to run, the ground was sludge.

"Ha ha ha! Run, run young'un! Young fold like you are here for this old man's enjoyment! Time to die by decapitation!" Colonel exclaimed jovially as he emerged from the darkness, working in tandem with Kouyou, as huge as he'd been when Dazai had been Shuuji and when he'd been used by the Tsushima Boss to 'train' his grandson.

Verlaine was now busy with keeping his head on his shoulders, trying not to sink into the liquefied ground too much and making sure the Mafia snipers don't get in too good of a hit that might spell game over for him.

And then Verlaine met two Ability users Dazai had recruited into his squad. The first one he met slowed down Verlaine's perception of time, making it harder for him to react, letting more hits land. Verlaine tried to break out of the Ability by using one of his buttons as a bullet tens of kilograms heavier than its actual weight, but the clock representing the Ability would not break.

"You can't break it," a melancholic young man sitting on the ground said, curled up and looking miserable for all the power he held in his hands. "It's no use. That thing watches everyone, including the two of us. At some point, until the day we die, it'll find us and chase us down. It'stime. The enemy of us all," Trapper, who'd found solace in discovering a living being who is unaffected by his Ability in Dazai and had sold his life to the teen, said, staring at Verlaine with unnerving eyes.

With Verlaine's perception of time messed up, the earth wrapped itself around Verlaine's legs. Immediately after, he was hit from a sniper riffle to the head, knocking him over. As Verlaine realized the full scope of Dazai's plan, for the first time, he felt a cold sweat take over him.

Meanwhile, Dazai gazed down at his plan unfolding just as he'd expected it would, gunfire and flashing blades lighting up the forest he'd chosen for this battle. "This is the logic of the world," he chirped, wondering if anyone would hear him and not caring either way, if he was honest. "The absolute truth, adapting over all things in nature across all periods of time - in this world, the group is stronger than the individual. An Ability user is stronger than the group. And," he smiled as the explosive blast reached him, caressing over his cheeks like it was a comfortable breeze. "A group of Ability users is stronger than a lone Ability user."

The Agency couldn't help but watch in horror as the fight continued, the ruthlessness and mercilessness of Dazai's planning following every move Verlaine made, predicting it and counteracting it. Verlaine tried to retreat and regroup, only his skin started to bleed, caused by Dazai's second personally recruited Ability user. It was the atmosphere cooling Ability user, Karen, and she'd used her Ability to drop the temperature enough that Verlaine's skin froze stuck his his clothes so that any move he made caused an injury, bleeding. Not enough to hurt, but enough to be noticeable, to throw him off.

"Let's embrace our freezing love. Let us embrace while the frozen flowers break apart as they bloom!" With every breath the white haired woman took, her surroundings froze more. If he stayed there, it wouldn't be long for him to freeze from his flesh all the way down to his bones.

Even better, her Ability froze things over without need for physical contact, so a gravity manipulator couldn't defend themself from her attack, a natural enemy.

A bullet hit, lodging itself into Verlaine's shoulder, freezing into his skin and letting the ever lowering temperatures invade his wound, his body, eating away at the flesh and muscles and nerves along the way.

In the middle of such a synchronized attack, Verlaine met another one of Dazai's loyal Ability user subordinates, though not one he'd drafted himself. "Tee-hee-hee! That's a sweet face you're makin', there! Hey, just between you and me, if you apologize with your tear stained face dribbling out some drool, I'll let you go in secret, 'kay?" The spatial Ability user said from where they were hiding within their Ability, getting in close on Verlaine, taunting him, jumping around to avoid his attacks. "Yeah, it's me! I'm watching you. You don't have to worry about locking up in the bathroom from now on! Tee-hee-hee!" They were one of Dazai's most hated subordinates, both because of their Ability and their near on obsession with following him everywhere any chance they got. They were also truly unhinged and Dazai wouldn't be surprised if they wanted to drink his blood or something to 'express their admiration' for the guerrilla squad's leader, the wraith of the Mafia, more myth than fact outside of their own ranks.

Still, as annoying as they were and as unhinged as their behavior can be, they were fanatically loyal to Dazai for whatever reason and would do anything to please him, so Dazai took advantaged of that. Their spatial connection Ability was extremely useful for this ambush and Dazai shamelessly used that.

"Tee-hee, her's a gift for you~! From the Port Mafia with love~"

And Verlaine was surrounded in pink flower petals, before they exploded in a bright, booming flash of white. Dazai could see it from his perch as Hirotsu joined him, taking off his Mori-disguise. The older man could clearly see how satisfied Dazai was with the progress of his plan. "How is everything looking, Dazai-san?"

"How can you be so calm?" An awed Gin asked, turning to look at the present day version of the Black Lizard Field Commander. Hirotsu sighed like he wanted a smoke. "Dazai-san, at sixteen, is taking outVerlaine-shishou. Hirotsu-san, this isamazing. This isawe-inspiring. This ishorrifying. How were you socalm?"

"That was hardly my first raid with Dazai-san," the older gentleman pointed out. "I've also seen the aftermath of a couple Soukoku missions previous to them actually becoming Soukoku, at that point in time. Now, therealsurprise comes soon after this. That's the real dozy."

"There'smore!?" Tanizaki squeaked and Hirotsu shrugged.

"Of course there is. Guivre hadn't been unleashed yet."

"As you can see, it's going well. So well, in fact, that I find itboring," sixteen year old Dazai whined even as explosions took place not far from them.

"Just as you expected," the Hirotsu of the past summarized.

Dazai huffed. "Of course. I painstakingly earned us enough time just for these preparations, after all," he crossed his legs elegantly, as though he were attending a high profile dinner with thecrem de la cremof society rather than an ambush on the most powerful assassin and Ability user in the world andsucceedingin making him bend the knee. "It was rough when Chuuya and I fought Randou-san by ourselves. So, this time, I came prepared. 422 Mafia combatants and 28 Ability users, gathered here just to kill Europe's Mr. King of Assassins. It's all the collective strength the Mafia has to give right now."

And with Dazai's relatively simple strategy, combined with the second part that would involve Chuuya and Adam, it was a surefire win for the Port Mafia. Even without the second part, had Verlaine been a normal human being and not someone like Chuuya, all of this would have been a one-sided annihilation.

"We can keep this battle going all night long," Dazai mused, to himself and to Verlaine, whom he extremely pitied in this moment. A man as powerful as that, being introduced to the feeling of helplessness and being forced to acknowledge his own mortality? That's just the added psychological effect. The cherry on the cake. "Verlaine-san. You are the perfect assassin. Your skills are adept and you've probably never made a mistake like this before, for you to be found and cornered like this. It's why you have no experience being surrounded by a Gifted organization like us. Randous-an also had misgivings about that dangerous perfection. I grieve for you, Verlaine-san," Dazai placed his hand on the book he'd retrieved, that no one but him had had an insight to, Rimbaud's notes on Verlaine's very existence. "I don't grieve for your death-" After all, death was a blessing, compared to this cruel world. "-I grieve for your birth. No one grieved for your birth, so you've been the only one this whole time. That's your motive for fighting ... I think you're amazing. You hate that you were born, you hate your power and you hate the world. Only by doing that can you accept your meaningless life. It's an amazing feat. I don't have that kind of courage, and that's why I wanted to talk to you more. But ... This is farewell."

The watching audience couldn't help the squeeze of their hearts. Perhaps even Mori felt pity for the boy he'd so callously thrown into more darkness than he'd already existed in. It's rather doubtful he would regret it, but he wasn't above pity.

Chuuya, on the other hand, closed his eyes and breathed through his nose to calm himself down, his teeth grinding together as he realized that Verlaine and Dazai had also managed to reach an understanding within minutes of meeting each other, just like he and Dazai had. Only difference was, Verlaine hadn't been afraid to look at Dazai and point out the similarities.

And Dazai had found enough in Verlaine to see himself in him.

Neither of them had been blessed with their birth, for all that their birth may have been seen as a blessing by others. Neither had had a say in the power they would wield or the role they would play. Neither could quite connect with this world where they were as much of an alien to it as any extraterrestrial that may land in a spaceship someday.

But there were also differences in them that had, apparently, endeared them to each other. Verlaine had apparently recognized that Dazai could not find the courage to search for a meaning in his life by hating the world that had been nothing but cruel to him. Dazai, instead, searched for a meaning in the people around him but they had all kept shunning him. Even Chuuya, whom Dazai had inadvertently devoted himself to since they were eight. Perhaps that was why Oda had become so dear to Dazai; he was the only one who had never shunned Dazai, wasn't he?

Chuuya had so much to apologize for and he had a feeling that the following months they will no doubt witness soon enough will only add even more to the list.

Dazai stood up, turning his back tothe battlefield in front of him, walking away. He heard Hirotsu call after him, but he did not turn around nor pause. He'd seen all he needed to see. "Report back to me when you're done." He hated how his voice sounded powerless for a moment, like that of a child, before he got a grip of himself and continued walking.

Of course, that was when Verlaine had a little revelation himself and opened his Gate, unleashing his power as black waves started to swell up around the battlefield, dark matter, whole mini-universes coming and disappearing from existence as theridiculousamounts of energy whipped the air. Verlaine's roar followed and Dazai immediately recognized the building oppressing atmosphere, instructing his subordinates to find shelter over the radio before they were all wiped out. The he saw it, the nightmarish figure, the vision of war and terror and calamity, of humanity's sickest minds giving fruit. Unfortunately, as the being emerged, so did many of Dazai's men suffer untimely ends.

"What is this?" A terrified Akutagawa asked, looking pale in the face. "This ... This is nothing like Corruption ... It so muchworse," he breathed, watching with wide eyes as Verlaine's skin crawled with black patterns, the man's body floating in the air and skin and bone and flesh gave way to whatever shape he was trying to take, clothes tearing apart and his cackles chilling the air. Space opened and closed at random around him, letting out something like black snowflakes.

Verlaine then formed and released the first graviton bomb, a condensed black hole, sucking in the atmosphere, making it harder to breathe before shooting out and destroying everything in its path. Dazai barely got Hirotsu to take cover, the older man petrified having never seen something like it before, but all Dazai could see in his mind, all over again, was that night eight, nine years ago.

"Just now ... What exactly ... ?" Hirotsu was struggling not to panic, let alone to form a proper sentence.

"It's the same," Dazai said, face stiffening. "When he escaped from the lab, he dug from the basem*nt to the surface all in one swoop. And two days ago, Chuuya destroyed an entire block."'And nine years ago, Chuuya blew up a military research facility, creating Sribachi City.'"Both of those times he said he opened a Gate. This is the result of what's behind that gate. Get a good look, Hirotsu-san ... It's unbelievable."

'And it's a power only I can tame.'

Chapter 17

Chapter Text

16yo

Thankfully for the eyes of the children, not much more of Verlaine's destructive rampage was shown before they got to see Chuuya and Adam inject him with poison to stop him. Quite a few sobbed over Adam's 'death', despite Chuuya reassuring them that the android was happily working to create an all-robot detective Agency in Europe as they speak. They did, unfortunately, find out quite a few of Dazai's more notable subordinates of that time had perished and the three whole squads that were utterly decimated by Verlaine in the middle of Brutalization.

Of course, learning that Dazai literallyplannedto unleash Verlaine's uncontrollable power shouldn't have surprised anyone, yet it did, because the risks, this time, seemed too great even for someone with Dazai's predictive Abilities.

Seeing Chuuya go through a black hole had certainly earned him both praise and scoldings. Even Kouyou hadn't been informed of that stunt.

Seeing the dedication of Dazai's men to his cause, well, it made them wonder how they had felt when their boss had defected. Only to be informed by Chuuya that not even a dozen of them were left at present and most were too injured to do field work anyways.

They didn't see Verlaine's and Chuuya's little heart to heart, though Chuuya gave them an abridged version.

And, of course, then came the realization that N had disappeared as Chuuya and Dazai communicated over the walkie-talkie. Dazai was pleasantly surprised that Chuuya had figured out his true motives over this whole ordeal with Verlaine. "No matter how many times I save Mori-san's life, my loyalty just doesn't run deep enough to face off against such a frightening man. My implementing the formula N knows, or maybe his knowledge in general, I plan to make Chuuya my faithful maid~"

And while they really should be worrying over the fact that N disappeared, well, this was Soukoku drama and one half just revealed a kink.

"That's nothing," Kouyou cooed to Yosano as she, Tachihara and Naomi started teasing Chuuya about Dazai's shamelessness. "Our dear Chuuya here has a bondage kink. He always liked it a bit too much when Dazai was tied or chained up."

"Ane-san! That's so not true!"

"Chuuya-kun, youdorealize that, if not the interrogation rooms themselves, the hallways down in the basem*nt are all under heavy, high tech survailence, right? I, as well as the staff in the security rooms, all heard you compliment Dazai-kun for rivaling a ten billion yen masterpiece when he was chained up."

Chuuya blenched at his Boss' words. "So you know I was the one who let Dazai escape?"

"... What?"

Chuuya blenched again. "You said it was all under high surveillance!"

"Light Snowcanfool cameras," Tanizaki pointed out, as he had done that many times before, both for himself and the Agency. He'd even done it recently to the Port Mafia headquarters.

Hirotsu, though, waved him off. "The basem*nt, especially the torture chambers and the dungeons, are Dazai-san's prowling grounds. The security down there is ready for any kind of detection, not just visual feeds, including motion sensors on almost every surface and infrared cameras with the option for high quality filming in darkness the likes the military or nature photographers use. And we did get the notification that two Agency members snuck down into the dungeons to retrieve Dazai-san."

Kouyou massaged her temple as she realized what happened. "Dazai's past subordinates are the only ones who know all the security measures down there. So they're the only one who keep an eye on those things in the security room. Even the report they made probably had fabricated evidence to back them up."

The gravity manipulator tipped his hat down so it was hiding his whole face as he realized he'd just outed himself and Dazai's efforts to make him look guiltless. This was even more embarrassing than the kink talk earlier.

Mori sighed, resigned. "Well, it's not like we could have kept Dazai-kun in there without his own desire to stay still. Goodness knows, Dazai-kun could have escaped at any time. Everything down there was by his design, after all."

"Half of the current Port Mafia was by his design, Ougai-dono."

"And you lot never changed anything?" Ranpo asked with an arched eyebrow, brazenly judging them.

Mori scoffed. "If you think the changes you've seen fourteen-fiftee-sixteen year old Dazai-kun made, wait 'til you see the changes sixteen-seventeen-eighteen Port Mafia Executive Dazai-kun makes! Only a fool would mess with perfection. And Kouyou-kun, I feel like I must correct you: 78% of the current Port Mafia is entirely made by Dazai-kun's design."

" ... Are you telling me Dazai is literally the self-destruct button of your organization should you ever piss him off enough or if someone manages to use him against you?" f*ckuzawa asked incredulously and Mori shot him a disgusted look.

"Youhave no place to talk. Your little organization is run by a manchild who only cares about sweets and curing his own boredom while being convinced he has an Ability. If he simply got lost on his way back home while Dazai-kun was also away on a mission, you lot would be destroyed in half an hour!"

"Kind of true," Ranpo reluctantly agreed, glaring at Mori nonetheless.

"Can you save your dick measuring contest for later? These next scenes are really f*cking important regarding my relationship with Dazai later on. Besides, this is about my partner, my brother and me. You lot are currently irrelevant. So just f*ck off for now, oi!"

Mori let anime-style tears cascade down his cheeks. "Chuuya-kun, you've been spending too much time with Elise-chan if you're this mean to me."

"And speaking of kinks and kink-shaming, you ought to sort yours out, Boss. Little girls - which is disgusting, by the way - or older men; ya can't have both. Just pick already and stop being a creep."

Mori might as well have been struck by an anime arrow through his heart for being called out like that. The rest were stuck between being green in the face regarding Mori'syoungertastes and the implications of him being attracted to older men. Particularly, in the second group, were Yosano and Ranpo. And f*ckuzawa himself looked between being disgusted about Elise and being flustered by being implied in the other 'kink'.

Thankfully, Kunikida had covered Kenji's ears and Atsushi had covered Kyouka's, while Akutagawa covered the weretiger's ears, too, so all the innocent 'children' were spared. The Tanizaki siblings had even covered each other's ears and still looked green in the face when they realized someone had more problematic tastes than them.

Kunikida himself was foaming at the mouth, ready to pass out and never wake up again.

Chuuya was now very smug that he was no longer the topic and instead turned to watch as Guivre was unleashed on Yokohama. Well, the forests outside Yokohama, but the beast was making way towards the city at a steady pace within minutes of manifesting as the sky split in two, black lightning started crashing into the ground and the atmosphere swelled all over again. And Dazai could only watch, knowing it was too late to evacuate everyone. To counter it all in a deathly irony was a lovely angelic voice, or rather the howling of a demon.

The same disaster that had happened nine years ago was happening again, now, only perhaps stronger. The earth boiled, just like it did days ago, when Chuuya had lost control. Everything in its path evaporated. The skies burned and people too close were singed out of existence faster than they could register what was going on.

No Longer Human hummed under Dazai's skin. He wasn't yet close enough for it to light up, but it was already protecting him from the worst of it. The effects of unleashed, uncontrollable gravity coming fromthe other side, as Randou had said. The beast that emerged was not Arahabaki - Dazai, for all that he had seen it only once, would recognize it immediately, for he would recognizeChuuyaimmediately, anywhere, anywhen, under any circ*mstances. Besides, this thing was bigger, darker, far more sinister than the creature which had lunged at Dazai on Suribachi Island. It was so massive that it's body hid the moon from sight, it's steps shook and cracked the ground.

"This is a singularity? Could such power truly be born from Abilities?" Dazai asked into the night, ecstatic, a smile on his lips. "It's almost like the world is ending." He watched as the forest was utterly destroyed within seconds, really. It killed and destroyed anything in its path, apathetic to existence itself. His men all around desperately tried to fight back, but the more aggressive or hateful or even just fearful they were, the more the beast - Guivre, according to Randou's notes - reacted to them. And, well, the attacks were less than mosquito bites, given they didn't even land, stopped by those black hole bubbles the creature continued popping out.

However, no matter how one-sided this was, how alike to invoking the wrath of a god and suffering the consequences, Dazai had trained his squad too well. Aerial support came in, though they were of little help. Because Guivre could shoot black holes like lasers, something that can't happen on their planet naturally, a cosmic phenomenon.

"He's started walking," Hirotsu of the past said blankly. "Over there's the city ... He's heading for Yokohama."

"What in thehell!?" All those who hadn't been involved in this incident exclaimed, unable to believe what they were seeing. Nay, they couldn't believe the city was still evenstandingtoday ...

"Is this a fever dream?"

"How are we still alive?"

"How was this hidden from the public?"

"Is this even possible?"

"How thef*ck-"

"Is that really an Ability?"

"No, it's reality. Obviously, it was defeated. The government, duh. Yes, you have eyes, you're seeing it happen. Abilities, science and who knows what else; just ask the mackerel. Yes, it is; it's the result of humans f*cking around with Abilities and somehow managing to make the singularity a host to a higher being we understand nothing about. They've managed to do it successfully exactly twice," Chuuya answered all the questions that came, though no one was actually expecting someone, anyone to answer them.

Meanwhile, Dazai was having an insane conversation with the Mori of six years ago. "You want us to beat him?"

"Mori, are youinsane!?" Yosano snapped, but the Boss just shrugged at her and pointed towards the visions, as if to say that she'll understand if she would just watch it to the end.

"You told me to rub, but where could I run away from such a monster?"

"Mori-sensei, just how much do you owe that young man?"

"Everything."

"Instead, I want to see you guys - you and Chuuya-kun overcome this crisis. That would surely mark the dawn of a new era," the Mori of the past continued, in a rather chiper mood considering what might be theapocalypsewas going on outside.

"You're f*cking insane," Yosano decided, not that she hadn't thought it before, but now she had tangible proof. Sort of.

"Easy for you to say," Dazai said with a voice laced with annoyance.'Does this dumbass think I grow miracles on trees? Even if I did, all the trees here aredead.'

"Ah, we're getting back Sassyzai," Tachihara breathed, relieved and amused. Even Akutagawa couldn't help but snort at the new 'nickname' for his (former?) mentor.

"But Chuuya's probably dead-" Not that he believes it even as he says it. If the annoying ginger were, Dazai was sure he would have felt it in the same way he's sure Chuuya would feel his death, too. There wassomethingbetween them that may or may not have formed the day Dazai first nullified Arahabaki, as though they've imprinted on each other. There's no telling if that was indeed the case, but he knows, in his heart, in hissoul, that he wouldknowif Chuuya perished. "He was the closest one to Verlaine when he became that monster and he hasn't responded to my calls. Even if he guarded against it with his gravity, he'd be in that monster's stomach by now ... "

Then Dazai had his little suicide-idealization moment, though he wasn't really serious. He knew Chuuya was alive, therefore Dazai mustn't die quite yet. Besides, this would be too quick of a death; the Book would surely survive it.

Still, Mori's response and reasoning actually surprised him.

"What you say is probably correct. But you will fight against that monster and you'll fight desperately. I just know it." And when asked why he was so certain ... "It's a very simple reason. If you die at the hands of that monster, then that means no one can save Chuuya-kun and he dies, too. In other words, the death you so eagerly await for will end up as a double suicide with Chuuya-kun."

And Dazai's brain stopped braining, his mind screeching to a halt.

"Ougai-dono, what thef*ck."

Kunikida turned calmly murderous eyes towards the Mafia Boss. "Wereyouthe one who taught him about double suicide? In any other circ*mstances, my ideals would be against it, but Iwillkill you for this. Do you haveanyidea how many complaints we get when he proposes random women with double suicide!?"

"Eep!"

Really, the first thing that registered in his mind was 'Chuuya dies' and his whole being aggressively rejected the notion so hard, he swears he felt like he'd been hit with an electric shock. Or a bullet. Then he registers 'double suicide', also most often referred to as 'lovers suicide'. With Chuuya. Lovers suicide withChuuya. Chuuya, who hasabsand pretty blue eyes and too soft hair like the sky at sunset. Brash, brutish, loyal, kind, silly, loud, cuteChuuya. Dazai gets so overwhelmed with the most nausea-inducing bout of nerves, the so-called 'butterflies in the stomach', that he actually dry heaves. And of course Mori, the devil, hears it and asks about it, because he's a sad*st who enjoys other's suffering.

"It's pointless trying to manipulate me. I'm cutting the line." He stood motionless, mind still reeling. Holding the radio close to his chest, he crunched down, curling up into a ball. "Anything but thaaaaaaat!"

"Aw, look at that blush," Chuuya teased, even as he matched his partner because of, really,everythingin that exchange.

"Poor Dazai, he had the strangest, most awkward sexual awakening I've ever witnessed," Yosano said with a shake of her head.

Gin snorted, immediately contradicting her. "Imagine being my brother and realizing you're gay for the weretiger who punched you into a coma."

"Gin! That isnot true!"

Atsushi yelped, face even hotter and redder than both halves of Soukoku combined.

f*ckuzawa disagreed with them both. "Imagine beingRanpoand realizing shy, nerdy, slightly emo rich boys with raccoons isitfor you."

"Poe isn't rich," Ranpo countered, only to have the Port Mafia Boss and Executives give him strange looks.

"He's basically the second richest member of the Guild. First, now that Fitzgerald is starting from scratch," Kouyou informed him, watching as his jaw dropped, before joining in on exposing the couples and their unfortunate kinks. "All of you areamateurs. Imagine realizing ten years too late that you're into DILFs."

"Executive Ozaki Kouyou, I will deduct every next comment from your pay for the next three years!"

"And I thought the kink talk was bad enough," Naomi commented, causing Kyouka and Junichiro to nod along with her.

Higuchi, meanwhile, was crying in a corner and Hirotsu and Tachihara were trying to console her since she realized she would never stand a chance with her Senpai.

"There there, Higuchi-kun. Everyone here is a dumbass. Even Tachihara fell for Gin when she threatened to castrate him, even when he didn't know her true gender."

"HEY!"

They witnessed Adam's second, more permanent (for now) sacrifice as he and Chuuyaescaped from Givre's stomach what the HELLand it sobered the mood instantly. For all that Chuuya has already once reassured them Adam was fine to this day, they still shed tears.

Then came the Soukoku reunion, for the third time in as many days, second time in just one night. Something that will become far more regular in the coming months and years. What was interesting to see was Dazai approach Chuuya with Verlaine's hat. The hat Chuuya oftodaywas still wearing.

"Are we witnessing the origins of Mr Fancy Hat?" Ranpo joked, but Chuuya did not react, once again enraptured with the interactions of his younger self and Dazai, more particularly how Dazai looked at Chuuya and the world around them. Back then, he had been too busy grieving one too many comrades and his own humanity to notice the subtle way Dazai checked over his body to make sure he was actually not severely injured. Then again, even if he had noticed it back then, he would have probably brushed it off as cold reasoning and logic, as strategy and calculation. Now that he knows he lives rent free in the bandage'd man's mind, as Yosano loved to remind him each time Dazai focuses on Chuuya and Chuuya alone when there are far more dire matters at hand, he knows how little those had in Dazai's scans for injuries on his body.

"I found N's corpse," Dazai said, ignoring Chuuya's lack of desire to deal with him in any form at that moment and how close he was to resorting to violence to chase the younger boy away. "He was crushed underfoot. Now, everyone who knew whether or not you were a human have all disappeared ... Are you frustrated?"

Of course, that wasn't entirely true.

"WHAT!? THAT SLIMY BANDAGED BASTARD!"

Dazai himself was still alive, after all.

"H-huh?"

He possessed the way to prove it one way or another, but he's not sure if the results will give Chuuya relief or break him.

"Okay, no, I agree with the doctor: f*ck. You."

"AMEN!"

"You tell me. I ... " But then Chuuya looked at Dazai and realized something. "Wait. You mean you've found another way to tell if I'm human or not, even without N?"

"Looks like I've been had~" The brunet singsonged with a laugh, shameless. "I managed to capture a few of N's subordinates in the facility. They know how to read the formula inside of you, even if they don't know what it means. I got a brief rundown but, well, I could've told you which it was if I analysed you over a few days."

"Dazai sure is possessive, huh," Higuchi observed and Chuuya snorted.

"You havenoidea."

"But, I mean, he could have just had those scientists look at that formula and checked instead of learning how to do it himself," the blonde pointed out but Mori and Chuuya shook their heads.

"Dazai-kun would never trust them not to attempt to pull some dirty trick and sabotage Chuuya-kun, either by potentially erasing all that is Chuuya-kun and leaving an empty shell, tampering with the preserved memories or outright making Chuuya-kun detonate, so they can hide their work before some international human rights group hunts them down for unethical behavior."

"Besides, yes, heisthat possessive. And, well, frankly, even back then, I would have rather trusted Dazai's diagnosis, even if he had no idea what he was doing, rather than those scientists."

Soukoku's bickering over who was more disgusting for what was interrupted by Guivre's movements and then Verlaine apparently speaking into his head by some telepathic bond their too-similar Abilities created or something. Verlaine not being dead yet was a bit of a relief, as both teens were feeling sorry for him at that point, but that didn't change the fact that they were now in danger and needed to hold on to the ground itself when the Guivre's tail got a bit too close to them for comfort.

"Watch out!" Chuuya called, grabbing Dazai as some sort of black torrents rained down on them, or rather around and near them. Black lightning again and the lights of a few buildings closest to them flickered before going out.

"Was that ... a release of gravity?" Dazai asked incredulously, mind already awash with calculations. It shouldn't be possible. But it was. It was only luck that they were still so far out from Yokohama, becausethatwould have certainly caused a lot of damage. Then something else happened, Guivre started changing shape, or rather,finallytaking its proper shape. It's red, blazing eyes faced the general direction of the two teens, seemingly not yet having zeroed in on them but aware of their proximity. It was still growing. "Don't look at it, Chuuya," he instructed, realizing they were in danger. "It reacts to human emotions, so don't give it any attention. Look somewhere else."

Chuuya did as he instructed, slowly moving his eyes towards the ground, as if he had to force himself to do it.

Dazai continued looking at the beast.

The beast moved on.

'Of course,'came the self-deprecating thought. He looked to the ground before Chuuya could notice. No doubt the older boy already knew, but that doesn't mean Dazai wanted to confirm it. "It can't be burned with flames," Dazai began, explaining how it was a singularity of pure, infinite energy and how it could only stop by itself when it runs out of it, which would take anywhere from a week to a year. "Or maybe it'll keep moving until the world ends. However long it takes for its energy to run out."

"Wait, is he seriously going to just thinkOf course, in connotation with the implication he doesn't have human emotions and just ... move on?"

"Dazai doesn't have the healthiest mindset regarding his own right to calling himself human, I'm afraid," Chuuya told Dazai's current field partner, the blond looking devastated to finally realize the full scope of it.

"But surely that's not proof enough?" Atsushi asked desperately. "I mean, No Longer Human! That could have interfered! It interferes with a lot of Ability-related stuff so surely it interfered here, too!"

"Or how about Dazai-san's Ability to manipulate his heart," Akutagawa suggested, too, in full agreement with his Shin Soukoku counterpart, both of them searching for a hint that can be used to dissuade their mentor from thinking so badly of himself.

Chuuya shook his head sadly. "I haven't yet met a person capable of convincing Dazai he's human like the rest of us. And, well, now I know why: more than even in my case, theprobabilityis that heisn't, not fully. Not biologically or existentially or whatever the f*ck else, considering we now know his mother couldn't have gotten pregnant with him if not for the Book."

Atsushi especially looked devastated by that while Akutagawa closed his eyes and resigned himself to having failed Dazai yet again.

"Perhaps there is something in these visions that could help us make him change his mind," Hirotsu suggested, drawing attention to himself. "And if not, well, we'll just hunt down Soseki-san. I'm sure we can find a way to prove Dazai-san is, indeed, human, that way."

That, as well as Soukoku coming to the conclusion that there is, indeed, a way to erase Arahabaki's - a singularity's - existence, made hope and determination swell through them.

Dazai and Chuuya stared at Guivre from atop an industrial gas tank as it approached them, situated high over some of Yokohama's higher buildings, making them about eye level with the beast. "I'd say there's about half an hour before the center of Yokohama is turned to dust," Dazai said 'casually' while his mind ran wild with calculations. This was all or nothing and Dazai personally hated such plans.

"It's not like we'll see it happen," came the reply from his ginger companion. "Either he'll be blown to pieces or we'll be dead."

"How optimistic," Kouyou commented with a sarcastic snort.

"Ugh, gross. Committing a double suicide with you would bethe worst. Just this once, I'll take this seriously."'In honor of everything you'll lose.'

"Huh?" Twenty two year old Chuuya grunted dumbly. Then he remembered and grimaced.'Right.'

"Fine by me. I don't feel like dying today. I have to become an Executive before you do so I can work you to the bone, after all."

"Wow, so confident. You're in the gem trade? Sounds like it's going pretty well."

"There's no way you can catch up to me. Our gems flow the way they do because our smugglers, buyers and appraisers are the best in Yokohama," Chuuya boasted and, really, how could Dazai resist to burst his little bubble.

"Oh, I know. Before you took over, I was in charge of that."'Along with every other division I had to fix because of everyone else's incompetence. Except Ane-san; the red district is working flawlessly so far, I just had to get them a better underground clinic. Hmm, if we survive this, I should look into getting a whole hospital in the Mafia's pocket; it would be useful for both Ane-san's girls and our own men. That way, no one needs to be traumatized just by seeing Mori-san's face.'

"HEY!"

"Savage Dazai is back!" Yosano cackled, highfiving Ranpo.

"WHAT!?" Chuuya screeched, looking over to the bandaged brunet. "Does that mean you were the first one to design those distribution routes?!" Dazai decided to leave him hanging, knowing that will annoy him more, and he was right. "I can't believe I got Dazai's leftovers!"

"How thef*ckare you guys socasual!?" Tachihara asked, jaw on the floor as he stared at his fellow Mafia ginger.

The short Executive shrugged. "Eh. sh*t happens. YOLO."

"Chuuya! That isnotthe right reaction to have to a death match between singularities!"

"Ane-san, no offense, but that was my reaction to fighting the dragon in order to reenact Snow White with that sh*tty Dazai. Thatistheonlyright reaction to a death match between singularities. I would know, because I've had more than one."

"I've honestly never really believed in god before," Kunichiro admitted. "But I think I do now."

Chuuya just flipped him off with a grin.

As they would learn, besides the hat, Dazai also gave Chuuya the activation chant needed for what they called Corruption, the state Verlaine had entered before N made him unleash Guivre.

"It's almost time," Dazai said. "You'll jump from here, open up your Gate in front of the monster, then fight him with all your might." Staring at the beast, Dazai held up his communicator, a bit of hesitation coloring his actions. "I'd better send the details of our strategy to my subordinates ... Is that okay?"

"What's up with him?" Naomi asked, never having seen Dazai hesitate like that.Ever. Even the Port Mafia were confused and intrigued, as Dazai had not given much detail in his reports aside from strategy and troop movements. And, of course, the results and casualties, at the end, but not this.

"We already decided it was," Chuuya said slowly, detecting a change in Dazai's behavior in a way no one else ever would. "What's with you, asking something like that?"

Dazai hesitated some more, a strange, complicated expression actually showing on his face. A show of vulnerability he allowed because he was about to take something from Chuuya, something he had hoped he could give him back instead of steal it from him. The whole reason why he took prisoners had been riding on it and now ... Well. "There's one problem," he finally said. "It's got nothing to do with the success of our plan. After all, even that is just another problem to overcome ... But you might need some time to reach a decision." Chuuya, of course, didn't like how he was stalling or how he was acting. In fact, he seemed a bit weirded out by it and tried to lighten the mood, in his own Chuuya way. Dazai did not think it was possible to do so right now. Not with the bombshell he was about to drop. "Remember earlier I said you use the activation chant to open your Gate and how that completely resets the string of formulas insideof you?" He couldn't help how his voice sounded a bit subdued. That did not reassure Chuuya at all, but at least he was listening. "If you use it, your previous stored logs will be erased. Meaning ... The formula that erased your memories of the past will also be deleted with it."

"Huh?"

"The formula for memory deletion," he explained to the confused slug, because apparently he'd lost him somewhere along the way. If this were any less of a dire situation, Dazai would tease him, but evenhewasn'tthatheartless. "In order to determine whether or not you're human, we had to go through your erased memories to check your past. So this means ... By using the activation chant, we will never be able to determine whether or not you're an artificially made human with equations for a personality or a normal human being. Ever."

"Wha- But that's so cruel!" Kenji exclaimed, turning teary eyes between sixteen year old Chuuya and his six years older present day counterpart. Both were staring at Dazai with wide, unblinking eyes, the younger version's mouth slightly opened, gazes unseeing even as they looked directly at Dazai.

Dazai did his best not to squirm under such a painful gaze. It did not suit Chuuya at all. "Verlaine was plagued with the curse of not knowing if he was human or not. I meant a lot to him, to be human."

In a way, all three of them were similar. They all wanted confirmation that they were human, that they had a right to exist. The only difference was that Dazaiknew. He knew he wasn't. But the two gravity manipulators ... Well, for Chuuya, there was still a chance. Kashimura Kansuke was still out there and one day, Dazaiwillhunt him down and make him pay. He'll learn from him whether Kashimura Chuuya is indeed Nakahara Chuuya.

Everyone's breath hitched, all their dreadful theories and suspicions finally, unfortunately confirmed.

Chuuya grit his teeth and closed his eyes, his gloves creaking from how tight his fists were clenched.

But for Verlaine, there is no saving him, beyondsaving him. Dead or alive, surely ceasing to exist must be more peaceful as himself rather than this beast. Dazai can afford him that, if nothing else, to his kindred soul, who had sought his own salvation in another but it hadn't been enough for Verlaine; Rimbaud hadn't been enough. Chuuya, for Dazai, was already too much. He wouldn't have it any other way.

Which is why he would not let this break Chuuya.

He'd rather leave Yokohama to burn than that.

"WHAT!?" Nearly everyone yelled, including Chuuya.

"That's a whole ass city!"

"Think of the people!"

"Get your priorities straight, man!"

"He did," Ranpo pointed out. "Well, he got his prioritiesgay, but you know what I mean."

"I ... guess he's right?"

"I'm always right."

"But still ... "

f*ckuzawa sighed. "All that matters is that it didn't come to that."

"It could've," Chuuya pointed out, subdued.

"But it didn't."

"..."

Dazai took out some random pocket-watch he got from who knows where, glanced at it, and then continued his earlier statement. "I can delay the start of our mission by about two minutes. I'll place my subordinates on standby ... " He trailed off, looking at Chuuya, before turning around to leave. "It'd be better if you thought alone for a little bit. You probably won't be able to think straight if I'm here."

"Yeah, he'll only be able to thinkgay."

"We get it, but come on, man, this is an emotional scene-"

"He's right," Chuuuya interrupted Tachihara, startling everyone else. "So what if I can only thinkgaywhen Dazai's around. Got a problem with that?" He challenged.

Ranpo barely held in a squeal, though. "Holy f*cking sh*t, I'm gonna make Dazai buy me my own goddamn chocolate factory for this!"

Chuuya rolled his eyes, ignoring the stunned looks everyone else was giving him for such an easy admission regarding his feelings for his partner. He plans on kidnapping his partner and taking him on a vacation when he gets out of this mess, so everyone knowing he would keep Dazai safe would only help things along and not make a bigger mess when everyone freaks out over Dazai going missing again.

As Dazai left Chuuya alone, knowing that the time he'd given the chibi was too short for such a big decision, he prepared for Chuuya to refuse. His mind was already working at frightening speeds, formulating plans and contingencies should that indeed happen. He wasn't going to force Chuuya. Not when there was another way.'it would be riskier and it wouldn't delete Guivre from existence, but one touch from me and Verlaine-san would be back in control. We'd just have to worry about containing him later. And the plan for me to sneak up on Guivre shouldn't betoorisky. The Book has protected me before, I'm sure I could use it as a shield again. Those black holes shouldn't be a too big of a problem, either; I survived one nine years ago, I can survive one now, too, even if the source is a bigger and stronger god trapped in a human vessel. The causalities, though, may increase and maybe I won't reach Guivre in time. Maybe the chaos will kill me on my way, but that's a fair risk. Irefuseto force Chuuya to becomethatagain. I would be no better than my grandfather, than N and Kashimura, if I did. This is Chuuya's choice, now and forevermore.'

'Well, that explainsonething,'Chuuya of today thought fondly as he watched his partner's past self take all of three steps down the stairs to leave the gas tank before his younger self had already made the decision.'I was always too hard on him, wasn't I? He always made sure I had a choice, even if the other choice was dying as a human being. With or without him.'"I'm gonna marry that man."

"You better not elope, lad," Kouyou warned, ignoring how everyone else turned to Chuuya with jaws hanging open or outright resting on the ground. "I want a grand wedding and Verlaine will make a fuss, too."

"f*ck that sh*t,I'llmake a fuss!" Yosano shouted and Chuuya just laughed as the two highfived each other.

"Can I be the flower girl?" Kyouka asked.

"Oh, oh! Can I be the ring bearer?" Kenji beamed and Chuuya had to interrupt them before Akutagawa got into a fight with two fourteen year olds over his beloved mentor's wedding roles.

"Hush, you lot. You're making me look less cool," he said in reference to Dazai's surprised face as he turned around to see Chuuya had jumped off into his most epic battle.

"Pfft! Acting cool even in this situation, huh?" He said with a relieved yet incredibly sad smile. But it also made him more determined. He'd gathered a lot of information from the facility, but he still needs one thing, onepersonin order to finally, for sure, determine whether Nakahara Chuuya was indeed as human as he believed him to be.'I'll hunt down Kashimura Kansuke some other day. For now, I need to give Chuuya backup.'He lifted up his walkie-talkie and started barking orders.

Dazai watched from the industrial tank as Chuuya went though the same process Verlaine had earlier, black particles dancing around the shorter boy's body as he flew through the air, energy gathering around him as a crack appeared in the night sky, black flames appearing out of nowhere, the surrounding scenery distorting because of the high heat. "Oh grantors of dark disgrace," he said in barely a whisper, like a prayer. "Dark disgrace, huh?" He found he couldn't look away even when right there, in front of his eyes, a black light exploded, resembling a beast.

A beast Dazai knew.

A beast he'd often seen in his dream.

If he'd ever had any remaining doubts regarding Chuuya's identity, this night has crushed them all.

'What a strange turn of events, the mechanization of fate bringing us together again.'He marveled, as he marveled the much smaller form of Arahabaki fearlessly get right into Guivre's face, Arahabaki's symbols practically carved into Chuuya's skin, making the genius wonder whether that will leave scars.

Then, in one attack, a third of Guivre's head blew to pieces, the damaged parts collapsing as black flames spurted out. Arahabaki-Chuuya did not pause in the assault, moving faster than a meteor, piercing through Guivre's chest, making the night eerily echo its howls of pain.

"Wow," Dazai muttered, utterly transfixed, beyond amazed, eyes locked on Chuuya even as he seemed to move faster and faster, becoming almost incomprehensible to the human eye. "So this is Arahabaki ... "'This is my beast ... '

The watchers of the vision were not in as much awe, because a good part of their beings were gripped with honest-to-godterrorat seeing a fight so completely out of this world. Even Kouyou, Mori and Hirotsu, who had seen this take place from a distance, couldn't help but tremble. It would seem no one could stand equal to battling gods; only Dazai.

Chuuya himself, who didn't remember these events as he never did when he used Corruption, was torn between watching the fight, obsessing over what his form while Arahabaki was at the forefront meant for him, and watching Dazai, who looked like he was having a religious experience right then and there. Dazai never once looked away from these monstrous forms of the gravity 'brothers', watching Chuuya fend off Verlaine's attacks, watching as Arahabaki and Guivre controlled their bodies. Guivre fought with loathing and hatred as its power fuel.

Arahabaki-Chuuya countered with cold indifference, born from a lust for a good fight, for a good bit of destruction and calamity, content in the challenge Guivre was presenting. He held two black holes in his hands, a condensed form of gravity, the all-powerful universal king, clad with a red halo.

Dazai noted it was different from the attacks Verlaine had used. It was spinning rapidly, crushed flat, entwined with the halo and turned into an oval shape. Dazai's mind went through all the calculations and he marveled even more at the feat of physics, at that level of control.'Yeah, if we survive this, then I definitely need to teach Chuuya advanced physics. We can't have someone uninformed capable of all of this going around making black holes willy-nilly. It would be good for him, too, I think. Understanding your power always gives you more control over it.'

The two attacks collided, creating massive shock waves, destroying anything too close to it intonothing. Grabbing onto a handrail so the shock waves in the air wouldn't fling him off, Dazai endured the attack, peeking over the other arm he was using to protect his face.'Did it cancel out?'He'd seen purple flashes, probably lightning, upon collision, but there was nothing now.'He did it,'he thought with a smile. "My predictions were correct, What he saw in Verlaine's dream turned out to be true. Physics is truly wonderful~"

"I'm confused," Kunikida admitted, looking sheepish. "Shouldn't two black holes interacting just create a bigger black hole?"

"Normally, sure," Chuuya, the resident 'expert' on the topics of gravity, replied. "However, as Dazai had explained to me and later taught me with actual reading materials backing him up, the black holes I created were spinning fast enough to create a 'protective' ring of light, the Ergosphere. Because the inside of the black hole was pulled along at the speed of light or faster before falling while at the same time keeping the contradictory stillness of the normal space-time, within a regular space, the result was a ring of light made up of negative gravity. When that ring mixed with Guivre's energy, it caused them to cancel each other out. Get it?"

"I ... think so?"

"No," Atsushi, Akutagawa, Gin, Naomi, Tanizaki, Higuchi and Kyouka shamelessly answered.

Kouyou, Mori and Hirotsu understood, having been subjected to Soukoku's ramblings about gravity over the years whether they liked it or not, and, well ... Kouyou didn't have the heart to tell Chuuya she was bored to death as he explained the physics behind it to her, Hirotsu had just let Dazai ramble since the boy seemed livelier when he did it and Mori ... Mori was a bit too wary of being clueless to information Dazai possessed and knew how to utilize, so he'd did his best to study upon the matter himself. He'd been a bit embarrassed when Dazai had caught him and had to correct a few notes he'd made during his studying. However, he had been able to grasp the matter fairly quickly and so now Chuuya's explanation made sense to him.

"Sounds boring," was Ranpo's response and f*ckuzawa simply said nothing.

Kenji just smiled.

"Oh, so is it a similar principle to magnetism?" Tachihara surprised them all by asking, flushing when it earned him some weirded out looks. "What!? I may look uneducated, but that doesn't mean I'm dumb!"

"Anyways," Chuuya said after an awkward pause. "The short version of it is that only a singularity can destroy another singularity. We're just lucky that Arahabaki's default preference when it comes to black holes is this type of graviton bombs and not the ordinary kind. A lot more destruction would have happened had that been the case."

"Couldn't you have just led it somewhere where it can vent all that pent up energy until it all ran out?"

"Don't be stupid, jinko. Dazai-san already said that thing had enough energy that it could potentially go on until the world ends. What are the chances thatitwould be the one to cause that? Too high to risk it."

"And, oh, you now understandchance, do you?"

"Dazai-san pounded statistics into our heads almost as soon as we met," Gin countered, giving the Agency weretiger a bland look. "We can't do some of the fancier stuff on the fly like he can, but chance and probability is rather basic."

"R-right."

"Stupid jinko."

"Oh, go f*ck yourself on your coat-"

"ATSUSHI!"

"EEEP! Sorry, Kunikida-san!"

"Dazai may be a bad influence."

"Don't be ridiculous, Yosano," Ranpo said with a snort. "Atsushi's always been like this. He just respect-fears you too much to bring out the sass on you."

"As he should."

"Damn straight."

"No he isn't."

The green eyed genius grinned. "No, he isn't," he agreed.

Kyouka and Gin snorted.

Sixteen year old Dazai continued watching the battle between larger and tinier gods of destruction and calamity, eyes never straying off of Chuuya even as he also kept a count of Guivre's wounds, since there was no limit on its body but therewasone on how much Chuuya can take. He was just a vessel, not the god itself, so there were fractured bones and torn flesh, bleeding wounds and disconnected joints. Both were hurt, undoubtedly. However, Chuuya's wounds were deeper.

Things got even worse when the Guivre made twenty of the biggest black holes created so far, by both Guivre and Arahabaki, destroying the ground and flying into the air, too. Chuuya barely saved himself behind a shield of his own black holes from being utterly annihilated upon touch. Dazai wondered if even No Longer Human would be able to savehim. The attack collided with the shield, increasing the temperature, scorching the skin of any living thing too close to it.'i sure as f*ck hope those healers we have on standby have enough juice to cover all of that damage.'

"I would have been able to do it on my own."

"Not everyone is the Angel of Death, Yosano-kun-"

"Shut the f*ck up, Ougai."

"Squad 2, fire!" Dazai ordered, voice louder than anyone had heard him before, echoing in the dead of the night as his squad distracted Guivre so Chuuya can recover a bit. "Don't worry about firing at the same time! No matter what, whoever has the capability to fire, do it!"

"Holy sh*t, those guys got guts," Tachihara breathed as he watched what appeared to be countless mafioso with all sorts of firearms that the military would drool over. "How thef*ckwas the Mafia able to get their hands onthose babiesback then but we don't have them now?"

"Do you know what else we had back then, Tachihara-kun?" Hirotsu asked with a sardonically arched eyebrow. "Dazai-san."

"Well, damn."

"He can't have seriously been in charge of so many things, right?" Higuchi asked, unsure, because theyhaveseen the things Dazai had had to work on while in the Mafia. "He'd be overworked! No one could possibly keep up with it all!"

"I think I finally understand why Dazai doesn't do paperwork unless it's crucial," f*ckuzawa commented. "You lot overworked him so now that he's no longer the main and only source of competency in the organization, he kicks back and relaxes. I've decided. Kunikida," he said with authority, making the bespectacled idealist stand up straight like a soldier answering his commanding officer. "When we get back, stop bothering Dazai about paperwork unless it's dire."

Kunikida's jaw dropped. "But Shachou! You can't expect me to actually do that! Not when I now know he's not even lazy, but that he's just messing around in order to make me explode!"

"My decision is final, Kunikida. You can change my decree after you inherit the Agency."

Kunikida looked tempted to commit a takeover right then and there.

Mori actually patted him sympathetically on the back, causing the blond man to recoil in disgust. "There, there. I assure you, youdon'twant Dazai-kun taking on paperwork duties. Your hand will go numb if he does."

"You lot are so lucky, you don't even realize," Kouyou agreed but no one from the Agency quite believed them. "Just watch as he becomes Executive. It should come along soon enough. That will certainly change your perspective."

The battle raged on in the background, Kenjioohing andaahing at all the explosions and Tachihara drooling over the weapons as they were used to keep Guivre's attention off of Chuuya. The mafiosos' resilience and loyalty to Dazai was beyond admirable, as they stood their ground even when Guivre set its sights on them and even when their weapons didn't leave a scratch on the beast. Even when it retaliated, they didn't flinch, trusting Dazai's judgement and not daring to disobey his orders. They just readied their guns and rocketlaunchers and fired again.

Chuuya, left alone to bleed in the sky, attacked again, falling into Guivre and he started tearing it up from the inside as Arahabaki raged, its furious roars seemingly reaching only Dazai's ears over the Guivre's screeching, attacks and the firing of rocket launchers. Even through everything, Dazai's focus was on Chuuya. He watched as the red halo grew bigger and as from behind Chuuya's back, two wing-like things burst out. Chuuya's scream sounded like music to his ears as the ginger teen roared and shouted from inside the storm of Verlaine's emotions and vicious gravity. The halo shone like a supernova, through the darkness of Guivre, splitting it in two; graviton bombs crushed the beast completely.

Dazai, down on the ground, looked up at the single halo floating in Yokohama's skies, lighting up the night. It was so bright, everyone else had to look away. Dazai wished his other eye wasn't bandaged. "So this is Arahabaki's ... Chuuya's true form?" The heat was staggering and some people keeled over from it.

Dazai just remembered a fateful night from nine years ago, when he'd first seen the boy he'd decided to live for.

To contrast all the chaos it had been creating, the Goldy Beast Guivre vanished peacefully under Arahabaki-Chuuya's radiant red light. Then the light flickered as the halo burned out, the unnatural sun going out in a blast of heat and evaporation. It kind of felt like witnessing the detonation of a star that will only create more light, as new stars are born from it.

Chuuya limply and almost gracefully drifting in the air for several seconds before the black wings on his back slowly lowered him. Dazai, having run across nearly a kilometer of the forest when he'd seen Guivre defeated and knowing he was Chuuya's only hope of reigning Arahabaki in, caught his body. The moment they touched, No Longer Human illuminated the night yet again, nullifying Chuuya's Ability and putting the raging god inside him to slumber. Chuuya's body returned to normal, the sigils disappearing back into his core and the wings fading away as he rested against Dazai. The field of gravity finally disappeared and the stillness of night was restored around the two boys that had been the eye of the storm, together and separated.

Dazai settled them both on the ground, looking down at the fainted Chuuya resting on his lap. "Good work, Chuuya." He laughed as the slightly older boysnored. After all of this, after that display of power he contained in his tiny body capable of apparently carrying the world on his shoulders, he snored away peacefully on Dazai's lap, as though he could not be more content anywhere else in the world.'You silly chibi.'"You're lucky I forgot to bring my fountain pen or else you'd have doodles all over your face."

Chuuya of the present ignored the stares he was getting, instead watching how, even back then, Dazai cleaned his face, checked his body for injuries in need of immediate treatment and then carded his fingers through Chuuya's hair for several minutes. The Dazai stood up, Chuuya on his back in a piggyback carry, making his way through the burned and ruined forest towards the team that had followed their commander, refusing help other than a jacket to cover Chuuya with. The brunet rode with him to the Mafia-affiliated hospital, sat through any operations and examinations Chuuya had to go through despite the doctors' protests - though those died out quickly when Dazai brought out a gun and his squad kept the security out - and stayed the night by his bedside. He even gave his report to Mori while sitting next to Chuuya's unconscious form, face expressionless, yet some part of his body always keeping a hold of Chuuya as if to make sure Arahabaki doesn't break loose while its host is unconscious. He even withstood Kouyou's vicious scolding when she came to check on him to stay by Chuuya's side, leaving only when the older teen began to stir.

Upon being certain of Chuuya's recovery, Dazai left his side and took the world by storm in his future partner's stead, making sure nothing about Chuuya nor Verlaine could be leaked to the government -anygovernment - and that no further investigation could take place. He then focused on Port Mafia's recovery from the mess, 'appropriating' weapons and ammunition to make up for the ones they'd used. He arranged for a party, because peopleloveparties. He threatened, stole, murdered, raided, planned, plotted, blackmailed and everything else in the book while Chuuya recovered from the battle.

The Europeans fairly hated him by the time he was through with them. Mori just gave him a single day off, because of course it's just one; the Mafia would collapse without him there. He didn't -couldn't- rest until everything was swept under the rug and Nakahara Chuuya and Paul Verlaine were safe from labs trying to get their hands on them and experimenting on them again.

It took two months to clean everything up. By that time, Chuuya and Shirase apparently made up or something. Dazai just knew Chuuya would be sad if he disposed of the annoyance now, so Dazai avoided him to avoid temptation. They also learned Adam had survived, in the way only an android could. He just needed his creator, Professor Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin Shelly - a little girl, by the way, with a big brain and a great Ability; Dazai had been extremely tempted to drag her away for some conversation or a game of chess, but both of them would be busy, he with the British representatives and her with Chuuya - and Dazai had to laugh at how stunned Chuuya was to discover people loved him.

Dazai left them to it and eventually got away from all the annoying representatives he and Mori were supposed to meet with; none of them were important, after all.

Instead, he went down to check on the shelter in the basem*nt that would become Verlaine's, at first, prison and later living and working quarters. The platinum blond had honestly survived by dumb luck, at this point, and the fact that, apparently, Rimbaud's fondness for him ran so deep that it defied life and death. Ironically enough, for having a hand in killing the both of them - Verlaine temporarily - Dazai was the only person, at that time, who knew the full details of Verlaine's survival.

"That's ... so unbearably sweet, beautifully tragic and immeasurably romantic," Naomi said in between sobs as Verlaine's situation was explained to them by the other Port Mafia members.

"Do you think they actually loved each other? Like lovers?" Higuchi asked and, well, no one else from Chuuya or Ranpo could answer her and the latter didn't out of respect, a rare occurrence.

"Yes," the Executive replied, even as the world around them shifted. It hadn't shifted like this in a while, the whirlwind of colors, instead rewinding time in a fast-forward to get them to a point in the near future. Not this time and, well, they had to get used to the strange sensation and flashing lights again.

Only to settle on the scene of a bloody corps on a porch.

Atsushi screamed at the familiar body.

Chapter 18

Chapter Text

16yo

It took them a short time to realize Dazai was perfectly alive, even though injured, and for certain parties to recognize the young man who found him.

"So we finally get to see how that sh*tty mackerel met the oh so wonderful Oda Sakunosuke," Chuuya commented, going for biting or perhaps bitter, but he had no real beef with the other redheaded man. Oda had been important to Dazai, more important than most people understood, but Chuuya had. It had taken him some time to find the right comparison, thinking of them first as the Sheep before realizing Oda and Dazai were like the Flags and Chuuya had been. Oda had seen something in Dazai that others were either blind to or refused to acknowledge and so Dazai had latched onto the man until their way of life suffocated him, leaving Dazai alone.

Only for Dazai to refuse to choke on the same darkness and instead somehow escaping it.

Finding out how those two met and what had made Oda so fascinating to Dazai ... Chuuya would be lying if he said he didn't desperately want to find out what about this man had driven his partner out of the Mafia.

"I'm glad to see he grew up and left the assassin business," f*ckuzawa said with a relieved sigh but Ranpo's face was sour, eyes open and sharp.

"I'm hopingyouweren't the one who drew the second best assassin in the country out of the business, f*ckuzawa-dono," Mori said menacingly, smile as creepy as ever.

f*ckuzawa gave him a deadpan look. "Not everyone will be willing to kill for you, Mori-sensei."

"Dazai-kun was."

"Dazai always killed for himself," corrected him Kouyou, calm and serene. "That it just so happened to coincide with your desires or plan is by pure chance. You knew this, Ougai-dono. Is that not why you feared the lad so? You had no control over him, especially by the time he left. If you had, he would have come heel like a loyal dog."

"Even if he ever was loyal to you, Dazai would rather become immortal than come heel to someone like you. To anyone, actually," Ranpo added, glaring at the Boss with the rage and hatred of an older brother who'd seen two of his younger (pseudo)siblings suffer at the hands of this man. Three, even, as Oda had had such potential ... But he couldn't have saved Oda. He could save Yosano and hewillsave Dazai, now, should Mori every try anything. "Seems like sixteen reallyisa very important age for Dazai."

"That's ... That's the name on the tombstone," Atsushi muttered.

Akutagawa gave a short-tempered sigh. "Yes, jinko, it is. Now shut up."

For once, they didn't actually fight.

The twenty year old Oda Sakunosuke from six years ago was dressed as an ordinary postman, stubble slightly lighter than the mafioso were used to seeing and eyes a tad bit flatter than the kind, gentle ones they've come to know. He debated what to do with the injured, barely alive Dazai - not that he yet knew his name - upon finding out he was still breathing, but unconscious, observing his injuries. Multiple bullet wounds. A bunch of new notes in his left hand. He deems him trouble, it was obvious in his body language, and yet he still takes him into the house.

Akutagawa makes an offended noise at how his mentor was dragged in while Chuuya tries not to choke on laughter.

"That's not very nice," Kenji says with a frown.

Yosano also tsks, muttering about aggravating those bullet wounds even more. She grunts in displeasure or reluctant approval as Oda takes out his medical kit and does his best to treat the teenager who'd decided to pass out on his porch. It was clear he knew how to make someone bleed; he lacked the best technique to mend someone from it. After he stabilizes the brunet, he contemplates kicking him out.

But he considers his youth.

Then he considers the fake notes.

"He's ... a lot less smart than he appeared when we met him," Ranpo observes with half annoyance, but mostly amusem*nt. "That or he has a really, really soft spot for kids. Both, probably."

A phone rings and they watch the redhead pick it up.

"Put the phone down."

"Jesus f*cking Christ on a motorbike!" Screeched Tachihara, startled, as Dazai stares up at the older male, eyes surprisingly sharp and alert for someone who'd lost that much blood. "How the hell is he awake already!?"

"Honestly, I'm more surprised he stayed down that long," Chuuya and Mori both comment and even Yosano and Kunikida had to agree.

"This was after Dazai-san was run ragged," Hirotsu reminded them.

"Yeah, it would make sense if that's how he got hurt in the first place," Chuuya reasoned.

"What if I don't?" Oda asked, glancing at the receiver, seemingly not the least bit intimidated by the dark, bottomless, dead eyes staring at him.

"I'll kill you."

The man does not flinch at how casual those words sound on such a young tongue. "How?" He asks, putting down the receiver, but he hadn't yet returned it to the station. Instead studying the boy in his house, who was in turn studying him. "You've got holes all over your body. You can't move anything. You're dying everywhere. You don't even have a gun. To kill me in your condition, it would take two hundred of you."

'If I were a normal person, perhaps,'Dazai admitted to himself.'And ifyouweren't anyone else, perhaps.'

Even Mori blinked in surprise at that one. "Heknew!?" The Port Mafia Boss hissed, enraged.

Ranpo snorted. "Oda was a pretty damn good assassin; information brokers would have known about him far and wide. They probably even provided ways to contact him or information useful for his assassination. We've already established Dazai has ways of getting his own information while getting around you; why is this so surprising?"

"I don't need that much. I'm Port Mafia." He observed as Oda seemingly gave in, yet he showed no fear. No submission that he didn't want to give. Calm and collected, cool in a way Dazai had only seen on Verlaine before. An assassin through and through, worth his salt and worth his guns.'He's ... making coffee?' With a Mafia member in his house? Surely he's heard of me? I even got that new silly moniker everyone keeps calling me by more often after the incident with Verlaine-san ... And why does he care whether I'm treated by doctors?'"No need to worry." Dazai's bled all over several streets and cars and rugs; he's not died of blood-loss yet. "This much is no big deal. I'm used to injuries."

"Is this the first time Dazai's faced human decency? He seems surprised by this Oda guy's care," Kunikida commented. He sweatdrops at the looks he gets. "Right, stupid question. Wesawow little human decency he faced. My bad."

"It's definitely the first time he's faced with someone reacting this way to his desire to die," Hirotsu says and, well, they all kind of feel ashamed, so used to Dazai's suicidal tendencies that they think little of it these days. Hearing Dazai's thoughts about not wanting to die in a way that won't take the Book down with him had made them even more complacent.

Oda's reaction, though ... The way he looks at Dazai ...

"Fine then. If you want to die, just die. It's your own life. I won't stop you. But I will be in trouble if you die here. If you die here, no one will be able to testify that I am not the one who caused your injuries. I might be arrested." Oda's words were harsh, but his tone was oddly gentle, serene ...

Dazai almost didn't even register his words. He looked at Oda, who was looking at him as though one would look at a ghost, pitying it for its fate, yet Oda had said somethingfascinating. Something no one had said to him before ..."It's your own life."All this time, people have been telling Dazai what he could and should or couldn't and shouldn't do with his life. Matsuki told him to live for his late parents and the murdered servants of the Tsushima Aomori manor, told him he can't kill himself. His douchebag of a grandfather had wanted him to live to be an assassin or an extension of his father. Masaoka basically told him he should end it, giving him that suicide manual like that. Mori told him he had to live because he was a valuable witness and he'll no doubt keep making Dazai live so he can keep using him. Randou had asked him to die with Chuuya and even Verlaine had said something similarly polite in his threat. Hirotsu would ask him with this respectful yet sorrowful voice not to waste his life and even Chuuya alternated between telling him to die and ordering him not to, stating he'd claimed the right to kill him as his own and only his.

This man whom he had only just met had told him something he'd literally never heard before. And it was somehow the strangest thing he's ever heard. He's pretty sure it shouldn't be as surreal as it feels.

'It feels like talking to a wind fairy,'came a strange thought to the audience and they realized it was from Oda, in reference to Dazai. Chuuya wanted to both laugh and cry, for some reason.

"It shouldn't be this comical to watch this guy enjoy his coffee as Dazai tries to crawl out of his house so he can die peacefully, but for some reason, it is and I want popcorn," Yosano admitted and Ranpo snorted. "But I also don't agree with him just letting him do th-What? BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" Yosano started rolling around in laughter with Ranpo and Tachihara when, once Oda god fed up with Dazai, he ... grabbed a bed sheet and wrapped Dazai, the Port Mafia wraith, the Demon Prodigy, in it, lifting him up and twisting the loose ends like candy wrapper paper, then he turned him upside down and carried him back in.

Dazai complained and wriggled the entire way, but he was an injured, skinny sixteen year old and Oda was a fully trained, fully in shape assassin and he shook Dazai a bit whenever the teen complained more. "Ouch! Ouch! Stop it! I hate pain!"

"Then will you give up?"

"No!"

Chuuya joins the trio on the floor, tears rolling down his face, when Oda ends up tying Dazai to the bed.

"For the time being, until your wounds have healed, I will have you stay like that," Oda said once he was done. "Is there anything you want?"

"My nose is itching," came the petulant, resentful reply, Dazai glaring up at the man who would become his best friend.

"Poor you."

"I can'tbreathe," wheezed Chuuya and Tachihara was pounding on the floor, in no better state.

"Hmm, I never tried wrapping Dazai-kun in a burrito when he was difficult about his injuries," Mori commented under his breath but Higuchi heard him and let out an unladylikePffftwhich sent Naomi to the ground, holding onto her stomach as she laughed so hard, she was quite literally vibrating.

"Bless Oda Sakunosuke," Kouyou managed to say between deep breaths to keep it together.

"Amen," Hirotsu agreed, earning a choking noise from her.

Akutagawa just glared at them all and Gin hid behind him in order to prevent him from seeing her own snickers.

Atsushi and Tanizaki just couldn't believe this was the same Dazai they knew today or the Dazai who they had seen plan out how to take down the world's deadliest assassin.

'Dazai is a strange guy in every possible way,'Oda's thoughts greet them again.'His eyes remind me of a burnt black cat, his build reminds me of a burnt black cat, his presence reminds me of a burned black cat.'

"Stop, you're killing me," wailed Yosano.

"I suppose he's right. Dazaidoesseem rather cat-like," f*ckuzawa hummed and now Mori let out an unattractive snort and joined the others on the ground, kneeling and elbows on the ground, trying to suppress gaffs as he imagined the boy he knew doing all those terrible things he did ... as a mere burnt black cat in bandages. Ranpo seems to have the same thought process because he's desperately gasping for air and having a hard time finding it.

Chuuya was so red in the face at this point that one might think he'd regained access to For The Tainted Sorrow.

Dazai, like Oda, finds the other strange. Oda was the first person outside of Chuuya that gave a sh*t aboutDazai Osamu, though Oda didn't even know his name yet. He complained, insulted and roasted the older man in every possible way he could think of, but this stranger never got angry. He seems to either have an endless pit of patience or he's caught on that Dazai wants to piss him off, to discourage him from letting Dazai just do as he wants. He seems rather set on not letting Dazai die in his house or on his porch, but he also contradicts himself by not letting him leave until he's well enough that hewon'tdie.

The guy was also strangely insistent in nursing him back toproperhealth. Dazai doesnotremember a time when he'd been forced to eat three meals a day, it's beenthatlong. Even his parents didn't force him to eat more than he could stomach, no matter how worryingly little that may seem. He also can't remember the last time someone insisted onspoon-feeding him! He stopped needing that as a toddler!

The bathroom restriction actually might be a good torture method. He filed that away for later.

And someone reading a book to him? Atthisage?

... Well, actually, for all that he complained, it felt really nice. Well, the first couple of days, when he read him the all of three books this guy possessed. Except the last book had the last few pages missing so Dazai couldn't know how it ended. And then he got the trilogy read to him again and again. It wastorture. He actually wondered if he could torture the more intellectual of his victims with something like this, especially since the books were so riveting.

After a few days, even Dazai got tired of this nonsense and he had the endurance to withstand any torture. Except this guy never really leaves him alone so Dazai can't even retreat into his own mind to ponder ways to either annoy Chuuya, reduce Mori's hairline with stress more, prank Chuuya, defeat that new game he'd bought, torture Chuuya, destroy that new organization making a problem for the Mafia or even just try to teach the Book to communicate with him with more than two to three words repeated over and over again like a blaring, annoying alarm since, for once, he hadn't taken the thing with him. It had been annoying these last few days, always shouting at him, not giving him good directions or anything, so he'd left it behind, hidden away in the same secret compartment inside his shipping container as his fairy tale book and his parents' files and pictures.

"Yup, Chuuya still living in Dazai's head rent free. Though I like this guy. He's resilient. I'd have given up long ago."

"He's a saint," Kunikida agreed with Yosano.

'He is a natural airhead.'

"That hasgotto be the rudest thing I've ever heard the mackerel refer to Oda as," Chuuya said, finally having recovered from their laughing fit earlier. Naomi was still shaking, Tachihara and Higuchi were leaning on each other and Ranpo was hiding in f*ckuzawa's robes. Mori refused to meet anyone's eyes.

Dazai does change his strategy in trying to annoy Oda. By stating very specific, very complicated demands. Oda, as if to spite him, does not get annoyed. Instead, he meets his demands.

Dazai has not been waited on like this even byMatsuki.

Still, he actually turns out to be a pretty good cook. Definitely better than the amateur chibi that's been trying to feed him in the year or so they've known each other. He actually makes food in a way that the taste makes Dazai want to finish it.

"Oi, my cooking is perfectly fine, you damn mackerel!"

"Why is Dazai-san so happy about food all of a sudden?" Atsushi asked suspiciously, because he's come to know, through this visions and his own experiences, that his mentor isnotbig on eating.

Mori sighs, long-suffering. "All the ingredients Dazai-kun has been demanding are poisonous enough to kill a human being. However, Dazai-kun has a high tolerance for poison, so Oda-kun has never managed to make enough for Dazai-kun to actually die."

Atsushi pales. "I'm never going grocery shopping for Dazai-san."

"You learn that the hard way, jinko."

Dazai eventually gets so bored out of his mind that he almostbegsforsomeform of entertainment. His 'rescuer' has no television, no other books, no radio and no phone that's not attached to the wall by a wire. He only has a record player and some records for music and Dazai knows them all by heart that he could do a perfect retention of them. His mind is sounder-stimulatedthat Dazai will actually start counting the dust particles in the air for something to do.

"Then how about we play a game?" Oda suggested to sixteen year old Dazai, sitting down on a chair near the bed where Dazai was forced to rest and recover. "The people who lived in this house before happened to leave behind a deck of cards." Of course, Dazai knew that, he'd already spotted it on the shelf. But he'd been so deprived of anything for his mind to focus on that he wasn't willing to justplay cards. Besides, maybe he could get something out of this. "Then let's bet on something?" Proposed his 'nurse'. But he doesn't have much money. Not enough for a good game. "Then how about this?" With chess pieces presented to him as chips - why not just playchess? Dazai actuallylikedchess! - they agreed on poker, Texas Hold'em Heads Up rule, opening bet once piece, no upper limit. "If you win all sixteen of my pieces, I will let you leave this house as you please."

"Eh? Are you sure about that? You have quite some confidence there. So what if I win? Should I give you all my hidden assets, too?"

"There is no point in using something that is not here right now, as I have no way to confirm things like your assets and such."

"These fake notes then ... "

Oda, smartly, turned those down immediately. "How about revealing one of your secrets every time you lose pieces?"

Dazai had to chuckle. That's ... not what he was expecting. Not from this man. An information broker, yes. This guy? No way in hell.'How interesting.'If he knew enough secrets or some such information, he could use it to prevent Dazai from potentially coming back for revenge.'And he knows I could easily feed him false information, yet he still chose that ... Interesting. How very interesting.'"It's been a long time since someone has been this determined to win against me."

"Yeah, a f*cking year, maybe," Chuuya grumbled.

They get a little flash-forward of about thirty minutes.

"The passcode for Port Mafia's emergency armed vault is 7280285E."

"DAZAI-KUN!?" A scandalized Mori screeched while the other Port Mafia members allgawked. Hell, even the Agencygawked.

"You have so many secrets," Oda said with admiration.

"Of course I do! I'm the head of the special force under the Boss' direct command," Dazai whined, head on the table. "What the heck is going on? There goes most of my personal information~ It's humiliating~!" He's given away so much information: his address - well, Chuuya's, so good luck if he tries anything there, the chibi will crush him with the vicious force of his gravity - his subordinate's skills - not nearly as important, given his subordinates are an extension of himself, so even if you know their skills, you don't know how those skills (even Abilities) will be used - time of joining the Mafia - completely unimportant, unless one considered how much he must have done in the year or so he's been a member to gain such a high standing; it can't even hint to his former identity or the former Boss' demise given he joined one year later, though it could be connected to the rumors from a year ago, if one is clever enough, that is - total amount of money he has on hand - false, he almost never goes out with cash nor credit cards; carrying cash begs to get you mugged and Mori's tried more than once to track his movements with his cards, the pedo stalker-

"I'm not a stalker!"

"Not denying being a pedo, I see."

"Figures."

-what he does in the organization - also not really true, since the real answer would be 'babysitting everyone except Hirotsu-san and Ane-san'-

Hirotsu and Kouyou got 'glares' from their colleagues for that.

-his favorite food - harmless, though the guy seemed more interested in that than the fact Dazai might as well be the real leader of Port Mafia - location of secret vaults - he was going to change those soon, anyway; some pesky rat had been scurrying about too often lately - Mori's former profession ... Eighteen secrets. Eighteen loses.

Dazai was good at cards. He can count them, probability and chance are basic statistical functions he knows how to calculate very well and he knows every slight of hand and cheating method in the book. Masaoka had had weird priorities regarding Dazai's 'education'. "You cheated, didn't you."

"Cheated?"

Dazai almost wants to snort at the feigned innocence. "I noticed halfway. It's an Ability, to foresee however the games will go. I let my guard down at first because I thought the Ability wouldn't work on me." None had, so far, even ones that didn't touch him. This one was a bit different. It wasn't anything that could physically touch him or that even affected him directly. Such Abilities are actually rarer than you'd think. "But if you used the Ability not on me, but on the place itself, then that would explain that strange foresight of yours."

To Dazai's visible surprise, Oda apologizes. To his even greater surprise, the older male admits that he had only wanted to help Dazai kill some time so he wouldn't be so bored.

"We can't void it!" The bandaged teen protests when Oda proposes it, since it wasn't a fair game from the start. "We can't even if we want to! If what we bet on was money, you would only have to give it back to me in full. But I gave you information!"'Masaoka-ossan himself would rise from the grave to smack me on the head had I not let his body burn to a crisp two years ago!'Though, to be fair, most of the information Dazai gave out was the information his subordinates regularly dealt with, even the code or the vault and warehouse locations, because, really, Dazai and his squad were the only thing keeping the Mafia running at this point-

"Surely that's an exaggeration-"

"No," the ones longer in the Mafia corrected Higuchi before she could even finish.

-so it's not like if, say, this guy joined, he wouldn't have learned these things eventually, even probably from Dazai himself. Hell, he'd used such information to lure out spies, traitors and weak links forages-

"WHAT!?"

-and he's never once lost a single bullet or even half a dime to any of them. But that's not the point right now. "You know that you don't lose information even if you return it, right?" And, really, this has to be the silliest conversation Dazai's ever had and he actually had to explain to Kyuusaku once that, no, Chuuya and Puss in Boots arenotrelated, no matter how similar their hair and fur are.

"WHAT THE HELL, MAN!?"

"BUWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"

"What else can you do?" Dazai continued, unaware that his thoughts from that time would one day send some of the most skilled Ability users in Yokohama into hysterics of laughter. "Can you completely forget everything that you have heard and seen at will?"

"If that's the only way, then I'll try."

"Haaaaahhhh?" Dazai did a pretty good imitation of Chuuya's usual sounds of confusion, but he also looked utterly tired and utterly done with all of this, which shouldn't be as funny as it is. "Your jokes are not funny. After all, you are always saying them with a straight face. Somehow I can't take them as jokes at all."'Adamwas better at this. And he's a freakingrobot!'

"Huh, I never expected that Dazai used to roast Oda like that," Chuuya admitted, tilting his head in contemplation. I honestly thought he was of the opinion that the sun shone out of his ass."

"Silly, the sun doesn't shine out of anyone's a-"

"KENJI!" Kunikida thundered and that just sent Ranpo and Yosano into a new round of laughter. f*ckuzawa just rubbed at his forehead, trying to stave off a headache because he rather doubted there was any painkillers in this space.

"I didn't mean to make a joke, though ... "

"Kay, kay," Dazai sulked, not wanting to deal with any more of this teasing. "Argh, damn it, Mori-san will scold me for leaking so many of the organization's secrets,"

Well, not really. Mori doesn't give a f*ck about what Dazai does, as long as he deals with it.

The redheaded good Samaritan paused, tilting his head like a confused puppy and Dazai hates that he remembers the one time he tried to tell Chibi to stay but the dog had already been ordered by his father to tail him the entire day during the last visit he remembers from his other relatives while his parents had still been alive. It was too cute, both on the intimidating German Shepard and on this man whose every movement screamed of precise control and no wasted movements, a sort of confidence and calmness in him that he'd only seen on Verlaine before. He did not like how this man reeked of metaphorical blood yet he acted like such an airhead-

"Who is this ... Mori-san?"

Dazai paused, astonished, mind screeching to a stunned halt. "You really ... forgot about it?"

Another round of laughter all around.

Akutagawa grumbled a little over how this man was obviously not worthy of all of Dazai's regard at all, despite having seen the man in action himself a short time before Oda died.

Atsushi smiled sadly as he watched the shenanigans his mentor and his friend got up to as they were still getting to know each other. "I wish I could have met him. He seems like a kind person."

"He was," Hirotsu whispered to him and Atsushi nodded in thanks.

As the two stare out the window at the fallen autumn leaves, they discuss Oda's 'nothing big' previous 'violent' job. Oda doesn't say much, but Dazai has already deduced a lot about this man who had not even told him his name yet despite making it his business Dazai did not die. Dazai knew loneliness when he saw it, which he figured was part of why the man was practically clinging to him, in a very non-clingy way, but as Dazai's wounds healed and the time for him to leave grew nearer, it was obvious the redhead was already bracing himself to a lonely, cold, quiet house. Dazai's seen it before. After all, whether they would ever want to admit it or not, Masaoka-ossan, Sensei and even Mori-san, to an extent, were exactly like that, too. Dazai had been a breath of something fresh in their lives, something new that drew their attention away from the monotone, same old same old.

In a way, Dazai was like that, too. So far, the only person who had managed to stirhisworld, even just a little, to add just a splash of color, was his violent, brash, loud, overbearing sheepdog for life.

When they got to the topic of Dazai's suicidal tendencies, Oda asked if he could take a guess. "On the reason you want to die."

Dazai stared at the young adult like he'd just grown two heads as he prepared coffee - he once tried making them tea, but Dazai had honestly found it so horrendous that he refused to drink it, even when the man tried to force it down his throat; call him spoiled, but tea is the one place where he drew the line. He would not poison his palette with subpar tea after drinking Matsuki-san's perfect brew and then trying Ane-san's nearly just as good tea for a total of ten years. That's a little under two thirds of his life! He may have been a street rat who ate all sorts of things to keep himself from dying in an undignified manner, but he draws the line at tea! - before letting out a honestly confused "Eh?"

"Seriously? Dazai-san is a tea snob? How come I never noticed it before?" Kyouka asks with a frown. "I am one hundred percent sure that Dazai-san drinks only coffee in Cafe Uzumaki or even in the office, so how ... "

"The lad is, indeed, a tea snob, my dear Kyouka," Kouyou reassures her, carding her well-manicured fingers through her hair. "In fact, he's taught me a few brews that were, apparently, indigenous to the Aomori prefecture that he'd really liked and they were a hit with any clients that came our way."

"Another thing he's a snob about," Chuuya added, always ready to brag about his Dazai-knowledge that no one else possesses. "Is hot chocolate. I'm guessing because of Matsuki and Masaoka, since those were the drinks onlytheyhad prepared for him."

"And how did you learn this, Chuuya-san?" Gin asked, curious but also with a teasing undertone to her question.

Chuuya shrugged, a faint blush adorning his cheeks but he didn't seem embarrassed. "Dazai made some for me the winter we turned seventeen. It was the only time we properly celebrated the winter holidays together, just the two of us, and Dazai said hot chocolate was a must."

"Wait, the hot chocolate recipe isDazai's?" Kouyou gawked.

The younger redheaded executive shrugged sheepishly. "He called it a 'family recipe', but he's never spoken of his family before and I honestly thought he was an orphan, so I thought it was just, like, the general name for it. But when I Googled it, the procedure wasn't quite the same as how Dazai had done it and it didn't taste nearly as good, so ... Yeah, I guess itisa family recipe. A Tsushima family + Matsuki recipe, is my best guess."

"And he decided to share it with you," Yosano pointed out with a eyebrow wiggle.

Chuuya rolled his eyes. "Oh, just shut up and go flirt with Ane-san."

"Chuuya!"

"Don't mind if I do~"

"You want to die because you are a fool."

Well ... That phrase sure did have a way of sobering a jolly mood.

Dazai stares at Oda with a startled expression. "Interesting."

When Oda turns to look at him, he barely suppresses a shiver when he sees his eyes.'His eyes don't look like they belong to a human being. Those aren't even eyes at all. Those are wounds, a pair of open wounds on the face of a teenage boy, from which only darkness is peeping out.'

"That's ... an incredibly cruel and yet sadly accurate description," Tanizaki says faintly, looking away from those same dark eyes that have never once looked like that in the Armed Detective Agency's office. It was unsettling to see, just lime many other aspects of Dazai they had discovered.

"You're talking big for a mere postman. However, many people have said the same thing," Dazai finally replied, not looking away from his 'host'. "I can't tell you why they said that, though. Because everyone is dead."

He speaks from experience. These are the facts of his existence. Chuuya was a miracle, the vessel of a god, of a singularity, and thus far the only exception, as he's so full oflife, Dazai feels like he can finally breathe when they're close to each other.

"Is that so? But at least, if one dies without visitingthat place, they can be called nothing but a fool. I can assure you of that."

"Eh? What is that place?"

"It's a quiet place. It's not like it's far away. You don't even need any qualifications to get in. The thing is not everyone can enjoy the true value of that place."

"It sounds like a riddle," comes the dry reply. "Is that a strategy to get my attention with some kind of make-believe secret?" It's something he would expect from someone like Mori, or even Kouyou, if she hadn't already learned that there's no lying to Dazai. However, this guy didn't seem to be lying at all. He believed what he was saying but the words themselves were not making very much sense to Dazai. Andhe'sthe one who became a fairy tale enthusiast ever since he started reading his aunt's gift book.

"There's no point in using a strategy when the opponent is you."

"That's true enough," the younger says, facing away from Oda. "I can't read you at all." And wasn'tthata thrill. He senses a commotion outside and looks towards the direction of the door. He'd heard the dog barking earlier, too. He'd not heard that particular dog bark before; it's one of his 'host's' neighbors, so he knows for a factthisdog does not bark likethat. And now something just beyond the door ... He chuckles. "Alright. I will keep you company with a little silly talk as thanks for the treatment. You said it is foolish to die, right? So here is my question: it dying is foolish, then why do we have to die?"

A little philosophy never hurt nobody while he tried to figure out just what sort of nonsense will befall them soon enough. Besides, it's rare he can talk this deep with someone other than Mori, who has long since bored him in such topics.

"The fatality rate for the act of living is 100%, but if you look at the whole living world, there are living things that do not die and there are living things that do not have a life span." The older man looks confused and Dazai makes a note to one day tell him about the Turritopsis nurticula, the so called immortal jellyfish, or other such species. Corals, too, if only humans weren't dumping waste into the oceans or increasing its temperature to what as well might be boiling hot for that particular species. Or sponges. Sponges are so weird ... Not the point.

"Dazai's really a nerd."

"Don't insult Dazai-san-"

"Yeah, yeah, Dazai #1 Fanboy. Dazai's still a nerd, though."

"It mean's humans' death is nothing but a function of life. It's nothing more than a promise written in the script of life as a finale," Dazai continued and Ranpo perked up.

"Ooh! That sounds good! I wish I could write it down, that would be so good in one of Poe-kun's books!"

"So you mean life is not something to regret?"

"That's too optimistic for that mackerel."

"No, it's way worse than that. Even though we are all promised death, from the very beginning, all humans were born with a preset desire calledI don't want to die. This is also 100% true. That is why that desire will never be truly fulfilled. It means that the act of desire is merely a tool, a convenient hypothesis far from the truth, and we are merely followers of a hypothetical thesis that we have to live because our predecessors did. How would you argue against this dark theorem?"

This is a topic Dazai's been unlucky enough to be unable to stop thinking about. Since the death of Matsuki, Chibi and the manor's staff, since the death of Kiye, it's been something he's been pondering. It's been an escape from the torture and the 'training', from the hunger and the cold and the thirst and the barking dogs. It's been something he's especially pondered since he learned of his origins, of the name of his Ability.

Dazai does not possess the desire calledI don't want to die. Death means nothing to him. His death, though,couldmean something, but Dazai was no martyr. He had no such grand delusions. Death is death. The only thing that had kept him alive long enough to discover he could destroy the Book was the fact Matsuski had made him think it was impossible to die by his own hand and his echoing words that Dazai was not to die in a manner which will blemish his family's and the manor's honor and pride.

"Is that why you want to die?" This stranger he's been cohabiting with asks.

It's a question Dazai's been asked many times before. He shakes his head. "No. This is just a play on words. There are things that can't be spoken by words." Like the void that exists within him, so numb, so cold, soinfinite... Dazai doesn't even know where to begin trying to fill it, even if just a little. He thinks Chuuya's gravity might help, but that construction that would come from it would be flawed, made of broken puzzle pieces that simply should not fit together. Dazai entered the Mafia to ease his boredom, to prevent the rivers of blood which had taken the lives of his parkour mates, to perhaps uphold his father's legacy lest these idiots ruin everything good Gen'emon may have made of the organization, to keep Chuuya safe, to perhaps find something else to live for other than one boy and one Book ... The likeliness of him finding it, though ... Well, Dazai's a realist. "When it comes to things that can't be spoken ... "

"You have to be silent?" Oda finished for him. "It's exactly like that. Only you can understand your world. But that doesn't change the fact that you are a fool. I can assure you of that."

"Why ... Is this the first time I'm hearing someone seriously dissuading Dazai-san from his tendencies?" Atsushi asks meekly and everyone flinches - aside from Mori, because he's an ass - at the realization.

"I think Chuuya-san was the closest to actually doing it back then," Akutagawa said with a cough. "Though that took form of verbal threats of killing him himself if he dares to die on him."

"Yes, that sounds about right for Soukoku," Hirotsu says with a long suffering sigh. He could really use a cigarette right about now.

"I don't care to correct that, but what isthat placeyou talked about just now?"

"If you go, you will know."

"Why don't you try to explain it to me right here, right now?"

"Pass. In this situation, no, inmostsituations, words are not to be trusted."

'Not inaccurate but annoyingly secretive and vague. Is this how the hatrack usually feels when we talk? Damn, I should annoy him more.'

"Don't. Even."

Yosano made a zipping motion over her lips, but her eyes were still dancing with amusem*nt.

"So you say, even though you like novels?" Dazai says as he looks at the bookshelf. He misses his childhood home's library. Hell, he misses the library he used to attend and tutor others in. He misses books in general ...

"Yeah, that's why I'm troubled," the other man easily admitted and, well, Dazai had to be a bit impressed with that.

He can't help but laugh a little when he looks over to his 'benefactor'. "Interesting. You're humble. I don't hate that." He closes his eyes, listens to the kettle boiling water and imagines, for a second, that this is what a normal life would have been like had he been anyone else besides Dazai Osamu, anyone else besides Tsushima Shuuji. "I don't hate spending time in this house, either. Not as much as I thought." Then there's a knock on the door and Dazai sighs.'Here we go, as always. My predictions are never wrong.'

"The cops? Well, I guess that makes sense. They probably saw Dazai-san before Oda-san found him and reported it. That's what a normal citizen would do, anyways."

Akutagawa gave Atsushi a disgusted look. "Don't be ridiculous, jinko! Dazai-san has been staying with Oda Sakunosuke for days; if someone had really reported seeing a bloodied man on the street, the police would have reacted much sooner. An ambulance, too. I'm disgusted to think that I shareDazai-sanas a mentor with someone with such low observation skills like you. And you call yourself a detective? I really don't know what Dazai-san saw in you."

"Oh yeah? Well at least he didn't leave me behind like a broken plate!"

Gin and Chuuya grabbed Akutagawa while Kyouka and Kunikida grabbed Atsushi before they could end up exchanging blows.

"There was so much potential, yet that roast barely sizzled," Kouyou said with an unimpressed expression and a flat tone, Mori nodding beside her.

"Yet it still burned," f*ckuzawa pointed out, Ranpo baring his teeth in a 'smile' beside him. The four glared at each other.

"Don't feud with my new boo, Ranpo. I don't bully Poe-san."

"Anyone who bullies Poe deserves the death sentence."

Oda had a moment where he pondered his options and concluded pretending to be out was for the best, as that way he won't be arrested, Dazai won't be arrested and he won't later be hounded by the Port Mafia. So they hide behind the bed - they look like children and Dazai feels rather childish in that moment, in a way he hadn't even when he actuallywasa child - and wait for the cops to leave. Only Dazai remembers the kettle with boiling water for Oda's dirty water he likes to drink-

"But Dazai-san likes the coffee at the cafe, right?" A confused Atsushi asks and the others shrug.

"Maybe he just hates instant coffee?"

Dazai proceeds to give Oda very detailed instructions with his hands, in a mix of pantomime, sign language and actual military silent commands, a mix he usually uses more with Chuuya than with his squads, though they are all also trained to understand unspoken orders. He finishes it with a smile, a thumbs up and a nod.

Oda nods back. "What does it mean?"

More than one person falls over from laughter.

Dazai internally sweatdrops. But he softly explains what he had signed and once Oda actually understands what Dazai had wanted him to do, he sets off. Dazai sweatdrops again at how the man's face remains placid and serene, not showing any signs of possible distress or anything. And here Dazai thoughthehad a tough poker face. Well, he was told his could be misinterpreted for a resting bitch face, but he's pretty sure that's Chuuya's default, not his.

"OI!"

At first, Oda uses his Ability to avoid stepping on floorboards that would creak and make noise, but then he decides he needs to hurry up - because the kettle was about to boil and start whistling, Dazai figured - so to speed it up, he got down on all fours and started crawling towards the stove. Dazai has never had such a hard time biting back a laugh and that includes the time he'd managed to successfully draw on both Chuuya'sandMori's faces in the past. In fact, Dazai even lets out a small gaff, thankfully silent, because he doesn't want to get caught and he doesn't want this to end anytime soon. He regretted not having his phone on him or a camera. With Oda's unchanging expressions, this is too comical a sight not to record for eternity. So Dazai etches it in his mind to laugh about later and instead watches as Oda finally reaches the stove.

"Of course that's when he also decides to be a little sh*t," Chuuya sighs in exasperation and pity for Oda, having been placed in far too many similar situations far too many times to be surprised when Dazai suddenly decides he can jump the policemen at the door in order to get shot and Oda has to stop his suicidal ass. He nearly gets stabbed to death by a knife Dazai manages to knock off of the counter.

"That's some crazy luck right there," Tachihara comments and they can't be sure if he means Dazai's move with the knife or Oda dodging it.

"No, it's skill and calculation," the Akutagawas both correct him with a roll of their eyes.

"It might be a little bit of luck," Higuchi compromises with a slight smile.

"No."

Oda has Dazai in a choke-hold at this point and is trying to make him stop struggling. "Be still. Don't struggle. It's not scary, it doesn't hurt."

" ... He does realize he sounds like a serial killer trying to 'soothe' their victim, right?" Naomi asks with a sweatdrop.

"Well, hewasan assassin, once," Ranpo and f*ckuzawa both say but the others have a hard time seeing it.

"You liar! Mori-san said the same thing before he gave me shots!" Dazai keeps struggling.

'Who is this Mori-san again?'

" ... " There was nothing anyone could say to that as they were all stunned that Oda could, apparently, really forget things on command. Well, either that or he really hadn't been listening earlier.

"Is he secretly just a dumbass?"

"Dazai would kill you if he heard you say that," Chuuya pointed out but Yosano just rolled her eyes.

"I'd like to see him try."

"He'd succeed."

"I-"

"You watched him concot a plan to take down Verlaine just ten minutes ago. No offense, but you can't measure up to that."

"Thou Shalt Not Die-"

"No Longer Human," the Port Mafia ensemble, minus Higuchi and Tachihara, singsonged, and, well ...

"Sorry, Akiko, but he'd win."

"f*ck you too, Edogawa."

"Are we not going to talk about Mori-sensei giving Dazai shots that hurt him?" f*ckuzawa asked, furrowing his brows at the other organization's leader, but Mori just gave him an offended look.

"I did not give him painful shots! Dazai-kun is just besmirching my name to Oda-kun! And even if the shots hurt a little, it was necessary! Do you have any idea where Dazai-kun has been?! He could have gotten rabies! Or sepsis! Or some other infection! He wasn't even up-to-date with all of his mandatory shots when I found him! I was just being a good doctor and Dazai-kun was just being a little bi-"

"Watch what you say. Carefully," Yosano, f*ckuzawa and Chuuya all said with 'friendly' smiles.

The former doctor shut up.

Meanwhile, Dazai tries to knock the hot kettle over to fall on Oda's head, but is instead choked into unconsciousness before he is successful. Oda proceeds to be a badass with the knife and kettle but the cops have also knocked the door down and stepped into the kitchen, no doubt following all the noise. The three grown adults are befuddled, rightfully so, by the scene one lanky, bandaged teenager has managed to create.

The first thing Oda says to the chaotic scene the law enforcement has walked in on is: "Please take off your shoes."

"This guy simply does not give a f*ck, huh," Tanizaki commented.

"Makes you wonder just what one has to do to make himsnap, right?" Ranpo added, glaring holes into Mori and not even trying to be subtle about it.

Chuuya grit his teeth at the implication and what that meant for Dazai's defection.

Oh, the world was going to be inchaoswhen they get out of this limbo where they were viewing the visions.

"Okay," the older of the cops says with a nod, looking like he's already done with this sh*t. "It looks like it's going to be a weird job today."

"I feel you," Oda says sympathetically.

Which is of course when the cops take out gas masks and throw a gas grenade towards Dazai and Oda. The redhead contemplates resisting, but sees a future where that ends with Dazai dead and he hadn't spent so much time nursing him to health to let him dienow. Though he kind of regrets getting involved with the kid at all, just a tiny bit.

The next vision they see is blurred with fast-forward rewind, but it's Oda getting tortured for being mistaken to have some really valuable painting and he's both worrying and pitying the kidnappers for having kidnapped someone like Dazai alongside Oda.

"Dazai's kidnappers are always to be pitied," Hirotsu and Chuuya both sigh, having come to retrieve said bandaged maniac one too many times to not be aware of what Dazai does to those stupid enough to try and those even stupider than that to actually succeed and drag him off to their base of operations. Dazai has no mercy for idiots, after all. And, well, if he decides he's not in a mood to f*ck sh*t up, he just waits for Chuuya or his squad or the Black Lizards to come and get him and f*ck sh*t upforhim.

Oda is left alone for a while then Dazai comes back to the cell in this apparently underground evacuation bunker from the war. The teen was as casual as can be for being kidnapped, smiling as he greets Oda like nothing big was happening. Oda, though, was both surprised and relieved that Dazai doesn't appear to have been tortured.

"Torture? Pfft, so that wastorture?" Port Mafia's interrogation and torture specialist asked with a scoff, tickled by the amateur hour he'd been subjected to. "I was tied up and surrounded by two guys, but they left before they could do anything. They got dragged away by their leader, I presume. I just told them something useful and they started crying and hitting each other, saying they didn't want to die."

"I see. What did you tell them?" The elder asked, curious and cautious.

"I can tell you ... But do you really want to know?" Dazai smiles and it's one of his more unsettling ones. He sees Oda consider it for a moment before passing on the offer. Dazai almost pouts, his fun ruined. They discuss the organization that has captured them, both eerily calm for being kidnapping victims. "Have you ever heard of the organization called48?" When Oda shakes his head no, Dazai goes on. "This is actually my first time meeting them, too. They're harder to spot than any other criminal organization, it's almost impossible. Even if a great purge is to happen and Yokohama turns into a clean, crime free paradise, they will still survive and continue to commit crimes, because that organization is made up entirely of former cops. Officers from local stations, special forces members who were dishonorably discharged, corrupted cops released from prison,police of external affairs, you name it, it's there. It's a small, robust, complex organization built by corrupt policemen who've lost their standing by dishonoring the oaths they swore. The name 48 may even be a reference to the fact that the police has to refer a case to the public prosecutor within forty eight hours, but it's not confirmed. There are a lot of rumors regarding that, actually."

"So the guys who captured us are fake cops but used to be the real deal?" Oda asked to confirm that he understood correctly. "But how would you know? Especially if they're such a secret organization?"

"You can't tell?" Not that Dazai's surprised. Rarely do people see what he sees. He's used to it. "It's in their gestures and how they talk, every word they say is mixed with the terms they used when they were policemen and, well, cops all move in a certain way if you pay attention." Dazai shrugged when he saw the realization dawn in his companion. "What they are good at is blackmailing people using the connections from their former jobs, diverting seized goods to sell on the black market and leaking inside information about the police. They are fallen ex-heroes. Although the scale of their activities is small, many of them have received real training, thus are formidable opponents in a fight against normal gangs and such who would try to take them out. They are many criminal organizations in Yokohama, but 48 is hated by both the police and other crime syndicates."

"You sure know a lot."

'Well, it's kind of myjob. Besides, Masaoka-ossanloathed48. Huh, I wonder if, should an afterlife exist, he's watching now and either tearing his hair out over me being captured by them or if he's waiting in anticipation with popcorn for me to wreck this place?'To Oda, he says with a shrug: "Not really. Unfortunately, I don't know what they are up to." Well, not entirely.

"Of course he already has a clue. Why am I even surprised at this point?" Groaned Higuchi and Gin patted her on the shoulder.

"Forget that! Do you think the Tsushimas and Matsuki would get along with Masaoka?" Naomi asked, excited to theorize and 'gossip'. "I mean, sure, he took care of Dazai-san, but he also kind of taught Dazai-san about suicide. If there's one thing any parent would hate, it would be the person who teaches their kid about self-harm or suicide!"

"I can just imagine Matsuki and Masaoka throwing hands in whatever exists beyond death," Yosano said with a snort.

Kouyou disagreed. "You think Tane-sama or Kiye-sama would let thosemenget even their leftovers? No, they would eviscerate Masaoka if they happened to coexist. He'd experience a second death. Tane-sama and Kiye-sama are perfectly capable of finding a way to make it happen." Hirotsu nodded to support this opinion.

"Honestly, I think all of you are underestimating Gen'emon," Kyouka pitched in. "He looks friendly, but he was an Executive. He climbed from nothing to the top of the world and chose to stay on the second highest summit instead of going further. And he's the only one with an Ability, so he's the only one with any chance of standing up against Masaoka-san's reality manipulation."

"I think his parents would just team up," Chuuya said, Akutagawa nodding along with him. "They are, after all, basically Dazai's personality split unevenly between them. Tane-san seems wicked enough to trick and bypass Masaoka while Gen'emon-san would be clever enough to figure out a way to prevent Masaoka from using his Ability on them."

"Honestly, I think Chibi is the real MVP here," Atsushi piped in, earning strange looks from everyone else.

"No, he's right," Ranpo concurred.

"Sneak attack," f*ckuzawa said by way of agreement.

"They said they were looking for a painting. Do you have any idea about all that?" Dazai asked, leaning against the wall.

Oda looked at him. "No."

'Ooh, it's been a while since someone lied to my face. Usually people who spent this much time with me give up on trying that. Gutsy. And unexpected from him. Huh, it's been over a year since someone managed to actually surprise me. Why is it always redheads?'

"Is that a kink or something?" Tachihara asked jokingly, touching his own hair.

"No," Tanizaki answered, because Dazai had been mean to him during his entrance exam, though now that he's seen the man's past, perhapsmeanwasn't the best way to describe it.

"You have a hint, don't you." It's not a question but Oda answers as though it was. "Why didn't you say anything?"

"Because it doesn't matter," Oda replied, sliding down to sit against the wall next to the bandaged brunet, who watched him curiously. Besides Chuuya and Q, no one else stood so close to him. Not in years. "NO matter what those guys say, that painting is no longer in anyone's hands. It's in a place that it will never be moved from. That painting isn't going anywhere, at least not during my lifetime."

"Why?"

"Because I decided so."

Dazai goes to say something but changes his mind, because really, first, it's not really any of his business and second, there are easier ways to find out than to try and corner his ticket out of here. "Got it. Then let's end this conversation here and talk about what we're doing next."

"I have something that can get us out of here," his companion eventually says. "But there is also one thing that I can't do anything about. A reason." Dazai arches an eyebrow. "You don't want to escape, do you?"

Dazai tilts his head, a puzzled look on his face. Yes, it is true, he does not wish to escape, because he is not truly imprisoned here, despite what those in his surroundings may think. This is a ploy he's donemanytimes. It's easy, given his age and stature and the fact everyone thinks bandages means injuries without even checking. Dazai has so many things hidden in his bandages and all over his body because rarely do people check him for weapons or tools, being theidiotsthey are.

"Felt."

"Shut up, Ranpo."

"No, I agree."

"Shut up, Ougai."

"Are you going to help me?" The mafioso asks, still puzzling over why the redhead even figured out his ploy or why he was even going through with it this far. Usually people run the other way. Well, except Chuuya, who takes it as a challenge, or his squad, who would rather slit their own throats than fail to get him back. (He's not sure whether that's loyalty, fanaticism or fear of possible consequences, but it's useful.)

"It's actually a little bit of all three," Hirotsu supplied before anyone could ask. Not that anyone's overly comforted by the reminder.

"I thought I would, but you have no reason to do so. No reasons to accompany me and get out of here."

And while itistrue that Dazai could just let himself die here, he doesn't even have the Book, it's not even properly hidden or protected and Kashimura Kansuke isn't even dead yet, so, really, Dazai has no reason to die just yet. Not then and there, but no one who realized he's suicidal - or at least that he lacks a will to live - would know that. Not Chuuya and certainly not the man he's only known for a few days. "So never mind me. Just escape by yourse-"

"I will take you with me even if I have to put a rope around your neck."

Dazai stared, surprised. When was the last time someone wasthisdetermined to save him.'Matsuki-san and Chibi. That's the last time.'"You ... Are you actually a pushy guy?" Is he dealing with Chuuya 2.0?'I can never let them meet. They will gang up on me and force me to eat and sleep, as though I feel the same urges for both that ordinary people do. As if those things hadn't been messed up long before I started torture training. This is a nightmare. An absolute nightmare! ... I think I'm gonna keep him.'

"Dazai-san recruited Oda Sakunosuke?" Akutagawa asked in surprise and even Chuuya seemed taken aback by the revelation.

"Yes, Dazai-kun brought in some of the most useful Ability users to the Port Mafia," Mori replied. He barely didn't recoil at the glare Ranpo was sending his way, supported by Yosano and f*ckuzawa even if they didn't quite know why he was glaring so viciously at the Boss.

"Dazai, if I ask, will you come with me?" Oda said, staring Dazai into his eye.

The sixteen year old felt almost conflicted.Ask? Who the hell evenaskedhim anything anymore? When was the last time someone asked for hisconsentinanything? "Well, I wonder~ I'm not the kind of nice guy who listens to others' requests that easily, you know! Everyone has a hard time getting me to do anything. What can you offer?" It is, after all, easier to agree to anything if it'squid pro quo.

It seems he's managed to surprise Oda, yet again. "You think I can give you what you want?"

"I don't know," Dazai admits with a smile and, well ... That's a dozy, too! When was the last time he genuinelydidn't knowor didn't know what toexpectfrom someone? Chuuya, certainly. Verlaine, to an extent, but not nearly as much. But Dazai understood Chuuya on a level that sometimes honestly scared him so he shouldn't really count, right? "I really don't know. I've never met anyone like you before. That's why I'm asking you."

"How does he manage to think of Chuuya even in the middle of making an epic bromance with another hot redhead?" Yosano asks with a snort and Chuuya wants to facepalm.

"You're ruining the moment, Yosano-sensei," pouted Naomi.

"Tis a gift," Gin replied with 'wisdom of the ages' kind of vibe.

"You think Oda Sakunosuke is a 'hot redhead'? Should I be worried, Yosano-san?" Kouyou teased and Chuuya went through with his earlier urge to facepalm.

"Dazai, as soon as we get out of here, let's go tothat place. Right away. It's not that far away," Oda proposed and Dazai's eyes rounded and sparkled.

"That place? That you-are-a-fool-if-you-don't-go-before-you-die place?"

"Yes." Oda takes a long breath. "Dazai, you're right. There is no good or bad in wanting to die. Because there seems to be many important things in this world, but in reality, there is nothing that important. Life and death don't even matter at all. The place we are going is probably not going to live up to your expectations. Maybe you will find only rocks, scraps of paper and things of such value there." He looks away from the younger male, staring at his own palm. "But what if it's different?" And, well, it's not like he fully intrigues Dazai into believing life may be worth living ... But there's justsomethingabout this whole situation that makes Dazai wonderWould It Hurt To Try?and that's familiar, too, isn't it. He's felt something similar a little over a year ago and for the past entire year and for every year before it since he woke up in the hospital in Yokohama, freshly orphaned and eight years old as the only survivor of a calamity. And, well, he can't quite reassure his companion that he means it when he says he'll leave this place with him, because the man tries a new, meaner tactic. "Then let's do it this way. If you die here, I will build a tomb for you. And your tombstone will sayHere Lies Dazai, The Man Who Never Beat Oda Sakunosuke At Poker."

Dazai sputtered, dumbfounded. "Th-that's not good! Not good at all!" Chuuya would laugh at him for eternity if he ever saw it! "Alright! It cannot be helped then! Let's break out of this prison!" With that, he stands up, holds up his hands and snaps his fingers. The handcuffs, supposedly locked around his thin wrists, fall off smoothly. Dazai revels in the awed look the man - Oda Sakunosuke, his mind corrects, as hefinallyhas a name to the face - gives him.

"Show off."

"Pot calling kettle black, right there, lad."

"Double Black," Mori just chirps and everyone rolls their eyes at him. "Rude! It was a clever quip!"

"You took them of from the beginning, didn't you?"

"Pretty much, yeah, with some metal wire I found over there," he absently points to a corner, rubbing his wrists. The skin's chaffed from his bandages being grinded on by the handcuffs.

"Will that work on the door lock, too?"

"Of course~" Nothing easier in the world! But then he realizes something and frowns down at Oda. "No way ... When you said you had something that can get us out of here, you were talking about me?" He asks incredulously and is then even more incredulous but also delighted to realize Oda had found out he'd unlocked the chains he'd put on his legs while he was taking care of him. Oda was just turning out to be more and more fun by the second! But he still pouts as he unlocks Oda's handcuffs before going over to the door.

"How long has it been, I wonder? To have somewhere I want to go," Dazai muses with a smile, not meeting Oda's eyes but not hiding his expression, either. "I have a feeling that even if there is nothing at that place, it will be fine as it is. Come on, let's get out of here quickly and get some good fresh air~"

"I always did wonder why Oda was so important to that sh*tty mackerel," Chuuya grunted, honestly just a little bit jealous by how Dazai was acting like such a child around Oda but still showing off for him, too, like he's trying to impress him.

"I don't think you have any right to be jealous of anyone in Dazai-san's life, Chuuya-san," Akutagawa boldly proclaimed, earning wide eyes and a dropped jaw from Chuuya as he oh so casually coughed into a politely raised hand.

"You've been spending too much time with the weretiger, brother."

"Shut up, Gin. Go make out with Tachihara or something."

Tachihara sputtered, face redder than his hair.

"RIP Tachihara," Hirotsu said with a sigh.

"RIP."

"RIP."

"RIP."

"Eh? Why?" Atsushi asked, ignoring Gin's comment altogether for the sake of his sanity.

"Dazai-san is ... protective," Gin said with a shrug and a light blush.

Tachihara lost all the color in his face, but continued sputtering, this time in fear.

Akutagawa grinned. "That's why I'm telling him." It was indeed not a nice grin.

Tachihara fell to his knees and whimpered.

After some winding through hallways, using the walls for guidance, they finally approached what seemed to be the exit, as wind and voices reached them. "Even if we can manage to get out of here," Dazai felt the need to point out eventually. "It doesn't mean that they will give up on the 'painting' just like that. You will need some kind of measures, unless you are going to move every week. What do you think of doing to handle this?"

"Nothing in particular. There is no need to move, either," Oda replied, like a careless dumbass. Dazai wasthisclose to dragging the man to his shipping container. He'd be safer there than where he's currently living, at least, because no one dares go to the dump site. Verlaine coming to his place had been a once in a lifetime occurrence and, well, really, who could stand up to the Verlaine of a couple of months ago? Absolutely no one, though he and Chuuya should spar now or just check how much higher the chibi's Ability output is now compared to before he opened his Gate. Dazai has a feeling that there's a difference but, well, science is more than a gut feeling! "I've been attacked quite a few times for things related to my past, but I've always managed to get out of it somehow. This time, too, I will live until I die."

'And here I thoughtIwas the suicidal one. Still, that kind of fits his laid back attitude.'"That is such a wise way to live." And then he collapses, because the stupid poison was starting to take effect now that Dazai was moving around and spreading it faster through his bloodstream. It was a stronger dose than most would dare to use, but given they were amateur interrogators and torturers, he wouldn't be surprised if they messed up the dosage. Hell, he was sure that this would be enough to kill someone else! He needs a moment to work through it. Mind over matter and all that bullsh*t.

"That's not how you deal with being poisoned! Oh my god!" Yosano exclaimed, throwing her hands up in frustration while Mori very pointedly whistled and looked the other way, given that was howhetrained Dazai to deal with poison.

"Dazai, if it were you, what would you do for a counterm-" Oda cut himself off when he saw Dazai was moving very weirdly and very sluggishly, quickly understanding it was a poison or drug of some sort.

"Sorry but ... can you ... just go ahead ... I will ... take a break and ... chase after you ... " And f*ck if that fall hadn't jostled his still not fully healed injuries. Then all hell breaks loose as they're found, Oda is asked to surrender in return for leaving Dazai alive, which isbullsh*t. Even chibi wasn't naive enough to believe that, but apparently Oda might be ... "Well, well ... It's a pain listening to small flies running their mouths." Dazai could already feel the feeling coming back into his limbs. Just bit longer now ... Who needsabs of steellike Chuuya when you can have a body that defies all notions of biology and chemistry! Ha!

" ... Is he seriously thinking of Chuuya's abs at a time likethis? The lad has it worse than we thought," Kouyou said with a sigh while Chuuya blushed down to his neck.

"So, we still not commenting on Chuuya living rent free in Dazai's mind? No? Okay, I'll wait a bit longer, then."

"It's not even funny anymore, Yosano-sensei."

"That's for me to decide, Tanizaki."

"I want to get out of here as soon as possible. I'm thirsty."

"Thirsty for your partner!"

"We're not partners yet," Chuuya corrected, but Yosano waved him off.

"Details!"

"If I surrender, will you let Dazai go?"

'Dumbass!'

"Dumbass," the viewers agreed with Dazai's thought.

"Okay, that boy has no value to us to begin with-"

'Excuse you!? I basically run the freaking Mafia! I hold more value in my little finger than Mori-san does in his entire body! I know basically all the secrets for nearly all of Yokohama! I've gathered enough evidence to topple the current government and I have enough blackmail to force all Diet members to flee the country after leaving all of their assets to me! Who thef*ckhas no value here!? Dumbass!'

"Finish off that bandage brat."

'Surprise, surprise,'was Dazai's immediate sarcastic thought.

"You promised different," Oda argued.

'Dumbass.'It was becoming a bit fond already. Dazai will have to take care of this one, too, won't he?

"Promise? Oh, I indeed broke my promise. How about you, then? We are the keepers of the law. Are you saying you have been obeying the rules without breaking a single one in your life?"

"I see."

'Dumbass!'"It's not the time to be convinced," he says flatly, hoping Oda understood how disappointed he was in him right now for falling for the oldest trick in the book.

"I know. Dazai, I'm just like you, I am thirsty too. Let's get out of here quickly."

And of course, some more cliche dialog follows that Dazai almost cringes at how predictable it was, like watching an old fashioned movie villain come to life. Dazai hates cliche movies. Still, Mr corrupt cop says something that particularly tickles Dazai. "Hahaha! 'Getting full of yourself just because you used to be in that organization'? It's not good to swear at a mirror," he tells them with a taunting smile and they - except Oda, who was apparently used to his soulless eyes by now - recoil from him. Then they glare at him and he wants to roll his eyes because he doesn't find them scary at all. Drunk Chuuya is more intimidating, when he's trying to steal Dazai's coat for whatever reason and wrap himself up in it, so, really, it's not saying much about the others' intimidation level because Dazai only finds drunk Chuuya either cute or funny.

"I'm sorry,what?"

"I don't even know what to unpack here first."

"How, exactly, is a drunk Chuuya-san not intimidating? He yells and curses a lot more than usual!"

"How about I tell you why I went and collapsed in front of his house in the first place?" Well, aside from the fact that everyone's been running him ragged ever since the incident with Verlaine because apparently no one can do anything without him holding their hands.

"And of course that was intentional," Chuuya and Ranpo groused.

"Because I knew f a rumor, that no evils can come close to that house, be it burglars, smugglers or Mafia. No matter who it is, it's just around that house that they can't cause any trouble. It is acalm-zone. It's as if they are afraid of something, or someonethere." Dazai is very glad he never gave up his own information networks from his broker days and that he's been able to even inherit some of the ones Masaoka-ossan left behind. Oda was so small-scale and low key that he completely runs under the Mafia's radar and Dazai would have completely missed his existence otherwise. He ignores the corrupt cops that make confused noises and instead addresses Oda. "It seems that these guys don't plan to let us out of here alive. So, I'll leave the rest to you."

And then he just ... flops onto his back, letting his body cycle out the toxins, ignoring everyone and just letting Oda do his thing to beat everyone up. When he feels the effects lessen enough, he lifts his head to see the fight now that no more bullets were flying overhead and he almost whistles.'That reminds me. I ought to start practicing again, since I can't involve chibi when I confront Kashimura and Verlaine-san made it clear he wasn't leaving the basem*nt unless he can see Randou-san again, meaning never. Perhaps I can bring Oda along, when I finally do it? Food for thought.'

"Do you think he ever found Kashimura?" Higuchi asked and Akutagawa gave an immediate answer.

"Of course he did; he's Dazai-san."

"He didn't do it Port Mafia resources," Mori also replied.

"Why is it always the redheads that are so badass?" Naomi asked the only right question and all the redheads preened like peaco*cks, even though she really aimed it mostly at her brother.

By the time Oda was the last man standing, all of his opponents bleeding from arms and legs and other non-lethal wounds, Dazai has manged to wrangle the damn poison under control and was standing up like nothing had happened, observing the scene of the one-sided battle with a bit of awe that he usually felt for Chuuya's fighting prowess. It's always the redheads, huh?

"See! Even Dazai-san agrees!"

"That is amazing," he can't help but gush a little, because heisstill a teenage boy and cool things are cool. "No one is dying. They;re badly injured on their arms and legs but they're not dying. Just what kind of magic did you use?"

"I shot them so that they wouldn't die," Oda said casually and Dazai turned to look at him without any comprehension for the notion he'd just given him.

"Huh? No, no, that's not what I mean. I mean why you did what you did ... " Because for as long as Dazai's had to fend for himself, it was kill or be killed if he got in a fight. "But whatever. I'll ask later. Really, there are so many things I want to hear from you. Let's get out of here first."

"Dazai," the older said gravely and Dazai tilted his head. "Count to two, then take one step to the left." When Dazai does so, a bullet whizzes past where he'd been standing, from the guy who'd tortured Oda. Apparently he was still well enough to put up a bit of a fight, enough to point a gun, at least. Oda has no more bullets - Dazai's counted - but because he's apparently a badass kind of dumbass, he uses his empty gun to knock the cop's one out of his hand, which had no right to be so cool.

"Damn it! What are you? What in the world are you?!"

"The legendary assassin organization. There was no such thing from the very beginning," Oda says and Dazai kind of just stands to the side and listens, because he has a feeling o deja vu, of a similar kind of badass revelation, just with a different, shorter, younger redhead. "You said that you couldn't find any member of the organization but me. Of course, because, from the beginning, the track records that you guys know of were not left by an organization."

'Okay, that's almost as badass as hearing a chibi ginger you met twice in your life is a god of calamity!'Dazai thought giddily, even as he held onto his poker face.

"Okay, so you're telling me that the only reason you're not dead right now, Ougai-dono, is because Oda Sakunosuke did not want you dead," Kouyou mused, getting weird looks for the parallel she'd drawn. "Did Dazai-kun simply not tell him what you used to do to him? Did he not know Dazai-kun would inheriteverythingshould you perish? Or did Dazai-kun dissuade him? Food for thought, no?"

Dazai laughed at the lame speech the cop gave. It was so predictable, it was laughable. But he was inconsequential. "By the way, what should I call you?" He asked Oda, who wasmuchmore interesting.

Oda shrugged. "Call me whatever you want." A dangerous offer, but Dazai wasn't looking to mess with Oda the way he would with Chuuya. Oda simply wouldn't react at all. He was too chill for that. He watched as Oda shot to leave the guy unconscious, most likely from the shock of pain, and marveled over how determined Oda was not to kill. He'll have to get the story behind that later. "Let's go."

And, well, Dazai followed, even as he made a note to exterminate 48. His subordinates ought to have already tracked him down to this area so it won't be long before they discover the bunker. The bunker was good, it would be of great use to the Mafia, so he's both bringing in a new asset and taking down an annoyance.

Speaking of assets, he throws a glance at Oda and wonders ... Yes, Oda will need protection. The Mafia will be able to provide it, especially as Dazai was making it strong enough to protect Chuuya, so surely protecting Oda would be a piece of cake in comparison ... He'll have to ask. For now, he follows Oda as they both complained about being tired. It's the first time he's heard Oda complain at all.

He watches Oda take out a pack of cigarettes from one of his pockets - did those amateurs really not search them for weapons? Dazai ought to wipe them out for incompetence alone! - and notices a strange hesitation, a battle waging on inside of Oda all of a sudden, until it clicks. He almost snorts; sure, he doesn't like the smell of them, but it's not like being around someone who smokes is going to kill him. He almost laughs when Oda decides against smoking and tries to put them away. "Don't worry about it, just smoke," he says with amusem*nt. He does end up smoking a cigarette as he leads them towards a remote alleyway, where there is a red and white sign flashing brightlyLupinat them. "Here?" He asks, as he observes his surroundings.

A narrow staircase leading to a classy, quiet bar, with calm jazz music in the background. A bar with an older barman, a few boots, bar stools in front of the bar, low lights, a shelf of good-looking liquor. It really doesn't look like much ... Dazai's sure his father had a fancier bar in their own manor when it was still standing.

"Is this, by any chance, the place you should go to before you die?" He asks, to be sure, a little bit disappointed, if he was being honest. "Isn't it just a normal bar? I thought it would be a nicer place ... "

"He says that as though he didn't spend his every free moment in that place in the following years," Chuuya huffed.

"Right, there is nothing special here. Just a bar," the other admits a bit too honestly. "You've been tricked." Dazai stares at him with a blank expression. "Just think about it. How could a little guy like me know something that even the high and mighty Port Mafia doesn't know of? And didn't you say you were thirsty?" He turned to the bartender. "Master, I will have the usual." Oda sits down and slowly, Dazai follows, looking a bit discontent, a bit uncomfortable.

He's never been to a bar before. Not like this. He's not entirely sure how to act, but e orders a drink. They stay quiet for a while, just the background jazz music between them. "How should I put it," Dazai breaks the silence, not looking at Oda, instead focusing on the glass and marveling at the huge ball of ice he got with his whiskey. He's never seen it served likethatbefore. He played with it, dunking it into the alcohol, feeling like a little kid. Or a cat. "Did you lie to stop the ... suicidal me ... from dying?"

Because, honestly, then what makes Oda different from Mori?

But also, what makes Oda different from Matsuki?

"No, I am not that kind of an admirable person," Oda replies, taking a sip of his own drink. "There is someone who is younger than me yet he seems to know everything about life, so I teased him a bit. Just that."

It sounds both true and like a deception, like Oda himself doesn't know his true intentions, like he'd just acted without thinking. Dazai can't help but shake his head.'Neither, then. Instead, he's like Chuuya. Just less loud, less of a yapping dog and less gullible in some ways but more so in others.'He shoulddefinitelynot let them meet. It would make his life so much harder to leave behind.

"For f*ck's sake, I should have teamed up with Oda!" Cursed Chuuya at the missed opportunity.

"I can't really believe that but let's leave it that way for now."

"There's no need to be upset," the redhead with the stubble says. "There is still something in this world that you can believe for sure." He sure seemed certain of that. "In fact, there are two," he continued, taking out a deck of cards from his pocket.

'I have this urge to go back to 48 and teach them how things are done. Have theyseriouslynot searched either of us at all?! Are people outside of the Mafia so dumb?! Or is it just everyone and the only reason the Port Mafia is better is because I terrorized them into a proper protocol of doing things?'

"The latter," every mafioso but Mori, Higuchi and Tachihara intoned with a deadpan voice. Mori couldn't even be offended, given that Dazai had, indeed, improved his organization beyond anyone's expectations.

"One, you haven't beaten me at poker yet. And two, a dead person will forever lose the chance to play poker with the living."

The younger laughs, finally loosening up and losing some of his earlier disappointment. "I will get rid of that leeway soon enough~!" It wouldn't even be hard, actually. Dazai already has a good idea of the stipulations of Oda's Ability and if the man tries to cheat, well, Dazai has his own ace up his sleeve. He just needs to brush up against Oda, just a little bit of contact, and Oda's invincibility at poker disappears. But for now, he lets it go and they play and drink and talk. He finds one of the most fun parts of their conversation to be about books; he doesn't remember the last time he talked to anyone about the kind of books he likes to read.

Which is also kind of unfair, because Dazai would readanythingwith even an iota of quality to it. His brain just needs to focus on something. The Mafia was good in that, giving him plenty of things for his mind to focus on. Otherwise, he'd get so bored he might just make perfect, foolproof plans for world domination and, to stir more chaos, he'd auction them online to see organizations and governments fight over them like little children.

" ... How thef*ckis he so docile at the Agency, then?" Yosano dared to ask and, well, all the others could do was shrug and fear what the hell Dazai was up to that he wasn't exploding from boredom orcausing explosionsdue to boredom.

"Maybe he's still trying to figure out Nakahara-san's origins?" Kenji offered and they all accepted that, for now.

Things get interesting when Oda starts telling him about how dangerous his job as a special postman for dangerous deliveries is and how many strange or fun situations he's found himself in. He also notes that Oda makes deliveries to military research facilities.'There are more? I'll need to look into that. I have a bad feeling about that.'He's a little pissed Oda didn't tell him these stories when he was bored out of his mind, but he's glad he was learning something new about his friend? Were they friends? He doesn't know, but Oda indulges him, as he's been doing all this time except for his 'desire for death' instances.

In turn for the fun stories, Dazai shares his latest adventures, enjoying the absolutelystunnedand perplexed expression Oda is wearing as he tries to figure out which part of the story about the 'Verlaine incident' - Dazai prefers to call itStormbringer, because the gravity 'brothers' sure did cause a lot of storms in those couple of days that everything went down, literally and figuratively. Spoilers~ It was all true! Oda does not believe him, but honestly, he could not have made that sh*t up if he wanted to! He's almost tempted to have him meet Verlaine, just so he can see that Dazai wasn't making it up. Who knew he could cause this sort of reaction!

At one point, Dazai's not sure how many games they've played - a lie, he knows exactly how many they've played - or how many stories they've traded - he's still waiting on telling Oda about how he met Chuuya; he has a feelingthatone might end up being more confusing and surreal than the one with Verlaine! - but he's made a - possibly drunken; don't look at him like that, it was his first time drinking! He's not the chibi! - decision. "You're Odasaku!" He exclaimed imperiously. "You are too strange for such a short name like Oda and Oda Sakunosuke is just too long to roll off the tongue smoothly! Therefore, you are Odasaku! From now on, whenever someone asks for your name, you have to say that~!"

"Odasaku? That is a strange name. Sounds like a farmer-"

"I agree~!" Chirped in Kenji, making the others laugh.

"Do I have the right to change my name?"

"No~"

"No ... ? It can't be helped, then."

Dazai is not sure what this strange, warm feeling is whenever Oda -nay, Odasaku! - indulges him, but he's extremely happy that the nickname was accepted. For whatever reason, it makes the canned crab he eats extra delicious. They continue their conversation, exchanging more stories - hewasright, Odasakudidseem even more perplexed about how he met Chuuya (the 15 version, not the 7-8 one; that's something he'll take to his grave, it felt too personal, for far too many reasons) than the Verlaine story from a couple of months ago - but soon, it was almost closing time and their conversation was to come to an end.

Itshouldbe the end of it all ...

But Dazai hasn't let go of Chuuya even before he knew the chibi's name.

"When are we meeting next?" That sure seems to surprise Odasaku and for a moment, Dazai wondered if the other wouldn't even want to. Except Odasaku doesn't seem against the idea, so Dazai just smiles and waits, shuffling the cards. Odasaku's flustered expression at having Dazai want to spend more time with him had no right to be so endearing! It was almost cute! He hands out the cards. "Haha, interesting. It's surprising to see you make that kind of face. Okay! Showdown!" He threw his cards down, showing off the four kings. His win. "All these games up till this point have been to figure out how your Ability works," Dazai reveled with a happy smile. He hadn't even cheated or used his Ability to stop Odasaku's! As Chuuya would say, Lady Luck was simply on his side! "Generally, the future you can see is only within five to six seconds, so if I wait for seven seconds or more after the las bet to open and switch my cards at the same time, you will not be able to see that future~"

Well, luck and a bit of a magic trick. Chuuya does often accuse him of being a street magician, but what can Dazai say? He's very good with his hands. He even shows off to Odasaku, who seems impressed with his slight of hand.

"Hey, Nakahara, you'll tell us how good Dazai is with his hands, right?"

Chuuya turned a horrified expression towards Yosano. "What thehellis wrong with your mind, woman? Are there any thoughts in there thataren'thorny!?"

"After I get laid, there might be a few that aren't."

"Noted," Kouyou says with a wink and Yosano promptly become redder than the swordswoman's hair, prompting her to laugh.

"Isn't there already a simpler solution?" Dazai flippantly asks when Odasaku mentions 48 and other organizations that may have found out about him and the 'painting' by now. "If the other side of the world doesn't work, you can run to a deeper place, a place so deep that no criminal organization can reach. And it's not far away from here," he echoes the other's words from earlier. "The place is right here in Yokohama~" He smiles as he sees Odasaku realized what he means. "No one can run away from their past." Dazai and Chuuya both know that from personal experience. In a way, they're both still on the run and they will be, forever, as long as they draw breath into their lungs. "But if you go there, it is a different story."

"Are you saying that I should join it?" The red haired man asks and Dazai smiles some more.

"It's up to you, but I promise you. If you join, you will no longer be bothered by anything from your past. Because no past can touch that place."'Well, except if your past is rooted in it. Then you have to hope that everyone who knows keeps their tarps shut.'

"Where is this place?"

Dazai beams with pride and happiness, opening his arms in a welcome. And then he says them, the words that will change the course of both of their futures, of their destinies forever.

"The name? That organization is called the Port Mafia."

Chapter 19

Chapter Text

16yo

Because Dazai's life was a chaotic mess from the day he was born, the world shifted around the viewers of the visions in the once again familiar swirl of colors before it settles right smack in the middle of the seventieth day of the Dragon Head conflict. Plenty has changed since that first peaceful night in Lupin with Oda, it seems, because, for one, Dazai was relocated from his shipping container, on Mori's orders, no less, into an apartment befitting of an Executive, even if Dazai was not yet one.

Dazai has not been around luxury for half his life now and finds it weird that he's sleeping on soft mattresses again or that his cold feet are greeted by a fluffy rug when he walks around barefoot. He's still left his most important possessions - still including the Book - in the secret compartment underneath his container, because he wouldn't be surprised if Mori had this place put under surveillance. Not that Dazai spends all that much time in here, but he would still prefer it if the Boss wasn't perving on him.

"I didn't!" Mori protested when he was shot disgusted looks by the others.

He especially can't allow anyone to snoop around and find out about his bloodline; that would be spelling out a disaster, an execution waiting to happen, no matter how important, crucial or useful he was to the Mafia. There were still some traditionalists left in their ranks, so Mori would definitely execute him. He'd probably even make it public, to show everyone not even his right hand man is exempt from such treatment should he turn out to be a 'threat'. (As if Dazai would need anyone's support to kill Mori and take over. As if he'd need his family name to do it. His biggest concern, if anything, would be Chuuya, who was unfortunately blind to how big of a piece of sh*t Mori was as a human being, blinded by his loyalty to the organization and to a man he perceived as a good example of leadership.)

(Dazai doubts he'd be a very good example, himself, but he knows he's seen good examples of it. His father, as the head of their estate, his aunt, in a similar position in her own, and both of his parents and his aunt as heads of Tsushima Corp. Matsuki-san, too, as the head steward or whatever his actual calling was while the manor stood, was also a much better example than Dazai, but especially compared toMori. The only thing Mori had going for him was that he knew how to manipulate his pieces and that he strives for logic, as opposed to Dazai's grandfather, at least.)

"I love it how Dazai sh*ts on Mori each time he thinks about him," Yosano said with a gleeful grin and fist-bumped both Ranpo and f*ckuzawa.

Besides the sudden lack of actual privacy, the apartment doesn't have anything for him to complain about. He's actually pretty sure a lot of people would kill to live in a place like that. Considering Dazai killed not to be killed, he simply wasn't all that much into it. He didn't move any of his other stuff in there besides a few more changes of clothes he was forced to get because, unlike a certain chibi, he was actuallygrowing.

"f*ck you, too, asshole!"

Another change since the day he'd officially became friends with Odasaku is that he no longer hovers around Chuuya to catch him when he has the time off, like he used to. Now he just checks the ginger's schedule and if he sees Chuuya won't have time for him, Dazai doesn't go out of his way to annoy him even if it's just for a second. Instead, he uses the sparce free time he has hanging out with Odasaku, making sure he was settled into his new job and that no one was trying to order him to kill. Not that anyone dared; Oda Sakunosuke was technicallyDazai's, he's the one who brought him in, so Dazai was the one who had the most say about what he's doing to earn his keep. Mori had been both amused and impressed by his find but he'd let Dazai handle it.

Probably because he was trying to get Elise to try out that new dress he bought her at the time. (Dazai put glue in his hair shampoo. No one noticed their Boss was wearing a very convincing wig for nearly an entire two months until he managed to find someone to remove it with their Ability.)

"BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" Yosano, Ranpo and Kouyou all fell to the ground laughing, Kouyou mostly because shehad, actually, noticed it but had thought her Boss was trying to hide his receding hairline while he tried out some medicine to deal with it. She hadneversuspected thatthiswas the reason.

"I love how this guy's mind works," Tachihara said with a wild grin.

Mori was pouting until f*ckuzawa suddenly ran a hand through his hair andyanked. "f*ckuzawa-dono!?"

"Hmm. It seems to be real, now."

"Of course it is! It grew back!"

"Good. I always liked your hair. It would be a shame if you lost your only redeeming feature."

Mori was possibly redder than his scarf. "Yukichi!?"

Naomi desperately needed some popcorn. "I never knew old men yaoi could be this interesting."

Higuchi nodded fervently.

Gin, AKutagawa and Tanizaki all looked long-suffering at that little interaction.

Ever since the Dragon Head conflict started, as it's being called, however, he hadn't been seeing much of the older man except during jobs, like dumping bodies or the likes, because everyone was so overworked even Dazai had to pitch in on the cleanups of the messes he created from the organizations he demolished. Half of his usual squad was too busy making sure the other squads and the overall administration wasn't going to blow up in everyone's face in the absence of the only functioning brain cells in the Mafia named Dazai Osamu. (Not counting Ane-san and Hirotsu-san, of course. They could do nothing wrong. Odasaku, too, in a way, but his also too low in the ranks for Dazai to worry about him f*cking something really important up.)

But, hey! Going on those - quite literally - stink jobs is what led them to discovering and befriending Sakaguchi Ango! He was so stiff and uptight that it was just so fun to tease him. (Not as fun as it was to tease Chuuya, but considering how little they saw of each other these days, Dazai was glad he hadfriends. And oh,boy, wasthatstill a novelty.) He did, however, remind Dazai of a very specific person he hadn't thought much about in the past couple of months.

The way he acted reminded him quite a bit of Randou: someone used to keeping secrets, but either unaware of it or far too good at it. He wasn't a foreigner, though, so that could only mean he either worked for an enemy organization or for the government. Dazai vowed to keep an eye on him, but for now, he wasn't selling out any important information. (Dazai would know; he'd been an information broker almost as long as he'd been a mafioso now. Not that he'd everstopped.)

"As expected of Dazai-san, to know from the start," Hirotsu said with a tired sigh, understanding right away that the inevitable betrayal had been foreseen from the start and yet the boy had clung onto Ango almost as hard as he had onto Oda. Losing them so close to each other must have killed a part of him he had never realized he had; grief had a way of revealing the most ugly or the most vulnerable parts of people like that, after all.

But aside from that, the Dragon Head conflict wasboringand of extremely little interest to Dazai. Within the first week, he had known how it would go and now, ten weeks later, his predictions were still true and on point.

Then Chuuya burst into his apartment, calling out his name, completely disregarding that Dazai had only recently returned from a battlefront that he'd been supervising for two days straight and that it had been nearly a whole week since he'd had any proper sleep not counting the power naps he took on the ride between places or when he dozed off leaning on Oda in Lupin. Mori was running him ragged more so than he'd done even during the Verlaine incident or what followed after it.

At this point, Dazai's sure he'd lost an unhealthy amount of weight. Odasaku and Ango have been trying to stuff him with food during their last meetup - only Ango liked too sweet things and Oda liked spicy curry and, well, Dazai couldn't really handle the amount of spice the former assassin put in his curry, not could he swallow the too-dry cakes or biscuits Ango liked - but he's sure he vomited it up when someone got a lucky punch in.

When Chuuya stormed in, he'd only managed to get about an hour and a half of sleep before he had to focus on Chuuya's complaining about his 'laziness' and the losses they were taking, as if Dazai wasn't literally the first person to get those reports as soon as they come in.

Chuuya winced, really having been unaware of what Dazai was going through at that time. He'd been a ball of anxiety and stress, not enough sleep, not enough time just for himself, living the day pack by pack of cigarettes. His subordinates had been missing for days and he'd been showed, for the first time, into a situation that couldn't be resolved in just a couple of days of working together with everyone else in his new found family. He remembers how everyone was looking to Dazai for a solution, thinking they were crazy and then getting angry when he thought Dazai was just lazing about.

With the amount of blood he would have to scrub off of his hands and clothes at the end of each day, it had been increasingly harder to think of himself as human at that time.

He knows very well where this talk would go.

It was a reminder he was hoping they actually wouldn't see.

The way he'd lashed out at Dazai ... Honestly, he was surprised Dazai never, not even once, tried to get back at him for it. He could have, oh soveryeasily. Dazai's tongue was sharper than any blade and cut deeper than any poison could reach. Yet he hadn't.

Because all that time, he'd been fighting just as much for Chuuya's right to call himself a human as Chuuya had.

"Can't you keep it down?" Dazai said around a yawn as he struggled to wake up. His mind was foggy. This was bad sleeping habits even for an insomniac like him.'I need sleep or else I'll die the next time I step out on the field.'

"So this is where you were," sixteen year old Chuuya says as he approaches Dazai on the couch he'd been trying to sleep on. "Pretty ballsy to take a nap while the Boss is calling for you."

Dazai almost snorted. As if Mori would ever dare to 'punish' him in any way. Even if Dazai did nothing to retaliate, Elise actually liked him more than she did her own creator and, even worse, she likedYumeno. And for Yumeno, Dazai's word wasgospel. Not getting to play with Q would have Elise hating Mori forever.

"He really had you wrapped around his finger," snickered Ranpo. "I approve."

"You've seen what he can do," Mori said with a shudder. "I didnotwant to make an enemy of him, especially during such trying time and while there were still traditionalists around. And sign of unrest and they would attempt a coup and, really, we did not have the time for that until Dazai-kun became an Executive and promptlysquishedany such attempts. Forsh*ts and giggles, no less."

"Well, too bad you were a piece of sh*t and chased him out of the organization he was literally the beating heart of, huh? He's ours now and we ain't sharing," the great detective said while sticking his tongue out at the Mafia Boss.

Mori's eye twitched.

"That you, Chuuya? Morning," he greeted, settling in once more to continue his nap, as unlikely as it was that he'll actually get it. Be it because of Chuuya's mere loud presence or because his insomnia will kick in. "I see you're as suitably sized for your worth as always. Quite fitting." He rolled around, reaching under over the couch, under at around the height of the fancy legs of it as if to pet somethingreallysmall. "But did you want to talk? Very well. Just one moment, allow me to fetch my microscope so I can see you better."

Tachihara let out an unattractivePfftand collapsed to the floor, laughing. "I don't know what's funnier! The sass or that sleeping mask!"

"I'm not over there! And I'm not that small, damn it!"

"Never mind, it's Chuuya-san!"

"f*ck you too, Tachihara. Sleep with one motherf*cking eye open when we get back. Remember that I'm Dazai's partner and the Boss wasn't the only one who had to put up with the bastard's pranks. Only, I gave back as good as I got!"

"You dumbass!" Past Chuuya screamed at the taller teen. "Do you have any idea what's going on outside!? It's the worst conflict to ever befall the Port Mafia. No, all ofYokohama!"

"I know. You don't have to carry on like that," Dazai said with a sigh, sitting up, sliding his sleeping mask up and subtly massaging his head. It was surprising how rarely he got headaches, but they hurt like a bitch when he did get them. "Out of the four major groups, the international syndicate Strain lost 80% of their members. The Takase-kai's leader was killed, destroying their entire chain of command. All the other members are on a one-way death march as well. A concerto of blood, if you will, created by hatred, retribution and suspicion." Chuuya just listened, a slight pout-like furrow of his lips as he realized that Dazai was informed, despite appearing to be lazing around.'Why is it socute?Whydid I ever have that realization months ago!? Damn chibi!'"But no need to worry, right?" He continued somewhat jokingly. "If everyone dies, that automatically ends it."

Chuuya stared at him for a long moment before his default resting bitch face broke by an even further furrowing of his brows.

"Hey! I do not have a resting bitch face, oi!"

"No offense, Chuuya-san," Higuchi started hesitantly with a sweatdrop. "But you kind of do ... Sort of ... I can't really explain it, but your eyes sometimes look like they're in a perpetual glare. I used to find it a bit intimidating when I first started working for the Mafia."

"I don't think Mr Fancy Hat has a resting bitch face," Kenji piped up.

Kunikida walked up to him and patted his hair with an exasperated sigh. "Don't say that word, Kenji. It's bad."

"Oh."

"I agree with Kenji, though," Kyouka chimed in, but Higuchi sweatdropped even more.

"YOu have an even bigger resting bitch face than my brother, let alone Chuuya-san," Gin came to her rescue, stating the agreement she had with the blonde in that regard.

"If anyone has a scary resting bitch face, it's Kunikida," Yosano says with a snort.

"Especially if he loses his glasses," Atsushi added under his breath.

"All of you are wrong, obviously!" Declared the oldest yet shortest detective. Ranpo shamelessly pointed at f*ckuzawa, who didn't even blink. "Shachou has the best resting bitch face!"

Mori had to hum and nod in agreement to that.

"I disagree," Hirotsu and Kouyou started at the same time, before the woman let the elder continue, having a feeling they had the same thought. "Dazai-san at eighteen had the scariest, most intimidating resting bitch face to ever exist. He'd sneeze and entire hallways of the Port Mafia would clear in seconds as though a bomb had been dropped, that's how scared everyone was."

"I don't agree with the insulting term, but I do agree with the statement," Akutagawa declared.

Tachihara, Junichiro and Naomi just sweatdropped, not having joined in on the 'Who has the best resting bitch face?' competition the others were having.

"Are you being serious?" Chuuya of the past asked, starting to get genuinely pissed. "Unlike you, I don't want anyone in this city to die! If you have time to nap, get out there and end this conflict!"

"Wow, you guys seriously relied on Dazai-san to do everything, huh?" Naomi observed and most of the Port Mafia just sweatdropped because it was kind of true. Learning to Mafia without Dazai there to Mafia it for them had not been easy. To this day they couldn't match the profit he used to bring in, even though they've expanded their influences overseas.

Dazai found Chuuya's declaration rather funny. Firstly, he really didn't give a damn about this city or the stranger in it, if he was being honest. He had a limited number of f*cks to give and they could be counted on one hand. If Yokohama were ever to burn to the ground, he'd just take Chuuya, Odasaku,, Hirotsu Q and Ango elsewhere and either start a whole new organization or make sure they can live normal lives if that's what they wish. Hell, just months ago, he'd been ready to let Yokohama be wiped off the map if Chuuya decided he would not use Corruption against Guivre. Why would he suddenly care about it now? Secondly, "That's what they all say before they run out to feed the flames!"

Chuuya growled at him but really, Dazai was too tired to care. Hell, he didn't even have the energy for a dog comment. He's been pulled in too many directions and because he'shim, he's managed not to snap under the pressure and complete everything he had to do. Filling in for an Executive, especially one who hadn't been sticking to the regulations and protocols Dazai's spent months implementing, wasn't easy on top of his usual duties plus this useless, petty little conflict.

'Ah, speaking of which ... Chuuya probably didn't know about that yet, did he? Well, this will befun,'he thought sarcastically, preparing himself for the no doubt volatile or emotional reaction as he reached into his pocket for the picture. "You can let Mori-san handle how to deal with the conflict itself. No problems there~" Perhaps the bastard would stop trying to paw off everything onto Dazai and actually act like a competent leader for once.

"RUDE!"

"Shush, Ougai-dono."

"What we need to watch out for is this. Take a look," he said, as he stretched out the picture. It wasn't exactly pretty, but they've both seenfarworse.

Chuuya leaned over to get a look. "A body? Whose?" The second he stiffened, Dazai knew he'd recognized the man.

He still confirmed it anyways. "One of the current Port Mafia Executives." Flatly, like he wasn't talking about a person at all. "Better known as the Colonel." Chuuya, predictably, did not take the news well. He had this thing where he was a little too grateful, felt a little too indebted to the people who'd helped out during the incident with Verlaine. Add to that that these two had sparred and Chuuya had gotten foolishly attached to a man who could care less what happened to kids.

Dazai knows, first hand. He'd felt it on his skin. The Colonel was too rigid in his view of the world, he believed too much in a chain of command, yet he was also utterly disobedient and disregarding of it if the chain of command included those he consideredunfitfor the role. He'd never dare say it to Mori or Kouyou, but it had always chaffed at him to take orders from those younger than him whom he viewed as less experienced. Mori he could even handle, because Mori had been a soldier, too, technically, but his views of Kouyou would surely have the woman cutting his private parts off if she ever heard a whiff of it.

Still, the one he had the most problems with was, of course, Dazai. Dazai, despite having a very vague calling in the Mafia, was the second most important and powerful person in the entire organization with the clearance and power to order around everyone, including Executives. He was Mori's right hand, whether anyone liked it or not. On top of that, Dazai was young and, in his eyes, Dazai might as well be a double-traitor: betraying his heritage by siding with Mori while also betraying Mori by not revealing his heritage.

Dazai wouldn't say he's explicitlygladthe Colonel was dead, because that would require more energy than he could spare at the moment and more emotion than he could usually muster up, too. But him finally being out of the way brought many benefits. One of which was that no one high up remained that knew Dazai's original identity.

Another, much more important one was that there is now an empty Executive seat.

This was a unique opportunity.

If Dazai were to grab the Executive seat, he'd have even more power in his hands. And more power in his hands meant a better chance to do the things he needs and wants to do.

"Who did it?" Chuuya demanded when he calmed down a bit and boy, wasn't this a dozy Dazai did not like one bit.

"ThePale Qilin. An Ability user who supposedly appeared in Yokohama a few days ago. He's indiscriminately attacking all the groups involved in the conflict in a presumed attempt to take over the entire war. He's like a demon personified," the brunet explained. "His Ability is still an unknown factor, but if I had to guess, the Pale Qilin grows stronger the more Ability users he kills."

"That's Shibusawa, right? Dazai-san is talking about Shibusawa?" A pale, sickly looking Atsushi asks and Kyouka moves over to squeeze his hand. Akutagawa even places his own on the weretiger's shoulder in his own emotionally constipated attempt to calm him down.

"What? Then the conflict would be the perfect hunting and feeding ground ... What are we gonna do about him?" Chuuya asked and Dazai perked up. Chuuya expected them to work together again? He hadn't thought the chibi would even consider it! He thought he'd have to be the one to suggest it, even!

'Ah, he's more proactive than I thought him to be.'He smiles at the shorter teen. "Come now, Chuuya~! Your mind's on the wrong thing, you know. To potential future Executives like ourselves, this means that a seat on the board's just been vacated!" He slanted his eye at the other. "Doesn't it?"

He sees the blow coming. He can't determine whether he'd expected it or not, but he sees it. And then he feels it. Strong enough to whip his head to the side, almost topple him over on the couch as the leather-clad fist strikes him in the cheek, Chuuya fuming over him with a deadly glare, rather similar to the one Dazai had seen the day he'd gotten Chuuya kicked out of the Sheep. "Well, that was mean of you," he says, in what he knows is a futile attempt to lift the mood. "I'm human too, you know."

Still, what Chuuya replies with cuts deep into a heart he thought he didn't have.

"Human? Like anyone would believe that. Just be glad I didn't kill you."

'... I wish you did.'

Present day Chuuya winces and wilts under the disappointed stares he gets fromeveryone, even Mori.

"I'll do something about that Pale Qilin," sixteen year old Chuuya declared, whirling around and leaving the room with one last side-glare at Dazai over his shoulder. "You just go ahead and sleep there till you're dead." He slammed the door behind him, leaving Dazai alone in the deafening silence of the room that had never and would never feel like home. (Home was gone a long time ago, though, wasn't it.)

Dazai let out a bitter chuckle. "What a mean guy." The again, he'd known right away, didn't he? There was no way someone like Chuuya would ever like someone likehim. No matter what Dazai did or said, Chuuya would hate him. And Dazai supposes he can be okay with that, as long as the chibi isn't hating himself or getting himself into situations where Dazai can't reach him in time to save him.

Though he hates how this whole situation is affecting Chuuya ...

Though, regardless of that, he also does not like this situation by itself, either.

"Usually, I'd make my usual joke, but I don't think I want to anymore," Yosano says and Chuuya flinches. The scene he'd been dreading the most had happened and, well, he feels like a hypocrite and adick, as he looks back on it,especiallyin the light of all the things Dazai had done for him to feel even remotely human-like despite his doubts.

"Well, we could at least observe that Chuuya-san's clothing style hadn't changed much," Gin tried, because things were just awkward right now, but it fell flat, especially as they could see Dazai get up, no more well-rested than when he laid down and go out the door with the intentions of confronting Shibusawa. After all, not only was Chuuya now even more pissed with him than was his default, he'd already targeted Odasaku, too, the other's Flawless being the only thing that had stopped him from dying the same way many other Ability users, the Colonel included, had.

"Dazai needs to learn to stop running off on his own," Kunikida says with an aggravated sigh, running a hand through his hair.

"Never happening."

"Darn it!"

It takes Dazai two days to track down Shibusawa and set up an ambush-

"Yall really can't do sh*t without Dazai, for real."

"As if the Agency is any better," Akutagawa retorted, making Yosano narrow her eyes at him.

"All of Yokohama is helpless without Dazai-san, now shut up," Hirotsu settled the argument before it could begin and, well, the new scene was far more interesting than a bicker-fest not held by Soukoku.

It starts with a fake flower vendor and a gun to Shibusawa's head, followed by the rest of the pedestrians pulling out guns and other firearms seemingly from nowhere, revealing themselves to be Port Mafia subordinates when Dazai himself walks into the scene. "Hello there, Pale Qilin. Please don't resist. These are the Port Mafia's best, just the entertainment before the show~"'A certain chibi will certainly tear you limb from limb, that's for sure. It's up to me just to deliver you.'

"I must I'm impressed," the man with the long white hair dressed in long white clothes says, his red eyes locking onto Dazai's that were taking on a similar hue in the contrast between light and dark happening around them as the sun set behind Dazai's back. "You're as impressive as they say, Dazai Osamu."

Dazai would be more impressed if he'd known his identity before this conflict, especially so before the fight with Verlaine. A few months ago, Dazai was an urban legend, a nightmare, a horror story. However, those days are long gone as the allies of the Mafia from that incident spread the word about a terrifying, bandaged teenager in all black who stared the devil in the face andlaughed. And these days, well ... Dazai's been on the field so much everyone and their deaf grandmother has heard of him. Knowing the name of the person everyone was looking to in order to see how and when he will end this conflict isn't impressive.

Dazai Osamu was no long Port Mafia's wraith.

These days, his enemies called him the black death.

Or demon. Those who had the misfortune to live through an encounter with him and see his eyes turn red liked to describe him as a monster from hell.

Dazai, personally, thinks the Pale Qilin fit that descriptionmuchbetter. For the sole reason that Dazai did, in fact, not kill out of pleasure. Not that it matters. None of it matters, actually. That's not why he's here today. "You know, I'm on what you may call thin ice with my partner," he says, not replying to the older man's earlier sentence. "It's because I was 'sleeping all the time' while everyone else played war, I guess. Because of that, I must ask you to please come with me, without causing a fuss." No one could ever say Tane did not teach her son manners.

"Those manners are what made him more terrifying to our stupider opponents," Chuuya said with a snort.

"You ignoring that he's making a move at all because you're pissed at him, Mr Fancy Hat?" Ranpo asked with an arched eyebrow.

"Areyouignoring that I can kill you infartoo many different ways evenwithouta weapon or my Ability? And nobody here, not even your Agency's President, could get in my way to stop it from happening?"

"Chuuya, play nice," Kouyou scolded.

"Ranpo, don't provoke him," f*ckuzawa also reprimanded his charge and the two adults in kimonos sighed in exasperation.

"And what would happen if I refuse?" Shibusawa asked, co*cking his head to the side as though he's 'curious'.

"I'm kind enough to offer you the choice of where you'd like to die," the bandaged male replies with one of his 'sunny' smiles. "You made two miscalculations here, Pale Qilin-san. One, you cannot win against me, as my Ability will nullify whatever Ability you possess. Two, the Port Mafia never works alone. You are a One Man Army and that will always fail. I know from experience. A far more powerful man than you has been defeated."

"Is that why you joined? A strength in numbers?"

Dazai wants to scoff. As if he would ever reveal to anyone all of the real reasons why he joined the Mafia. As if it's anyone's business, to begin with. Perhaps one day, if Chuuya or Odasaku asked, he'd deign to give the full truth. This man was neither Odasaku nor Chuuya.

"Do you think this is before or after he tried to take the jinko's Ability?" Akutagawa wondered and Atsushi flinched.

Kyouka, though, tilted his head in contemplation before answering for him. "I think it might be after. This is now, what? The seventy second day of the conflict or so, right? I doubt that there is a way for Shibusawa to have slipped past Dazai-san in the remaining two weeks of the conflict to go out of Yokohama and then come back without being noticed."

"Except Dazai was missing for the last two weeks of the conflict," Kouyou corrected her and immediately the entire Agency turned to her with horrified expressions.

"WHAT!?"

At that same time, the Port Mafia headquarters exploded and all of Dazai's men dropped dead, killed by the few Abilities of their comrades that Dazai had taken with this squadron, leaving him alone with Shibusawa. A portion of the tall, black building sail into the sky as Shibusawa declares war on all organizations previously involved in the conflict.

"That thing's going to smash into the square!" A horrified Kenji yells, hands covering his mouth, the rest of the Agency honestly too stunned to speak, even those who had been in Yokohama at the time and actively aware of the street wars going on.

A smug Shibusawa echoes Dazai's earlier words. "You made two miscalculations. First, you thought I wasn't expecting an ambush. Second, you thought that I was alone."

The shadow of the rubble from the Mafia HQ loomed overhead, swallowing Dazai whole due to his outfit and dark hair. His eyes were no longer rubies but unpolished obsidian, in turn swallowing what little light reached them. "Who would have thought that the White Dragon would be so powerful?"

"I'm tired of all these nicknames, Dazai-kun," the other waved him off with a pale hand and long, black nails. "I am Shibusawa Tatsuhiko, the explosion that will end this war. The bringer of death that will end all of the massacres. This is the grand finale. I hope you leave me yearning for more," he purred, surprising Dazai with the bold and strange move.

"Has ... Has he never been flirted with before?Dazai?" Yosano asks and Atsushi makes a gagging noise.

"Yosano-sensei,pleasenever insinuate that Shibusawa flirted with Dazai-san ever again. It's honestly making me feel sick in the stomach."

"I wish I could have killed him a third time," Chuuya hissed.

Dazai can't help but laugh, though. And to think the predictable conflict had beenboringhim so. "How interesting. I guess it's time that we have some fun~" Finding entertainment while also dealing with this nonsense ... How very productive of him.

The moment the rubble hits the square, the two men, one in black, one in white, are engulfed in the dust, gone from sight.

The war outside must have become a much simpler struggle, Dazai mused, as he allowed himself to remain Shibusawa'sguest. The man had acquired himself an organization, for oncereallynot fighting alone. They had very few Ability users, rarer still were the useful ones Dazai might consider recruiting to the Mafia, should he decide to let them live, of course. Shibusawa was a freak, and not in the way all Ability users were simply not completely right in the head. If Dazai would have thought it possible, he'd say Shibusawa was emptier than evenhewas on the inside. Perhaps that was true, though.

Dazai now had Chuuya, Odasaku and Ango. He even had Hirotsu-san and Yumeno. Things and people to fill up at list a tiny bit of the void within him.

Shibusawa just seemed lost, untethered and lacking a lighthouse or any starts to guide him. He killed and destroyed and collected things just because he was bored and wassearchingfor something. He kept Dazai inside his little 'treasure room', which would be more flattering if he would actually pay attention to him more than to just complain how an entire jewelry store worth of gems were useless and uninteresting to him. Chuuya would probably sock him for that, too, individually and separately from the six bodies lying behind Shibusawa; he never did quite grow out of his little jewel fascination. Dazai's say give it time, but he doubts the hatrack would evernotbe tacky insomeway.

"Shibusawa-san," a new voice he hadn't heard before greeted his ears and Dazai shifted his head to look at the entrance to the 'treasure room'. There stood a man, clearly a foreigner from his accent alone the way it clumsily butchered the syllables. "I see you are still bored. How unfortunate. Have you not found any entertainment while I was gone?"

"Some," the White Dragon replied with a nod of his head towards Dazai. "This is Dazai Osamu-kun. I dare say he's more interesting than anything or anyone else residing in Yokohama."

Violet eyes flashed with intrigue as they met his own red ones. He knew they had to be red. Shibusawa seems to be fascinated by the way his eyes would take on different colors and would frequently change the lighting in the room depending on his mood and which color he felt like seeing. He seems to like it most when Dazai's eyes look like burning ambers or that one specific shade of red that they take on that resembles a bottomless pool of fresh blood.

"Oh? Well, I would imagine so! He's the first person besides myself that I've seen survive on your Breath, after all. But is he useful?"

"Wait, are you telling me that Dazai met that Russian rat six years ago!?" Kunikida exploded. "And he never said anything!? And Shibusawa, too, for that matter!"

"He told me," Mori revealed with a shrug, not balking at the glares everyone sent his way. "You all will have to get used to it that Dazai-kun once answered tome. We'll be viewing two more years of it happening before he ever thinks of leaving. Get over it."

"Not necessarily," drawled the white-haired man, not even looking at Dazai anymore. "He won't talk, he won't reveal anything and I'm ashamed and impressed to say this, but I can't quite read him. I have to say, in a way, he greatly reminds me ofyou, Fyodor-kun. Only he speaks better Japanese and he's never left this country, not once in his life."

"So, essentially, he's useless to us, no matter how smart or pretty he may be," Fyodor summarized, approaching Dazai, making the others nervous. Last two times that they knew of that the Russian was near their bandaged colleague, Dazai had come out of it with either a stab wound or a bullet going through his side, leaving him hospitalized and them with the severe disadvantage at having to go against Dostoevsky without Dazai on their side to match him and counter his moves.

"Essentially," came the drawled answer yet again.

"A pity. Hedoeshave such a pretty eye," the ushanka-wearing man reached out a hand toward's Dazai's fluffy hair. "No matter. I'll grant you a swift end, little sinner, and cleanse you from all this world's filth."

Dazai made a face. "Tell me that after you've taken abath. Did youseehow greasy your hair is? I bet if I were to wring it out, I'd have enough to change my partner's bike's oil."

Fyodor frowned, not at all amused, unlike the Agency and the Mafia watching this. "I don't think you have any right to speak. You reek of corpses and blood."

"Shouldn't that be warning enough?" The Mafioso shrugged.

"For someone more gullible, perhaps, but not me. Now go to sleep, hissy kitty.Спокойной ночи." Dostoevsky placed a hand on Dazai's head, the heel of his palm covering Dazai's eyes ad forehead and he smiled, eyes closed, waiting for ...something. Only nothing happened and Fyodor's eyes snapped open, lilac meeting reddish brown, both glinting like blood in the room's current lighting. "This is impossible," the Russian said, stumbling a step back, taking his head off. Dazai just looked up at him, bored and unimpressed. "What-?"

"Fascinating, isn't it?" Shibusawa mused, smirking in the direction of the two younger men. "I've heard of it in rumors, but I never thought they were true, let alone that I'd have the pleasure of witnessing it myself. The ultimate anti-Ability, the only real nullifier in the world. Dazai-kun sure issomething, is he not, Fyodor-kun?"

Fyodor was down on the floor, on his knees, crawling in between Dazai's legs and getting up in his face. He ripped off his gloves and dared to touch the uncovered side of Dazai's face, eyes wide with fascination, madness and something like desperation as he caressed the smooth skin. "Yes, he is ... He's truly magnificent ... He's a miracle ... Just what I was looking for." He leaned in even closer, seeming to savor the ability to touch another human after what seems to be a long time. The look in his eyes unnerved even Mori as he gazed at Dazai with a type of hunger that had Chuuya itching to destroy a good portion of France despite them having some of the best wine in the world. "WhatсокрвьищеI've discovered."

He leaned in even further, parting his lips when his faces was less than an inch away from Dazai's, when the brunet surged forward, headbutting the older man hard enough to have him topple back onto his ass. Fyodor yowled in pain as he rubbed his already bruising and even slightly bloody forehead.

Dazai, still chained in in handcuffs pinned to the wall, regarded him with utter indifference. "Ты говоришь о прикосновении грязи, но осмеливаешь ся поднять на меня руки.Твое прикосновение к этой моей коже не менее греховно, чем любое другое.И все же вы считаете себя выше, выше других,савятее. Мой, мой. Каквысокомерно."

Fyodor stared at him with wide, fascinated, bewitched eyes. It was hard not to. The words sounded rough yet smooth, completely different from Dazai's usual cadence that could seduce you with its sweet, gentle undertones. No, this sounded commanding, powerful, an uncut, not yet polished gem that still bedazzles its beholder.

"I didn't know Dazai spoke other languages," Kunikida managed to whisper.

Chuuya snorted, looking at Kunikida down his nose despite being so much shorter than him. "Yeah, I get you don't know all that much about Dazai, yoursupposedpartner."

"When did he learn?" Kenji asked and Mori raised his hand, as the only one with an answer.

"I taught him Russian and German while we still lived together; he asked, since I had books in English, German and Russian and he already knew English and some French. He picks languages up with great ease. He mostly wanted to know the languages in order to read new books."

"Are we witnessing the start of Dostoevsky's obsession with Dazai?" Ranpo asked, focusing on the much more important detail as they watched Fyodor barely restrain himself from reaching out for Dazai again. The Mafioso had one foot poised to deliver a kick, so Fyodor eventually decided to keep his distance.

For the next two days he could stay with Shibusawa, he did not take his eyes off of Dazai at all. He seemed as fascinated by his eyes as Shibusawa did, but it seems he craved his touch more than anything. Dazai did not acknowledge either of the other genius masterminds unless one of them got too close. He especially lashed out when they both, at least once, tried to feed him. He did let them hold up water for him. That, he could live without only so long, even with his great control over his body.

He pretended to sleep, conserving his energy and gathering information. He could tell that for all that Shibusawa was 'in charge', Fyodor was the one pulling the strings. Shibusawa himself wasn't even aware of it. He acted more often than not as though he was lost or that he was missing a vital part. He did not touch Dazai, almost instinctively avoiding him.

Even when there was none of that strange mist he produced in this room, though, Dazai felt No Longer Human surged to just beneath the surface of his skin whenever the white haired man stood too close to him.

Fyodor left around the twelfth day since Dazai's been taken, stating that he had business elsewhere. "I hope that we'll see each other again soon, Dazai-kun. I'd love to play chess with you."

"Please drown in a sewer; it's clearly your natural habitat."

Fyodor just smiled and left.

Now Dazai only had hours left to count, beforeitcame to be, beforehecame. And Dazai's never wrong in his predictions. (He never thought there were other people like him, out there, yet he's mettwo. He's not sure how he felt about that.)

The vision changed to show a different scene, focusing on what appeared to be the Port Mafia's temporary hideout and headquarters. Mori was having a meeting with Hirotsu and Chuuya, sitting behind a desk as though he were back in his own office instead of some completely random place in Yokohama.

The Mori in the vision sighed, leaning heavily on one hand against the desk. "What a pain this is," he complained, eyes closed. He had rather noticeable bags beneath them, his hair didn't look as neat as it usually was before his subordinates and even his clothes were a bit rumpled. "The last thing I wanted, let me tell you. A normal gang war involves large groups. They may be dangerous but you can model their movements. It's not impossible to predict and manipulate the outcome. But it is not so with the Pale Qilin; everything about him is a mystery, both his Ability and his goal. It's been two weeks since he declared war on all parties and yet his location is still unknown. It's like trying to wage a war against fog or mist. With the exception of us, the other four major organizations are in shambles. We've had several people in leadership or vice-leadership go missing or outright perish, as well." He takes another breath, really feeling it in his bones. "And Dazai-kun is one of them."

Chuuya of the past kind of twitches a bit at that, but his face shows no reaction. "That moron Dazai is one thing, but we have to save our other comrades," he declares, as though he couldn't care less.

Neither Mori of the past nor the present agrees, but neither says anything, either. "Yes ... Assuming they're still alive. Hirotsu-san," he turns to the oldest Mafia member. "Do we have any new intel on the enemy?"

"I've never seen the Mafia so ... somber, before. Not about a fight," Higuchi says hesitantly. "Not even when the Boss was infected by that Cannibalism Ability and when Chuuya-san was later trapped."

"That was child's play compared to the Dragon Head conflict, Higuchi-kun," Mori informed her with a wry smile. "Not knowing Dazai-kun's whereabouts, whether he's still alive or whether he's joined the enemy is a much more daunting experience you never members have never had to go through. There is nothing more terrifying than thinking you may have become Dazai-kun's enemy.

"There is a saying in the Port Mafia," recited Kouyou somberly. "The biggest misfortune of Dazai's enemies is that they'reDazai'senemies. How true."

The Hirotsu from six years ago was not exactly enthusiastic or optimistic about his report. "Yes, sir. These are the barest of rumors, but the Pale Qilin's Ability is said to be 'bizarre and heretical'."

'Heretical? That's what everyone call'sDazai'sAbility,'past Chuuya thought and it was weird to the Executive today to recall those thoughts. He was just glad they weren't hearing the ones he'd been thinking when he first heard Dazai had went missing, two days after their argument. Those hadnotbeen fun to have.

"It seems that the Ability users who fought him were so driven to desperation by his Ability that they all took their own lives," the old man reports, closing his eyes, trying his best not to think about such an Ability taking effect on someone already so careless with their life. He was fond of Dazai, no matter how much a good portion of the organization, of the underworld itself was terrified of him. He remembered Dazai's surprise and confusion at someone expressing concern for him when he'd first worked with the boy. He did not wish to find his body anytime soon.

Mori himself was not happy to hear that. He, too, knew perfectly well how unstable his protege could be. Some days it felt like one wrong gust of wind could tip him over the edge and there would be no saving him. And aside from Dazai's presence beingheavilymissed as the Mafia's strategist, Mori had his own other reason to keep the boy alive yet. He would not let Dazai die, not as long as his hands were still able to hold a scalpel. "Dazai-kun went missing after that building collapse ... Did he leave any info behind?"

It was a common ruse. Dazai often did it with his men. But his men were found dead and Dazai was not.

The again, Dazai's person was much more valuable than his men, whether he was dead or alive. Not only as the one true nullifier known to their world of Abilities, but also as the Mafia's most important, influential piece. Dazai was the queen on Mori's chessboard. He was not yet ready to give him up, to death or to an enemy.

"I've searched the area thrice, but to no avail ... " Hirotsu reported sadly. "There was one item I thought might be a clue," he started, as a man who is also used to working with Dazai and his bizarre ways. "He apparently purchased a new microscope. But it seems he never used it-"

"What?" Chuuya gasped sharply, drawing the two elder male's attention. He recalled Dazai's last teasing joke before things evolved into their worst argument yet. "A microscope? Where is it?!" He demanded of a startled Hirotsu, who was confused at the sudden focus on such a, in his humble opinion despite knowing Dazai's weird ways, minor detail.

"Now that I think back on it, the microscope makes perfect sense," Mori the viewer mused. "Dazai-kun's favorite joke was in regards to Chuuya-kun's height and size."

"Boss, no offense, for now anyways, but you're already on thin f*cking ice. If you don't watch it, Imma punch you through it."

Mori sweatdropped and just shut his mouth, while the others all watched with various degrees of surprise and amusem*nt. Kouyou in particular, though, watched on proudly. She may respect Mori, but that doesn't mean she necessarilylikedhim. She knew who and how he was, after all, and these visions showed that even more from the perspective of a person who saw more than anyone else. To see Chuuya snap out of his almost fanatic loyalty to the Mafia and to the Boss in favor of a person he was genuinely loyal to whether he liked it or not was a delight to see, even though she feared what that might mean once these visions are over and they're back in the real world.

Actions have consequences. Who will face them first?

"In Dazai-san's room ... " A confused Hirotsu had replied six years ago.

And, really, it was all clicking into place in Chuuya's mind. "Why that little-!"'Theaudacityof that mackerel! When I get my hands on him, I'll make sure he actuallyneedsthose bandages!'He started to march off, calling for Hirotsu over his shoulder. "Show me!" He'll apologize and make it up to the man later for being so rude.

"Hearing Dazai's thoughts is weird enough, but I don't think I'll ever get over how we get to hear other people's thoughts, too," Chuuya commented, hoping against hope they don't hear some of his more embarrassing thoughts later. Sixteen was kind of the beginning of an awakening for him, too. Not as early as Dazai; no, Chuuya had something similar to that happening to him at seventeen,afterthey became official partners ... "Hey, wait a goddamn minute!" He suddenly yelled, startling everyone around him. "That bastard's been calling me his partner since this vision began!"

"Oh, so you finally noticed?" Ranpo snickered. "Took you long enough~ Well, at least you were quicker to it than the others, so there's that."

"f*ck you too, Edogawa. See if I ever buy you any sweets ever again."

"No~! Don't be like that~! Akikoooooooo~!"

"I mean, you've been going on missions a lot," Mori turned to his executive as he explained. "Dazai-kun literally did not work with anyone else besides you, Hirotsu-san and his squad. Not any of the Executives or Subexecutives, nor any of the former Black Lizards commanders."

"And I was always Dazai-san's subordinate, even when I officially held a higher rank than him," Hirotsu added with a shrug.

"Oh, that makes sense, in a way, right?" Atsushi asked. "Does this mean Kyouka-chan's my partner?"

"Yes-"

"No," Akutagawa said at the same time as Kunikida, glaring at the blond for looking offended that Akutagawa would disagree. "Dazai-san expectsusto be partners."

"Oh, and Dazai's word is law, is it?" The idealist said with a roll of his eyes, sarcastic.

"Yes," was the Rashoumon user's easy response and everyone sweatdropped at Kunikida's gawking. It seems that it never really did register that to Akutagawa, Dazai's word was gospel.

"You can't be partners! You're in different organizations!"

"Something ya wanna say to me, blondie?" Chuuya challenged, cracking his knuckles.

Kunikida did not back down, despite having seen what the ginger was capable of. "Bring it, Mafia scum."

"Chuuya-kun-"

"Kunikida-"

It was too late for Mori and f*ckuzawa to do anything, as the two started brawling then and there. The two leaders could only sigh as they watched Kunikida get his ass handed to him by a viciously grinning Chuuya. He must have been looking for an excuse to do this since he learned Kunikida dared to call himself Dazai's partner.

Soukoku, after all, first and foremost belong to each other.

Chuuya was done with Kunikida just as his younger self burst into his partner's apartment with Hirotsu on his heels. "Oh, good. You lot are about to witness the birth of Soukoku. This ought to answer all your questions regarding partnerships, Nakajima," he said with a grin.

Atsushi gulped but was too interested to see what the younger version of his mentor was up to to really fear what that might imply for him and Akutagawa.

Younger Chuuya felt weird being in Dazai's new place, especially with the absence of the slightly younger teen. The place was barren and impersonal, so perfectly put together it felt more like a museum than someone's home. On top of that, the memories of his last time in this place made it really uncomfortable to be here, but he was a man on a mission. That microscope joke couldn't have been a coincidence. If anything he's learned in these past two years with Dazai, it's that nothing ever is with that suicide-obsessed maniac.

"This is the one," as Hirotsu showed him the microscope he'd placed on a nearby, overpriced table that probably hadn't been used to even collect dust. Angered by the mere thought of it and the brunet, Chuuya grabbed the microscope and viciously smashed it into the wall, startling the old man with him. "Y-you didn't have to smash it," a perplexed and slightly frightened Hirotsu protested, utterly confused and uncomfortable with this turn of events.

Chuuya, though, ignored that and squatted down beside the remains of the offending joke. "Look at this," he called over, triumphant, as he found something. Aclue, from Dazai, of course, the damn mackerel. "It was hidden inside."

Hirotsu's gasp told Chuuya everything he needed to know. "Is that ... ?"

"A radio with a built-in transmitter," Chuuya confirmed anyways, picking it up from the shards. of plastic, metal and glass. "Trace the frequency this is running on. That bum isn't missing at all. He read the enemy's moves and let them capture him. And when we track this signal," he clenched his fists until his leather gloves creaked and tensed his jaw in an unconscious show of determination and just how pissed off yet excited he was. Dazai always made sure Chuuya got a good fight, after all. "We'll find both Dazai and the Pale Qilin."

"To think that we could have eliminated Dostoevsky, too, if only I'd have mentioned the microscope earlier," the gray haired Black Lizard said with a sigh. Gin and Tachihara patted him on the back consolingly.

"Or I'd just called that meeting earlier," Mori also sighed. Nothing happened. An arrow of pain may as well have gone right through his heart.

The next scene showed Chuuya on his beloved motorcycle he'd gotten from Albatross in the Flag's dying moments, its headlights glaring ominously from the darkness of a hidden garage.'You better hang tight, you sh*tty Dazai!'With that, the engine roared and Chuuya sped off like a demon, not minding traffic laws or foolish enemies who recognized the Mafia's gravity manipulator and tried their luck in taking him down. Chuuya had no time for them, therefore he didn't spare it; anyone who got in his way was moved down by vicious gravity, completely indiscriminately. He didn't kill all of them, he still stood by what he'd told Dazai about not wanting everyone to die, but he had better things to do and worry about than scrubs on the street.

The moon was high up in the sky and larger than usual that night, illuminating the blood-soaked streets of Yokohama in a very eerie manner. It set the right mood for the explosions, gunshots and screams that echoed in the night as organizations battled each other. Though, at this point, it was the Mafia alone that was holding their ground against Shibusawa's organization. The others hadn't had Dazai to prepare them for all-out war and it showed. The Mafia has taken heavy losses but not one member dared to try and run or defect. The threat of Dazai hunting them down and dragging them back to hell with him, whether he was alive or not, was enough to stay anyone's hand.

Among the chaos, two redheads were on a similar mission, unbeknownst to each other. Oda had also gotten worried over Dazai not attending bar Lupin in two weeks. Dazai never misses an outing. He somehow always knows when Oda and Ango are free - though that's not too surprising considering his position in the Mafia's hierarchy - and is waiting for them at the bar, often found talking to or keeping company with a calico cat. Knowing Dazai's proclivity to finding trouble and how little worth he spares for his own life, Oda took the radio unit Dazai had given him when he'd officially recruited him and set off to the streets. He was often the lone survivor of many bombing sights or the only one left standing in shootouts, Flawless easily helping him avoid danger.

"This is such a pain," he muttered, surveying his surroundings of the bloodied streets and wondering just how much progress he's managed to make towards his destination, even though he didn't know what the finish line actually was besides that Dazai was there. "Everywhere I go, it's mountains of corpses."

"No wonder the Port Mafia had been so prepared for the outbreak of Q's Ability," Atsushi observed, gulping in uneasy as he saw the state of the city he'd come to love six years ago.

"How could something like this even happen?" Higuchi asked, perplexed. Never had Yokohama looked like a war zone, not likethis.

"Originally, the government had unleashed Shibusawa in an attempt to end the conflict in one night," Chuuya explained, a growl in his voice. "Only they never had any control over Shibusawa in the first place and he only escalated the bullsh*t. The rate of casualties skyrocketed. Worse still, civilians got involved. The Special Abilities Department had alotof work after it was finally over and it's why they mostly left it to the Mafia to deal with any attempts at recreating a conflict like this in the following years."

"It's also why they were willing to trade a Skilled Business Permit in return for you dealing with that Mimic case, right?" Ranpo 'asked', directing it to Mori. "They wouldn't want a 'gang war' like this ever to repeat itself, right? So they turned to you, trusting you had the Ability users necessary to deal with it, right? And of course you accepted; how couldn't you, when you'd already gone through so much trouble to sneak them into Yokohama!Right?"

Mori narrowed his eyes at the genius detective. "I don't know what you're insinuating."

Ranpo bared his teeth at him in a mockery of a smile. "You're scared of Dazai," was all he said and Mori knows what he's insinuating. Hirotsu and Kouyou get it, too. The woman purses her lips and Hirotsu just closes his eyes, saying nothing. "I would be, too, you know," he continues conversationally. "He's taken down far more formidable opponents than your sorry ass could ever be, after all. Rimbaud, Verlaine, Kashimura-"

"You think Kashimura is dead?" Chuuya cut in, intrigued, though he had been getting suspicious about the things Ranpo was saying the longer he talked.

"You're still here and free, aren't you?"

"You think Dazai-san did it?" Kyouka asked and Ranpo nodded.

"Definitely. Dazai always makes those who owe him pay their dues, it seems. From his grandfather, to his other relatives, to the gang who killed his parkour buddies, then down to those involved in Mr Fancy Hat's case, including N. So far, Kashimura's the only one left ... Unless he's made more enemies in the meantime, like Dostoevsky and," he trails off but looks to the Mafia Boss.

Mori returns his earlier 'smile' with a baring of his own teeth.

f*ckuzawa takes a step forward in a silent warning.

The crying of a child distracts them as Oda in the vision finds a little girl in between the corpses of her parents, the blood almost reaching her when he takes her into his arms. She's still crying but she calms some when Oda takes her. The redhead himself sighs in relief at finding at leastoneliving soul in this hell. "You were lucky to survive amid all of this." Then, as if to prove all of their luck was improving, his communicator came to life, buzzing in his ear. Oda immediately turned his attention to it with the realization he may get an update, either from his friend or on further Mafia movements that might endanger him and his newest charge.

"Newest?" Kenji questioned.

Hirotsu gulped uneasily. "Oda Sakunosuke had adopted four boys and one girl, orphaned during the Dragon Head conflict."

f*ckuzawa became stiff as a rod. "Where are they now?"

No one answered.

"WHERE ARE THEY NOW!?" He thundered.

No onecouldanswer.

Until Ranpo spoke again. "They're dead," he said, voice devoid of emotion. "That's why he was going to his death that day. The day I ran into him in the rain. And he knew it."

Chuuya cursed up a storm.

"Dazai! Where are you!?" Oda demanded when he didn't immediately hear warnings and orders over the line.

Not a second later, Dazai's voice filtered through the device. "Odasaku, I've got a good guess what you're up to, but you need to run now," the brunet casually said over the line. "It's about to get way too hot here. Leave before it getsreallydangerous."

Not a second after that, before Oda could even react to the warning, Chuuya's voice also filtered through the comms and he whizzed past the older redhead in Dazai's life. "Get outta here, scrub!"

Kenji cheered as Chuuya was shown speeding down the streets, avoiding cars and bodies and other obstacles at a speed no normal driver could maneuver with such precision at.

Tachihara whistled. "Not only does that thing look like a dream, it rides like a dream, too, huh?"

Chuuya grinned, proud of his 'darling'.

"Hi, Chuuya~!" Dazai's voice singsonged over the radio, directly addressing the gravity manipulator this time. "You're entering the enemy's range of fire, so eat a bullet and die for me? 'kay, thanks~!"

"Wow, it seems that Dazai's got a new favorite," Yosano teased and Chuuya rolled his eyes. He knew perfectly well that there was a great world of difference between how Dazai treated him and how he treated Oda. And, well, considering what they've witnessed of how their separate friendships started, it made sense. Chuuya's got a temper to match the explosiveness of a volcano while Oda was a glacier, deadly only when you finally manage to make the millennia old ice crack. Besides, Oda was gentle to Dazai in a way Chuuya had not been for a very, very long time.

"That's an interesting way to warn someone about an incoming attack," Tanizaki, in turn, observed, because almost as soon as Dazai had said that, an Ability user controlling lightning, as well as several missiles from bazookas, sailed towards Chuuya, the future Executive easily maneuvering around them or protecting himself and his bike with his Ability.

"I got way too much I wanna say to you, bastard ... And I'll say it with my fists, so stay right the hell where you are!" He accelerated and at the next explosion of a missile landing right in front of his front tires, he let it carry him over the crater it left behind before landing back on the concrete, not once decreasing his speed. In fact, he accelerated when lightning strikes rained down on him. "Tch! Goddamn Ability user!" He saw him, it was impossible not to when he was standing on the corner of a flat rooftop of a tall building so he can see better where he's aiming, but also making himself a flaming - well, sparking - beacon for his enemies, too. Though his attacks would be overwhelming for a normal grunt or even your standard Ability user.

Good thing Chuuya's not your standard Ability user.

His reflexes were too good for him to be struck by lightning, swerving this way and that, avoiding falling debris or bits and pieces trying to slam into his face. At one point, half the street was destroyed, but Chuuya retaliated by sticking his motorcycle to the wall of a building and riding along it, in between two rows of windows, mostly, but also avoiding more attacks. "He think's he's the sh*t," he scoffed, getting in line with the building the lightning user was occupying. There was a bridge connecting the two buildings and Chuuya made it to it without a single scratch or scorch on either himself or his bike. If anything had happened to the bike, this guy would be a smear on the pavement below.

He entered a sort of a blind spot, both for himself and for his enemy, as he started riding up the building the lightning guy was on. He rode up as fast as he could and the lightning guy had already retreated from the edge when Chuuya sailed over it, skidding over the rooftop until he came to a stop. His opponent struck, sending the strongest current of electricity his Ability allowed him to generate, the attack landing on Chuuya and creating a huge boom.

When the dust settled, Chuuya was revealed to be perfectly unharmed, his bike behind him as shiny as though he'd just brought it out of a wash. The shorter Mafioso's expression was unimpressed but his eyes immediately sought out Dazai, sitting with crossed legs on the floor, held at gun point of a machine gun, his cuffed wrists and hands in his lap. Dazai's idiot guard immediately trained his useless gun on the guy who had just withstood missiles.

Dazai himself sighed. "It would have been funnier if you were struck by lightning and died."

Chuuya, though, wasn't exactly in a joking mood. The brunet had worried him, okay? Everyone was so convinced he was dead and that was all anyone talked about at the temporary headquarters. And, well, Chuuya hadn't liked how their last 'talk' had ended. They'd never fought like that before. Or rather, Chuuya had never so viciously targeted another person's soft spots, vulnerable points he'd been granted trust of witnessing. Still, that was something for them to deal with later. "Shut your damn mouth, sh*tty Dazai. You set things up so I'd come here personally."

The bandage covered teen huffed in amusem*nt. "You're five minutes late." Then, because his guard was still distracted, especially with their little bicker-fest, he leaned forward a bit, put pressure on his wrists, and used his legs to kick off the ground, displaying a flexibility, dexterity and core strength he knew almost no on in the Mafia was aware of. He did a flip, kicking his guard's weapon out of his hands and his heel continued to kick him in the chin, too, just heard enough to knock him out. He landed deftly on his feet and made his way over to Chuuya as casually as someone walking down the cereal isle. "Because of you, I got punched three extra times as a result."

"Oh my god, that was so cool!" Gushed Naomi and Tanizaki, Kenji and Atsushi nodded along.

"Damn, I had no idea Dazai could dothat," Ranpo said with an impressed grin.

"I love just how unbothered he is by all of this," Yosano said with a giggle. "These guys must have beensoproud to have caught him and then he doesthis."

Chuuya grinned towards her. "You should keep watching. The next part is what makes all those who kidnap Dazai despair for their pride."

"Aww, poor baby. Want me to finish you off?" Sixteen year old Chuuya asked.

The silence that followed on the viewers' side was more than a little amusedly awkward.

Chuuya himself flushed. "Not that part!"

"Though they do despair at that part, too," Kouyou whispered and Hirotsu gave a weary sigh of agreement.

Dazai snapped his fingers and the handcuffs released from his wrists, as though they've never been locked at all.

"That really is too sick of a trick," Tachihara agreed and even Kyouka and Gin nodded along.

"This is why we don't bother trying to rescue Dazai," Kunikida told Atsushi, because that's something the teen had asked him about after they'd learned that the Port Mafia had used Kyouka to 'kidnap' the suicide enthusiast. "We've learned that he's perfectly capable of making it out and back by himself."

Chuuya, however, zeroed in on the blond he'djustgiven a beating to not too long ago. He narrowed his eyes into a fierce glare and glowered at the idealist. "You don't rescue the sh*tty bastard!?" He hissed, already raising his fists for round two.

"I'm not the one you should be killing," the Dazai in the vision told his Chuuya just as they were surrounded by the masked and white-robed, hooded figures of their enemy organization's members, the lightning guy sparking up again. There were dozens of guns trained on them both but neither was intimidated or bothered by it. And, well, Chuuya made quick work of them, still pissed off from the lightning guy's co*cky showing off earlier. With a flare of his Ability, he took care of them in the blink of an eye, with one big boom on the rooftop, leaving all their enemies in a nice, clean outline of a crater in a circular pattern, the lightning user all but buried into the concrete.

Dazai and Chuuya walked off, not sparing a second glance at their downed enemies.

Instead, Dazai led Chuuya to Shibusawa. "The Pale Qilin is up ahead. His name is-"

"Who gives a sh*t what his name is," Chuuya cut off, somber but pissed, but also relieved that at least Dazai was alive. "I'm just here to get our men back."

Dazai said nothing to that as they continued walking step in step with each other until they entered a room.

"That was really rude of you Chuuya."

"I know, Ane-san. I'll apologize for it later, along with everything else."

"You better."

"Why do we have to seehimagain?" Complained Atsushi.

"Heisreally very ugly, especially with Dazai-san and Chuuya-san in the room," Kyouka agreed and suddenly everyone roared with laughter, despite how tense the moment in the vision was. Not even Kouyou, f*ckuzawa or Mori could pretend at not being amused and Kyouka beamed with satisfaction to see Atsushi no longer trapped in his own mind regarding Shibusawa.

She felt a hand ruffling her hair and looked up, surprised to see Akutagawa give her an approving nod. She smiled again, a little bigger, a little bit different, a flush to her cheeks. Akutagawa let go and they didn't mention it, but it was a special moment between them, affirming Akutagawa's words to Kyouka during the Agency's attempted invasion of the Mafia and assassination of its Boss.

(Atsushi and Gin caught them and both smiled in relief. Now they wished Dazai and Akutagawa could have a few more moments like that.)

"Is he throwing those jewels away!?" Higuchi's screech had them all turning their attention to the vision. "Is heburningthem!?"

"Oh, yeah. That motherf*cker didn't know how to appreciate good quality gems, like, at all."

"I'm surprised you haven't separately destroyed him for that alone, lad," Kouyou said with amusem*nt.

Chuuya, though, didn't laugh or smile. He knew what was coming. The reminder was not appreciated. To this day, he felt guilt for not having been able to protect them, the friends, his six subordinates, that had been captured and died.

"Give us our men back," Chuuya ordered as Shibusawa ended his ramble about wanting things, realizing how useless and worthless they were, comparing things to toys and other things Chuuya hadn't really paid attention to. Dazai hadn't really listened to that ramble, either. Instead, he was subtly looking around.

The other one, Fyodor, he still wasn't back. Dazai had predicted he'd come by today, which was why he'd made sure to space it all out in order for Fyodor and any possible accomplices of his to be here when Chuuya inevitable loses his sh*t over the people Shibusawa had killed. Yet Fyodor was not back yet. There goes their chance to get rid of the Russian in the same go as Shibusawa. Dazai had this bad feeling that the man was bad news.

Of course he was.

Dazai had not missed the similarities between them, even though he had barely spoken a word to the foreigner. It was still clear. Dazai was to Fyodor what Chuuya was to Dazai, except Fyodor wasn't searching for a reason to keep on living. Instead, he was searching for a way to keep on dying the world in the red of his victims. He killed for pleasure disguised as religious belief. Dazai does not think any god would want that, someone killing in their name. Based on his experiences with Arahabaki, he thinks gods prefer to do their own killing. Even the Christian teachings, based on the Old Testament, say as much: God, or whatever they call Him, preferred to kill or have his actual angels do the deed. He never specifically asked humans to do it. Fyodor clearly didn't understand his own God.

However, Dazai's existence has sparked something in him. It could be intellectual intrigue; that's what had Mori so fascinated with him. It could be his natural aura of a killer; that's what had his grandfather so obsessed with him. (Well, that and the DNA coursing through his body.) It could be the loneliness with which he stands in a crowd of his own people; that's what had Shibusawa, ultimately, taking him that day, two weeks ago. (Though he's wrong. Dazai has Chuuya and Odasaku and Ango. Even Hirtosu and Q.)

Dazai thinks it's all of that, but most of all, it's what had N and Kashimura wanting him in the wake of their facility being blown high sky by Arahabaki-Chuuya: his Ability. It was there in the way Dostoevsky had reacted when his Ability didn't work on Dazai. Other Ability users, not counting Chuuya, usually flinch away from him, fear him, hate him, want to eliminate him upon realizing what he strips them of with a single brush of skin.

Fyodor had beendelighted. Fanatically so. And he hung out with a man capable of stripping others of their Abilities and making them fight to the death against said Abilities.

"So Dostoevsky has something against Abilities?" f*ckuzawa concludes with a frown. "But isn't he an Ability user himself?"

"We don't quite know what his Ability does, but it's deadly," Mori supplies. "It kills his victims with a single brush against his body, even through regular protective gear."

"Yes, Dazai reported that a Military Police special ops member fell over dead with a splash of blood the second he touched Dostoevsky, which also matches what we saw when Dostoevsky killed Masaoka," Kunikida recited seemingly from memory, probably because that was one of the rare reports Dazai actually submitted.

"If it requires skin contact, then it makes sense why he'd become so obsessive of Dazai," mused Kouyou.

"Yeah, well, too bad, 'cus I ain't sharing," Chuuya declared with crossed arms.

HIs younger counterpart was growing angrier, in the meantime, as Shibusawa ridiculed his friends in their death, killed off by their own or each other's Abilities, their bodies behind Shibusawa's little chair with the fire in a bucket full of burning jewels. "Worthless, meaningless ... Boring people are even boring when they're dead."

And, well, Chuuya snapped. "You bastard ... " He growled out, gravity lashing out everywhere, creating craters with every step and ripping Chuuya's sleeves right off as power traveled through his body. (Dazai tried not to admire his biceps. He hadn't seen them at all since the colder weather came about, unless he were to go down to the gym to bother Chuuya while he was exercising, and he doesn't have a death wish to have the slug drag him into it.)

"You're about to unleash hell and all he can think about is your muscles? Nakahara-san, I think you should just bench-press Dazai-san after this. I think he'll like it."

"N-Naomi!"

"Ya know what? I think I might just do that."

Kouyou facepalmed.

"Don't try to stop me," he warned as Arahabaki's sigils started dancing across his skin, searing it open. This was the second time he was using Corruption and the feeling was almost as bad as back then, when he was gearing up to fight Guivre.

Dazai sighed. "Oh dear. Going with Corruption, huh?" He stepped back, not wanting to be caught up in the mess and in the process leave Chuuya to the nonexistent mercies of his Ability should he die. It tooksecondsfor Chuuya to wipe out Shibusawa ... Or what was theghostof Shibusawa.

The building, slowly growing singularity could not stand up against the power of Arahabaki as it was unleashed and Shibusawa was killed, for the second time, with no real blood spilled, by Chuuya, his consciousness wiped out along with a good part of the building he'd been using as a hideout.

Thankfully, before the destruction could continue and before Chuuya could hurt himself more than some first aid could handle, Dazai stepped up behind him, reaching out to gently touch his cheek, watching as those red angry characters disappeared and Chuuya slumped back, boneless and unconscious. Dazai grunted under the sudden weight that his severely malnourished, tired body could not uphold at the moment. He'd used up most of his energy with that flip to kick his guard and to walk all the way to Shibusawa's favorite room. He'd basically been dragged out when Shibusawa had decided he no longer wished to have Dazai within his sight.

So now, he collapsed, falling on his butt hard enough to hurt, but he was careful to cradle Chuuya so he doesn't jostle any potential injuries. The way they'd fallen practically had the ginger's head in his lap, so he just left him there, sighing. It was finally over.'For now.'He cards his fingers through fiery locks and surveys Chuuya for any injuries he should immediately attend to. His vitals seemed to be okay, he wasn't bleeding from anywhere, his breathing was steady. He didn't seem restless in his slumber. In fact, Dazai envied the shorty; Dazai himself was in desperate need of some good sleep or else he'll just shut down altogether.

"How is he even still functioning?" Yosano and Kunikida both asked, horrified.

"Sheer stubbornness, is my best guess," Mori and Chuuya, in turn, both answer, resigned.

"But he sleeps so much in the office!?"

"Ha! You think he actuallysleeps? Asifhe'd feel safe enough to sleep aroundyoulot. He didn't even feel safe enough to sleep around Oda or Prof Glasses until they've been friends for two years and eventhenhe'd have to be spectacularly drunk for it to happen."

"Oh, and he sleeps aroundyou!?" Kunikida threw back, incensed that his capabilities as a partner were constantly challenged by a Mafia Executive.

Chuuya just smirked. "All. The. Damned. Time."

Kunikida wanted to scream at the purred answer but Tachihara jumped him, slapping a hand over his mouth and hissing aShhhhh!in his ear as something in the vision suddenly had Dazai going rigid. Before anyone could react, Dazai had reached for the gun Chuuya carried around just to threaten people and shot off to the side, seemingly into nothing.

A chuckle proved he wasn't going crazy just yet.

Fyodor stopped his advancement, casually wiping the blood from his cheek and looking at it. "That's some aim, Dazai-kun. I'm impressed with how well you're holding up in your condition."

"Another step closer and it won't be a warning shot," he warned, arranging his aim accordingly.

The Russian just raised his hands as though in surrender, showing that he meant no harm. His eyes, however, rested on the sleeping Chuuya and something in his expression soured a little. "I'm merely here to say my goodbyes. And extend an offer."

"Whatever it is, keep it yourself. Now get out of my city."

"You don't even know what it is."

"I do. I'm not joining you. My Ability is alreadyreserved."

The look Dostoevsky shot at Chuuya had Dazai firing another bullet, this one actually burying in Fyodor's shoulder. Dazai's eyes blazed with fury when Fyodor looked back up. He did not like the way Fyodor had looked athisChuuya. He did not like that Fyodor had seen Chuuyathis vulnerableeven more. He should kill him, right now. He had a bad feeling about him. It came from both the depths of his of being and something he's come to associate with the Book. If the Book was uneasy enough about him for it to reach out to Dazai overthisdistance in an attempt to warn him ...

He really should just kill him.

Only, he could tell, he's risking both himself and Chuuya should he fire this gun again. Because ofcoursethe chibi doesn't do regular maintenance of his firearms when he so rarely uses it, preferring to throw bullets around instead. Dazai will be havingwordswith him about this later.

"Leave," he told Dostoevsky once again.

The Russian nodded. "I will be returning. Mark my words, Dazai-kun. And then, you'll be by my side and your miraculous Ability willeagerlyassist me."

'Sure, and Chuuya will grow to be 6' tall.'

"OI!"

The ratdidleave but Dazai did not relax until the stillness of the night lasted for a few more hours. In fact, the sun was starting to rise when he finally managed to gather enough energy to stand up. He should be grateful to Chuuya for always carrying around snacks to eat, though the protein bar wasdisgusting. Still, it had given him enough energy to not only stand up, but gather up Chuuya onto his back in a mirror of the last two times he'd saved him from his Ability. He carried him off, contacting the cleanup crew to sort all of this out and get Chuuya's bike back to headquarters. That he'll have to supervise rebuilding, no doubt.

It's going to be a long few months ahead, wasn't it.

Chapter 20

Chapter Text

16-17yo

Dazai's contribution to the 'war efforts' during the Dragon Head conflict earned him a well-deserved raise and an even more so deserved promotion. Everyone knew it was coming, of course, but none had expected it to come so soon.

So far, the youngest anyone's ever made it as Executive was eighteen, a lower limit and record set by Tsushima Gen'emon, the black ghost as some called him, the previous Boss' right hand man and most trusted advisor considering he let the man marry his favorite daughter.

Now Dazai Osamu - Tsushima Shuuji, formerly - breaks his record by two whole years as the sixteen year old becomes the youngest Executive in Port Mafia history.

Word spreads quickly, even in the wake of such destruction and devastation. Dazai's reputation skyrockets as everyone finds out he's been playing the Pale Qilin all long and the terrifying Ability user who had started the bloodiest part of the whole mess hadn't realized at all. It earned Dazai new respect and new fear from allies, enemies and subordinates alike. More men were added to his command and he could now order everyone, including his fellow Executives, around without there being an emergency. His title as the Boss' right hand man became official.

He got a new moniker, one which had the entire underworld trembling in fear, because now everyone knew he existed and everyone knew he was to be feared. The Demon Prodigy.

The most powerful, terrifying individual in all of Yokohama and throughout Japan was a sixteen year old boy.

The Mafia thrived from that fact alone, as no one wanted to test out the new saying circulating everyone:The biggest misfortune for Dazai's enemies is that they areDazai'senemies.

The Mafia thrived from another addition to their fearsome ranks: Soukoku. Double Black, Twin Dark, one soul in two bodies, devastating rivals, unstoppable duo. No matter what you call them, Nakahara Chuuya and Dazai Osamu were the nuclear bomb the Port Mafia totted about. They were the duo who killed the White Dragon, the two teenagers who destroyed an entire Gifted organization overnight, through infiltration and brute strength. They were the nightmares, the monsters, the boogeymen of this new era, of this new age, where the Mafia will flourish under Dazai's hand.

In the shadow of the bloody eighty eight day long conflict, minor skirmishes are not noticed by the authorities too busy cleaning up after the previous mess.

In the shadow of the Dragon Head conflict, no one so much as flinched at the fact an armed group of what may as well be pirates from the west reduced a group of nine friends to only two, a pair of dark haired, grey eyed, pale siblings, already starving and cold in the slums, malnourished and all alone, with no hint of a family aside from the other orphaned urchin they'd managed to group with. And they were killed for a single piece of useful information they did not want anyone else finding out: the time and location of a delivery run by the Port Mafia.

"Oh," Akutagawa said, as he watched his younger self suddenly appear, rushing through some sort of forested area, hurt and bleeding yet searing with hatred from the very core of his being, the first emotion of that intensity he'd ever felt. He'd wanted revenge for his friends, even if he'd barely escaped with his own head still on his shoulders thanks to his sister. "It's going to showthat."

"I always did want to see how it happened," Gin quietly admitted, because it had taken some time for her to see what was so worthy of such admiration and raw devotion her brother gifted Dazai upon first meeting the slightly older boy.

"What? What's going to happen?" Atsushi asked, curious, but Akutagawa just shook his head.

"Just watch, jinko. Perhaps then you'll finally understand."

"And when this is finally over, I'll be checking you over for that nasty cough," Yosano said with a frown but no further comments came. Now was not the time. It was a sort of tensions they'd only felt during Dazai's absolutely first encounter with Chuuya or the time Masaoka had died. It was not a nice feeling.

'i have finally obtained hatred,'young Akutagawa thought, the words echoing around them. Akutagawa did not appear embarrassed the way the others have when they realized it was happening. He had nothing to be ashamed of. Not in this night.'I am no dog, no beast. I am a human with emotion. Thus, there is nothing I can do but retaliate.'

"Our group used the same for of protection the Sheep used to run on," Gin explained when everyone seemed confused. "If someone hurts one of us, the rest of us get revenge. We hurt them back just as bad, or worse, because Nii-san could already use Rashoumon."

"I'd slit the throat of whoever tried to steal from us or attack us," Ryuunosuke admitted easily, ignoring the looks Chuuya was giving him. "They've come to call me the Silent Mad Dog because I'd show no emotion, no hesitation and let out no sound before someone would be bleeding out at my feet."

"H-how old were you here ... A-Akutagawa-senpai?" Higuchi dared to ask, doing her best not to feel pity for her senpai's lifestyle and instead admire him for being so strong to have survived it, to have thrived, however little he could.

"When Dazai-san found me, I was fourteen."

"I've only just turned thirteen," Gin added.

Kyouka watched them both, understanding on a level almost no one else could.

Young Akutagawa kept running, thinking of only reaching the armed group before they rendezvoused with the Port Mafia, because then he'd not be able to do anything but die. He wasn't afraid of death. There was nothing that could be worse than the hell he was living in, so what was there to fear? Pain wasn't a deterrent, either. He's felt it enough, from hunger, from the beatings before he gained his Ability, from injuries stray dogs would leave on him as they tried to eat him alive in his sleep, from the cold of winters with no proper shelter, from the very air he breathes as it destroys his lungs.

The only thing even remotely worth considering was the retaliation he would face from the Mafia if he killed these men. There would be nowhere for him to flee. Not within Yokohama, not in Japan, not even abroad. The Mafia would find him anywhere even if he could try. They had a devil in their ranks, rumors said, and Akutagawa wasn't sure whether he believed it or not, but this 'devil' certainly worked like all hell and hunted down anyone he set his sights on that had dared slight the Mafia.

His only plan was to take out as many with him as he could. He would go down fighting.

That was the only way someone like him could die. That was all he could do to avenge his friends.

All he could hope for was that no one tried to get at Gin for his deeds.

All of his hopes (except the last one) were dashed, however, as he came upon a clearing surrounding the forest path that would have been perfect for his ambush of the pirates. Six corpses laid on the ground, definitely dead, and they were no doubt Akutagawa's targets. Judging by their state even in death, it was clear their end had been brutal, painful to the very last second. The fear and despair was etched into their faces forever, a gruesome death mask to haunt your thoughts and dreams for the rest of your life.

On a nearby tree stump, there was a lone figure sitting, observing their nails before they 'noticed' Akutagawa. "Hello," he, because he was a man, greeted, casually, lightly, as though a massacre wasn't lying at his feet. "Lovely night, isn't it?" He was thin beneath his long, black overcoat. He had dark hair, slightly curly and messy. One eye was covered by bandages and the other appeared darker than the night around them yet it shone with more deadliness and sharpness than any blade, including the ones created by his own Ability, that he'd seen in his pitiful life.

"What ... ? What on ... ?"

"This was the day you met Dazai-san?" Atsushi whispered, but Akutagawa ignored him.

Kyouka was watching with an intensity that could match her former mentor's.

The Agency were mostly questioning themselves if it should be normal that they've gotten so used to the idea of their colleague being surrounded by corpses that they no longer felt sickened by it.

Chuuya was watching intently, too, how Dazai would treat this other kid from the slums with a similar role to Chuuya's. He knew what it turned into, but the Akutagawa siblings still revered Dazai above all else in this world so he can't help but be curious.

'Did he kill them?'Was the first question Akutagawa asked himself, though he noted the man did not appear armed.'Boy, maybe a little older than me,'was his afterthought correction. Every single of the outlaws had died with a pistol in their hands, aimed at now unseen targets.'It would be impossible for a group like this to be taken out before they could fire even once! It's beyond any human's ability! Even Ability users wouldn't manage it! ... Does this make this man a demon, then?'

"H-how did he manage it?" Tachihara dared to ask.

Akutagawa gave him a wry smirk. "I think you should wait to find out. You still have your doubts about Dazai-san; this ought to straighten things out."

"Ain't nothing straight about that man," Yosano murmured to Ranpo.

"Amen, sister."

"Let me introduce myself," sixteen year old, freshly made Executive Dazai suddenly interjected. "My name is Dazai. Dazai Osamu, of the Port Mafia."

A chill instantly ran down the younger teen's back at the name. The mere mention of it seemed to have the power to make the already chilly night even colder. Akutagawa almost trembled recalling all the rumors about the most notorious member of the Port Mafia's guerrilla squad, it's vanguard force. Dazai's reputation on the streets truly preceded him.

"I remember it well," Akutagawa reminisced to himself, yet voiced it for others to hear. "It was the first time I felt true fear, true dread. The Port Mafia as a whole didn't scare me as much as meeting Dazai-san so suddenly had. By that point, everyone had known him. People would say that he would murder his own parents in cold blood in one second, without batting an eye and that in the next, he would take down Buddha himself, at first glance, and laugh it off with cold cruelty. He was widely known as the most feared and most dangerous man in Yokohama and I was just so surprised that he was only two years older than me."

"He's two years younger thanmeyet he's more accomplished than I am now," Atsushi joked, though he did not really admire Dazai's Mafia accomplishments. At least not the criminal ones, anyway.

"I ... " Fourteen year old Akutagawa began, or tried to, but did not truly know what to say, how to follow up. It's like the neural pathways between his brain and his mouth had stopped functioning all of a sudden.

Luckily, Dazai interrupted him by raising a hand. "I know," he said. "Akutagawa, right? I was expecting you."

'Expecting me?'

"Expecting him? But how was Dazai-san expecting him?" Kenji asked. Ryuunosku just gestured at the vision.

"Why did you kill them?" The boy growled instead of asking any related questions to Dazai's last statement. Because that was his priority. He'd just discovered an emotion and a trigger for it. Morever, the vengeance he sought was not only for him; it was for his friends. He didn't know why the Port Mafia would go as far as to kill their own or why they would seek out a street urchin like him, a heartless curr in the eyes of just about everyone but his sister, but he's not sure that he cared. This man had intervened in his revenge, had taken away the first purpose Ryuunosuke had felt he had in his life. He wasn't letting that go.

"Youwanted to kill them, didn't you?" Dazai asked with a light 'smile', if that expression should even be categorized as one, that is. "That's why you're here. This path's the best place to ambush anyone making their way to the delivery site. They were a low-level street gang the Mafia had some vague, irrelevant business with and they killed a bunch of children to keep them quiet."'They did not deserve the easy death I bestowed upon them; they were lucky word never got toChuuya.'"But one of them survived, supposedly," Dazai continued as though he wasn't contemplating the best way to punish a random group who'd never done him any ill and that he didn't personally care about, but that his partner would.

"I want to be offended that even during our first meeting Chuuya-san was omnipresent in Dazai-san's mind, but at this point I'm sure the world could be ending and Chuuya-san would still be Dazai-san's first thought," Akutagawa said with an amused snort, to which he earned a reprimanding scowl from the Executive in question. Akutagawa was not fazed. Chuuya rolled his eyes and let it go while Yosano cheered that the 'Chuuya lives rent free in Dazai's mind' joke was making a comeback again.

"I heard that much in the reports," the newly coined Executive revealed casually. "The rest is just suspicion on my part. That boy would have wanted revenge, wouldn't he? And if he did, a surprise attack was the only way he could make it happen. This road's the only way to the site and this spot's the best place to strike. The darkness and the mist keeps you hidden and the trees are perfect for soaking up any return fire aimed at you. You could have killed at least four of them that way, maybe even all six~! If you were good enough. Not that you'd have lived to brag about it," Dazai explained, but he could see the younger boy wasn't nearly as interested in his very correct analysis of the situation, but rather a big question that he wanted a specific answer to: why were the Mafai's allies killed by the Mafia? "I actually got promoted recently," he said. "I'm on the Executive board now. Which, you know what they say~ The fancier the title, the more responsibility and other nonsense you have to deal with."

Which would have been true if only Dazai hadn't already been leading the Mafia the entire time. Though, now that he was an Executive and with all the power that carried and that his biggest opposition, the Colonel, was gone, Dazai could make even more radical changes than he had before without anyone really getting in his way. Even Kouyou made only token protests and none of the Subexecutives were brave enough to oppose him when Mori was all but rubbing his hands together like a cliche cartoon villain whose plans were supposedly going perfectly. He'd already started another paperwork and protocol reform, necessary in the wake of the devastation from the Dragon Head conflict. They needed a new recruitment strategy, so Dazai and his men dealt with that.

Dazai also had to replace a lot of his own men and train them up to his standards, though his men themselves were eager to lighten his workload and took that upon themselves. Dazai's almost fear them trying to get rid of him, but given they beat an almost fanatical worship sort of loyalty into the new recruits through rigorous training regimes, he wasn't worried.

Getting two whole hospitals indebted to the Mafia, making deals with three banks, opening another money laundering business-front, opening new trade routes for jewels, weapons, ammunition and art on the black market was taking up a whole lot more of his time than worrying about his own squad;theywere competent enough not to die within an hour of him leaving them to their own devices. Kouyou's red district had also suffered a great loss, in both infrastructure and employees, so he sent out a few of his more reliable subordinates - mostly ones he knew were asexual or already had romantic partners and were loyal to them to the bone - to gather prostitutes off the streets, wash them, medicate them and then bring them to Ane-san's houses.

He also had to deal with the government's attempts to give the Mafia some sort of charges or penalties for their participation in the conflict. Dazai recognized one politician that had approved the human experiments led in Suribachi, lobbying for the arrest of all Ability users involved in the fights on the streets, and he promptly arranged for an 'accident' to deal with him. One less scum to cross off his list.

"Jesus f*cking Christ on a motorbike."

That's not me."

"Ha ha, Chuuya-san."

"You walked into that one, idiot."

"Shut up, Gin."

It was all so soon after Dazai had been imprisoned that he hadn't even fully recovered from it, but the Port Mafia and its problems never sleep, so neither does Dazai. (Well, he does, when Chuuya, Oda or Mori force him to, but that's irrelevant.)

'I've never heard of a Mafia Executive who is still too young to drink,'Akutagawa's thoughts cut through Dazai's ramble about the things he had been busy doing as a new Executive.'What kind of genius - or mercilessness - did it take for him to claw his way up the underworld ladder at such a young age?'

"Of course, there isonegood thing that comes with this title," Dazai continued where he left off, waving his hand around like he was swatting a fly. "It grants me the right to hire a single underling, someone who acts under my direct control."

"As if he didn't have a veritable army who would stab me in my sleep if he so much as hinted that he wanted that to happen," Mori muttered bitterly.

'Underling? Hire? What is this man saying?'

"And you callmedumb," Atsushi said with a snort, earning his rival's slash partner's glare.

Gin also snorted. "Youwererather slow here, brother."

"Shut up jinko, Gin."

"You asked me why I killed them, right? Simple: as a bargaining chip," Dazai finally answered Akutagawa's earlier question. "You don't strike me as the type that's attracted to money or status, so here's my offer to you instead.: I'd like to invite you into the Port Mafia."

As he finished the last word he was saying, Akutagawa suddenly charged, his target the seated Dazai. His speed would be impressive for someone his age had Dazai not met an almighty god vessel or whatever Chuuya was at seven and witnessed what true power was like seemingly countless times since. He easily tracked Akutagawa with his eyes as he moved through the trees before he attacked without any warning, any signal that a normal person would notice. It was clearly a killer move that had never failed him before. Dazai watched as cloth transformed into a set of long blades and the younger boy lunged at him. In just one beat of the heart, the blade was to Dazai's throat.

"Not bad," the brunet commented quietly as Rashoumon dissipated with a flash of No Longer Human lighting up the night for a short second. Akutagawa's young, shocked face was illuminated by both the moon and the glacial light while it lasted and it was clear he couldn't believe he'd striked out so bad when his attacks had never failed before.

He stood stock still, frozen, as he realized Dazai hadn't moved at all, the way he was so serene where he sat, unmoved, unbothered by the blade that could have easily robbed him of his life. Not even seasoned battle or war veterans had ever been so calm in the face of inevitable death. Yet Dazai's eyes, so dark and so all-seeing, even looked slightlybored. He realized Dazai had known that the attack would come, what the target would be, that it would be an attack with an Ability. He had not moved.

Akutagawa could almost literally feel those same eyes seeing right through him. He took an involuntary step back, pushed away by the will and danger the slightly older teen exhibited so easily, so naturally. His guts told him to leave, his instincts screaming at him to run, but he had a feeling it was too late the second he was at a certain angle where those dark, dark eyes looked red like freshly spilled blood.'Promoting this man to Executive was no fluke, no eccentric whim. If anything, the post was no doubtbeneath him. This man ... He istoo dangerous.'"How did you do that?" He still managed to croak out. "How did you manage to kill those six armed outlaws?"

"I pitted them against one another."

Akutagawa had been wrong. No,everyonehad been wrong; they pegged this man for a demon. He was clearly so much worse. This Dazai, he was worse than even the devil himself.

Tachihara wasn't the only one who gulped uneasily when his earlier question was finally answered. No one knew what to make of that. It didn't seem possible. f*ckuzawa knew that not even Mori would be capable of doing something like that, of pulling it off so flawlessly that he would come completely uninjured from the encounter. Ranpo, on the other hand, knew only Dostoevsky could pull off something similar.

The two demons were too similar for them both not to possess such a terrifyingly silver yet poisonous tongue.

"Listen," Dazai went back to his offer, not wanting to spend the entire night in the woods. It was getting cold, winter just around the corner, and he had no intention of being out there if he didn't have to, which he didn't. "If you turn down my invitation, I won't hate you for it. Even if you refuse it, I'll gladly give your friends a proper funeral here and I'll give you and your sister enough money to eke out a proper existence. And once I do, you'll never see me again, I promise you."

For some reason, Akutagawa already did not really like that offer. It was a strange sensation. Not once had he simply 'not liked' something that did not involve his friends or sister getting hurt. In fact, the current counteroffer he was getting to the invitation left him deaf to the fact that Dazai knew about his sister at all.

"But," his quiet voice thundered through that little field and straight into young Akutagawa's heart. "If you think you have mettle for it, I will gladly grant you what you seek."

'What I ... seek?'

"The path will not be easy," came the warning. "I have no intention of going soft on you, you understand. What you'll be facing will make your life on the streets look like a trip to the fair. But if you have the mettle for it ... " Dazai leaned a bit closer, so they were eye to eye. Akutagawa had never seen eyes like that. They were unfathomable, all-seeing. No god or demon could escape them and yet they revealed nothing back, not even a hint of what the older boy would say next or what he wanted Akutagawa to say in reply. He could not look away even if he wanted to. "Is there something you want?" Dazai asked his future protege.

And Akutagawa's heart answered automatically. He hadn't even thought he had one in order for it to do so, yet it did. It answered. What he wanted. What he craved. What he could never obtain in the hell that was his current 'home'. The words felt like they were punched out of him. "Can you give me ... a reason to live?"

The viewers all gasped, even those who had known about Akutagawa's obsession with his mentor and the approval he so sought from the man. They had never expected something like this. Gin had, perhaps, known the most of it, but she had not expected those exact words to be what her brother had asked, had requested, hadbeggedof the man who had taken the two of them in when the rest of the world sneered on their mere existence.

It took Dazai a split second to answer, yet his mind was reeling.'A reason to live? I did not expect to find a mirror when I came out here tonight. A reason to live ... A reason to affirm your existence has meaning? A reason to wake up every morning and face this ugly world? Is that what you seek, little Silent Mad Dog? Tch, for all that I dislike dogs, I sure do seem to be collecting them a lot. But this is one I cannot turn down; how could I, when I understand, perhaps a bit too perfectly. A reason to live ... Well, Akutagawa Ryuunosuke-kun, if that is what you want ... 'He smiled, even though it wasn't exactlykind. "I can."

The moment those words left Dazai's mouth and registered in young Akutagawa's brain, the street urchin felt a new emotion running through his entire body like never before. If that hatred had been the first emotion he'd ever clearly felt, this was the second. Compared to that hatred, however, this was entirely unexpected, far beyond anything he could have imagined even in his wildest dreams. It felt dangerously close to what might be relief, or maybe something just shy of the first semblance of belonging.

'A master. I have a master, a guide, a mentor. This man, thisgod, thisdemon... '

"Well?" Dazai asked.

And instead of replying, Akutagawa shouted, crying the loudest he ever had in his life, his scream piercing the cold night, reaching the heavens. It was all he had, an eulogy, for his friends who had died without gaining a master of their own lives, a reason to live, a reason to preserve day by day. He screamed with more force, with more emotion than anyone could have ever guessed him capable of, especially considering his reputation as an emotionless Silent Mad Dog. His entire body shook with this dark relief that dug deep into his soul and made its home there as his world shifted, creating only enough space in his heart for his sister andthis man.

Dazai watched him and he smiled. For once, for the first time, it was not a baring of teeth or a genial one just because the expression fit the image he wanted to portray to his audience. No, this was a real smile and something a tiny bit like pride already lodged itself into it. He knows the feeling all to well that had Akutagawa screaming like that. He'd felt it a few times, though perhaps not as deeply as this boy.

"Glad to hear it," he told his new charge and stood up, shrugging off his black coat. He draped it over the now bawling Akutagawa's shoulders and placed an arm around his shoulders, his hand squeezing one as he let the boy cry and cry for what felt like hours.

" ...Oh," was all Atsushi could voice after that scene ended with Dazai escorting Akutagawa from the scene, the two boys off to fetch Gin and then wherever Dazai will take them. "Akutagawa ... I-I didn't know ... I'm so-"

"Save it, jinko. I didn't expect you to know," the older half of Shin Soukoku cut him off, though surprisingly not unkindly. He looked at the teen with a pretty calm and almost content expression on his face. "No one was supposed to know, to understand. I liked it that way, even if it frustrated me how spinless-cowards-with-not-even-two-brain-cells-to-rub-together-outsiders looking in would spout unacceptable nonsense about how Dazai-san treated me or how they'd look down upon me with pity. Dazai-san was never gentle. That's because I didn'tneedgentleness. I desired strength and he gave it to me, along with the price one must pay to obtain it. I bled and hungered and sweated to obtain that strength and through it Dazai-san's acknowledgment. I woulddiefor it. Because I don't fear death, Nakajima Atsushi; I fear dying before I can gain Dazai-san's approval more than any hell that might await this wretched soul of mine."

"But how does that make us different?" The confused weretiger asked desperately, recalling each and every time Akutagawa had berated him for asking for permission to live, for a stamp that would say he was allowed to exist in this world.

Showing how much closer they've gotten since their first meeting and first team-up, Akutagawa instantly understood what Atsushi meant. "You seek a permission to live. I sought and found a reason to. There is a wast difference. Just look at Dazai-san; he does not question whether he should have been born, whether he was a waste of space, whether he had a right to survive. Dazai-san, from the very start, searched for a meaning to his existence and he found it in Chuuya-san and in being the ultimate fail-safe for the Book, as we've seen so far. I do not need a meaning to my life, not in that way, but I needed areasonto continue living, to continuefeeling; Dazai-san gave me that and continued giving it to me to this day. He may no longer be my mentor, officially, but something I've learned since he acknowledged that I've gotten stronger is that whatever bond we share is not yet severed. Our story is not yet over. And that's enough for me to continue waking up every day and breathing."

There was a long moment of silence as everyone absorbed what had been said and the deep, philosophical nature of it, before Tachihara ruined it. "Wow. That's got to be the most I've heard Akutagawa say in one setting since I've met him!"

"Youimbecile!" Higuchi screeched as the moment was ruined, her hands around the ginger's throat and shaking him like a rag doll. "How dare you ruin Akutagawa-senpai's wonderful, meaningful speech with your blubbering nonsense! You are not funny! You're sense of humor is the absolute zero! Baka baka baka baka baka!"

Gin also looked ready to murder Tachihara but both Akutagawa siblings were surprised when Chuuya tugged them down so he can reach their heads and ruffle their hair. They didn't quite understand it but they let it happen before being approached by Atsushi and Kyouka, who offered them silent support. Atsushi even leaned against his rival slash partner slash 'enemy' slash ally and Akutagawa did not protest.

Hirotsu just sighed fondly as the vision shifted to show Dazai standing in front of a young Gin, earning coos at how adorable the girl had looked, even all dirty and with tangled hair. Gin did her best to stand her ground in front of the older teen, who looked her up and down.

' ... Yeah, we're not doing this like this.'He crouched down to her level and took out a spare roll of bandages from one of his pockets. "Gin-chan, was it? Akutagawa-kun tells me you're thirteen years old, right?" The girl hesitantly nodded when she saw him unwrapping the roll and lifting it towards her face. "You're a very cute girl, Gin-chan. I bet you'll have lots of admirers for your brother and me to stomp into the curb when you grow up. However, the Port Mafia is not a place for a young, pretty girl like you if you don't have enough strength to defend yourself."

" ... Am I going to need to teach that boy a lesson?" Kouyou said, displeased. Gin just smiled at the woman reassuringly.

"Are we ignoring the fact that Dazai indirectly implied he'll be around to see them grow up? You know, our suicidal Dazai? We are? Ok," Ranpo grumbled, though that earned him a few shocked looks as they realized he was right. The Akutagawas had to look away, a little overwhelmed with that revelation.

"So to protect you until you're strong enough to stomp idiotic men into the curb yourself, you need a different kind of protection. Young boys get less unwanted attention," he explained as he wrapped up the lower half of her face and used the bandages as a makeshift hair tie for the time being, pulling Gin's hair up into a weird, spiky, messy ponytail that is her signature assassin look these days. "So from now on, Gin-chan, you need to pretend that you're not a girl, okay?"This way, even though you're also my protege, you won't catch Mori-san's eye and I won't have to stage an impromptu coup should he do somethingstupid.'

"I'm sorry, butwhatwas his biggest concern?" Kouyou demanded in a hiss, eyes flashing. Yosano and f*ckuzawa were right behind her, glaring daggers at the Port Mafia Boss, who tried to ignore them. The siblings in question lookedhorrifiedas that revelation sank in. They'd known about Mori's preferences and tendencies, they'd seen Elise, yet it hadneveroccurred to them in just how much danger Gin had potentially been.

The rest were green in the face, too, at yet another confirmation of suchtastes. Kyouka gripped Gin's hand hard enough to potentially crack both their palms and fingers as Gin held on back just as tightly as they realized what Kyouka's fate, too, could have been had she not fallen under Kouyou's protection and Verlaine's tutelage, as well as Akutagawa's command.

"Thank you, Dazai-san," Gin and Ryuunosuke whispered, both making a note to buy the man a present later.

"Y-yes, Dazai-san," past Gin replied shyly, thankful for the bandages for they provided some extra warmth and coverage against the cold air outside.

Dazai nodded and placed a hand on both of the children's upper backs as he started leading them towards the car where he knew Hirotsu was awaiting him. The old man looked like he might have a heart attack when he saw his boss approaching with a pair of kids under each arm, but he composed himself and said nothing. At least now all the food and extra blankets Dazai had ordered him to bring made sense.

The Akutagawa siblings fell asleep in the car during the ride back to Dazai's apartment.

Dazai had almost felt bad for waking them up, but he's still too exhausted from his most recent kidnapping stunt to carry the two up to his place, even with an elevator and with them being even more twigs than he was. Still, it would be better for them to see where they were than just to wake up in a strange new place. Dazai knew all to well whatthatfelt like.

"Baths, now," was the first thing he told them as he led them to the two bathrooms the apartment had. Dazai did not understand the need for all these luxuries for just one person, but he let it be. He didn't care what Mori spent money on, as long as it weren't wasted on Elise's unneeded dresses. Besides the place came in handy.

The kids looked just a tiny bit adorable after they got out of the bathrooms, clean and groomed for what might be the first time in their lives. They'd both stayed in there for so long Dazai had actually wondered if his new subordinates might have fallen asleep in the tubs, but no, it made sense they would enjoy every luxury they might get. Dazai mustn't forget that these were real street urchin, not like him. They've never once felt heavenly hot water against their skin unless it was a puddle warmed by an unforgiving summer sun. They looked so fluffy now ... Though Dazai took note of the fact that, while they were both dressed in pajamas, his new student-to-be was also wearing the coat Dazai's given him.

'Good thinking, but I'm also not going to let you develop separation issues regarding that thing. It'll need a wash every now and then, for hell's sake.'He clapped his hands and ushered the kids to their rooms. He knew that, in the morning, they'll end up sharing a bed as a force of habit, but they'll need privacy eventually.

He left them to it.

For now, he needed to inform Mori of what had gone on that night and start making 'lesson plans'. Also, one of his subordinates had informed him that someone had messed up in a negotiation, so he'll have to look into that, too.

'The Port Mafia never sleeps, so neither do I.'

Higuchi and Tachihara were somewhere in the background as the vision swooshed again, dying from the cuteness overload that was the young Akutagawas. Chuuya was frowning, however. He hadn't expected such a soft start, considering how the training sessions went later on. When the whirlwind of colors settled, it was to an unexpected scene.

Apparently, despite being out on the streets and around other kids, almost completely unvaccinated, neither Ryuunosuke nor Gin had gotten chicken pox, by some miracle. Yet as soon as Dazai had their shots in order, Gin got them and dragged Ryuunosuke down with her, so he now had two sickly kids who wanted to scratch their skin off with high enough fevers to be delirious to watch over.

As if to add insult to injury, Dazai himself had never had chicken pox when he was little; he was simply never around children his age before until he met Chuuya, not counting the brief instances in the library back when he was tutoring others or his few days stint in that orphanage. So now that was biting him in the ass, too.

The Akutagawa siblings of today lookedhorrifiedto learn that not only had they become a burden to Dazai practically the week he took them in, but that they had also gotten him sick on top of it.

Mori was fascinated by this development, as Dazai had asked for a whole month off to 'make sure his new assets settled in' before the truly rigorous training began. It seems a good part of that month had been used for sick leave, too, though Dazai had continued running things over phone calls, texts and emails, when he could be bothered, and only his own subordinates who wouldn't spill even under the threat of slaughter of their entire family visited his flat. It made perfect sense now.

Chuuya, too, realized Dazai hadn't been ghosting him those few weeks and sheepishly wondered if the way he ignored the brunet afterwards as a punishment was also something he should apologize to the other for after they get out of here.

Despite never having been around people with chicken pox, Dazai knew the general way to treat it and anything he didn't know, he looked up on Google. His poor subordinates run around like headless chickens - Ha! - when he send them messages to get him random things within the hour, from medicine to ingredients to extra clothes or blankets because the siblings have too few and they've already sweated through all of them. When he has all the things he needs, he pulls up a recipe for chicken noodle soup, which is apparently great to eat no matter the illness, including chicken pox, which he finds strangely ironic.

Cooking is surprisingly easy ... Though the end results don't resemble what he sees on the picture.

"That looks like a health hazard," Higuchi says as nicely as she can, not wanting her senpai to get angry at her for potentially insulting his beloved mentor's efforts.

"You lucky bastards," Chuuya says with a scowl at the Akutagawa siblings. "No wonder you two were such picky eaters despite being street urchin. The basically first damned thing you ate after leaving the streets was sh*tty Dazai's cooking!"

"You ... can't seriously be implying thatthattastesgood!?" An incredulous, frightened Kunikida demands, looking like he was worried for Chuuya's sanity.

"Gin-chan, Ryuu-kun, wakey wakey! It's time to eat~" Dazai singsonged as he barged into the room the siblings have mostly been sleeping in since they moved in. Dazai had dumped them both in there for the duration of this sickness, too, to make things easier for himself and to make sure none of their germs got anywhere else around the house. He hasnoidea if Chuuya already went through this and even Kyuusaku sometimes visited him at the apartment now that he had a normal place to live and heknowsthattheyhaven't, so having to take care of a sickly dog or the kid that clings onto him any chance they get isn't really in Dazai's plans. "Come on, you're both too skinny as it is and this is supposed to help with the boo boos!"

Gin woke up more easily and she seemed to be handling the whole ordeal far better than Ryuunosuke. Dazai suspected it had something to do with the boy's lungs, something he ought to look into. If it's going to further impair him in the future, Dazai has to make sure they can compensate for that, or else Akutagawa's career in the Mafia would be a short one, no matter how stubborn and determined he may be. The children were bothdefinitelystill delirious - or just don't know what chicken noodle soup ought to look like - because they didn't question the appearance of the food.

Judging by the heavenly groans they let out upon tasting it, it actually tasted good. Apparently, anyways. Maybe it's just that they were delirious. Dazai took a sip himself and was surprised by the taste.'Huh. So I just need to work on the presentation to match the taste.'

"It's actuallygood!?" Tachihara screeched, looking towards his fellow Black Lizard commander and she nodded.

"Dazai-san rarely cooked something for us, usually when one of us got sick or too injured and was assigned to bed-rest, if he had the time for it, but it always tasted heavenly even if it looked like it was dragged out of the pits of hell."

"It lookedfine, Gin, don't exaggerate."

"You only say that becauseDazai-sanmade it. If thejinkohad made it, you would have said it looked like sh*t."

"I would say that if the jinko were to present me with a Michelin five star restaurant meal."

"f*ck you, too, Akutagawa."

"Sorry to be a bother, Dazai-san," little Gin said guiltily while Akutagawa just coughed in his sleep, tuckered out already just from that. Dazai couldn't help but smile as he patted her on the head. (He honestly felt a little silly, because he's sure that's how you pet dogs, not kids. But how would he know? His parents' displays of affection included being totted around, hugged at random and having his cheeks smooshed with kisses. He doesn't think either of the Akutagawas would be up for that.)

"I think we would have both fainted," Gin admitted and her brother looked on the verge of that happening right now just learning that Dazai had considered it, apparently.

"You two just get better. We'll deal with anything else later. Now off you go to sleep, little lady~ The sooner you get better, the sooner you get to learn to use the knife I gave you~!"

"That was so domestic that for a moment I forgot that that was the Demon Prodigy," Ranpo said with a whistle.

The visions flashed again until they were shown a different scene. There was snow outside and Dazai was with the Akutagawas on what seemed to be a mission. Gin was now decked in a version of her current coat, only she had both sleeves and the hem didn't seem torn up. Meanwhile, Akutagawa was swimming in Dazai's coat as he struggled to make the size adjust with Rashoumon. As Dazai looked at him, he wondered if that's how everyone saw him in that very same coat when Mori had given it to him.'How embarrassing. At least Akutagawa-kun ought to be able to eventually figure out how to trim it to fit him on his own. What a convenient way to use your Ability.'

"Dazai-san, if I may ask, why are we here?" Akutagawa asked with a small cough he covered with his hand politely, like Dazai's thought him. It's been over a month since he took the kids in and he'd done his best to teach them the basics of Mafia work while also trying to educate them. They were both pretty smart kids and thankfully they already knew how to read, mostly. Writing was coming ... along ... They're still working on that, but they're literate enough to do reports, which is what he was the most satisfied about.

Today was going to be their first assignment. Dazai took them out with his squad, because he expected the same level of competency for them and this was mostly just a demonstration. The siblings were to observe and fight only if Dazai gave the order to. He wasn'tgoingto, of course, but they didn't know that. First, he needed them to trust their lives in his hands and leading them into danger like this, just like he does his men, will show them that as long as theylistenandobey, they will return home with minor injuries only. Gin may not end up staying with Dazai but they'll probably still work together, and Akutagawahadto learn that Dazai's squad ran like a well-oiled, perfectly synchronized machine. The reason their success and casualty rate was so low despite them taking on the most difficult assignments was for that precise reason.

Dazai led; they obeyed.

For now, until he sees how well either of the kids can handle such situations on their own, that was the rule they wouldlive by.

"Let me guess," Atsushi said dryly, side-eyeing his partner. "You ... were pretty bad at followingthatorder, weren't you?"

"I've learned."

"You didn't learn sh*t until Dazai-san left."

"I still learned eventually."

Gin facepalmed at her brother's shamelessness.

Some time later, Dazai frowned at the two children he'd taken in. They were both covered in blood, a sprayAkutagawahad caused when he'd beheaded a man for getting close to the trio. Dazai would admit, his reflexes and speed weren't bad for an untrained street urchin, but his control was bad, as he'd clearly overshot; his aim had been to slit his throat instead of chopping his head off and spraying them almost head to toe in warm blood and then further ruining Dazai's favorite leather shoes when the body hit the floor near their feet and spurted out some more blood directly at their feet. The added fabric gave Rashoumon more range to work with, which was good to know, but Akutagawa didn't have an instinctive control over said range, something they'd have to work on.

But most importantly ...

"Why did you interfere?" Dazai asked, staring at Akutagawa with a blank expression he's been told was extremely uncomfortable to face. "I gave you direct orders and you disobeyed them," he cut in before Akutagawa could protest.

"But I protected us! No one else was there! He would have shot us-"

Dazai interrupted him by pointing up with a bandaged hand, right to where he had a sniper stationed. "I've survived this type of field work long before we met, Akutagawa-kun. Don't get ahead of yourself. You have a long way to go before you can actively participate in these skirmishes. Don't let it happen again; the fastest way to lose your head out here is to disobey my orders."Be it by enemy action or by my handwent unsaid, a lesson Akutagawa will learn with time.

"H-he killed his own subordinates?" Tanizaki asked with a gulp but Hirotsu corrected that assumption.

"Dazai-san only killed or punished people whose stupidity or purposeful actions impacted the mission," he explained. "If he didn't do it, if the threat didn't exist and wasn't true, things wouldn't go nearly as smoothly when 'outsiders' joined his squads on what may be considered suicide missions otherwise. To step out of line on a 'guerrilla squad mission' is a death sentence. One of the reasons Dazai-san was considered heartless and soulless by the organization and the rest of the underworld."

"If an apple's rotten, you get rid of it, you don't put it in to contaminate the pie," Mori gave the bizarre comparison, backing Dazai's way of thinking and Hirotsu's explanation. "Dazai-kun was responsible for an organization consisting directly of thousands of people and even more people directly or indirectly impacted by our existence, actions and success rates. A few sacrificed fools for the sake of a peaceful Yokohama are an acceptable sacrifice."

"I would disagree," Kunikida says sharply, his ideals already offended and his temper a bit stirred at how Mori was saying his own partner would casually go against them, even though he already sort of knew that.

"I'm sure you would but, you see, that's why I don't give a damn," Mori said with a 'friendly' smile. "Dazai-kun doesn't give a damn about your morals and ideals, either. I know that boy better than any of you lot ever could, even if he's clearly kept some pretty big secrets from me. But the essence of him hasn't changed one bit. Dazai-kun will never be constrained by something like 'morals'; good and evil are no different in his mind. He can abide by the rules of either, he can pretend all he wants, but I'm sure you'll see that, should we get to his Armed Detective Agency era, his first instinct to solve something is to brutalize it. Violence isn't the answer, it's a question and Dazai often answers it with a yes. Two years with you lot won't change a response ingrained into his very being for a lifetime."

"We shall see," Kunikida hmphed and Ranpo sighed tiredly, knowing Kunikida had just walked into an ...experience, if they get to see Dazai's early days at the Agency. Or even his most recent days.

Fourteen year old Akutagawa apologized and Dazai just let it be, just this once. He was new, Dazai figured he'd learn, eventually. In the meantime, he taught the kids about hierarchy, about disposing bodies, about when they're allowed to mark their kills and when they should erase all traces of themselves. Gin at one point asked one of his subordinates for some paper and a pen and she started taking notes. Dazai was oddly charmed by that and wondered if this was how Odasaku felt anytime his kids did something - normally - endearing.

Time passed quickly, autumn turned to winter and the end of the year was approaching. The kid had met Mori at that point, Gin carefully masked as a boy, and the Akutagawas were given a trial period where they can show off their skills so they can decide where they would fit best. Gin had gotten pretty good with the knife in the meantime and she was picking up on her combat skills pretty quickly. She had talent; Dazai was going to suggest her for the Black Lizards, since she could already mop the floor with most of the other potential recruits and they were all nearly twice her age. Plus, Hirotsu would keep her safe, letting Dazai focus on the elder Akutagawa.

The boy was also doing great. He was really a killing machine in the making; he'll do well in the guerrilla forces, but his Ability was a lot more versatile than the boy realized. He had so much potential for so much more than making shish kebabs out of his enemies or occasionally allies, but he seems to think the epitome of strength was destruction. (He blames his chibi partner for that; he reallyshouldhave waited longer before he introduced the siblings to the way Chuuya does things. Had he inadvertently set too high standards and formed complexes in his charges? Though Gin seemed inspired more than anything; Ryuunosuke, on the other hand, had been seconds away fromfightingChuuya had Dazai not had a firm hand on his shoulder to stop that slaughter before it could begin.)

Chuuya arched an eyebrow at the Akutagawa of today, who refused to meet his gaze. "Akutagawa-"

"I'm aware of how foolish my younger self was, Chuuya-san. Perfectly, in fact. I was too blinded by my desire to be the only one Dazai-san noticed as I grow stronger that I often overlooked things he was actually trying to teach me."

"Well, now that we look at it from this angle, I think I understand howthatcame to be," Kouyou said with a sad sigh. "Did he finally lose his temper or something when he decided that was the way to train you?"

" ... I'm not sure, though itwaseffective."

" ... I wish I could say that that wasn't training, but the first time I tried to take over after he left and we sparred, it wasn't much different, was it? We're all too used to violence to know any better," Chuuya said with a sigh, running a hand through his hair. "Goddamn it, that's no excuse!"

Akutagawa shrugged. He hardly blamed Chuuya. He didn't even really blame Dazai. His mentor had tried many different methods, as these visions were showing; Akutagawa had refused to respond properly to most of them. It didn't excuse it, it never will, he knew that from how he treated Kyouka, but it had kept him alive for as long as he was and that was ultimately Dazai's goal. Though it seems he'd had other goals along the way and Akutagawa had simply refused to go along with them, thus impairing his own growth. He's trying to do better now, they both were, so perhaps they can one day go back to that strange, weird first stage of their mentorship where they were two kids trying to figure out how it was all supposed to work while being strangely domestic together.

The Akutagawas were also an excellent addition to his squad in spreading the new paperwork forms and protocols. This change in administration and bureaucracy had taken longer than the last, considering how much there was to physically and structurally rebuild, but this system he was introducing should keep the Mafia flowing and on top for years. The Dragon Head conflict was good in one thing; it left them the strongest organization in the underworld and it solidified Mori's rule. Dazai as an Executive had been free to eliminate any last remaining traditionalists, finally introducing a peace within the organization itself and allowing it to prosper as they took over territories and bank accounts of their fallen brethren. The Akutagawas were not used to a former paperwork system, so they just did as he taught them and when others saw twokidsbeing better at paperwork, well, they couldn't help but be motivated to not be outdone. They all knew how useless subordinates ended up.

For now, the Akutagawas did not go on solo missions. Dazai let them run around with his subordinates when he sends them out to do things or has them busy with training on their own - he gives them tasks and goals, of course - when he can't leave the office for days or when he has missions with Chuuya, where the ginger has to take priority, since Corruption has become a semi-regular card against enemies that try to take on the Mafia. Sending out Soukoku lessens the casualties, though sometimes they have to spend millions on property damage and clean-up.

All in all, the year had passed pretty quickly, all things considered, and suddenly there was whispers of a Christmas party that would be organized for the staff.

Mori, Kouyou, Hirotsu and Chuuya suddenly became statues of darkness and displeasure when the party came up.

f*ckuzawa arched an eyebrow at his former partner. "Why such a thunderous expression, Ougai?"

Mori gave him a sharp grin. "I do not like my authority to be in any way undermined, f*ckuzawa-dono,especiallythrough my darling protege I could already barely keep under wraps and interested in the organization."

"What do you mean, Boss?" Gin asked carefully. "It was just a party. We were there; people just drank a lot, sang a lot, danced a lot and gossiped a lot. Even Chuuya-san was there."

"Yes, I was, and I hate that I was," hissed the former street tug turned Executive.

"But you looked like you were having fun," came the weak, confused protest.

"And you love the Christmas parties we have now!" Tachihara pointed out but Chuuya's expression only became more thunderous.

"You'll see, no doubt," Hirotsu said before they could piss the short man off even more, even if he wasn't actually angry at them.

Dazai wasn't really interested in the party, it was only just rumors and at first, it wasn't even supposed to take place in the headquarters. Not until two of his subordinates, one from HR and one from finances, came into his office one day with a signed request to let the party take place in the building. "It seems that everyone thinks it would be a good way to strengthen morale, reward everyone after everything we've been through this year and form comradeship all over again. They're asking if it could be a company party, like some businesses hold for their employees," his subordinate from HR explained as he went over the request and the report the finances department had delivered regarding their spending budget that could, indeed, take some out to host the party.

"We're doing well enough to be able to host this party and everyone promised to bring drinks and food to add to what we will initially serve so that there will be enough food flowing all night. Catering is optional and it seems that everyone would be okay even without a waiting staff. It seems that everyone just wants to celebrate and have fun and we have the finances to allow it. However, the decision is ultimately yours, Dazai-sama." After all, Dazai was the one in charge of the Mafia's finances, among various other things that weren't even directly under his jurisdiction, but the financial department definitely was. His subordinates, Yamamoto from HR and Hiroto from finances, seemed rather neutral towards the party overall, they were just passing along the message.

Dazai thought about it and figured itwouldbe good for morale. This year had indeed been very taxing on them all. He nodded and signed off on the request and the proposed budget Hiroto had brought. "I'll allow it. If it goes well, we can even make it a regular holiday party, maybe organize one for New Years Eve as well. Just make sure to tell the kids to go. It will be their first proper Christmas." Yamamoto and Hiroto both looked ready to coo or smile at that but they were far too well trained to do that around their boss and instead bowed and left.

Dazai, meanwhile, started making plans. He can't remember the last time he'd been to a Christmas party. His parents had liked to celebrate it intimately and refused any guests two days before and after Christmas, excluding aunt Kiye. The staff was given time off for holidays though they all came around early in the morning to make sure the Tsushimas had a proper feast and that the tree was set up, dropping off their own little gifts for little Shuuji. Dazai's Christmases had been filled with the smell of hot chocolate as a kid, a warm fireplace and too many gifts for someone who wasn't really a normal child. He thinks he loved it the most when the staff bought a special chess set for him; it was a bit expensive for a single servant to buy, so they all gathered money and each piece was wrapped up separately as a small gift. Dazai remembered how he, as Shuuji, had felt an unusual warmth in his usually cold chest upon discovering such a quirky gesture. Of course, such Christmases are long gone now.

The one Christmas he spent with Masaoka had been a completely different experience, but he'd liked it all the same, too. Masaoka, at least, made as good of a hot chocolate as Matsuki did.

He and Mori hadn't celebrated Christmas, since they'd been too busy trying to keep their heads on their shoulders and they year after that, Dazai was so busy he forgot the season at all, if not for some last minute plans with Chuuya the day after. Perhaps this would be a good thing for him, too. That decided, he made his own preparations for the party, mainly what to bring and a present for his partner. Dazai's been bidding for a certain rare first addition poetry book for months now that he's certain the chibi would adore. He just needs to find the right wrapping paper, preferably something with dogs on it, and he's set.

The Chuuya of today frowned. "I never ... got any poetry book ... " He didn't evenseeDazai that year. He'd known what had happened, but he hadn't know he was meant to get agifton top of it ...

The time for the party approached and Dazai was a little bit exasperated at Odasaku's and Ango's refusals to come; the redhead at least had the excuse of having to spendsometime with the orphans he took in and he agreed to meet up at Lupin later, after they go to sleep. Ango was just a buzzkill who insisted he had too much work to finish up to be in time for the party but also reluctantly agreed to go out for a few drinks later, closer to midnight. So, really, he has time for both. He'll check how everyone is coping with the losses and the supposedly traumatic events, he'll check if there's no one trying to stir problems, he'll make fun of Chuuya a bit and give him his gift with some insulting comment that will have him hesitating to open it until he's away from prying eyes, exchange a few words with Ane-san and Hirotsu-san if they're there, check up on his charges and leave to attend a real celebration.

Except, the day and time of the party comes and Dazai walks through the doors of the saloon used for formal parties like this for Mori Corp's business deals and such and everything sort of comes to a stop as everyone turns to look at him in dread. Well, not everyone, but a lot of people have noticed him and the atmosphere changed in seconds. Dazai figured it's just the usual fear he instills in people, his moniker as the Demon Prodigy now as much a name as a title or rank, but for the first time in a very long time, he'w wrong.

"D-Dazai-san, Executive, s-sir," a secretary of some sort from the logistics division, something he hasn't really had to deal with for months as it was in Kouyou's capable hands, musters the courage to come up to him just as he's about to take out a bottle of champagne he was hiding in his pocket so the bottle wouldn't get messed up by the snowstorm outside. He pauses, turning his attention to her, and sheEepsin fright, muttering in Korean under her breath how she didn't want to die so young and unmarried. "W-what are you d-doing h-here, s-sir?"

"It's the Christmas party everyone was talking about, right?" He asks flatly, wondering what had her so jittery. He was unarmed, for once, as a show of good will and since, well, Chuuya would be here and Soukoku has long since developed this uncanny habit of coming to each other's rescue should the other need it. So, really, weapons aren't needed when he has his dog here.

"Not a dog," present day Chuuya muttered halfheartedly and, really,no oneliked how subdued the Executive was especially given his anger earlier.

"S-sir, p-please?" The secretary flinched at every word that left her mouth. "C-can we p-p-please h-ave j-just this one n-night off? P-please? We p-promise we'll be b-back in for w-work to-tomorrow, but p-please-" And she continued babbling and a few more of her coworkers from various departments and squads approached, pleading alongside her, not daring to meet his eye and shaking from head to toe.

Dazai wondered if realization hit everyone like a cold tsunami as it did him in that exact moment.'Oh ... I see ... I was never invited ... I was never wanted here ... That's why no one ever talked to me about this party ... Not even-'His eyes quickly looked in between the sniveling mafioso to find the bright auburn hair of his partner, hidden by his hat. Chuuya was there, laughing with someone who was from his new squad, uncaring that his partner was standing in the doorway with a gift he'd spent a truly obscene amount of money and time on. Chuuya hadn't told him about the party at all ... Because Chuuya also hadn't wanted him there.'I see. So that's how it is.'

He smiled through the growing numbness, hollowness inside of him, reassuring the blabbering fools that he wasn't there to bust their party. He was tempted to, just to be petty, just to make them all hate and fear him more, to ruin their holidays becausewhy shouldn't he... But he saw the Akutagawa siblings there, looking awkward as hell but apparently having fun as other Port Mafia youngsters fawned over them and Dazai couldn't bring himself to ruin it for them. They, at least, he knew weren't in on this ... He was the one who sent them to the party, after all, in hopes of them findingsomethingabout this place worth sticking around for besides a suicidal teenager that may be gone any day. He also noted that only a couple of his own direct subordinates were here. He could see Hiroto, even, who had spotted him and there was something like a pleasantly surprised expression on his face that turned to confusion when Dazai put away the champagne he'd brought and turned around to leave.

"Thosef*ckers!" Yosano and, surprisingly, Kunikida thundered, both shaking with rage as they watched the younger version of their coworker leave to gaze out at the raging snowstorm that had unexpectedly hit Yokohama that winter.

"He was just a kid ... " A mournful Kyouka whispered.

Kenji looked on the verge of tears. "Why would they treat Dazai-san like that?"

The Akutagawa siblings looked like they had been slapped in the face at the reality of why their - at the time - guardian had stood them up. And suddenly they understood why there were so few people they actually knew at the party. "T-they never invited any of Dazai-san's subordinates," Gin whispered, horrified, before that horror turned to rage, twisting her pretty face into that of a ferocious dragoness ready to tear all those responsible apart.

Mori rubbed his forehead, enraged and suffering from a headache at the mere memory of how he'd learned about his subordinates' actions that night. "I always knew Dazai-kun's 'loyalty' to the Port Mafia was as fickle as the sun playing over the rushing water of the river. When I heard he'd approved of the party, I had hoped he could seeallof Port Mafia as his subordinates and work together with andforthem. I had hoped Soukoku would stand as a united front that night, to represent all of the Mafia's achievements that year, as we all would have literally been dead several times over if not for them. Instead, when I finally joined the party to give a congratulatory speech, my own right hand man was nowhere to be seen and I received word that he'dleftthe moment he came. You can bet those responsible for Dazai-kun's lack of attendance to the party paiddearlyfor it."

"It's been a long time since I'd enjoyed torturing someone that much," admitted Kouyou with a vicious glint in her eyes and a savage grin on her lips.

"Nakahara-san-"

"I didn't know, kid," Chuuya cut Atsushi off. "Everyone I asked told me Dazai turned them all down. Multiple times, supposedly. They insisted I shouldn't annoy him with another invitation lest he pull back the finances for the party."

" ... Are any of them still alive?" Akutagawa hissed, teeth grit, jaw clenched so hard it must have hurt.

"Most of the ones who organized that particular party, yes," Hirotsu answered without reservation.

"Jinko-"

"Yeah, I'm giving you the green card for this one."

Akutagawa's grin was as feral as befitting of the supposed Mad Dog he was often referred to as.

"But what did he do, that night?" Naomi asked, worried, as Dazai stared out at the snow some more, clearly debating whether he should go out without waiting for his driver to come around and take him to Lupin or not. "There's no way he wouldn't get sick or hurt inthatweather!"

Thankfully, they didn't have to wait for long to see what Dazai would do, because he seemed to make up his mind and wandered off further into the building. He took an elevator as far down as it would go, entering the first floor of the Port Mafia's basem*nt. He figured that if his plans for the night were ruined, he might as well be useful. There were a few prisoners he knows Kouyou's team was having trouble with getting to talk and, well, no questions have been left unanswered afterheasked them.

"Well, well, well," a voice said behind him and he turned around, arching an eyebrow at who he saw standing there. "This is certainly a surprise. What brings you down here, Dazai-kun? And so dressed up, too?"

"A pleasure to see you doing so well, Verlaine-san," he greeted back, taking in the man. He hadn't changed much. He still stood confidently, power radiating off of him even though Dazai knew he was basically Ability-less now. The only thing different about him was that he lacked the hat, considering Dazai had given it to Chuuya. "It is Christmas and I have a celebration to go to. And in case you didn't realize, I work down here pretty often, too."

"Yes, I heard about it. Both the silly party upstairs and your skills as an interrogator," Verlaine turned around and started walking in the different direction from which Dazai had been heading, gesturing for the brunet to follow him. "Come, let's catch up. I haven't seen you since you gave me residence here and I'm terribly bored. Chuuya's not one much for conversation, Ozaki likes to think she can threaten me, your silly Boss thinks I stay down here because I am forced to and the prisoners are such poor company, I'm in desperate need of intelligent conversation."

"Oi! That dirty scumbag! How dare he talk about me like that after everything he's done!" Chuuya shouted, pouting at the fact his partner had spent Christmas with hisbrotherinstead ofhim.

"Wow, even Verlaine-san knew about the party, yet I didn't," Dazai breathed as he followed the older male, soon reaching Verlaine's little quarters with a door leading to a decently big gym and further from it a gun range. He sat down when Verlaine gestured at the table in his room and quickly put on a pot of tea for them.

"Chuuya invited me, though I got the feeling he didn't really want me there. Not that I would have gone; I have no interest in such things and never have," Verlaine commented, sitting across from Dazai. "Why haveyounot known about the party? And if you didn't, why are you dressed up so nicely? This is the first time I saw you in anything but black and white. That brown suit really suits you. It matches your hair and eyes. Well, eyes under certain lighting, anyways."

"Oh, I knew about it, it's just that I wasn't supposed to. I wasn't invited."

"Hm, how boorish," the Frenchman commented. "So you came down here, to, what? Torture people on Christmas? You sound like the Grinch."

Dazai grimaced at that. "I have another arrangement tonight, but I can't leave now since I actually gave my men time off. Only those who don't celebrate Christmas in any form are still working and even then, they can do it from home. My drivers are working in shifts since I only need to go to three places tonight, maybe not even three, so the second one won't be here for another two or three hours and there's a storm outside. I don't want to freeze; it's not a painless death. I know from experience. So I came down here. I thought I might as well do something useful."

"But torture?"

The brunet shrugged. "I'm already going to hell."

"Well, that's the most depressing sh*t if I ever heard it," Tachihara said with a groan.

Verlaine studied him, saw the way he was twitching, almost imperceptibly, and proposed something that sounded insane to anyone who knew how much Dazai hated extorting more energy than he absolutely has to. "Then how about a spar? You and me? I know you could work on your fighting skills, I'm bored and you're bored and we both have a lot of time on our hands tonight? What do you think?"

"Are you trying to kill me?" Dazai asked, not actually serious, because Verlaine had hadfartoo many chances to do that in the few instances Dazai had come down here just to check if he was still alive. This proposition, however, brought along a train of thought Dazai had been contemplating for months now.

'Kashimura has an Ability that controls vibrations. If applied correctly, such an Ability can be used almost as versatily as gravity manipulation, though I doubt he could ever be as strong as either that hatrack or Verlaine-san. And while he can't use vibrations directly on me, he can use it in our surroundings, which could potentially help him keep track of me. If I wish to fight and win against someone like that bastard, I need to be invisible to the stirring of air itself. That's something I'd have to train for. And who better to train me than the deadliest assassin in the world?'

"Verlaine-san," he began as the man returned with the tea. "Have you ever had to employ strictly stealth for your missions?"

Kyouka's eyes turned into saucers. "Dazai-san was trained by Verlaine-shishou? I think we need to compare notes!"

"No way Dazai-kun trained with Verlaine! I would have known!" Mori insisted.

"Doesn't this make him Verlaine-shishou's first apprentice?" Gin wondered, as awed by the discovery as Kyouka was.

"Should have known it was the sh*tty mackerel that got him into training new assassins in the first place," chuckled Chuuya, not even surprised at this point.

"Well, that's all presumingifVerlaine said yes," Hirotsu diplomatically commented.

Kouyou let out a snort. "Oh, please. The lad was one of the very few people Verlaine can tolerate. And it'sDazai. When has heevergone without getting what he wanted?"

Verlaine regarded Dazai skeptically, an eyebrow arched. "But of course. Stealth is the most basic skill any assassin is supposed to have in their arsenal and I can assure you, the places I could get in would be impossible without stealth. Of course, while I had my Ability to help with it, I also could manage without it just fine, to the same level of efficiency. Why do you ask?"

Dazai did not answer his question. "And, say, could you channel your Ability into the ground to sense if people were approaching you?"

Now the assassin seemed very intrigued. He forgot about the tea and the offer of sparring, intrigued by the brunet's questioning and where it may lead. "I could. I've done itmanytimes before, in fact, or I used it for setting certain traps. Are you trying to figure out what Chuuya could do if he trained in a certain way?"

"No, no, we got that covered with physics books," he waved him off. "I'm guessing I couldn't outright nullify something like that ... Perhaps only in the places I'm touching with my feet?" He mused to himself, but spoke out loud so Verlaine could hear, too, because hedidwant his input. "But that would also be a dead giveaway, right? The places where there's anemptinessinside the range of your Ability ... "

"I suppose so," hummed the blond. "Dazai-kun, if you don't mind me asking, why does such a topic intrigue you? Stealth and whether an Ability like mine could detect you if used in a certain way? Are you trying to prank Chuuya again?"

"Actually, this is serious business, Verlaine-san," he corrected. "You see, I know that sometime in the more or less near future, we'll have to face a man with an Ability that manipulates the vibrations of his surroundings. It's been reported that he can use it for shielding, moving things, attacking and killing, but I believe he would use it to detect approaching enemies, too, since the very air vibrates with every movement made. I think I can overwhelm the input from that sort of sensing through the air, but a body moving through the air and over the ground would still be a different kind of vibrations. Thus, ultimate stealth to decrease the chance of detection when the methods of detection are being overwhelmed. If I can move carefully enough to not stand out against the offending vibrations, I can get in close and do the job."

"This sounds like a rather interesting, powerful and dangerous individual, Dazai-kun," Verlaine said after a moment of pondering. "And I can see where you're coming from. Even I wouldn't be able to just sneak up on such a person if the air itself can be used to detect approach. But I don't doubt that you'd find a way around even that; youareDazai-kun."

"You flatter me," he said with a coyish giggle, batting his eyelashes at the older man, who only rolled his eyes.

"I do think I have a training method that could teach you the type of stealth you wish to achieve," he continued and Dazai dropped the teasing. "Anything to help keep my little brother safe."

Dazai wasn't even surprised Verlaine had figured it out. He still asked. "Why would you think this has anything to do with Chuuya?"

"Doesn't everything, for you?" Verlaine arched an eyebrow at him and Dazai smirked.

"Touche. So, will you teach me?"

The Frenchman shrugged. "Sure. I'm bored anyways and it's not like I have anything better to do. And you ought to be interesting to train. The way you hold yourself is so contradictory to how lanky you are, it'sfascinating... Also, you should definitely eat more, I think I can still count your ribs."

"Yeah, well, a few weeks ago, you would've been able to count the spines of my vertebrae after almost two weeks of captivity with two maniacs with the relatively same level of intelligence as me butverypoor obsessions and then the workload Mori-san decided to dump on me."

"That's right, you're an Executive now," he hummed as he stood up and gestured for Dazai to follow him. "Take your shoes off, for now. Also, congratulations on your promotion."

"I'd be more thankful if it wasn't still the same boring stuff I usually do." He took his shoes off as he passed into the training grounds. They looked kind of unused, which made Dazai frown. He'd drawn up this floor plan with the intention of this being the main gym area so everyone can train, yet it seems only the gun range saw someactualuse. He knows his subordinates were still giving hell to everyone else to keep them in shape and sure, they'd had a war recently, but this place hadn't been impacted and it's beenmonths... Why wasn't anyone training here? Were they scared of Verlaine? Sure, there was now a second training area, one Dazai had to add becauseChuuyahad still been too pissy about even thinking of Verlaine despite reaching some sort of empathy and understanding with his self-proclaimed older brother ... Was everyone just invading what was basicallyChuuya'sgym and training ground?

"Well, damn, Dazai sure knows how to give gifts," the younger of the two doctors present whistled. "Remind me to try and get him obsessed withmenext. I think he would find a way to get me my own hospital!"

"I think he'd get you more of a lawn mower or something like it, rather than a hospital," Kouyou said with a sweatdrop. "The lad hates hospitals and it seems like Ougai-dono had only added onto that."

The vision shifted and they all booed at not getting Dazai's training montage, instead only seeing a very impressed Verlaine inviting Dazai to train with him more often after they were done and Dazai already had to head out if he wants to meet his friends at Lupin. "Are you sure you don't want to become an assassin, Dazai-kun? You sure do move like you were born for it and with your analytical mind ... Well, I doubt it would take too long before I ought to hand over my crown."

"I am the cause of enough death already as it is, Verlaine-san," the brunet let out a chuckle. "I don't think anyone would appreciate me joining the assassin ranks. Though, speaking of ... You're a pretty good teacher, Verlaine-san. Have you ever thought of taking on apprentices?"

The foreigner shook his head. "No, I never wanted to, since I was always perfectly content with it just being me and Arthur, even when we were with our fellow Transcendants; they always seemed like too much. But now ... I don't know. I don't wish to leave this place, I don't want to talk with anyone but the one person I can never talk with again."

"Yet you're talking with me," Dazai pointed out but Verlaine just chortled.

"That's different, Dazai-kun, and you know it. For some reason, you have the ability to understand both Chuuya and me even when there's no way to confirm our humanity. It's a talent I am selfish enough to exploit, for even I can't bear eternal loneliness. I'd go insane if I was stuck only with the thoughts in my head for the rest of however long I may live. Anyone other than you or my brother ... I'm not sure how I'd act."

Dazai muled it over even as he shrugged. "Give it some thought. It doesn't have to be an all-time thing. But if you'd be willing, I think I have the perfect candidate to be your pupil, if you'd take them. I think it would do you some good to be around people, even if it is not to make friends."

"Someone with a recommendation from Dazai-kun himself? My, my, now I am intrigued! I'll consider it ... Now off you go, Dazai-kun. Those fanatically loyal subordinates of yours will catch their death waiting for you rather than seek shelter or hurry you. Shoo, shoo!"

"I became one of Verlaine-shishou's first disciples in January," Gin said with a small smile.

"I'm honestly bummed out we didn't get to watch the training," Junichiro admitted. "Stealth is kind of something I need to excel at and I would have loved it to learn how to be even more unnoticeable."

"You hardly need more training in stealth," Tachihara said with a deadpan stare.

"You just need to learn to reign in your killing intent, boy," Kouyou said with a smirk.

"Maybe we can ask Dazai-san together after this," Kyouka suggested and the Agency's ginger nodded enthusiastically.

The vision next showed Dazai arriving to Bar Lupin, where Ango and Oda were already waiting for him. Dazai burst in with a loud cheer and greeting, only to freeze when his two friends greeted him with brightly wrapped gifts and the standard holiday greeting but with fondness so clear in their voices even the deaf couldn't mistaken it. Behind Ango, sipping on some milk from a glass, Natsume in cat formmrowed his own greeting with slanted eyes, tail swishing this way and that contentedly, a dried sardine hiding under his body that he later presented Dazai with.

It was one of the warmest Christmases Dazai's had in far too long. (No, thefirsttruly warm Christmas ofDazai Osamu'slife.)

The vision turned into a whirlwind of color again, stopping several months later. Chuuya's birthday had already passed and Soukoku had had the misfortune to spend it on a mission. But Dazai had made sure that they could finish on time so he could drag Chuuya to some sort of wine convention happening in Kyoto - the farthest Dazai's been from Yokohama since he joined the Mafia; the freedom from Mori wasamazing- so they can celebrate. They spent half the night, drunk, in an arcade after it closed down and had to escape from the cops when someone finally reported all the noise coming from inside.

Other than that, Dazai had indeed managed to hand off Gin's training to Verlaine and firmly planted her in the Black Lizard, under Hirotsu's direct command while he personally kept training Akutagawa. The boy was making a lot of progress and Dazai was rather happy with how his missions were going, though he kept getting hurt way too much because he focused purely on attacks. Theydiddiscover, however, how versatile Rashoumon could be now that he had more cloth to manipulate. They were still working on the armor, though it was taking a lot, but the wait and effort would be worth it, since it would greatly enhance Akutagawa's strength and movements, not to mention actuallyprotectthe little idiot so Dazai doesn't have to spend hours at his bedside when he learns his idiot protege decided that stabbing some random enemy grunt was worth it getting stabbed himself. Dazai also thinks they've discovered something else hidden within Rashoumon ... Something that could potentially be far more valuable than even the armor.

Either way, Akutagawa was progressing, they were finding all sorts of good moves he can do with his Ability, even using it as creepy spider legs to travel faster or above dangerous areas, so that was good.

Dazai was still as busy as ever, now even more so as he had to split his time between Soukoku missions and just hanging out and annoying Chuuya, nights at Lupin with Odasaku and/or Ango, whatever random task/session/favor he'd have with/from Sensei every now and then, training Akutagawa, checking up on Gin and his own training sessions with Verlaine, which were coming along pretty well, too, if he may say so himself. All of that piled on top of his usual duties left Dazai with barely eight hours of sleep a week, which would have been even less if he hadn't had the forethought to train his subordinates to actualcompetencyso he can delegate at leastsomething.

Still, with being pulled in so many directions, evenDazaiwas bound to forgetsomething.

Or someone.

It was literally the day before his birthday whenithappened.

Dazai had been down in the basem*nt with Verlaine, training. The blond had taken a great interest in physically preparing Dazai for his future skirmish with the vibration manipulator in any way possible. Dazai would never be able to match Verlaine or Chuuya in speed and strength, but he wasn't going up against a clearly enhanced individual, so the levels of strength, speed and skill hecouldreach were more than acceptable. From stealth, to upper body and core strength, to flexibility, to speed and stamina, Verlaine had him go through hell forallof them. "I'm impressed you could hold out this long; most would have usually long since collapsed," was something the Assassin King would often say, then he'd berate Dazai about his diet because he wasn't building up muscle mass properly even if he was getting stronger. "You need to eat more."

"You're starting to sound like Chuuya, nagging me like that."

"That's the highest compliment you could have ever given me."

Verlaine had also taken an interest in how skilled Dazai was with various weapons. Dazai was no martial artist, don't get him wrong, but most blades sat naturally in his hands and he'd probably be able to save his neck using a bo-staff. He was also apparently predisposed for archery, the bow and arrows fitting within the frames of his arms and chest like a masterpiece.

"I didnotknow he could do that!" Chuuya protested, drinking in the sight of his partner in a tight black turtleneck shirt with long sleeves as he fired arrow after arrow, his unerring accuracy the same between guns and archery, it seems. He gulped a bit at the way the tight shirt hid nothing of how his back muscles moved.

"Dazai-san looks pretty with his hair tied up like that," Kenji chirped cheerfully.

Yosano and Higuchi fanned themselves, because no one could deny that Dazai looked unfairlyhotin that moment.

There was almost nothing Verlaine could teach Dazai regarding firearms. Dazai knew to assemble and disassemble any gun he got his hands on and could shoot better than most pros. He and Verlaine even occasionally competed against each other, only to see that they all got perfect scores, so they would challenge each other to spell things out in each other's mother language. It was safe to say that, in those instances, they were having fun.

What Dazai focused on most was throwing daggers, knife fights and, what surprised Verlaine greatly, kenjutsu.

f*ckuzawa, Kouyou, Yosano and Chuuya in particular perked up at this information, even though it was cleareveryonewas very much intrigued and beyond interested.

Verlaine had been in for a shock when Dazai had, one day, marched in with a beautiful katana, asked him if he knew how to use it and then demanded lessons.

Verlaine didn't know this; in fact, rare few people did, but Tane's favorite weapon had been the katana. Dazai himself had only learned about his parents' preferred fighting styles upon reading the files Kiye had been so kind to collect for him. Among those files, there had been a number for a secure locker in the archive vaults of the Port Mafia beneath the building furthest from the sea. An old archive keeper worked down there, with a special Ability that let him seal boxes unless the right blood was presented for the box to be unsealed. Of course, Dazai could just nullify the Ability with a single touch, but he had wantedproofhe wasn't just a string of words brought to life from a 'magical' Book. The old man had smiled at him, had greeted him asTsushima-dono, before changing toDazai-donowhen he corrected him and had let him open the locker without marking down that it had happened.

Inside the locker, amongst some more files, were a few of his parent's personal objects. His mother's katana among them. His parent's marriage certificate, wedding rings and a strange brosch with an uncut, polished torquise. (He later learned it wasn't exactly a brosch, but rather a pendant for a bolo tie.)

"Oh," was the only reaction the viewers could have.

Well, besides f*ckuzawa and Kouyou. Those two were all but drooling about the beautiful katana that had belonged to Tane. The sheathe was black as the night with spider lilies in gold engraved on it. When you draw the blade out, there, near the guard, in elegant, clear kanji was engravedI Do Not Fear Death.

"Wait, Dazai-san knows how to use asword!?" Atsushi screeched, kind of frightened by the mere thought, if he was being honest.

"Rather well, too," f*ckuzawa whispered, as the vision they were seeing right now was a mock battle between Verlaine and Dazai, with wooden swords as Dazai was still not fully used to the weight of a real katana. His movements were fluid and sure and he matched Verlaine's footwork like it was a choreographed dance with ease. Verlaine called out directions or encouragement as the mock fight eventually turned into precise kata for them to cool down. "I'll have to ask Dazai for a spar. I do believe it would be interesting."

"You're coming along wonderfully, Dazai-kun," Verlaine was saying as they wiped the sweat off of their brows after they finally stopped and sat down to cool off and rest. "It's almost like you were born for it. You definitely look as at home with it in hand as you do with guns."

Guns were Gen'emon's preferred weapon and Dazai would have to admit he preferred them, too. However, he definitely loved the feel of a katana in his hands, or any knife. He felt better with a weapon somewhere on his person, either way.

He didn't get much of a rest before one of his subordinates burst into the room, looking panicked enough that not even Verlaine felt the urge to snap at him for entering his home so callously. Dazai arched an eyebrow as he took a sip of water, only to spit it out at what he heard.

"Dazai-sama! Q has gone berserk!"

Chapter 21

Chapter Text

17yo

"Oh, it's time forthatnow, huh," muttered Chuuya darkly with a glare set on his face.

"That?" Higuchi echoed and Kenji tilted his head at the venomous tone of Chuuya's voice.

"You remember Dazai-san's reaction when we were sent to fetch him once Q was released, during the Guild incident?" Gin reminded and the blonde woman nodded, still confused. Then it hit her.

"Oh, are we going to see why he had such a severe reaction when he laughed in our faces about the Boss' message not a minute earlier?"

Mori sweatdropped. "He laughed?"

"Not the point, Ougai-dono."

Gin just nodded in reply to her brother's subordinate. "Yes, we're about to see theincidentthat had Q locked up in the first place and why they resent Dazai-san for it so much. It was not a pretty day, so brace yourselves."

Atsushi, who had been a victim of Q's power, flinched and everyone else recalled the mess their Ability had created in Yokohama when the Guild used them, their faces turning into grimaces. Chuuya clenched his fists, hating himself for hating akidfor both those instances and the losses the Mafia or the city suffered because of them.

They watched as the almost seventeen Dazai in the vision ran out of the basem*nt with his subordinate and Verlaine in tow, a surprise for the Port Mafia, since they hadn't realized he'd left the basem*nt that day. There as chaoseverywhereas soon as they entered the lobby and that was far from the center of it. There were already several bodies lying around in pools of their own blood. To the Agency's horror, some were even dismembered or decapitated or otherwise tarnished, during the murder or after death. Screams of anguish, horror or orders and please of mercy echoed the walls of the black building. It was a massacre. A completely uncontrolled, uncontrollable massacre that wouldn't stop even if the source of the Ability was dead.

Only No Longer Human would work, if Dazai could get his hands on Yumeno's doll.

"Where are they?" He demanded of one of his subordinates who'd just managed to choke an affected member into unconsciousness. The woman looked up, sweaty and tired, clearly having done this more than once already.

"Dazai-sama, I think the last report of Q's whereabouts was on the fifteenth floor, but they've been moving upwards this entire time. It's possible that they have managed to gain access to an elevator and are going up higher, to the Executive floors. The top two floors have already been put on lock-down but the rest of the building is still open."

"Damn it, Mori-san," he cursed under his breath. "And Chuuya? Where's Chuuya?" He wasn't going to bother with the grunts under Q's power. No, the real danger was up in those upper floors where Q might be and Chuuya was both naive enough and soft enough on children that he wouldn't assume Q meant him any real harm besides a prank. After all, Yumeno Kyuusaku had only ever been 'shy' around him because Dazai had always been within grabbing distance of them both, just in case Chuuya accidentally hurt Q and Q then lost control. Q had never had any ill will towards Chuuya before, but Dazai thinks he knows what had caused this chaos.

Q was throwing a temper tantrum in the only way they knew how: chaos and destruction, things Mori had taught them because he expected them to be the Mafia's weapon.

The reason why? Because Dazai had been too busy to pay them a visit inweeks. Q was a child, but they weren't a normal child; they were isolated and used to the few people that interacted with them, Dazai an almost permanent presence for any and all of those interactions. Suddenly he was gone and fewer people were around them because they allknewwhat Q could do and what that could mean for them if Dazai wasn't around to stop it. People fear death when faced with it.

Q could turn out to be death incarnate very easily and very nightmarishly.

"Go," Verlaine said, pushing him towards the elevators. "I'll hold them off," he gestured towards the horde of zombified subordinates that had locked in on new victims. Dazai almost felt bad for the injuries they'll sustain when they come back to their senses once Verlaine is done with them, but he had better things to worry about. He got into an elevator, overrode the safety measures locking it from working by entering his personal code and pushed the buttons for floors sixteen, seventeen, eighteen and nineteen. He doubted Q could have climbed farther than that if they were set on causing as much chaos as possible. They'd need a biometric scan to grant them access to an elevator during a crisis from floor ten and upwards, so he doubted they'd managed.

The building shook in its very foundations before he'd managed to dial Odasaku's number to tell him to stay away from HQ. The elevator continued going upwards but that was hardly Dazai's biggest worry now, because herecognizedthis. He'd recognize it blind and deaf and with all of his other senses neutralized.

'Damn it, chibi! Why can't you stay away from children! I just got these buildings up and running at optimal levels, I don't need you to knock hem down altogether with Corruption!'

"Oh," Tachihara and Higuchi breathed. "That makes sense," the blonde says quietly.

Chuuya just grunted.

Dazai's phone rang and he answered immediately. "I'm already on it, Mori-san, I don't have time for you to-"

"Fifth floor," was all the Boss said and Dazai had never slammed against a button that hard as he did against the stop button, halting the lift with a screech. He had stopped on floor seven and immediately pushed the button to open the door. He rushed out of the cabin and sprinted down the stairs as the cackles reached his ears The building was now hit with quakes every now and then. He could hear glass shattering and concrete breaking and bending under the weight of gravity.

Then a graviton bomb exploded and Dazai jumped down whole staircases before bursting through the doors of the fifth floor. The entire level was a mess, all doors, windows and division walls destroyed, the debris encased in red as Chuuya, in the eye of the storm, threw them about. He had to get down on the floor when someone's desk flew towards the elevator and staircase, hissing as splintered wood embedded into his calves and thighs. That was gonna hurt while it healed, no doubt.

A giggle from beside him had him whipping his head, finding Q crouched in the corner with their doll cackling in their hold, an unholy glee in their eyes as they watched the chaos they unleashed. "Isn't this just great, Dazai-san? That bothersome shorty soon won't take up any of your time anymore, right~? It'd be great if those others also died now, too, but I'll be just as content if you died instead."

Dazai had the smaller brunet by the throat and slammed against the wall in a second, his own expression thunderous, rage blazing in his usually emotionless eye. "Why are you doing this?" He demanded, voice cold and harsh and Q flinched. When they stayed quiet, Dazai slammed them against the wall again, harder, making them cry out and let go of their doll. "I'll deal withyoulater," he assured, crouching down and picking up the doll. Almost immediately, it lost whatever little mad sentience Dogra Magra gives it and went limp in his grip as No Longer Human did its job. He may not be able to see it from here, but heknowsthe rest of the chaos stopped both inside and outside the building.

Chuuya, though, still kept cackling and throwing things around, runes over his skin burning brighter than before before he started levitating, encased in the red glow of For The Tainted Sorrow and flew out the destroyed windows.

"sh*t!" Dazai dropped the doll and sprinted after his partner, launching himself after the ginger without a second thought. He had to get to him before he flew too far away from Dazai to reach him! Thankfully, he'd been fast enough and Arahabaki hadn't decided to move away yet from the building, because soon Dazai was tackling the shorter teenager right out of the air. Unfortunately, this sent them fairly plummeting down to the earth from the fifth floor. Not the biggest drop, but Chuuya was unconscious and injured from Corruption already and there was only so much Dazai could do to break their fall like this.

"DAZAI!" He heard Kouyou call and immediately, he let go of Chuuya, letting him fall into the waiting arms of Gold Demon. Now free, he calculated the best way to land, tuck and roll, only to freeze in utter confusion as he saw Verlaine moving around, arms outstretched as though with the intent to catch him.

"Take three steps to the left!" The familiar voice of Oda yelled and Verlaine listened. He was now directly underneath the youngest Executive, so Dazai took a deep breath, uncurled his body except his neck and went limp. He closed his eyes until he felt himself slam into awaiting arms, Verlaine barely buckling under his weight and the impact force he carried.

"Nice catch!" Kenji cheered, high-fiving an indulgently grinning Tachihara. And no one could deny that it was an indeed very nice catch from Verlaine. Those who didn't know him personally were quite surprised by how strong he was even after he lost his Ability. Only Ranpo, who had seen Chuuya take down a thousand people inside of Poe's book with his raw strength alone, wasn't surprised from the Agency side.

"Dazai, are you alright?!" His friend called as he sprinted over to him as the Assassin King slowly set him down, making sure he wasn't injured, frowning at the splinters in his legs.

"Yes, I'm fine. Thanks to Verlaine-san and you, Odasaku." Verlaine waved him off while Oda took him into a headlock and gave him a hard nuggie that messed up his hair, scolding him for being so reckless.

"T-that was over quickly," Higuchi commented, confused, as they watched Dazai march over to where Kouyou was already checking over seventeen year old Chuuya. "W-with all the warnings and, no offense,dramasurrounding Q, I kind of expected ... more?"

"Over one hundred men were killed by the affected, seven of the affected were killed while trying to fight or hold them off, fifteen of the affected committed suicide and another six after they regained their senses and saw what they've done and one of those who killed the affected also did so a few days later because they killed their friend," Akutagawa reported with a dead stare sent Higuchi's way. "Nearly a hundred people were killed in ten minutes, a massacre and tragedy started by one of our own. Had Dazai-san arrived to Chuuya-san's location even a minute later, either the entire building would have collapsed, or the number of casualties would have jumped by another one hundredat the very least. Is that themoreyou expected?"

"O-oh. I-I'm sorry."

"I still can't f*cking believe you unleashed Q during the incident with the Guild," Chuuya hissed at his Boss, outright glaring at the black haired man. "We were real f*cking lucky the weretiger kid got to the doll in time and brought it to Dazai before it all went to f*cking sh*t."

"Q's attack was supposed to be isolated on the outskirts of the city."

"Well, you miscalculated," Ranpo looked down his nose as he informed Mori. "Not the first nor the only time, though, right?" He asked with a vicious grin, which ticked Mori off but he didn't say anything.

Thankfully, teen Chuuya woke up almost immediately despite just using Corruption. Perhaps he woke up exactly because he had used Corruption involuntarily again. He looked wrecked by guilt more than he was injured. Verlaine wisely did not approach, despite wanting to, and instead slinkered off back to his basem*nt.

"What were youthinking?" Kouyou of the past hissed, aggressively tending to the few wounds she could without proper medical supplies. "You know Q is dangerous!"

"I agree with Ane-san 100% percent. That was a really idiotic move, chibi," Dazai said by way of greeting his partner, frowning at the smallest of the redheads currently present, since Oda had followed him and was still fussing over Dazai much like Kouyou was over Chuuya after their tumble.

"I was thinking that I could trap them by gravity so they can't infect anyone else until you came," Chuuya replied, sounding more subdued than Dazai's ever heard him outside the moment he thought Adam had died and in the moment he'd left him outside the Old World, almost a year ago. "I knew you were coming," his partner said with absolute trust, reaching over to bump his fist against Dazai's chest. "Q tricked me, though; they made me touch some sort of scalpel or whatever they had stuck into their arms so that you hurt them no matter what you did." Kouyou immediately took off Chuuya's gloves to check for cuts, though the leather had thankfully protected his palms and fingers. "Pretty stupid move on my part, huh."

"Very stupid," Dazai agreed as he took Chuuya into his arms from Gold Demon, earning himself a wary glare from Kouyou which he ignored. "See ya, Odasaku. I need to go tend to my dog right now."

"Not a dog," Chuuya insisted.

The other two redheads followed after them as Dazai marched off in the direction of his own office, where he'd have better bandages and disinfectant than even Mori did in the infirmary. Unfortunately, speak of the devil and he shall appear, therefore Mori was waiting for them in the elevator with Hirotsu in tow. Chuuya was growing sleepy again, now relaxed with No Longer Human subduing the whispers of Arahabaki and preventing any possible errant lashes of power he couldn't control in this state. He was practically asleep by the time Mori asked the question everyone was wondering.

"What should we do with Yumeno-kun now? They've proven to be quite the safety hazard. They don't seem to be able to distinguish between friend or foe, either ... They're essentially just a risk."

Dazai frowned but did not meet Mori's gaze, instead waving to Odasaku, who didn't dare presume that he could go with Executives, the Boss and the Black Lizard Commander. "It's not that they can't. They didn'twantto. There's a difference."

"I see."

"Q has a powerful if vile Ability," he continued, unsure why he was fighting for the kid's case when they'd basically declared Dazai an enemy today. Perhaps he simply couldn't get over the memories of them trailing after him like a lost duckling, hiding behind his coat and being the closest to a sibling Dazai's ever had, wanted or not. Though that's usually how siblings are, right? But that aside, Dazai thinks that the reason he wasn't also lobbying for Q's immediate execution is because he sees a little bit of himself in the child. Q's just been dealt a far worse hand in life than Dazai has, if that was even possible. "They're still young, they can still be trained, they can learn that their actions have consequences and that they have to pay for those consequences. Teaching them shouldn't be impossible." He finally looks at Mori, his visible eye showing no emotion, neutral as his voice. "Lock them up and re-educate them.Properly, this time. They are not a weapon, they are an asset, just like any other Port Mafia subordinate. If you treat them like a bomb, then they'll just blow up to spite you. Humans are good at that; spite. So don't let it come to that, Boss."

"Even with that warning, you still let Q out?" Chuuya asked incredulously and the Agency, the Akutagawas, Tachihara and Higuchi all agreed.

"Ougai, I thought you were supposed to be the smarter between us."

"Shut up, Yukichi. Q would have been a wonderful strategic move."

"If we had Dazai, sure," Kouyou agreed. She had not been very pleased to learn Q had been released, either, but she had not been there to influence the decision one way or another, stuck being a 'hostage' for the Agency until Dazai had another use for her in exchange for ensuring Kyouka's future and happiness. "Dazai knew how to control them beyond their Ability. Instead, they were let loose, they were captured and they were used against us all. Also, didn't Dazaithreatenyou once when you attempted to release Q unto an enemy base without even notifying him beforehand?"

"He did," Mori easily admitted.

"Dazai-san even put his men to be the only ones allowed to go down there and guard Q's room," Hirotsu revealed with a sigh. "No one without explicit permission from Dazai-san could approach them; they were to be shot if they do not need the single warning they would graciously receive."

"Not even I was to go there," the Boss himself said sourly and Ranpo perked up.

"It all makes sense now!" He cried, startling everyone from the sudden influx of noise. "That'swhy you suddenly didn't think the risk of Dazai's presence was worth the benefits he brings! You realized that he was amassing too much power, too big of a following, too much support, for all that he was feared and not liked all that much. He had the most competent people under his command, the most powerful Ability users on his side; hell, Akutagawa and Mr Fancy Hat would probablykillyou if they ever got a whiff of what you did to chase him out!That'swhy you had to find a way to make Dazai leave on his own! Preferably in a manner where hewouldn'twant revenge, because you knew not even theentiremight of the Port Mafia could stand against theoneperson who brought it to that point. Dazai was the Achilles's Heel and he still is. You also had to make sure he left in a manner that wouldn't involve suicide; you want him back, after all. To lead the organization after you, to bring you more power and riches while you are still on the throne. But youmiscalculated. Again!" Ranpo laughed, delighted, gleeful. "You'll never get Dazai back again and you stand to lose so much more once all your transgressions are out!" He rubbed a tear from his eye. "Dazai should be here to watch that moment happen; you're definitely losing at leastoneExecutive after this, Mori Ougai. And that's theminimum."

"Boss?" A nearly devastated but definitely outraged Akutagawa asked and Mori sighed.

"He threatened me, with the very same thing Ranpo-kun has just stated; he had the power, the fear, the respect, the resources, the information. He hadSoukoku. No one could touch him; no one dared. And those who did ended up dead. Orworse." He sighed again, looking into the colorful void that was the whirlwind of a changing vision. "The biggest misfortune of Dazai's enemies is that they areDazai'senemies ... That saying is very true, indeed."

Akutagawa snarled and looked ready to go for Mori's throat but f*ckuzawa, of all people, come up to him and placed a hand on his shoulder to stop him. He shook his head when the young man threw him a questioning, venomous look and Akutagawa snarled again but deflated, leaning against Atsushi in some sort of an attempt to calm himself through feline-therapy.

Chuuya just glared at Mori. He did not like the implications behind tricking Dazai into leaving without seeking revenge. Dazai clearly had enough of an ability to hold a grudge if he was so set on finding Kashimura Kansuke and making him pay for everything he's done. Chuuya did not like this at all.

He especially didn't like the fact that his partner wastrickedinto leaving in the first place. That especially changed his view on the events of four years ago.

The vision settled again. They were now inside a warehouse of some sort warehouse. It was night outside and there was no moon in sight through the high windows. Just outside the warehouse were some of Dazai's men, acting as guards. Inside, Dazai was rubbing at his temples. It had been a long day. Hell, it had been a long few weeks, since the Qincident- he hates that he's had so muchincidentsby now, it was getting annoying and repetitive - but yesterday and today had been especially tiring. First, Mori had tried to unleash Q on an enemy base just yesterday and Dazai had been seconds away from killing the man in his own office. Then, Chuuya had gotten injured after using Corruption around midnight when they had to let it run longer than anticipated due to an Ability user that controlled magnetic fields and it severely messed with Chuuya's black holes so Arahabaki-Chuuya had had to resort to something else; the battle had lasted half the time it had taken Chuuya to defeat Guivre, but that was still the longest time they'd used Corruption on a mission to date and the chibi hadn't woken up until a couple of hours ago. Dazai had spent the entire day at his bedside, making sure he doesn't accidentally go berserk while doing his work, so half of his muscles were all cramped up now and he had a tension headache as he headed out to meet Akutagawa for their usual scheduled training sessions.

On top of that, Odasaku had called him about advice for dealing with chicken pox because suddenly all of his orphans got them from Sakura and Ango was ...somewhere, on a mission in some other country and he'd needed Dazai to check out something for him that was of a time sensitive nature.

Lastly, seconds before he met up with Akutagawa, Hirotsu had called him to inform him Gin had gotten injured during their latest mission. It was nothing big, she just needed a couple of days to rest in order to recuperate, but both he and Akutagawa knew about it so they were both going in tense to the session, which is never a good idea, for anything.

On top of all of that ... Well. Akutagawa had entered a rebellious phase Dazai could neither afford, nor does he want to. He doesn't tolerate purposeful insubordination on missions even from Chuuya - it had happened only once and Chuuya had deeply regretted it, as his deviation from the preset plan Dazai had set up had cost them the lives of a dozen of their men, all Chuuya's, no less, while Dazai's had managed to get out of it with minor injuries, far too used to following Dazai's orders to ever let themselves disobey them - and Akutagawa's been testing him for weeks now. It had started a little before the Q incident but it seems that their rampage had emboldened Akutagawa to have some sort of tantrum of his own.

Worse still is that Dazai knew part of that 'tantrum' wasn't even a tantrum. He just wanted to make sure Dazai's attention stayed on him so he doesn't end up forgotten like Q was. His attitude has been pissing Dazai off, which is a miracle in itself for happening, to the point that he hasn't returned to his own apartment that he still shares with the siblings for longer than to possibly get a change of clothes or take some document he might have left there. Gin didn't seem to mind; she was finding herself beautifully as Verlaine's best student so far, and while he doubts she likes killing by itself, she's proud of her craft and her developing skills. Akutagawa, on the other hand, started bringing his attitude totraining. He started questioning Dazai and while he'd encourage that on a theoretical level, he does not appreciate it on a practical one regarding missions and training his powerful, sometimes volatile Ability.

Dazai needs all those involved in his missions to trust his judgement implicitly, to not have a single room of doubt in their minds, to justdoas he says.

He especially needs his ownstudenttodo as he's told. Mori is monitoring them both; if Akutagawa becomes a liability, if he becomes a waste of Dazai's time as far as the Boss was concerned, Mori will no doubt have him eliminated.

Which iswhyDazai needs to get it through Ryuunoskue'sstupidlythick head that his Ability was good formorethan just mauling his enemies. (Thankfully, he'd stopped killing his allies; Dazai would havepersonallyput a few bullets in him just to teach him a lesson if he hadn't.) Akutagawa was skeptical and Dazai could understandthat, really, he could, but Ryuunosuke should know by now that Dazai's never wrong. Hell, he'd had Chuuya sit him down and ramble to him about his own training sessions with Dazai regarding their little 'study' of how all Chuuya could use gravity, so heknowsDazai's theories regarding others' Abilities and their potential is 95,4% accurate. Yet he still doubts.

Worse yet, he isn't eventrying. He's just wasting Dazai's precious few hours of the night that he divided between sleep, Akutagawa and possibly going to Lupin by refusing to cooperate. Dazai's been throwing used bullet shells at him for the past hour, figuring he shouldn't start off with anything heavier or more dangerous than that, in an effort to get Rashoumon to devour the space between its user and an incoming attack. It's a hard exercise, he gets it, it will take some time to get there, or anywhere near the preferred results.

But unlike howeagerAkutagawa had been to please him to get even a single hint of a word of praise from him, the younger teen was ... defying him? Why? What had changed so suddenly?

"This is a waste of time," Dazai declared after another ten minutes of zero effort and even less results. "You're dismissed for tonight. Get your head together for the next session or don't bother showing up. Whether you realize or not, I don't actually have time to waste on things that will bear no fruit."

"We're not done yet," fifteen year old Akutagawa growled as best as he could, glaring intensely at his mentor. The viewers were surprised; they'd never seen Akutagawadareto eventhinkof showing such a face to Dazai. The Akutagawa of today certainly seemed ashamed of his younger self's actions and attitude.

"I think you're forgetting who calls the shots here."

Dazai turned his back on his student and young Akutagawa grit his teeth. In his time in the Mafia, he had learned a few more emotions alongside hatred. Rage and desperation were just a few of them. "RASHOUMON!" He yelled, sending his Ability after his mentor, as though that would do anything.

Yet, despite knowing he was perfectly safe from the approaching attack, something in Dazai ... snapped? No, he wouldn't gothatfar. He's snapped only twice in his life: when his childhood home had been ransacked and when he learned his grandfather had had his aunt killed. In his seventeen years of life, only those two times did he get so angry that hesnapped. This was nothing like those two times, but somethingdidhappen.

Blame it on the stress of his job - he did not find it stressful in the least, but rather more and more boring and repetitive by the day unless he was out on missions with Chuuya - or the lack of sleep or even worry for a friend in a foreign land, an injured partner and younger protege, a friend's sick kids, or call it irritation from how Q would refuse to listen to anything he tells them only to wail and screech like a banshee when he gets fed up and leaves. Yes, that's it, he wasfed upwith Akutagawa's attitude.

It wasn't an excuse. Dazai didn'tdoexcuses.

But when he whirled around, nullified Rashoumon and punched Akutagawa in the face hard enough to send him careening into the wooden crates several feet behind him, he felt like he needed one. Because, for a moment, he saw the Colonel's meaty arm and hand in place of his own and a crumbled, bandaged kid in front of himself instead of Akutagawa and he wondered if what he was feeling was nausea.

This was the first time Dazai punched someone outside of a mission or a torture session. He didn't even discipline his subordinates while he'd trained them into a perfectly oiled machine that obeyed his every command in such a manner.

He didn't like it.

"Think twice before you attack someone stronger than you," was all he could tell Akutagawa as his mentee dragged himself out of the shambles of the crates, coughing, winded, and with a trickle of blood running from his mouth, thankfully from the split lip rather than a worsening of his lung condition. There was a certain something burning in Akutagawa's usually flat gray eyes, a ripple as he seemed to want to glare at Dazai but didn't dare to?'Oh.'He recognized what it is.'I see.'

"f*ck you," Yosano said around a heavy gulp, not really in the mood for joking as Dazai's eyes closed off, dull, dark, distant,cold. Professional. The Demon Prodigy's eyes, rather than the eyes of the boy who had taken in two teenagers younger than himself and gave them - or at least one of them - a reason to live, twisted though it may be.

'So you've come to hate me, is that it? Very well. I can work with that.'

Twenty year old Akutagawa made so many protesting noises that he started up a rather bad coughing fit which Gin and then Yosano rushed to help him through.

'If you will see me as only an obstacle in your way, I will have to make sure you never pass me. I'll have to make sure you never get that full acknowledgement you so desire, at least not until you find something else to strive towards. For now, let's see if I can give you the strength to reach that point. The summit you aim for is a rough, long climb. Get ready; I promised you hell, I'll introduce you to it.'

"f*ck," Chuuya breathed, looking between Akutagawa and the vision, which fast-forwarded to dozens of other training sessions, which had now mostly turned into spars and, well, unlike Akutagawa, Dazaihadbeen honing his own body into a weapon, and under the tutelage of the Assassin King himself. "So this is when he moved out of his place and basically made himself at home in either my apartment or the office? And when you started turning up in the infirmary even when you didn't go out on missions?"

"Are you implying you're okay with this?" Kunikida demanded, showing a particular vision, one which Akutagawa would often reply in his memory when tiredness or injuries made him slow down or get sloppy during a fight. He'd definitely coughed up blood during that training session, but he remembers feeling like Dazai was finally taking him seriously and he'd been eager to get back to his feet, to prove himself to the man who was his sole reason for living. "This isn't teaching! This isn't training! This is abuse!"

Kyouka and Atsushi watched, stunned, not sure what to make of any of what they were seeing, even if it was sped up. Gin just focused on her brother, well aware of the methods their former guardian had had to employ and how unhealthily gleeful Ryuunosuke had been that Dazai was 'finally seeing him'. Whether anyone liked it or not, Dazai Osamu and Akutagawa Ryuunosuke had always started down this path of darkness and despair hand in hand.

"Stop trying to interfere," Akutagawa said between coughs as he finally managed to start calming down. He took in deep breaths and leaned against his younger sister, glaring through teary eyes at the former math teacher. "This is between Dazai-san and me. We're both aware it was wrong and Dazai-san has been trying to make amends. I don't need his apologies, though; I don't want them. I wasgratefulfor each session, each lesson, even though I was a bad student. Dazai-san perhaps isn't the best mentor in your eyes, but he was what that feral child I used to beneeded. I didn't understand kindness; I only knew strength and ruthlessness. I didn't like that Dazai-san was treating me with kiddy gloves after I saw the type of training he does with Chuuya-san or the drills Gin had to go through for her own training. It was my own fault we crossed that line; Dazai-san's fault may only lie in his criticisms and harsh training methods."

"T-that's still not right, Akutagawa," Atsushi tried but Kyouka put a hand on his wrist and shook her head at him when he looked at her. In a way, she understood what her own former mentor was talking about. When she'd approached Akutagawa, such treatment that he gave her was exactly what she needed. It was unhealthy, it was horrible, it definitely left scars on them both, but she'dneededit. She'd felt guilty about his parents' death, having used to think that she was the one responsible for it and she'd often felt like she either needed a purpose or a permission to live.

Akutagawa often told her the latter was impossible to request of anyone, but he'd been willing to give her purpose. He was probably emulating Dazai, only it seems that he got the wrong message and passed it down that way.

Dazai had wanted more than one reason for himself to live, outside of the Book and even outside of Chuuya.

In turn, he'd given Akutagawa his own first reason to live but had had plans to make sure he develops more on his own; only it seems that he'd had to leave before he accomplished that.

Akutagawa, having so desperately needed a reason to live, to feel, had latched onto the only one in the world who had understood that feeling. Dazai became his reason to live and it seems he either developed a codependency problem or something too close to an obsession.

In turn, he hadn't known how to properly offer Kyouka a reason to live outside of creating a weapon out of her the way he used to think Dazai wanted him to be. He made her strong, he sent her to Verlaine for training and he commanded and controlled her Ability.

It was a cycle, of abuse, of misunderstood messages, of misunderstood care, of similar yet too different goals and needs and wants.

The only way anyone could even to begin to understand it is after seeing what had lead up to it. Dazai's life was so strange, so complex, so unfortunate, his world so empty despite being full of such amazing, unique things and people yet also full of so much pain, loss and suffering. It was no wonder such a complex, strange cycle came from such a person. Though it seems that it had been started by multiple people before him, through him ... The old Boss and partially the Colonel, his own family besides his parents and aunt, the life on the streets, the attempt at the orphanage and, of course, Mori.

Life had not been kind or gentle to Dazai.

That he knew how to try at all was miracle enough.

"Shut up, jinko," Akutagawa said to his rival and partner. "The Dazai-san you know is a different Dazai-san to the one I met but he's still Dazai-san. All you see in these visions stills lurks beneath the surface; Dazai-san just wields it like a weapon according to need rather than having it as a constant shield. I'll forever be grateful to Dazai-san for all that he has done; my only grudge against him is for leaving me before my lessons were over."

The visions blurred together, forming that by now very familiar whirlwind of color, before it stopped, too, in a rather familiar place.

"Isn't that Kanagi, Aomori?" Naomi asked, looking around at their surroundings where the vision had landed them. Kouyou, Hirotsu and Mori already looked like they knew, vaguely, what this was about and only Chuuya seemed toactuallyknow what memory was being shown. He relaxed and everyone else soon followed, reading the cues that this won't be an angst fest unlike some of the other memories of seventeen or, god forbid,sixteen.

"You mean the place Dazai-san was born in and lived?" Atsushi asked and the part-time clerk nodded enthusiastically.

"It sure seems like it. And it seems like it's winter already," Kunikida hummed.

"So we skipped over all those adventures Mr Fancy Hat was telling us about?" Kenji asked with a pout and Chuuya chuckled, ruffling his hair.

"When we get back, I'll have sh*tty Dazai sit down with us and we'll tell you all about it, how about it, huh?" Kenji predictably beamed and that was a rather wholesome start.

"I've never seen so much snow before," marveled Higuchi, being a city girl. Yokohama rarely got snow like this, after all, and even if it did, most of it was almost immediately cleared up for road safety.

"This place looks magical with snow," Kyouka said with wonder. And indeed, Kanagi in winter looked like a scene out of a fairy tale. Parts of the city looked rather modern, of course, but the pure white snow made even those parts like something out of a winter dream, while the older or more traditional-looking houses looked like something right out of a fantasy.

Seventeen year old Chuuya had certainly never seen anything like it, that was for sure. He was dressed up for the weather, though clearly not enough, seeing as even the locals had put on an extra few layers despite being used to such winters. Chuuya was just lucky that he ran hot because of Arahabaki, otherwise he'd be freezing his balls off.

"What were you even doing that far up north, anyways?" Tachihara asked and Chuuya shrugged.

"We got a certain mission to fulfill. I never did manage to get the full details out of Dazai, since I was, as you can see, very much distracted by the scenery, but there was a small group that had managed to get their hands on some important documents and it was up to us to get them back and eliminate the group. A rather easy mission, especially for Soukoku, but sh*tty Dazai had apparently insisted we take the mission."

"I think I may know why, now," the Boss of the Port Mafia said with an amused sigh.

Dazai had ditched Chuuya just about ten minutes ago and disappeared effortlessly despite still being decked out in all black clothes, like usual, only warmer and thicker. Chuuya was worried the idiot would freeze to death so of course he was searching for his partner, but he wasn't yielding much results other than attracting attention to himself, since he couldn't see a single person with a similar hair color as him so of course everyone was staring. Dazai also, of course, wasn't answering his phone, because of course not. Chuuya sighed and continued his search, going down seemingly random streets until a certain tingle, like a sixth sense he developed specifically for his partner, pricked at his consciousness and he turned his head towards an empty lot with remains of what appeared to be a pretty big house.

" ... Oh," present day Chuuya breathed in understanding, things clicking into place.

"Can I help you, young man?" Some random old lady asked and Chuuya just assured her that he was looking for his friend who seems to have gone this way. "Well, you certainly won't find him here, I assure you," she replied, patting his arms as she moved on, going her own way. "The house that used to be here has long since burned down and no one's ever come to rebuild or anything. Maybe check the temple? Good luck finding your friend!" Chuuya just waved at her before venturing onto the property.

He found Dazai sitting under a husk of a tree, long since dead, even before winter hit. It looked like it had caught on fire, once, probably when the house had burned down, the ginger concluded. Dazai was sitting in the snow, like a dumbass, leaning on the tree, head thrown back, eye closed, breathing deeply and slowly. He didn't react to Chuuya's approach, probably recognizing it was him.

"If you just sit around like that you'll catch a cold and I'll just laugh at your misery," Chuuya said by way of greeting, pissed to have been ditched and for having spent so long searching for Dazai. He wanted to get back home as quickly as possible. It was an easy mission, they should be able to finish it quickly. Dazai seemed in no such hurry, as usual. "Come on, get up, ya lazy bastard! We have a mission to finish!"

"Relax, will you," Dazai groaned, opening his eyes and staring up at the cloudy sky and the snowflakes that had started falling. "I've already located the group's whereabouts. We could probably finish everything in an hour, so just chill. Relax. Enjoy the season."

"What's there to enjoy about a bunch of cold, wet, white powder?" The former street thug huffed and Dazai finally deigned to look at him, arching an eyebrow at his partner.

"Have you ... really never played in snow before, chibi?"

"Don't call me that, oi! And when would I have had the time for that? Besides, Yokohama never hadthismuch snow, let alone Suribachi City. And it was never a very play-friendly place."

"That must suck," Atsushi said honestly. "Even at the orphanage, all kids, including me, were allowed to go out and play in the snow ... "

"When you're in charge of a bunch of stupid teenagers, preteens and kiddies, you really don't have all that much time to play around, you know," Executive Chuua replied with a shrug. "That time at the arcade with Dazai? One of the rare few times I actually got to go out and act like a kid. Even when I went out with the other Sheep simply to hang out instead of doing 'gang activities'," he said with a roll of his eyes. "I had to be alert and on the watch out, so I could never relax, because I was in charge of their safety and sh*t. With sh*tty Dazai, I finally found someone to watch my own back while I watch his, so I got to act as a kid, even if it's for a short while."

"That's adorable," Junichiro whispered to his sister but the eldest ginger heard him and glared at him, making himEep!to which Chuuya just rolled his eyes and Naomi snickered.

Dazai regarded his partner for a short moment before hopping onto his feet, dusting the snow off of his clothes and mentally thanking Chuuya for motherhenning him into wearing a pair of leather gloves, because he'd need them for what he's about to do. "Well, let's change that, shall we~?" He was aware of Chuuya eyeing him with both curiosity and suspicion as he bent over and grabbed adequate amounts of snow into his hands. Aomori definitely had the best snow this time of the year, so much better than the too wet snow of Yokohama or the too dry snow you'd encounter further south. It took just a little bit of properly applied pressure and a few twists of the wrists to make the perfect shape of a perfect snowball. With a grin at Chuuya's bewildered expression, Dazai launched the snowball right in his face and promptly lost his sh*t with laughter when the redhead didn't even try to dodge.

Chuuya was too stunned to speak as the cold snow dripped off his face, gawking at Dazai who was in danger of toppling over from the force of his laughter.

"Y-you should see the look on your f-face, slug!" He took his phone out and snapped a photo before having to dodge Chuuya's lunge at him.

"What the hell was that for, bastard!"

"Why, chibi, that was me initiating a snowball fight! People do it all the time~"

That had the shorter stopping mid-kick and he settled down again, frowning at the brunet. "Snowball fight?"

Dazai nodded and enthusiastically explained to the bewildered 'big city boy' - well, as far as he remembered, anyways - how snowball fights worked while also scooping up more snow and showing him how to make the perfect snowballs. Gen'emon had been the one who had taught little Shuuji how to do it, when he was around six years old.

Dazai remembered that memory as though it happened just yesterday, now that he was back at the 'scene of the crime'.

It had been the middle of the night when Dazai, in some of his earliest fits of insomnia, woke up after only a couple of hours of sleep to some noise coming from outside. Curious, because usually everything was quiet this time of the night except a few barks here or there from Chibi or the other neighborhood dogs, he'd gotten out of bed and looked out of his window, but he didn't see anything, so he went out of his room and searched for a window with a better view. He found it from a hallway window not too far from his room on the second floor, which he promptly opened to see and hear better.

More than a few sobs echoed in the space as they saw the memory of Gen'emon playing around in the snow with Tane. Well, it sounded wholesome, except they were waltzing around each other with deadly sharp knives that glinted in the moonlight reflected off of the snow, moving in perfect unison, as though they knew exactly where the other will step at which moment, when they will swing, when they will retreat, when they will spin and when they will sweep. Higuchi and Naomi outright wailed when they both discarded knives and instead started literally wrestling in the snow while their laughter echoed deep into the dead of the night, no witnesses to their silliness besides their insomniac son. They sprang back up to their feet a few minutes later and started a fierce snowball fight that led to another wrestling match until they were just sitting together, limbs intertwined in the snow and laughing with such overwhelming love in their eyes that they had only for each other that not even f*ckuzawa, Kouyou or Yosano could help a sniffle here and there.

They had never thought they'd see Dazai's parents again after their death except in pictures and the mementos of their existence that Dazai had managed to collect or in his very features, so they were glad to have gotten the chance to see them like this, so carefree and so clearly in love that they could understand perfectly why Gen'emon had left behind the only stability he knew for this woman and why Tane had chosen a street ruffian and thief instead of someone of much higher birth status.

Then almost everyone sobbed - except Mori - when another familiar face appeared beside Shuuji, throwing a blanket around his shoulders to make sure he didn't get cold. "Shuuji-kun, you'll catch a cold like this. Shouldn't you be asleep?"

"I couldn't sleep," he replied, nodding his thanks to his caretaker slash servant. "What are they doing?"

"Hmm?" Matsuki looked out the window and chuckled. "Ah, it seems that even someone like Tane-sama and Gen'emon-sama liked to play around every now and then." He looked down at the shivering child cuddling up into the blanket he'd brought. "Playing in the snow can be quite fun. Would you like to join them?"

The little brunet shook his head. "I don't want to intrude on their moment ... "

"What nonsense am I hearing from my precious Shuuji-chan?" An insulted Tane called up to her son. It appears that they've noticed their spectator's presence now that there was a conversation going on. "You'd never intrude on anything! You're my most precious, most important, most beloved existence in this whole entire world! Kaa-chan loves you very much, Shuuji-kun, and I'd never pass up a chance to play with you!"

Gen'emon smiled up at his son and approached the window, arms outstretched. "Tou-chan also adores Shuuji-chan more than anything and I'd be the happiest if I could have you in my arms all day every day. Shuuji-chan and Tane are my whole world. Nothing besides you two matters."

"Oh my god that's so freaking cute what the f*ck," Naomi babbled, having a mental breakdown from the family cuteness overdose. Higuchi gladly joined her in losing their minds over it.

"I really wish I could have met them," Atsushi says through suppressed tears. Ranpo was shamelessly bawling his eyes out and rubbing his tears away on f*ckuzawa's long, loose sleeves.

"I'm glad I didn't," Mori mutters to himself only to be swatted over the head by Kouyou, who's consoling Yosano, who may not be as close to tears as she appeared and was just enjoying getting to cling onto her new love interest.

Chuuya just stared sadly at the family Dazai lost partially because of him, even though he was coming to accept that there was no way he could have prevented it from happening. He'd had no control when Arahabaki had been released, just like he had no control during Corruption even now, but he still wished the Tsushima couple could have lived, even if that meant Chuuya had stayed an experiment forever. Somehow, he has a feeling that Dazai would have found him, anyways, and they'd still be Soukoku and that's a comfort to him. Yet he was also selfishly glad that he'd had Dazai there for the toughest moments in his life. He's not sure he could have survived sixteen if he hadn't had his partner at his side and not only for No Longer Human. Dazai had simply been his anchor when the storm destroying his life threatened to blow him away, too.

He just wished it hadn't all come at the price of his parents' lives. He thinks he would have loved them. Hell, hedoeslove them. For giving birth to Dazai and for being such kind people, despite their dark pasts. Had they given Dazai strength to change today? He wishes he could have met them. He thinks they would have approved of the way he tries his best to care for their son, even if he's not always the most successful.

Shuuji had considered his father's arms before startling Matsuki and his parents by how swiftly he climbed the window sill and jumped before his caretaker could stop him. Gen'emon floundered for a second as he watched his son falling and Tane had an outright panic breakdown, something you'd never expect from someone like her, before Gen'emon managed to safely catch their child in his arms, fluffy blanket and all.

Hirotsu placed a hand over his heart and breathed a sigh of relief and exasperation as Tane literally teleported to her husband's side so they could fawn over their perfectly uninjured son. "I thought I was going to have a heart attack."

Kunikida looked like he'd just lost ten years off of his life. "Yeah, no f*cking kidding."

"Kunikida-san, that's a bad word."

Kunikida just sweatdropped at the youngest Agency blond.

"That was a good catch," f*ckuzawa commented idly as Shuuji blushed under all the fussing and kisses and hugs his parents gave him.

"It's unfair that he looks so cute," Chuuya bemoaned, feeling like he'll melt as those chubby cheeks turned red and brown eyes shyly looked up at his adoring parents as they calmed down.

"Will you play in the snow with me, too?"

"God f*cking damn it, Dazai!" Nearly everyone keeled over from adorableness overdose, clutching their hearts.

Tane and Gen'emon definitely looked like they were at death's door from it and the sheer happiness and love they felt for their child. "Maybe tomorrow, Shuuji-chan. You should be sleeping inside, in your warm bed. It's so cold and dark out. And besides, you're not dressed for it," Tane managed to power through even as Gen'emon gave her puppy dog eyes in hopes she'd agree.

"But you guys looked like you were having fun ... "

"Then how about this?" Gen'emon grabbed Tane and pulled her into a loose dance stance, Shuuji between them, protected from the wind even if snowflakes fell on all three of their heads, dampening their hair a bit. Gen'emon started swaying his wife and she got along with he program. They each had an arm around Shuuji while their other hands were clasped like they'd do a waltz. All three of them looked so content like that, that it felt like knowing their fates in the not so distant future felt like a sin and all the more painful to remember. Shuuji eventually leaned his head on his father's shoulder and Tane wrapped her scarf over his little face to further keep him warm. The little brunet was falling asleep and his parents wore besotted smiles.

Then they were all nearly toppled over when Chibi barreled into them unexpectedly, leaning against the adults in hopes of reaching the child so he can lick him all over.

"Urgh! Down, Chibi, down! Don't-" Shuuji tried to push the dog away but the German Shepard was just too strong for him and he whined as he got slobbered on. His father burst out laughing as he handed the boy to his mother before turning to Chibi and distracting him with some treats and then running around with him in the snow. Tane whooped and cheered them on as Chibi's excited barks and the man's laughter echoed in the night and Shuuji just pouted.

Matsuki eventually joined them with warmed blankets and hot cups of hot chocolate, standing beside them like servants never usually should in proper etiquette, but the Tsushima manor had never been a stickler for those types of rules and so they watched as Chibi had the time of his life and Shuuji drifted off in his mother's arms, surrounded by all those who loved him more than he could ever know.

It was the fondest winter memory Dazai had and he doubts anything in this world could top it.

Still, he had immense fun showing Chuuya how to play in the snow, even though he himself had never overly enjoyed the activity as a kid unless he was doing it with his parents. The kids in Kanagi weren't all that fun, not those older than him, not those his age and certainly not those younger than him, but Chuuya had always been an exception, hadn't he. Building snow forts and having a mini snow war, racing around in the snow, building snowmen that looked an awful lot like their elders in the Port Mafia, making one that looked like the old Boss and kicking its ass and finally collapsing into the snow, side by side, both of them out of breath in a way no mission has ever managed, gentle flakes falling from the sky. Dazai tried to catch some on his tongue only to have Chuuy whack him over the chest halfheartedly for doing something so unhygienic and then being a hypocrite by deciding to imitate him.

Dazai loved these moments when he could make Chuuya forget all those manners Kouyou has so painstakingly instilled in him, to see that feral boy from Suribachi emerge yet again, to hear him rolling his Rs and cursing up a storm when Dazai would do something to annoy him just right. He may complain about his noise levels being annoying but part of Chuuya's very nature is to be loud so he liked him loud the best.

He turned to study the ginger, only to find the older boy already looking at him with a content smile on his face. "Thanks for showing me how to do this, sh*tty Dazai. It was fun. I never knew frozen water can be so fun."

Dazai regarded him for a moment before looking away. He could make some comment to ruin the atmosphere ... But he didn't want to. He liked it, like this, even if he didn't like the emotional vulnerability inherent in it. Then again, he'd already led Chuuya home. This was something he knew he'd never show anyone else, not even Odasaku if he were ever to bring him as far as Aomori, let alone Kanagi. "I told Mori-san the mission will last about ten days, tops."

"Huh?"

"You've never spent Christmas and New Years just relaxing, right? We'll finish up our mission later, it won't take us long, and then, after that, we can go see the Christmas festival Kanagi has. There will be lots of traditional local food, probably some holiday related plays, the city square will be decked out in lights and decorations, there will probably be some games or maybe even some rides, certainly an ice skating rink. We can check it all out. And then it's only a week before New Years Eve and I heard the fireworks are amazing to watch from here."

"Dazai, wha-"

"We can go to the shrine first day in the next year. It's about time you got introduced to some proper culture, after all," he said with a smirk, turning his head to look up at the sky as Chuuya leaned up on an elbow to get a better look at him. "There will be lots of souvenirs, too, so you can buy something for Ane-san. Kanagi also has a big book sale every January 3rd, so we can browse that and then leave the morning after." He locked eyes with a stunned Chuuya. "What? Don't you want to have some fun?"

"You just want to slack off," came the weak reply because Chuuya's eyes were already sparkling with anticipation.

Dazai grinned. "That, too, of course~"

The shorter laughed. "Of course. Well, what are we waiting for, mackerel? Let's go finish this sh*t and have some f*cking fun!"

Mori sent a flat stare towards the fondly smiling Chuuya who watched his younger self drag Dazai out of the snow and off to finish their mission.

"That's just too sweet," Tachihara said with a huge grin. In fact, everyone had such peaceful, wonderful smiles on their faces as they watched Dazai and Chuuya speed-run their mission so Dazai could drag Chuuya around his hometown to show him how they celebrated this time of the year.

Hour later, they could see the two teens dragging each other all over the main square of Kanagi, where there was a huge tree decorated for Christams, numerous stalls with games, foods, clothes and souvenirs and even more people than you'd see on a usual day on Yokohama's streets. It was all so alien to Chuuya, especially with the snow turning the lighting of the place into something magical. Dazai had him try hot sake and wine both, things people usually drank to keep warm during such festivals, though he also forced him later on to just drink tea lest he get drunk and then Dazai had to drag his ass everywhere.

It also seems that, besides a huge ice rink, it was cold enough for an ice sculpture competition and some of the artists really went all out! Though neither boy was very impressed by the rendition of Godzilla they found; after seeing Guivre, the Godzilla-wannabe, the monster lost any and all appeal to them. Dazai had a blast when they went ice skating, as Chuuya acted like Bambi on ice, falling over the second he let go of the railing. Even through his laughing at his partner, Dazai had taken his hands and lead him around the rink as he explained to Chuuya how to keep his balance and how to slide, turn, change speed or stop. Chuuya was so red in the face that Dazai couldn't help but find it cute, even though he didn't understand why the other was so bothered about not knowing to do something he's never done before.

"It wasn't about the skating at all, right?" Teased Ranpo and present day Chuuya echoed his younger self's blush.

"Listen, he looked stupidly pretty in that lighting, okay? And he was holding my hands for over an hour! And he'sprettywhen he smiles! That was the first time I saw his eye looking anything but dead and it was just a bit too much, okay?"

"Oh, so you were just having a delayed gay panic," Yosano said reasonably with a nod.

"Seriously," agreed Kouyou. "Half of these visions is that boy looking at you like you hung the stars and the moon and the sun in the sky and you being f*cking oblivious to it, Chuuya."

The man gawked at his older sister figure, who had never, not once in his presence before these visions, cursed like that.

They spent hours at the food and game stands and they attracted quite the attention for the latter, because quite frankly, they were too good at them. Chuuya insisted on distributing the plush toy prizes to the awed kids who had stood there and watched them and Dazai let it happen for his stash, too, because he had no plans of keeping the toys, anyways. Instead, when dinner came around, despite them already being far too full from all those snacks and street food, he took Chuuya to his favorite restaurant as a kid, kind of marveling it had remained standing after all these years. It wasn'ttoofancy and thankfully the weather outside could explain away most of the snow on their clothes. It was warm and cozy inside and he watched as Chuuya melted in the homey yet high class restaurant, fireplace and intimate Christmas setting and all.

Little Shuuji had loved this place when he was a kid because his parents relaxed when they went, instead of being all posh and proper when they went to other expensive restaurants. They also used to have a pretty delicious yet healthy kids menue, not that he'd cared back then or now.

Thankfully, aging and time and the bandages prevented anyone from Kanagi from recognizing Tsushima Shuuji in Dazai Osamu and so they could have fun without him having to look over his shoulder every few minutes to avoid someone wanting to ask him questions about the plot of land left behind in his name or any other assets around Aomori. He wasn't interested in selling anything, just like he kept Tsushima Corp alive despite being overworked to the bone as a Mafia Executive. Those things were his parents' and to an extent his aunt's legacy and he wasn't going to sell it for a cheap dime.

"I just realized ... Dazai-san must be rolling in money, right?" Junichiro suddenly commented as Dazai told Chuuya to order whatever, it would be on him this time, something Chuuya doubted but agreed to and later completely forgot as he got kind of hammered from the wine.

"I mean, yeah, obviously," Chuuya scoffed. "He never got rid of all the blood money he earned and it seems that he has income from something other than your Angecy's sh*tty pay and playing the stock market-"

"He's on the stock market?!" An incredulous Kunikida asked and Chuuya scoffed again.

"Of course he is. He plays all those other companies and even whole countries like a fiddle. I think he recently bought a publishing house? A really big one that had, unfortunately, suddenly gone bankrupt-"

"You're joking," interrupted Atsushi and Tanizaki. "Thatone!?"

"Yup."

"Then why does he never pay his freaking tab!?" Atsushi and Kunikida, this time, screamed at the top of their lungs.

"That's the Eight Great Mystery of the World, huh."

"He paid it," Ranpo suddenly informed. "He pays it every other week, when the waitress he harasses about a double suicide isn't on the morning shift when the cafe opens, but he asked the owner not to tell anyone to have the gag continue. Though I think she knows by now, probably to prevent her from having a heart attack at the supposed tab total. It's why she's started making smiley death threats, I think."

Kunikida gave up on life. "Where can I find the actual contents of Dazai's book without it being the Book?"

"Kunikida, please stay strong," f*ckuzawa said solemnly. "The paperwork would never be done and the Agency would be closed down due to taxes."

The blond man looked on the verge of tears. "Thank you for acknowledging my worth, Shachou!"

"How do you know all these places, anyways?" Seventeen year old Chuuya asked as Dazai led them towards where he knew the plays would be held. There were usually three: a traditional Japanese drama, a play dedicated to celebrating the solstice and one dedicated to the Christian holiday, Christmas. He wonders if Chuuya's ever even been to an actual theater and makes a point to take him to the one here in Kanagi; he can'twaitto see Chuuya's reaction to a musical.

In fact, he immediately takes out his phone and checks out the repertoire.'Huh. The Boy And The Dog: A Musical. Chuuya likes dogs, since they're his brethren, of course. This should be interesting.'To his partner, he said: "I thoroughly researched the place before we set off,duh, chibi. I had to make sure that there was nothing that could interfere with the plan and I wanted to see if there would be anything interesting to do, any souvenirs I could buy for Odasaku and Ango and possibly the Akutagawa brats."

"You shouldn't call them brats, they're pretty nice."

Dazai looked over his shoulder at Chuuya even as he broke through the crowd so they can stand in the front row so Chuuya would be able to see, the shorty. "Chuuya. I heard what happened last week. Akutagawa-kun quite literallybityou because you happened to have my coat in hand."

"Nii-san!" Gin scolded immediately, grabbing him by the ear like you would a misbehaving child.

"It's been years ago, I've already apologized! Ow, Gin, let go!"

"Who told you that!?" Younger Chuuya screeched while older Chuuya tried to explain to the other viewers how no, they checked, Akutagawa doesnothave rabis.

Dazai rolled his eyes before he found the best place for the viewing just as the play was about to start. Anyone who tried to protest got a dead-eyed stare and they immediately shut up, shuffling away from the Executive and Executive-to-be. The drama was one Dazai was familiar with, as Kanagi basically shuffled four dramas over the years and he's been lucky enough to see this one before. It gave him a chance to study Chuuya's reactions in order for him to know whether theaters would be a good birthday gift from now on. Chuuya may like fancy material things and he may like wine, but those feel like too shallow of a gift to give someone who places their life in your hands, quite literally, several times a year, at this point.

Chuuya definitely seemed enraptured by the show, the traditional effects, even if they weren't flashy, the clothes, the songs, the story-line. He especially seemed intensely focused when poems were recited and Dazai made note of that in his head. The book sale was definitely a good idea. This whole trip was a good idea.

Dazai had forgotten how beautiful his hometown was, his memories of it tainted with the tragedy that took place in it, but Aomori's beauty almost took his breath away.

Still, it couldn't compare to Chuuya and how radiant he was as he enjoyed the simple things in life he'd been robbed of.

'I wish to spend more Christmases with Chuuya.'

"I wish we had gotten the chance, too," present day Chuuya said with a sad, wistful smile. "He left before we could celebrate another Christmas together. Hell, we didn't even celebrate our eighteenth birthdays together, since I was overseas on a mission ... "

"But you can celebrate together now, right?" Kenji asked hopefully and Chuuya grinned at him, just as hopeful.

"Yes, we can."

"I still don't get it," teen Chuuya was saying as they left for their safe house. The fireworks viewing will be tomorrow but for now, the activities planned for the night were over and most vendors were already closing up as families with kids went back home and couples settled in restaurants, cafes and bars to continue celebrating Christmas Eve. "Like ... Were the donkey and the other animals really necessary? Or how do you follow a star to aspecificplace, like, just one?"

"It's religion, Chuuya; not everything about it makes sense."

"But like-" And Chuuya rambled on and on until he almost literally fell asleep on his feet and all the taller teen could do was sigh before carrying him the rest of the way back in his arms.

The vision kind of did a speed-run of Soukoku's activities the next day, including Christmas souvenir shopping, Chuuya trying shaved ice for the first time, dodging a clown of all things that kept trying to show them a magic trick, eating more snacks andwaytoo much candy to be good for their stomachs before Dazai dragged Chuuya to the musical and exited it almost two hours later laughing at a bawling Chuuya. He then proceeded to spend the rest of his day dissuading Chuuya from adopting any stray dog he saw on the street, even this mangy, feral thing that fairly wanted to much off their fingers as its next meal. Chuuya, showing he had no taste nor common sense, just called the thingcute.

Chuuya insisted on cooking dinner that night since he wanted to drag out an activities they could do across all the days they were staying so they left food stands and restaurants for some other night while Chuuya made them some hot pot for dinner. They watched some standard Christmas movies and criticizedHome Aloneso much that the director's and the actors' ears must be on fire. They eventually fell asleep like that, on the ratty couch, each on the opposite end but sharing this huge blanket Chuuya had insisted on buying.

Dazai woke up in the middle of the night, like he had as a kid, and felt the sudden urge to go outside. Chuuya was still asleep on the couch when the brunet went outside to freeze his ass off. It was snowing, the same gentle flakes he remembered in one of his few clear memories from his childhood. He closed his eyes, tipped his head back, letting the snow and wind play with his hair as it will and started humming the song his father had when they had danced as a family when he was only six. He startled when the huge, fluffy blanket was suddenly wrapped around him and Chuuya came to stand by his side.

"You'll catch a cold dressed like that out here, idiot."

Dazai doubts it. He's rarely ever been sick. In fact, he can count the times on one hand and still have a finger left free. He wonders if that's the result of him being born with the help of the Book or if it's just that he was born in a colder region so he was a bit more used to it than someone from Yokohama. Either way, he wrapped himself up in the blanket nonetheless and they just stood out there in silence, content.

"I never knew such a harsh season can be so magical," Chuuya whispered, breath fanning out in gusts of steam, and Dazai hummed. "In the slums of Suribachi, winter meant almost certain death from hypothermia. Here, winter is ... Winter is joy, almost."

"Don't be fooled, chibi. There are still homeless people or street urchins here. You just can't see them right now."

"Don't ruin the f*cking moment, sh*tty Dazai."

'Moment, huh? Well, then ... '

"Oi! What the hell do you think you're doing!?" Chuuya shouted loud enough to wake the whole street but Dazai ignored him as he effortlessly rearranged them into a classical waltz, the blanket wrapped around them to protect them from the cold. He smiled at his partner, who was stunned speechless at Dazai all over again, and started humming as he swayed and gently, slowly twirled them around in small circles. Chuuya stumbled along with him, having never danced before in his life, but Dazai guided him through it and soon, it was smooth sailing.

'I wonder if this is how Kaa-chan and Tou-chan felt, that night?'

He closed his eyes and leaned his head against Chuuya's, who was now almost boneless against him even as they continued to dance. It was cold out, but it didn't seem to bother either of them. Somewhere, a clock struck the hour and at least two chimes reached them. Chuuya pressed tighter against the brunet.

"Merry Christmas, mackerel."

"Merry Christmas, slug."

"HOWdid you not realize he was in love with you!?" Yosano, Higuchi and Naomi screamed at Chuuya, who had such a love-struck expression on his face as he watched this memory. He had been a bit drunk at the time, so the memory was hazy and fuzzy and not so clear. To see it now felt like a balm to his soul yet it also wrenched his heart out, too.

The end of that year was near. It was just a handful of months before Dazai would be leaving while Chuuya was too far away to even ask him why.

This memory was threatening to turn more bitter than sweet the longer he contemplated it. He just hopes he'll understand soon, once the visions reach that part.

They woke up late the next day, went to participate in the breaking of the ice sculptures because that's apparently a whole thing, too. The sculpture that lasts the longest gets a special prize or something and the person who gives the deciding blow, so to say, gets a free meal. Chuuya won, of course; the Godzilla had been the first statue destroyed, by the way. They exchanged gifts since they'd bought them already - almost identical ugly sweaters. They'd certainly had a laugh over that. Chuuya joined an eating competition and won, only to be sick afterwards from eating so many sausages. Dazai later that night entered a drinking competition and managed to full enough people that he's still absolutely sober after he'd drank the work record holder under the table. Chuuya forced him to puke most of it out afterwards so he doesn't get alcohol poisoning, which was entirely possible even with his resistance after all that booze.

They went early to bed that night and woke up early enough for Dazai to drag Chuuya to the fishing event on the frozen river. Chuuya made one too many comments about mackerels the whole day.

They spend their days like that all the way until New Years Eve, doing stupid teenage sh*t and acting like kids, eating whatever they want, getting drunk, making bets and so on and so forth. They, in turn, just chilled the last day of the year and searched for the best spots to watch fireworks from while also getting some kimonos for the shrine they would visit in the morning. When night time comes, they stock up on local snacks and Chuuya brazenly levitates the couch from their safe house to their chosen spot - "I'm not sitting in the cold snow and actually getting a cold, you sh*tty mackerel, especially not with a beanpole like you who'd probably keel over from a slight fever!" - so they can get cosy. Dazai made sure to bring along some speakers and their handheld games so they can chill while they wait for the fireworks show, which was supposed to be spectacular that year, according to all the advertisem*nt around town for it.

The games ended up being unused, the speakers playing a combination of their favorite genres and songs and they spent the hours eating snacks or watching the town or the stars of the surprisingly clear night sky while downright cuddling in their now favorite blanket.

When the countdown started down in the town square, they could hear it all the way to their spot and they sat up, huddling together and counting down with each other. When they reached zero, the first firework bloomed in the sky and it was just some standard fireworks for the first few seconds. Then there were pinwheels and stars, shapes and even words. There were all sorts of fireworks and there was even something of a show towards the end, a tiger chasing a dragon before it was just random bursts of fireworks the locals have set off themselves.

Chuuya, who had seen fireworks before, of course, was still so enchanted by it and he had a huge grin as he nudged Dazai where their shoulders were pressed together. "Happy New Year, mackerel."

"Happy New Year, slug."

"And you guys dare to say you're mortal enemies, each other's one true nemesis and only rivals," Tachihara tsked while shaking his head. "You do realize that the past week or so that we've seen is just date after date whole day long, right, Chuuya-san?"

"I realize thatnow, f*ck you very much," the embarrassed shorter ginger grumbled.

"To be fair, I don't think that idiot Dazai even realized what he was doing in the first place," Kunikida pointed out and, well, considering how emotionally constipated both halves of Soukoku were, that was also very much true, probably.

"Still, that's such a chill way for Soukoku to spend New Years Eve," Gin mused. "I always thought you guys spent that New Years kicking ass and taking names, but nope, you were just chilling on some random hill in Kanagi."

"You havenospace to talk, Gin!" Her fellow Black Lizard Commander shouted. "I always thought you and Akutagawa - separately or together, mind you, before I learned you were a girl and his sister no less - spent your New Years sharpening knives or refolding all of your freshly ironed clothes respectively! When you were trying to bake cookies together just last year!"

"I'm going to kill you," Akutagawa growled while Gin flushed in embarrassment, especially when Higuchi cooed as she tried to imagine the homely family scene. (And a version with her in it, too, but we don't talk about that.)

"I didn't know you can bake or cook, Akutagawa," Atsushi stated and the black haired man with white tipped side-bangs huffed, crossing his arms.

"Of course I know how to, jinko. I'm not an idiot-"

"He learned because Dazai-san knew how to and he didn't want to disappoint him," Gin ratted him out immediately and Akutagawa started chasing her around in an uncharacteristic display for the both of them.

Hirotsu just sighed and wished, not for the first time, for a cigarette. "Children."

"All of you, shush," Kouyou commanded, cooing at how cute Dazai and Chuuya looked in the kimonos they'd bought as Dazai led them to the shrine the next morning, where nearly everyone else in town was also going. They'd bought surprisingly similar kimonos, almost matching if not for the color contrast.

Dazai had apparently decided to wear color for the first time since he became affiliated with the Mafia by his own will, dressed in a red kimono set with some sort of black petals along the edges of his sleeve and near the bottom of the fabric at his feet. It really made his one visible eye stand out, almost constantly bathing it in that strange red it took on in certain lighting and more than one person couldn't look away, not sure they've seen right and fascinated when proven that they have, indeed, seen right.

Chuuya, on the other hand, had chosen a kimono in two tones of blue, one which perfectly matched the color of his eyes and one so dark it was almost black. He, too, had black petals, but over the breast and back, which had prompted him to do his hair up in a bun using a hair pin Dazai had shamelessly swiped from some snobby rich lady who had purposefully bumped into them along the way and made a rude comment about the quality of their last minute purchase. It went along great with Chuuya's outfit, drawing stares his way as well.

Yosano whistled. "If I didn't prefer women, I'd f*ck either of them. Or both at the same time."

"YOSANO-SENSEI!" A scandalized Kunikida and Atsushi yelled, covering Kenji's and Kyouka's ears respectively. Atsushi once again sent an annoyed glare Akutagawa's way when the older half of Shin Soukoku placed hands over his own ears as well.

"What? I'm just saying what we're all thinking!"

"I prefer a different ginger~"

"N-Naomi!"

"Way to ruin the moment," Kouyou deadpanned at them dangerously.

Chuuya gave Yosano a hard stare. "I'll pass and so will Dazai."

The woman just shrugged. "Damn. Worth a try though. Besides, I prefer your sister."

"Keep your horniness to yourself, Akiko."

"Shut the f*ck up, Ranpo."

Dazai was showing Chuuya what people usually did at temples and shrines like this, explaining some of the history, showing off the kitsune statues and answering the questions Chuuya asked him. They eventually went to the wishing bamboo forest, writing their wishes on a piece of paper and tying it to bamboo branches of their own choosing.

"The priests of the shrine will take them tomorrow morning and burn them so the ashes fly off in the wind to supposedly reach the gods up in heaven," Dazai explained as he wrote down a wish on his paper. "It's so that hopefully the gods will supposedly answer the wishes and prayers of the people. New Year wishes supposedly always come true and you only get one, so choose wisely Chuuya~ And don't let anyone see or know what you've written or else it won't come true!"

"Did your wish ever come true, Mr Fancy Hat?" Kenji asked curiously, taking Dazai's words seriously and not daring to ask what the wish itself was.

"I think it might, this year," Chuuya answered with a hopeful, blissful smile as he watched his younger self steal glances at seventeen year old Dazai. He remembers thinking it strange how much Dazai knew about all those celebratory things, especially in a place so far away from Yokohama and not all that famous all around like Kyoto or Nagoya would be so such things would make sense to be easily accessible knowledge if one were to Google it, but he'd also figured that it was either overall common knowledge at the time or, just the next year when he'd tried celebrating in such a way with Kouyou and found the traditions completely different in the Kanagawa prefecture as opposed to Aomori, he'd figured that Dazai was just a know-it-all.

He'd found he liked his Christmas and New Years experience in Aomori greatly overshadowed the one he had in Yokohama, so as soon as the Christmas party - held two days before the actual holiday date - next year and every year after it, he'd travel up to Kanagi, go to the same safe house they'd used at seventeen and he'd do the things he remembered Dazai showing him. It had been a bittersweet experience to do them alone as the memories of those days resurfaced in every move he made, but he thinks they had helped him heal from the emptiness his partner's absence had created in his soul.

(As much as neither of them would ever want to admit it and as much as Mori hated to admit it, the separation had done them plenty of good. They had beenDazai and Chuuyaso long that they had often forgotten how to beDazaiandChuuyawithout each other. Soukoku - or Twin Dark, as Dazai preferred over Double Black - was a part of them, of their souls, but they were still individuals with their own lives and their literal existences and life-forces weren't connected in such a way that they can'tbewithout each other. They needed time away from each other to form their own personalities not entirely influenced on their codependency. They needed to become their own people and distance did them good for that. They needed to learn how to be strong completely on their own. Dazai just had more practice in that regard while Chuuya had, for the first time, felt utterly alone when he came to Kanagi without his partner. It had felt like a shock to his system and he'd nearly succumbed to the need to spend the first day just drinking himself to death.)

He also remembers and is glad of it now of how he spent his winter holiday just this last year, when he found some shady businessman trying to build something on what he now knows was once Dazai's home thanks to some shady papers he bought from a shady, corrupt local politician. He'd never taken such pleasure in scaring someone away as he had in those days he worked to keep that place where he'd learned how to play in the snow and where he'd first seen Dazai having so much genuine fun from becoming some sort of fast food chain restaurant or whatever. He wonders if Dazai had known the former Tsushima residence had been in danger.

He wonders what Dazai would have done in retaliation.

(He wonders if, indeed, this year, all of his New Years wishes of spending all of his New Years with his partner will come true. Some of his New Years wishes he'd prayed for had already come true: he'd found his partner,aliveand healthy, after all; he got to talk to him again; he saw with his own two eyes that he was safe. What is he supposed to write on that piece of paper this year, he wonders?)

"What's that?" His younger self asked in the vision, pointing at a wall he knows all too well.

Seventeen year old Dazai paused and looked at the wall, elaborately decorated, hundreds of candles lit and flowers placed before it, almost as many incense sticks releasing gentle smoke into the cold, crisp air. "It's the wall depicting all persons who have done a great deep for the community. You'll mostly see doctors who treated everyone and anyone without taking any wage or social workers who have saved women and children from abusive environments or cops and firemen who've prevented a tragedy and saved a life. Rarely, you'll see a teacher who reached a really old age and spent most of their life teaching in Kanagi, or various artists and writers who've contributed to the overall culture of the country. Even more rarely, you'll see politicians who've genuinely only tried to make Kanagi a better place to live or generous doners and benefactors who've helped the community by building schools or safe houses and the such."

"Oh, like those two. Tsushima ... Genemmon? And Tsushima Tane," the ginger pointed at a pair of pictures and Dazai followed his gaze, already knowing what he will find.

"Gen'emon and yes, like them," he replied softly, eyes glued on the beaming faces of his parents. He remembers his mother once talking to his father about this, when he was little. He hadn't fully understood then, but his parents had set up several safe houses for women and children from abusive families and had opened both a hotline for such cases and a pro bono attorney office that greatly prioritized such cases. They had started up that project while Tane hadn't yet been aware that she was pregnant with Shuuji. She had just felt a need to help mothers and children in her community. It was one of many altruistic philanthropy work his parents had done, over the years since they left Yokohama and left the life they had once led behind them in the city. He guessed he shouldn't be surprised that their picture would end up in the hall of fame.

"So these are all dead people?"

"Mostly, yes," he confirmed. "You can see who's still alive judging by whether or not their picture has those black ribbons near the upper corners and whether they have red or white flowers."

"Huh. That's pretty neat."

"I suppose so."

The rest of their stay in Kanagi was pretty normal, with the exception of Chuuya buying nearly all the poetry books during the sale on their last day. Dazai just bought some books he thought Ango, Odasaku and Sensei might like before calling it a day and having to remind Chuuya that he shouldn't float his purchases around because he's drawing too much attention.

Eventually, it was time for them to go home - or what Chuuya probably considered home; Dazai, for a moment, felt like he wasleavinghome ... An old habit, no doubt - and Chuuya didn't once look away from Kanagi as the car that had picked them up drove away. "You think we'll get to do something like this next year?"

"Who knows," was all Dazai said, though he already made calculations. He doubted Mori would ever let him leave his sight for this long again anytime soon, but surely a year from now he'll forget all about it. If not, Dazai's sure he can make some excuse. If nothing else, they'll fake Chuuya had to use Corruption to fight some Yeti-like Ability user or abomination or something. After that mermaid incident a few months ago, he wouldn't be surprised that there was a whole lot more they don't know about the world.

"You can saythatagain," Chuuya snorted as the vision blurred again, showing several months later. "Ah. Already?" He couldn't help but be disappointed.

"The day Chuuya was to leave for his mission in Europe," Kouyou hummed in a tone lacking any detectable emotion, carefully keeping her face blank.

"The end of the golden era, huh," Ranpo observed and Mori twitched.

"Dazai and Chuuya, almost eighteen," Hirotsu said by confirmation as they watched Dazai tease Chuuya all the way to the plane the older was supposed to fly away in. It was hardly going to be Chuuya's first mission abroad, but it will be his first one spanning several months.

It will also be the last time Soukoku have seen each other in four years.

It was the beginning of the end of the golden era.

Of thedarkera.

Chapter 22

Chapter Text

18yo

The next vision began with Dazai in Bar Lupin with only Natsume in his cat form as company while soft music played in the background. Dazai was sipping on his whiskey, honestly bored out of his mind. He'd recently turned eighteen and yet the world was still as dull as ever with rare moments of clarity or color when he was around a few people that he found worthy of his actual attention. He was hoping at least one of such persons would join him tonight, but it's never certain.

He knows the main source of light and color in his life won't be coming; Chuuya has been in Europe for the past three months and probably won't be coming back for another two or so, leaving Dazai with the dullest jobs he's ever done in his career. It was just a repeat of the same old, same old. Even today wasn't much different from any other day, except that some foreign group had made an attempt on his life, but that was still a regular thing, just not adailything. It was still boring, though.

He was hoping to meet at least Odasaku today, otherwise only Sensei will be keeping him company and he's really not in the mood for that. Don't get him wrong; ever since that day when the man had finally revealed himself to him, Dazai and Natsume had created something of a bond between an estranged uncle and nephew, or whatever it would count for considering Natsume had sort of unofficially also adopted or just taken under his wing Gen'emon but they had never been like father and son. Natsume wasn't even all that much older than Dazai's father would be; he'd have to have him as a teenager, which would be disgusting, and that's even if hewantedto be with a woman.

Turns out, Sensei used to be partners with Hirotsu-san before they 'went their separate ways', which was basically partner code for broke-up-without-ever-having-been-romantically-together.

Hirotsu choked as everyone turned to give him judgmental looks, trying to decipher whether there was truth to Dazai's thoughts. "We've never-!"

"But you wanted to," teased Mori shamelessly and Hirotsu threw him a venomous stare.

"Soseki-san and I are still in contact; do not force me to call him up just to collect all of your most embarrassing moments, Boss. Or worse:Dazai-san."

"Hmm, shutting up now."

"The power of Dazai-san," Akutagawa breathed like he was explaining the truth of creation and, surprisingly enough, Atsushi nodded along.

"The power of Dazai-san."

Gin and Kouyou just looked at them and facepalmed. And here they thoughtSoukokuwas bad, but apparently there was just something in Yokohama's waters or air that made partners gay for each other and then made them turn it into a melodrama everyone else had to deal with along with them.

Dazai sure hopes he and Chuuya don't ever do anything as pathetic as that. Soukoku kind of defies all laws of science, life or just existence itself, so it would be a shame if they 'went their separate ways'. The only thing that should be able to separate them is death, like with Randou-san and Verlaine-san, or a betrayal so great that it rivals Dazai calling Chuuya inhuman or something of the like. If anything else ends them, anything lesser than the very end of this world, then Dazai will be disappointed.

"Well ... That's ... awkward ... " Tachihara stretched it out, you guessed it, awkwardly, casting a glance at Chuuya's ... surprisingly not offended, angered or awkward expression. The older ginger, when noticing the strange attention he was getting, arched an eyebrow.

"What?"

"You're not ... angry?" This time it was Kouyou who spoke up, very carefully, knowing that Dazai leaving had been a sore subject for Chuuya foryearsand after seeing some of their tamer, friendlier interactions, it finally fully made sense why. Which is why she had expected Chuuya to outright blow up in the face of Dazai's assurance that they'd stay together until the end of time.

"Should I be?"

"You do realize this is perhaps days away from the time Dazai-kun left, yes, Chuuya-kun?" Mori also carefully questioned and this time, Chuuya snorted.

"Yeah, I got that, considering he's thinking about us not spending our birthdays irritating each other, me not being around to annoy and dealing with a foreign group that attacked him that can only be Mimic. I don't see the problem here."

"They're asking why you aren't angry that Dazai thought you guys will never end like Rimbaud and Verlaine, the piece of sh*t and f*ckuzawa-shachou-"

"Ranpo-san, not you too!"

"Get used to it, Kunikida," Yosano told him flatly, knowing they will curse and cuss out Mori even more in the near future if this was, indeed, what lead up to Dazai's defecting from the Mafia, according to Ranpo's previous comments on the matter.

"- and Hiortsu-san and Natsume-sensei, is all. Since, you know, heleft."

"R-Ranpo-san, can't you put it a bit more delicately?" Tanizaki asked with a nervous sweatdrop.

Chuuya just deadpanned at them all. "Right. None of you know Dazai insists on still calling uspartners, no matter how many timesIsay ex- or former. Yeah, no, these visions have been helping me see that Dazai left a place and an organization, but not necessarily thepeople. He still seems to occasionally call Hirotsu-san? He still calls Kouyou 'Ane-san'? He's still looking out for Akutagawa and trying to teach him to be more than a weapon and GIn herself said Dazai teased her fondly recently. Hell, even Q and the Boss received mercy during the Guild and the Rats of the House of the Dead incidents, since he could have just let you lot kill the Boss and be done with it and he refused to kill Q with flimsy excuses. Even Doc Glasses was spared from that sh*tty mackerel's true ire. And me? Well, things may be complicated between us, but if we were truly just enemies, just 'ex-partners', just a person he hates as he claims, I'd be dead a long time ago. Besides, just because you guys don't see it, it doesn't mean we don'ttalk." He shrugged, unphased by the shocked expressions on everyone's faces. "Soukoku works in weird ways. And heisright: we'll never 'go our separate ways'; it's impossible for us. I mean, the Dead Apple incident is the best show of just how inevitable it is that we'll meet again and again, that we'll save each other again and again. It's Soukoku. That's the only explanation that I have that would make sense."

"Oh, wow," Atsushi breathed shamelessly. "Watching these visions and from what I've seen of your interactions with Dazai-san, I really thought that you haven't at all changed in comparison to your teenage self, but you really have matured a lot, huh, Chuuya-san."

Akutagawa and Kyoukabothwacked the white haired teen over the head. "Shut up, jinko."

Chuuya just sweatdropped at the weretiger. He wasn't even angry; it was his fault for leaving a bad first impression. Or Dazai's, really.Soukoku's. It's just how life was always meant to be.

Dazai perked up when he heard the doors to the bar creak open. He listened for the familiar, barely audible footsteps and smiled contently to himself as he flicked his glass of whiskey with the big, perfectly round ball of ice that was Bar Lupin's signature. "Hey, Odasaku," he greeted as the redhead joined him, taking his tan coat off. Sensei got up, stretched with amrreaowDazai felt inhisbones before hopping off of the stool next to Dazai to free it up for the older man. "Sorry, Sensei."

"You're calling a cat Sensei?" Oda asked and Dazai realized that he had never actually 'named' the calico his friends often saw him hanging out at the bar with while he awaited their arrival.

"Doesn't he look wise?" He questioned with secret humor as he watched the 'mere cat' settle on the far stool on the bar, near the wall. "He gives up his seat when I have guests, too." Natsume in cat form just settled down to continue his nap, ears twitching a bit as he kept his near constant vigil over his late friend's son, something he had been doing his best to do for years. Dazai would never be grateful for it, because he'd made his way through his life so far basically on his own, anyways, but he supposed itisnice to know he had a 'guardian angel' even when Chuuya was away. "Anyway, you have to hear this, Odasaku!" He told the man as he sat down beside him. He's used to regaling Odasaku with all sorts of stories but he's run out of any Soukoku ones since Chuuya's been away for weeks on weeks. "There was a shootout today."

"Oh?" Oda spared the teen a second's glance just to make sure none of the bandages around his body were there because of a fresh wound. Odasaku did that regularly, only not really worried when Dazai was supposed to go out with Chuuya on these sorts of missions since he knew the ginger was even more of a motherhen for Dazai's health thanhewas.

"I was trading shots in a warehouse block with an energetic crew armed with a machine-gun equipped truck!" Not that it was hard to defeat. Dazai hadn't even taken any Ability users and they did end up confiscating the truck for the Mafia. Still, that it seemed like a direct attempt on him had been a bit new ... Well, new because of the truck more than anything, really.

"Oh? That sounds like quite the weapon," was his friend's comment in that same level tone Odasaku usually used. In the two years they've known each other and been close friends, Dazai has gotten used to the fact that Odasaku was just not an overly emotional guy, or rather he didn't openly show it when hedoesget emotional. He's not like Dazai, who simply doesn'tfeelto the extent that the emotion would show, his face simply makes micro-expressions instead of how other people grimace or pout or smile widely. Odasaku's default expression around Dazai was this strange fond amusem*nt or curiosity when he's telling stories and Dazai's gotten used to smiling and being dramatic for the both of them.

Besides, they play off of each other really well when he starts teasing Ango and Oda's placid demeanor makes the other man forget Oda was as much of a troll and tease as Dazai was. How he could forget, Dazai will never understand, given that Odasaku goes along with pretty much anything Dazai says. (He figures it's because Oda's never wrapped him up in a blanket burrito or compared him to a black burnt cat, a confession Dazai to this day could not believe was made aboutthe wraithhe'd been at the early months of sixteen years old. Odasaku was an alien, he was sure of it.)

"And what's with your new injuries?" Oda asked and Dazai knew he should have figured the older man would notice. It was nothing major, Dazai wouldn't let himself be killed in a way that wouldn't take out the Book with him, but no one knew that. All they knew was that he sometimes attempted to drown himself and that he'd once slit his wrists and left himself to die in the snow had he not been found in time. He's also seemingly reckless with his life, which couldn't really be farther from the truth. He still had many things he needed to finish before he could even contemplate it properly. After all, Chuuya's past was still not fully dealt with and could come back to haunt him.

Dazai hadnothelped defeat two Transcendents and saw N die for Kashimura to walk free while he rots in the ground. (There's also the matter of the government but Dazai's been terrifying the Diet for quite some time now. They ought to back off from Chuuya even if hewereto die. Besides, they have some new project they've started two years ago to keep them occupied, even though those mutts were just cheap knockoffs of the Project Arahabaki.)

"Is that from this shootout?" Oda's slightly concerned question brought Dazai's full focus back on his friend.

"Honestly, I feel like a broken record but it really does need saying and repeating," Yosano said with a long-suffering smirk. "Dazai has you on his mind 24/7 and it seems that won't be changing anytime soon. I wonder if that's how it still is to this day."

At this point, Chuuya just ignored her completely.

"Most probably," Ranpo guessed and shrugged when everyone looked at him for not knowing a definitive answer. "What? It'sDazai. He's hard to read sometimes, okay?"

"I had to go pee in the midst of it, then I tripped on a ditch because I was in such a hurry."

"I see."

"That's complete and absolutebullsh*t," Chuuya immediately spat. "Dazai's never once tripped, not even off the rocker on pain meds or drugs with little to no sleep or food and barely any water after a week long imprisonment by an enemy where he was getting tortured and interrogated. That extra stuff that comes with bandages would rather keel over and die on the spot thantrip."

"I was there," Akutagawa also said. "Dazai-san did not leave his post even once, though someonehadgotten in a lucky shot and left the graze."

"As expected of an assassin to detect even the slightest of injuries, even when we couldn't see one," Kyouka praised.

"Oda Sakunosuke was an incredible assassin," f*ckuzawa shared. "He'd racked up a reputation, as you've all already learned, and his Ability made him untouchable. He was skilled enough to get away from me when I was not using my sword."

"If only he hadn't given up on killing," Mori lamented with a sigh.

"What? WOuld he have been valuable enough if he hadn't to spare him?" Ranpo spat at the Mafia Boss, who ignored him. Ranpo wasn't letting it go this time. "You know it's coming up. I don't know the whole details, but fessing up now might spare you your head in the long run, old man."

Mori, this time, gave him a creepy smile. "I'd rather just rip the band aid off in one go when it does happen."

"Are you seriously hoping that won't be shown?" The genius asked and Mori remained silent. "There's no way it won't show it; that's a defining moment for Dazai, for f*ck's sake! If we're already going to watch his life play out in front of us, then you can be damn sure that the reason he leaves will be there!"

'His name is Dazai Osamu,'Oda's thoughts suddenly reach them, halting the argument.'The youngest Executive of the Port Mafia to grace the bloody, criminal history of the organization.'He took a sip while Dazai plopped the ball of ice inside his own drink.

"By the way, about the other guys, they ran away crying after I set a trap and roughed them up a little. They're a pretty sorry bunch. Thanks to them, yet again I couldn't manage to die.

'There's a saying among the Port Mafia:The biggest misfortune for Dazai's enemies is that they areDazai'senemies. His list of deeds writ in darkness and blood is enough to make even those in the Mafia tremble. He was practically born to be one of them,'continued Oda's thoughts and no one could quite suppress a snort. Oda didn't even realize how right he was.'He's sharp-witted with a mind like a steel trap. And he's a child - a sobbing child abandoned in the darkness of a world far emptier than the one we're seeing.'

"Oh," was the general consensus. None of them had really been expecting that, even though they had known that Odasaku's view of Dazai greatly differed from the norm.

"Oh, man! I wonder if there is a simple, reliable way to commit suicide somewhere," Dazai flailed around and Oda's simple response was "I doubt it." That's all he said. He didn't encourage nor discourage, he let Dazai act as he will, even if he wasn't the most comfortable with it. It's why Dazai could get along so well with him. He didn't try to tell Dazai how he should endure this accursed existence of his. "Odasaku," he calls for his attention, easily gaining it, like always. "Man fears death and yet, at the same time, man is drawn to death. Death is endlessly consumed by men in cities and in literature. It is a singular event in one's life that none may reverse."

He knows death more intimately than someone his age should. He's seen it up close so many times that the only thing from the experience that he's missing is its embrace. Oda knows a different kind of death, the kind Dazai had also encountered from the young age of nine.

Dazai knows death.

And death is the only act in this world that he can share with humans.

"That is what I desire."

"Dazai, you idiot," Kunikida whispered with clenched fists. Naomi had a hand over her mouth, clearly distressed, and she was pressed close to Junichiro. The Akutagawa siblings also subtly gripped onto each other while Atsushi and Kyouka outright held hands. Kouyou and Mori closed their eyes in silent sorrow for the boy while Hirotsu looked like he was mourning. Ranpo and Yosano looked away, Tachihara and Higuchi kind of just shifted awkwardly, because this felt even more like an invasion of privacy since they didn't even know the guy all that well. Hell, Higuchi had at least talked with Dazai on three occasions while Tachihara hadn't even met him and had no idea what he was even doing here in the first place, if he was honest. f*ckuzawa petted Kenji's hair as he and Chuuya just watched and listened as Dazai ordered bleach-based drinks in a goofy manner.

Then along came Sakaguchi Ango, scolding both Dazai for his behavior and Odasaku for letting it happen. "It's because you never call him out that Dazai-kun goes off the rails."

"Geez, why do I suddenly feel like they're his parents? Sakunosuke is the indulgent dad and Sakaguchi is the anxious, overbearing mom?" Well, that definitely lifted the mood as everyone burst out laughing at Tachihara's comment and how true it felt as Ango continued scolding them while joining them at the bar and ordering tomato juice. He sat down on Dazai's other side and set aside his bag. "It was a bad day," he says when Dazai asks about it.

Dazai notes several things, as he always does about those around him. It's a habit, a habit reinforced each time Chuuya tries to play off just how much Corruption has messed him up.'Wet shoes, soaked trousers ... Did he park that far away? There were a lot of empty spaces when I arrived ... Though it has been hours, so it's possible. A bad day, huh? He doesn't seem too ruffled ... '

"It took way too much time to buy smuggled items. After haggling until eight, all I have to show for my efforts is this antique watch," he explains as he shows it to the other two men while Dazai takes note of the other contents of the bag.

'That seems like a rather wet umbrella.'

"No sh*t, it was probably raining outside," grumbled Tachihara and received a vicious punch from Akutagawa at that.

"Ranpo?" Yosano asks the master detective, who can only shrug. He can't do anything without context, either. He doesn't know whether it rained some random day four years ago or not, after all.

"This concludes about 74% of transactions for this quarter. If I account for the 8% of existing organizations with which we've never had any transactions, our profit has exceeded last year's by 34%. Perhaps it is thanks to our youngest Executive in the organization's history."

"Yes, exactly, so why is he giving Dazai that report?" Chuuya huffed. "I've seen him getting reports like these from all the other departments at least once. This isn't news to him. He used to deal with this sh*t daily and Doc Glasses isn't a kiss ass, despite his many other felonies against humanity or myself."

"It really is silly when you see someone trying to tell Dazai-kun about the workings and such of the Mafia, as though he hadn't been responsible for around half of the Port Mafia's profits in those two years he was officially an Executive," Kouyou retorted with wry amusem*nt.

"Dazai-san used to hold picnics in the middle of firefights, guns blazing all around him," Hirotsu added with a sigh. "That fight with that first contingent of Mimic that we faced were really gutsy and outright idiots. They came at us with not a single Ability user, only machine-guns and rocket launchers that Dazai-san confiscated for the Mafia when we were finished."

"And you were the idiot who thought to chase him away," Ranpo said to Mori, who just rolled his eyes at him this time.

"So Ango fuzzed up his job, too," Dazai teased after Ango went on a little rant about his mission.

"'Fuzzed'?"

"Yeah, we're fuzz buddies," Dazai said with a smile while the viewers snorted at the fact that Dazai uses 'fuzz' instead of 'f*ck' when talking about screwing up on a job. "Come to think of it, it's been a long time since we first became drinking buddies. But I've never heard you complain about work, Odasaku."

Now even Ango was intrigued. After all, Oda wasn't really a talkative guy unless youreallygot him going every one in a blue moon.

"It'd only bore you to hear my stories as the lowest ranking member of the organization."

"Does he, like, mean that literally? He was the lowest ranking member, or just in, like, the class of lowest ranking members?" Tanizaki couldn't help but ask.

"He means it quite literally," Mori answered. "Considering he refused to kill, all he could be is a 'handyman'. His Ability was especially useful for dangerous delivery runs in enemy territory or locating bombs in a minefield."

"Yeah, I bet," Kunikida hummed. "Being able to see even a few seconds in the future and react accordingly is a powerful Ability, no matter how simple it may sound."

"Considering he managed to outmaneuver me as a mere boy and that he was basically a whole organization by himself just through his activities alone, I can concur that it is indeed a powerful Ability. And if not just powerful, then extremely useful," f*ckuzawa added, stunning everyone but Ranpo at the news that Oda had, apparently, at one point basicallydefeatedhim.

"There you go being secretive again," Dazai complained. "What did you do this time?"

And, well, Oda would never admit it but he had a very special weak spot for Dazai. "I punished a kid stealing from a store in a shopping district that pays us protection money. I mediated a tense face-off between the lover and the wife of one of our shell company executives. Lastly, I disposed of a dud that was found behind one of the Mafia offices."

At this point, Dazai was practically sparkling at his friend while Ango was shaking and sweating like it had beenhimwho had had to do it all and not Odasaku.

" ... You have people who do things like that?" Atsushi asked.

"We have people who dothingslikethat?" Higuchi also asked, having never actually met someone rankingthatlow.

"What's a dud?" Kenji asked.

"Hey, Odasaku!" An overly excited Dazai exclaimed. "Let's change jobs!"

"WHAT!?" Everyone, even Mori, screamed at this unexpected sentence from the eighteen year old, most powerful Executive Dazai. Delivered to a low-ranking Mafia handyman, no less.

"I want to dispose of duds, too!"

Ango looked even more terrified, he had to put his glass down lest he drop it and ruin his clothes. "You wouldn't be able to handle it." At least Oda had Flawless to save him at the last second!

"Yeah, you'd get blown up," Oda agreed, hoping that would dissuade Daai.

But of course, this wasDazai, so it had the completely opposite effect. "BLOWN UP!?" He turned to Ango like an excited kid that heard Christmas was coming early this year. "Hey, did you hear that, Ango? He said blown up! I'd get blown up!"'What are the chances the explosion incinerates the Book immediately, too? I need to calculate this!'

"Oh my god," Chuuya bemoaned with a pale face. Explosion hadnotbeen a thing he'd had to worry about as Dazai's suicide method. New fear unlocked right there.

"By the way, are the two of you here today for a meeting?" Ango asks in an effort to calm Dazai down and stop him from talking about being blown up. Ango was a lot more reluctant to let Dazai speak of suicide, fearing the boy would actually do it and they'll only find out when it's too late. They were too low in the hierarchy to even be allowed to the funeral, so their last memories of a living, breathing Dazai could very well be one of his suicide rants and neither of the two older males wanted that. Ango just took on the strict role needed to shut such topics down.

" ... You know what? I don't think I'm as cross with Doc Glasses anymore. Remind me to buy that man a drink once we get out of here. He's still putting up with Dazai's bullsh*t these days, too, right?"

"He got him into a car accident recently to set up a deal for Kyouka-chan," Yosano informed the gravity manipulator and Kouyou made a note to send him some flowers, too.

Kunikida just twitched at the reminder.

"Dazai just happened to be here when I walked in," the redhead of the group replied first.

"I had a feeling I'd run into you two if I came here tonight," was Dazai's reply, as soft and as melodic as the music in the background. A complete one eighty compared to his earlier mood.

"Did you need something from us?" The bespectacled spy in the Mafia asked.

"Nothing really." Dazai flicked his glass again, making that high note as it resonated. "I just thought tonight might become the usual night if I did come. That's all." The other two didn't question him. They and even the bartender knew by now that Dazai never said useless things, never did things without a reason and never told his reason unless he absolutely had to or else the world will end and even then, you can expect half of it to be made up or outright false. They let it be. Meanwhile, Dazai raised his glass for a toast.

"What are we toasting?"

"Anything's fine," came the teenager's reply. "I don't really need a reason."

Oda thought about it before raising his glass next to Dazai's. "To the stray dogs."

Unexpectedly, out of the goddamn blue, Atsushi suddenly started sobbing. He actually doubled over and would have fallen to the floor had Akutagawa and Kyouka not caught him and held him as he shook. No matter who asked him about his sudden breakdown(?) who just shook his head and covered his mouth with his hands in an effort to stifle the sobs.

Ango and Dazai joined that toast, clinking their glasses together. "To the stray dogs."

Dazai spotted Sensei sniffing around Ango's bag and got an idea. (Several ideas, or revelations, or however you want to call them, they went off in his head and there was no turning back once that happened.) "Hey, Ango, do you have a camera in your bag by any chance?" He asked as though he hadn't cataloged exactly every speck of dust and dirt in Ango's carrier bag while he was showing off the watch earlier.

"Yeah, though it's for work."

"Let's take a photo to remember," he immediately suggested, earning himself the confusion of his drinking buddies, his friends, the two people in the Port Mafia who saw a kid and only a kid, even if they let him drink despite not being of drinking age yet. But the drinking age limit is hardly the biggest crime he's committed so who cares? "To remember that the tree of us were gathered here today."

"But the three of us are always drinking here," Oda points out.

"Oh, this isreallynot going to end well, huh," Higuchi commented. It wasn't a question so no one answered.

Ango still indulged him. "As the Executive wishes," he said humorously as he took the device out of his bag.

They took several pictures, first each of them individually - or as individually as you can while Natsume in cat form photo-bombed them - before Ango set up the camera on his own glass of tomato juice and set the timer.

"Why didn't they just, I don't know, ask the bartender to take the photo for them?" Gin asked and, really, she had a great point.

"Maybe they didn't want to trouble him?" Kenji suggested and, really, all anyone else could do was shrug because how could they possibly know?

"Why do you want photos all of a sudden?" Oda, who knew Dazai just a bit longer and just a bit more intimately than Ango, asked, wondering what had gotten into Dazai's head that he suddenly wanted toremember, when they met up fairly often for drinks and chitchat.

"I just feel like if we don't do it now, there'll be nothing to show that we hung out like this."

IN-COMING DAN-GER IN-COMING DAN-GER IN-COMING DAN-GER

'You've never been wrong before, but can't you be wrong just this once?'"Odasaku, the camera," he instructed, making the redhead look away from the teen just in time for the camera to take the photo while the cat-Natsume sat behind it and watched eerily with an intelligence no normal cat can possess, as though it washimwho had snapped the photo.

"Of course it was the Book that alerted him to something weird," cursed Chuuya.

"Dang, I almost forgot he even had that thing, it hasn't been mentioned in, like, a really long time," Naomi said while rubbing at her chin in thought.

'I've never been wrong before ... But just this once ... let me be wrong.'

"He wasn't," Mori 'spoiled the show'. "Soon after this was taken, by my estimate, one of them died and one turned out to be a traitor."

"We know," Kouyou said sharply, having noticed the shift in mood in Chuuya when Mori had spoken up about it. She didn't want an incident right now. She didn't want Chuuya to face repercussions when they get back.

The vision shifted, showing a bright, sunny day at the port, though it was not very nice if only one looked close enough. After all, there were dead bodies to look at by a teenage Executive in charge of way too much for his young shoulders to bear despite the grace with which he carried the weight of such responsibility.

"Ensure that the police don't hear of this," Hirotsu of the past instructed, causing Gin and Tachihara to cheer at his newest appearance in the visions. "Call the cleaners, too. They shall transport the bodies. Find out if these three have families. If they do, I'll contact them. Also, an Executive will be here shortly."

"Hey, gramps, you don't usually do so much all by yourself," commented Tachihara and Hirotsu whacked him over the head gently in reprimand.

"I was doing my best to reduce Dazai-san's workload where I could. Besides, Dazai-san never got involved with any of the Mafia members' families. Not only was it always below his station, he was always too busy for it that even if he wanted to, he'd be two days late to inform any families of their loved ones' deaths by the time he could spare them a moment."

"Good morning, everyone!" Eighteen year old Dazai's cheerful greeting was definitely out of place for such a somber scene, which immediately drew everyone's attention. These were not men directly under Dazai's command so it took them a second to recognize the teen boy playing a handheld game on top of one of the concrete dolos. "Hang on a moment. I'm about to clear this difficult level." He didn't even care when Hirotsu and the subordinates all bowed their heads with their arms behind them to show him respect, instead fighting for his life in his game.

"He's so unserious," Kouyou sweatdropped even as she smiled fondly at such childish behavior. "I'm almost jealous of how sweet he could be around you, Hirotsu-san." The elder man just chuckled fondly.

"Oh, crap! He's ahead! Take this attack! Damn, he dodged it!"

"Dazai-san, thank you for taking the time and going through the trouble of coming here," Hirotsu said by way of greeting, still not looking up, used to such behavior from the genius. "Our armory guards were killed."

"It's been a while since we last had anyone reckless enough to target a Port Mafia armory," Dazai easily replied even if most of his attention was on the game.

"Each died on the spot after being hit with between ten and twenty 9 mm rounds," Hirotsu reported, regardless of the visible level of attention his Executive may be paying, already knowing Dazai will probably even have more information than him despite just arriving at the scene. "Firearms were taken from the armory."

"Then I'll go take a look," brunet declared. "Take care of this, will you?"

And that was all the warning poor Hirotsu got before he was scrambling to catch Dazai's prized while the teen himself landed down beside the bodies with easy grace, crouching down to inspect them. "I-I wouldn't know what to do right away!"

Daza hummed, uncaring of the distress he was causing the man simply by putting him in charge of his still ongoing game. "This many rounds that went clean through the body ... "

"W-wh-which buttons do I press?!"

"That means a sub-machine gun was fired at close range."

"Oh my god," came from half of the watchers, not sure whether to laugh or pity Hirotsu for the situation Dazai had just put him in. The other subordinates, despite not being directly in Dazai's command, were still in Hirotsu's and those two worked together often enough that they didn't even bat an eye at how indulgent Hirotsu was towards their youngest superior.

"The assailants were pretty skilled. I'm getting my hopes up."

"That suicidal maniac," Kunikida sighed in exasperation.

Surprisingly there was nothing from Chuuya to indicate an agreement. In fact, those vivid blue eyes were focused on the past Hirotsu still struggling with the game.

"Do we have surveillance footage from the warehouse?" Dazai extended a hand and what he requested was immediately handed to him, showing just how used he was to getting what he wanted and how used to giving it to him the Port Mafia as a whole was. He briefly studied the footage he got. "They just look like vagrants at first glance, but they must be well trained soldiers. They are careful about covering each other's blind spots. Still, why take on this appearance?"

About that time, Hirotsu finished his little chicken dance while trying to beat the game, only it seems that he has lost.

"I f*cking knew it!" Chuuya suddenly shouted, startling everyone. "I f*cking knew that sh*tty Dazai wouldn't play that bad even if both of his hands were f*cking broken!" Then he sent a chagrined glance at his actual opponent in that game. "Sorry, Hirotsu-san."

The man in question just waved him off.

His past self, chagrined and ashamed of his loss in a video game, turned back to face Dazai and bowed like he'd made a grave mistake the likes of selling out vital information. "I have no excuses to offer."

"You are almost as indulgent towards him as Oda Sakunosuke," scolded Mori but Hirotsu just shrugged.

"He was a child. I figured letting him enjoy a few childish things would do no harm."

"If you give me another chance, surely I will-"

"Do you recognize this gun?" Dazai asked, in order to hide his fond amusem*nt at how Hirotsu was currently acting. Honestly, it almost reminded him of Matsuki and those were thoughts better left alone when he's out on a job.

And honestly, now Hirotsu was definitely flattered!

His younger self at least focused on the task at hand, unaware of thehugecompliment he'd just been the recipient of in Dazai's mind. "It's an old model. It's older than me."

"Well, I can see why you were Dazai's favorite," Ranpo commented in good humor as Dazai barely contained a snort at that comment.

"I think it's a Graugeist. An old European pistol."

"I saw this gun last night ... That means they attacked me just before they hit the armory. It must've been a distraction. This is intriguing," Dazai said with a smirk. "They're a far more interesting bunch than I thought. Hirotsu-san, they hit one of the Port Mafia's best storage units. They used the official passcode to get in. It's only known to members who are Subexecutive and higher."

"Could it mean that we have a traitor?" The old man asked and Dazai's mind immediately flashed to Ango and the Book's warnings. "Don't we know who's behind these attacks?"

'Perhaps ...'"My subordinates tortured a hostage from yesterday to make him talk, but he seized an opportunity to kill himself using a cyanide pill hidden in his back tooth. However, we did manage to learn one thing. The organization's name is Mimic."

The vision shifted again. The colors whirled and whirled until they settled perhaps a few weeks later compared to the last event. Oda had been given orders by Mori to find a missing Ango and the redhead 'handyman' had gone to the hotel room where Ango lived in the city. The place was bare, but had huge floor to ceiling windows and just as Oda discovered a small safe that could contain a clue, Flawless warned him of a sniper targeting him.

Oda was out of the hotel and out in the streets in minutes, doing the only thing he could think of: dialing Dazai.

"Damn, even his friends can't do anything without him holding their hands. Did Dazai fix the printer in the Mafia, too?" Yosano asked and the embarrassed cough she got from Kouyou definitely surprised her.

"The machine almost swallowed up my sleeves, okay?"

Dazai, of course, picked up the phone when he saw Oda's number, even if he was all the way down to the docs, overseeing a transport ship of the Port Mafia sailing away into the sunset with a whole load of stolen art meant for America.

"Dazai?"

"That's rare, getting a call from you."

"I was targeted by a sniper. In Ango's room." Oda explained while running, safe still in hand, chasing after the culprits. "I'm going after the sniper now. He's firing from a building across the Secondhand Books Avenue."

Dazai stood up, alerting his men several meters behind him that they were about to move out. "So you want me to cut his route off?" He predicted easily.

"I have the Silver Oracle on hand."

"He has thewhat!?" The Executives and Akutagawa asked incredulously.

"The only person you'd given a Silver Oracle to since becoming Boss was Dazai," Kouyou pointed out, perplexed by this development.

"What's the Silver Oracle?" Kenji asked.

"It's basically proof that the Boss gave you a high priority mission and that you can order around everyone and anyone, no matter the rank you or they hold, including Executives," Gin summarized. "They're extremely rare. I've never encountered anyone who had the Silver Oracle."

"I have, only once," Hirotsu revealed. "It was, indeed, Dazai-san."

"So why is he mentioning it to Dazai-san?" Atsushi, who was calmer now, asked.

"My guess," Kyouka began. "Is that he didn't want Dazai-san to get into trouble if something goes wrong."

"If you need me to, I'll-"

"Oh, there's no need," Dazai cut him off, already turning around to direct his troops. "Don't push yourself too hard until I get there."

"Well, that's just sweet," Naomi said with a smile.

"Well, what are you waiting for?" The Demon Prodigy said to his faithful subordinates. "Move, we have places to be. Also, all of you should bear in mind that the person who messes up their aim today will mess up their chance to prolong their subscription t life." He marched off, his men following him without a flinch at his very real threat. They would not miss. Not if they wanted to live or at least die a quick, painless death.

It was easy enough to find Odasaku. Dazai knew the whole of Yokohama like the back of his hand, so he could guess which streets and alleyways someone would take in an attempt to run away or hide from someone. As he predicted, he intercepted the sniper and his helper in an alleyway just as they surrounded Odasaku, who was pointing a gun at a guy with a knife while the actual sniper had a gun pointed at Oda's head in turn.

As if Dazai was going to allow that.

"Odasaku, duck!"

The redhead immediately followed the order and a rain of bullets whizzed over his head from Port Mafia machine-guns, riddling the two cloaked figures with bullet holes. Dazai was very pleased that not a single bullet had strayed too close to his friend.

"You're quite the troublemaker, Odasaku," he teased, referring to the fake cops back when they first met and then when he'd met Shibusawa during the Dragon Head conflict, as he walked over and offered the older man a hand to pull him up to his feet. "You could have easily killed those guys in an instant, if you wanted to." Of course, he was just saying that. He'd neverforceOdasaku to go against his own wishes to no longer kill. Dazai has no compunctions to do all the necessary killingforhim, though. Dazai was quite accustomed to it at this point. It would be no effort on his part yet it would keep his friend's unusual dream intact.

"You killed them?" Came Odasaku's unnecessary question, since a former assassin of his caliber could probably tell as is.

"Not like we would've gotten any information if we'd taken them hostage," Dazai said with a shrug. "After all, they love the taste of their cyanide pills." Either that was standard procedure, which would indicate a sort of formal training one would expect rather from the war than from any organization that just casually dabbles in crime. Even Port Mafia spies and information brokers don't use pills. The knowledge that if they snitch, biting the curb was the best punishment they can hope for is a far better deterrent to selling out their info than any stroke of fanatical loyalty, because before the curb, they are far more likely to fall underDazai'shands andno onewantsthat. Dazai's reputation is what keeps the Port Mafia in line. "I know. That's not what you asked. But they are trained combat specialists," he told Oda at the strange expression he made and the silence that engulfed them shortly. "Even you would've been unable to avoid killing them."

It might sound cruel, it might sound like an excuse, but it wasn't. It's just that, sometimes, Odasaku needed a reality check, whether he liked it or not.

He may have ended up as only the Port Mafia's handyman because that's the position Dazai dumped him in so he would remain safe and in no need to kill, but that doesn't mean others aren't drenched in blood around him. It doesn't mean he'sactuallysafe. Especially with his refusal to kill.

"Yeah, I would've ended up dead if you hadn't come."

Dazai's lips threatened to lift up in an amused smile. "Oda Sakunosuke." Oda looked up at the strange, rare address of his full name, and from Dazai of all people. "A strange Port Mafia member who refuses to kill. Because of that troublesome creed, you're being used as an errand boy by the organization despite your considerable capabilities."

"I've heard that complaint a million times," Odasaku rebuffed and Dazai nearly chuckled.

"But wait, wasn't it Dazai-san who, as hejustadmitted, placed him in such a position in the first place?" Atsushi asked and briefly remembered Dazai's reaction when he told him about Akutagawa not killing for six months. He wondered if that bet could possibly influence his partner-rival's standing, but he then also remembered that Akutagawa probably didn't even give a damn. Dazai's acknowledgement was all he wanted and he was still no doubt extremely useful. Just his reputation put the fear of the Port Mafia in their enemies' bones and Rashoumon can still do so much damage without delivering the final blow.

"Dazai-san often complained how Oda-kun's reluctance to join the horde of those willing to kill for a promotion because a higher position in the Mafia would excuse a security detail," Hirotsu revealed. "As it stood, Dazai-san could not give him any security, though I doubt Oda-kun would have kept them. Maybe for the kids? And only if Dazai-san approved them, of course."

"They'd probably end up being some of Dazai's own security detail," Chuuya added.

"Dazai-kun really is just a softy, huh," Higuchi commented.

"Not sure I'd go that far," the man's partner in crime huffed. "Dazai just ... Well, I guess you could say he haspriorities. He found it in himself to care for so few people that he'd probably resort to world domination to keep them safe."

"That includes you, lad," Kouyou pointed out, but Chuuya only scoffed.

"What are you talking about, Ane-san? I'd be right there beside him, helping it happen. I don'tneedprotection."

"Well, Dazai seems to think otherwise," Kunikida pointed out and Yosano eagerly nodded along with him. She was having too much fun regarding Dazai's obvious pinning for Chuuya, after all.

"More importantly, about this attack," Oda continued his conversation with Dazai, dragging everyone's attention back to the vision. "Who are they?"

"Look at his waist," Dazai instructed and Oda did as told. "He's slinging an old pistol, see?"

f*ckuzawa blinked. "I don't think I've ever seen someone seriously carry around a pistol like that."

"It's called a Graugeist. Given that it's an old European pistol, it has low firing rate and accuracy. So it'd only serve to fire warning shots in a narrow alley like this. That pistol probably serves as their emblem of some sort, to indicate who they are."

"And who are they?"

"Mimic."

"Such a stupid name," Tachihara complained. "Why do most of the gangs the Port Mafia goes up against have such stupid names?"

"And 'Port Mafia', situated in the port of Yokohama for the most part, isn't a stupid name?" Ranpo asks with an arched eyebrow.

"The Port Mafia's roots are ancient in comparison to other organizations," Hirotsu points out. "We inherited the name."

"Besides, it' straight to the point," Mori added. "It doesn't puss*foot around what we stand for, what we do and where we do it, so stay out of our territory unless you want to deal with us. It keeps most of the smarter organizations away from the docs and port, leaving us to deal with only the idiots, which greatly reduces the amount of resources we'd have to waste."

"How oldisthe Port Mafia, actually?" A curious Atsushi asks.

"Well, it's notthatold," the former doctor waves it off. "I'm only the eighth Boss, after all, and rarely do the Mafia Bosses live to see the old age my predecessor did. And he only lived that long because he had the backing of a whole family, maybe even a clan. I never did properly look into the Tsushima, given that Dazai-kun took the first chance given to him to eradicate them. They were no longer a threat, so I guess I didn't care beyond the fact that the old Boss had no intention of just leaving the Port Mafia to his incompetent offspring."

"The reason the old Boss lived as long as he did was that he got his hands on Gen'emon-sama, or so some of the other older members of the Port Mafia used to say," Hirotsu added and Kouyou nodded. "He was the record setter for everything before Dazai-san, after all."

"Gen'emon-sama and his youngest and eldest daughter," corrected the female Executive.

"Mimic?"

"I'm still investigating the specifics," Dazai told Oda as he inspected the collapsed bodies. His men were quiet, more like parts of the scenery than living breathing humans, just standing there and waiting for further instructions. Dazai was somewhat proud of how well he'd trained them. "But maybe we'll find something out from the fact that they ad a sniper watching Ango's room." That was certainly suspicious and it had all sorts of bells in Dazai's head going off in warning, telling him he should have never trusted Ango to begin with.

"They wanted to retrieve this safe," his friend says, finally bringing Dazai's attention to the small metal box he'd been carting around while chasing and being chased, playing cat and mouse and keepaway with the Mimic members.

"A safe?" Well, color him intrigued.

"It was in Ango's room. But there was no key and I can't open it."

"Oh, that?" Well, it was Dazai's time to shine! Odasaku, after all, knew perfectly well that no locks can withstand Dazai's magic touch! He immediately pulled out a bit of medium hard wire, twisting it around as he wished. "Let's see. Let me try." He didn't ask, just lowered himself a little to be level with the safe Oda was holding. Oda, of course, let him have his fun, giving him the box as he pressed it closer to his ear and made a few twists and turns with his improvised lockpicking tool. He could hear the exact moment he opened the lock.

"He looks like a self-satisfied cat," Naomi giggled and Kyouka nodded solemnly, because she agreed.

"Opened it~"

Odasaku was suitably impressed, no matter how many different times and different locks he'd seen fail the same way when they stood in Dazai's path. Though all good humor left the both of them as Dazai opened the safe and found what he had honestly been expecting: a Graugeist. "What? Why? You said this gun was their emblem, right? A sign of who they are ... If Ango has one, it means ... "

"This alone is inconclusive," Dazai said before the words can be spoken, because he could hear how devastated Oda already sounded.

"Bullsh*t! You knew from the moment you met him!" Tachihara and Chuuya both exclaimed, incredulous by this sudden behavior, while Mori just shook his head. One of the reasons he knew Dazai had togowas because he was growing too soft for his drinking friends. He was no longer suitable for the things Mori had needed him for.

"Ango may have taken the gun from them, or they may have planted this to implicate him."

Odasaku visibly relaxed. "You're right." He probably even felt silly for jumping to conclusions.

"But, Odasaku," Dazai continued, not able to quite meet Oda's eyes for what he was about to say. "I'll tell you one thing I've noticed. Yesterday, when we were drinking at the bar, Ango said he was on his way back from a deal, remember? That's probably a lie."'No, it definitely was. I'm sure of it ... But what was the real truth is the question here ... '

"What?" The slightly scruffy redhead looked devastated all over again, perhaps even more so now than before, at the thought of Ango lying to their faces. It was to be expected. Ango and Oda had something brewing between them all this time, after all. They teamed up to keep Dazai safe and healthy far too many times like stressed, worried parents for it to result in nothing. Ango had even shot some of his shots, but Oda had remained oblivious to his efforts.

Dazai used to find it funny.

He's not sure if he feels like laughing anymore, though.

"You saw his bag, right?" He questioned, closing the safe and looking at Odasaku again, though not meeting his eyes. He didn't want to see the anguish that would grow there. It would make him want to kill Ango with his own hands. "From top to bottom, it had cigarettes, a folding umbrella, a camera and his prize, the antique watch."

Ranpo nodded along, having noticed it too, and Mori hummed while the rest tried to figure out the importance of it and Chuuya just watched his partner's brilliant mind at work, even if it was hurting him this time. Perhapsexactlybecause it was hurting him this time, that he can always see the truth no matter how much people try to hide it from him.

"The umbrella has been used and it was wrapped in cloth. And his work was to Tokyo, where it had rained."

"Why did he know such a random fact?" Tanizaki asked and even Mori and Chuuya had to shrug.

"The mackerel had his subordinates make all kinds of nonsensical reports to him for as long as I knew him and how he operated with them. I only asked once and never questioned it again because Dazai was a dick about it."

"My best guess is either for deductive work like this on various cases I sent him over the years or for the sake of his plans and plots," Mori added with an extra shrug. "It's hard, even for me who trained him how to think in hopes of having some predictability in regards to him, to understand how Dazai-kun's mind works. And his subordinates never revealed any secrets to their trade that Dazai-kun taught them. So when I get a weather report on my desk, I just accept it at face value."

"Any thoughts on this, Ranpo?" Yosano turned to her bestie, hoping he'd have some insight, but Ranpo also just shrugged.

"He just wanted to know the weather, plain and simple."

Everyone kind of just sweatdropped.

"So his umbrella was wet because it was raining where he went," Oda concluded, trying to follow Dazai's thought process. "What's so odd about that?"

"Yeah, see, that's what I'm also struggling to get," Tachihara said, aggravatedly running his hands through his hair.

"Ango supposedly went there in his car," the bandaged teen pointed out. "When did he use the umbrella, then? It wasn't before the deal, because the umbrella was on top of the watch. And it wasn't after the deal, either."

"Then when!?" Naomi huffed.

"What makes you say that?" The assassin who doesn't kill asked, now confused and just trying to follow Dazai's words, let alone thought process.

"The umbrella was wet enough that it wasn't used for a mere two or three minutes. It must've been used in the rain for a good thirty minutes or so. But despite supposedly being in the rain for so long, his shoes were dry. If his deal was at eight and we met at the bar at ten, two hours weren't enough for his shoes and pants to dry."

"I will need to ask the lad about his knowledge on cloth materials," Kouyou mused. "He seems rather knowledgeable , for some reason."

"Maybe he changed clothes."

"It could be possible, but I doubt it," Kyouka commented softly, eyes narrowed as she tried to figure everything out before Dazai revealed the trick.

"He drove me home in his car, but I didn't see any change of clothes or shoes."'And I would know where they are stashed, given the few times he forced me to change clothes after dips in the river or my walking around in the rain without an umbrella because I never bothered to buy one.'

"And now I know what to get Dazai-san for his birthday," Atsushi cheered, happy umbrellas were so cheap, he could probably buy his mentor five without feeling it!

"You're such an idiot, jinko."

"You're just mad you never thought of it!"

"Flirt later," Gin hissed. "I want to hear this."

"We are not flirting!" They yelled in sync, cheeks a matching shade of red.

Needless to say, nobody believed them.

"I think Ango didn't go to a deal. He met someone in the rain, spoke to them for about thirty minutes, and then killed some time before coming back. Intelligence officers like Ango sometimes choose a rainy road for their secret meetings. It's more secure than an indoor space for classified talks."

"Anfo is the Port Mafia's classified intelligence officer," Oda countered. "Of course he'd have one or two meetings he couldn't tell anyone about!"

"Then he could have just said that he couldn't tell us," Dazai points out. "If he had, both you and I wouldn't have asked any further. Don't you agree?"'Besides, I know everything that goes on in this organization. Mori-san and I both, in fact. And I don't like that. It means hemusthave known something. The old geezer is far more like a fox than he lets others believe ... Have I overlooked something? No ... Am I being paranoid?'Paranoia has never been a bad thing in his life before ... He wouldn't be alive today if he wasn't such a paranoid bastard. And yet ... "And yet, he even made up an alibi. What was the reason that he had to go to such lengths to hide that meeting?" Did he know Dazai knows everything that happens? Did he know Dazai had spies stationed in every major city in Japan?

Their little talk was interrupted before they could reach a conclusive point or before Dazai could decide whether he should wash his hands of Ango right now or not. Odasaku gasped and Dazai turned around to see that one of the Mimic members had gotten up and was pointing a gun at them. The prized gun they all carried as a symbol and nothing more. He was trembling, clearly on death's door and in pain, yet he still pointed a gun at Dazai and Odasaku.

Dazai's not entirely sure what happened. It felt like a switch had been flipped. His mind narrowed its focus on only one thing, only one train of thought.Ango is a traitor. My friend is a traitor. A lair. Can lairs even be other's friends? CanIbe a friend?He couldn't, could he? Not to Ango - they were both liars - not to Odasaku and not to Chuuya.

Was losing one of his first friends a punishment for the things he'd done? The way he treats Akutagawa these days? The punishment he'd bestowed upon Q last year? The knife he put in Gin's hand? Chuuya's six dead friends slash subordinates? Not finding Masaoka's murderer?

'The Book is in my breast-pocket,'he thought. If the man shoots for his heart ... Would it be enough to ruin the Book, if not outright destroy it? "Well, you have commendable spirit. To tell you the truth, I hold you in awe. No other organization has managed to face the Port Mafia head on." Not sincehebecame an Executive, since Soukoku was formed.'Where is Chuuya when Iactuallyneed him. Such a bad dog.'He glided forwards, ignoring Oda's reaching hand and almost desperate call as he missed him. Dazai came within arm's reach of the would-be shooter, his men on guard and he could almost feel them sweating at this bout of danger he's placing himself in. It wouldn't be the first time ... But he guessed it alsowasthe first time for it to happen likethis... "I hope you can see the joy in my eye. With just a slight press of your finger, you can give me what I desire the most."'Not like this,'a part of his mind screamed.'It's aimed too high!'

"That idiot mackerel!" Chuuya thundered, looking like he might just call upon his Ability in this Ability-less space out of sheer force of will alone.

Atsushi was clutching onto Akutagawa, who looked greatly startled by that sudden contact.

The others watched, not daring to even breathe, even though they knew Dazai was alive and probably well outside of this space filled with these visions of his past.

"My only fear is that you'll miss your target."

"He sounds f*cking manic, what the f*ck?" Tachihara whispered and Higuchi gave an agreeing nod with a gulp of unease.

"But you won't," Dazai claimed as he fearlessly stared down the barrel of the gun. "You're a sniper, aren't you?"

"Dazai," Oda called again, still desperate but trying to stay calm. For once, he was mostly failing. Watching your friend be held at gunpoint will do that to you.

"Either way, you'll get killed." His men wouldn't let him leave here alive, not after pointing a gun at Dazai. Even if he dies, his men will riddle this robed little soldier with bullets. "At least try to kill one of the enemy Executives before you go," he taunted.

"Stop it, Dazai." The redhead was not above begging.

"Please, take me with you," Dazai said, the same way he once threw Mori's question back at him, asking if there really was a value to living. In fact, for a moment, there was something like a peaceful smile on his face. "Wake me from this oxidizing world of a dream ... "

"Dazai!" Oda and several of the viewers screamed as gunshots rang in the alley.

Then the Mimic soldier gave a cry of pain, clutching his injured shoulder of is gun arm, Dazai left standing, still and steady.

Dazai's men did not hesitate to open fire now that their boss was not directly in front of their target and they already had the default permission. They fired their machine-guns into Dazai's would-be-shooter's body until he fell down, never to get up again, surrounded by the pool of his own blood.

Not a single one of their bullets so much as grazed Dazai or his clothing.

"Sorry to shock you," Dazai said, even as he himself woke up from what felt like a trance, head clearing in an unsettling way. He turned towards Oda and tried to play it off. His friend did not need to worry about him on top of what he'd just discovered about Ango, after all.

"Worry about your self for once, you maniac!" Higuchi actually screeched and Yosano fully agreed with her.

"It was great acting, wasn't it?"

"Acting?" Oda, who had delivered the perfect shot to save Dazai from being shot to the head, lowered his gun.

"I knew he'd miss. His left cheek had the imprint from the sniper's rifle. In other words, he's left-handed. He was using his non-dominant right hand, and he was so unsteady that he could barely stand. And with that old pistol?" Dazai was explaining, even as he felt the bandages over his eye quickly get soaked in hot, fresh blood from the graze the Mimic sniper's shothadmanaged to land on him. Only a graze because Oda acted, risking his own desires for Dazai's unworthy life. "He wouldn't have succeeded unless he had the gun pressed up right against my forehead. I knew you'd do something if I bought enough time with talk to tire his arm out-"

They suddenly get a short glimpse of Oda's mind, where they see him contemplating just slapping Dazai for nearly giving him a heart attack with that stunt, but Flawless warned him against such a course of action with Dazai's men right there to immediately shoot him for laying his hand on their Executive. And Flawless was good and all at helping him predict where not to go if a few bullets come flying his way, but even he doesn't know if he can avoid a whole barrage at once. "Just stop it, Dazai. That's enough," is the thing he ended up doing instead of slapping and then wrapping up his friend in a blanket burrito the way he had back when they'd first met.

"I would havepayedto see Oda slap Dazai," Chuuya said viciously. "Maybe then he would have stopped pulling these stupid, suicidal stunts!"

"The blanket burrito would have probably been a better wake up call than the slap, though," f*ckuzawa pointed out.

Oda turned to leave, but Dazai called out to him. "Odasaku ... Please find Ango," he said, as he turned his back to his friend, too. At this point, he knew the chances of Angonotbeing a traitor were next to none, but Odasaku didn't know that yet. He still had hope ... And despite his own instincts and logic, Dazai hoped, too.

If nothing else, even if Angowasa traitor ... He had still been Dazai'sfriend.

Dazai won't try to force him to stay in the Mafia, nor will he hand him over to Mori, unless he finds out that Ango has been dealing out thereallysensitive information. And depending on whose spy he is, Ango could be useful. Dazai's always looking for new chess pieces and he thinks demoting from Dazai's friend to chess piece is the perfect punishment ...

But Dazai can be angry or disappointed with Ango later ... He needs to be alive for that, after all.

He'll leave that up to Odasaku.

"Yeah, I know." Odasaku was also ready to get their friend back and discover where he stood later, when they're sure he's alive.

So they parted ways and went on to do their own investigations.

The vision blurred out a bit, not much, because apparently they fast-forwarded only to the next morning, where the first thing they saw was Oda opening a door in a cheap, motel-looking place near the sea to a room of five kids, all seemingly doing their own thing, only to get lunged at by the five adorable gremlins with cheerful and adventurous war cries.

"How's that, Odasaku? You give up?" The kid with sunglasses and an orange vest over a white shirt, the kids' leader in this endeavor, apparently, asked smugly as they all sat on the former assassin to supposedly hold him down.

"Apparently, I'm going to have to show you just how scary the real Mafia is ... " Odasaku said with a deadpan voice, before he turned the tables on the kiddies, tying them up and then introducing them to tickle torture until they were all baying and squealing with laughter.

"Oh my god, that's so freaking adorable!" Naomi gushed, shaking Junichiro in her grasp as she squealed. "It's so obvious he loves them and that they love him, too! Aaaaahh!"

"It's good to see that the girl has recovered well from the Dragon Head conflict," f*ckuzawa commented, referring to Sakura, whose rescue they actually got to see when it had happened.

"Oh, look! There's Dazai-san!" Kenji pointed as the vision followed Oda down to a small curry restaurant underneath the rooms the kids lived in, where Dazai, his coat off for once, just like in Lupin, sat and attempted to eat Oda's favorite spicy curry as made by his favorite chef, the man who owned the rooms he rented out for the kids.

"Hot, so hot. This is too hot," Dazai complained to the chef as Odasaku joined him. "Did you add lava as the secret ingredient or something?" He's being dramatic, he knows, but he's never done too well with too warm or too spicy things. He guessed he just didn't like them. It's not that he couldn't take the heat or the spice, he's a torture expert and food mostly tasted like ash on his tongue, anyways, so it's not like it'll really affect him in that way, anyways, but he just guessed he didn't like it.

"Odasaku-chan eats that all the time," boasted the chef before turning to said man. "How ere the kids?"

"Same as usual," Oda finishes what seems to be the usual exchange.

"Are those all the kids that lost their parents in the Dragon Head conflict two years ago?" Dazai asks, pretty much needlessly because, unlike Ango, he actually got tomeetthe little gremlins making Oda's world turn around and around. Still, it was always good teasing material. "You're Oda Sakunosuke. A member of the Mafia who never kills, you have no interest in moving up and you take care of orphans. You sure are strange." But that's why Dazai liked him so much. It's what made him stand out, what made him a splash of color in this dull world Dazai was forced to live in. "You're the strangest person in the Port Mafia," he says with a playful, fond pout.'Well, aside from Chuuya, Verlaine-san and me. Not even a trained assassin who refuses to kill and instead collects orphans like trading cards can match up to three human-like beings like us, though Chuuya isdefinitelyhuman, he just also happens to be a vessel at the same time. Verlaine-san and i are a whole different story.'

"I'm going to start greeting Dazai with 'You are human' from now on," Kunikida ascertained, exasperated.

"Hey, that's not a bad idea!" Yosano exclaimed, already on board becausemaybethat will stop Dazai from doing stupid sh*t all the time. Wistful thinking, of course, but one can hope.

"Not as strange as you," Odasaku countered and Dazai almost snorted at just how right he was by that observation. However, Oda focused on something else, namely sliding a cream envelope to the chef/establishment owner. "Here are the living expenses for those kids for the time being."

"Are you sure? I don't mind pitching in," the man offered and Dazai marveled at the kindness of some people in this world.

"I'm already grateful that you're giving them a place to stay." Dazai continued eating, just so he wouldn't blurt out that he'd buy Oda any house he wanted if only he'dask. Dazai does almost absolutelynothingwith the money he earns. It just sits in his many accounts he's long since separated from the Mafia because he has no intention of ever being dependent on that or any other organization for income. It's not greed or paranoia, it's only logical. Dazai isn't even a material person; he had been perfectly content to stay in his shipping container, but he'd been dragged out of there and showed into an apartment he's not sure anyone is even using anymore because he knows for a fact that the Akutagawa siblings were moved out of the Executive-level apartment. "And as long as I get to eat the curry here whenever I want, I don't need anything else."

"Hot ... So hot ... "

"Whyis he soadorable?" Yosano asked in despair, because it didn't seem fair to her at all! "Also, he should probably stop eating that if he's not used to spicy food. It could be bad for his intestines."

"His intestines might as well be made of reinforced, stainless steel," Mori said long-sufferingly. No one asked for a clarification. They're not sure they could, pun not intended, stomach it.

"And you came here today concerning that thing, right?" Oda asked, directing it to Dazai this time, so he finally had an excuse to leave the too-spicy curry.

"Yes ... " Then, in the blink of an eye, gone was the goof and instead a respectable Executive sat in his place beside Oda. "I've come to the conclusion that they are an organization of a few Ability users from overseas. They were being chased by a Gifted agency from England called the Order of the Clock Tower-"'Whom Verlaine-san has mutual beef with ... WhomImight have beef with, actually ... I still haven't quite decided yet ... '

"Can he pleasenothave beef with the Order of the Clock Tower?" Kunikida asked, twitching all over. "They've already tried to burn Yokohama to the ground once! We don't need them trying to incinerate us a second time!"

"-and came scurrying from Europe to Japan ... "

"And what did those guys come all the way to Japan for?" A reasonable question, really.

"They escaped to a foreign land ... So maybe something was already here ... "

"That's possible ... But there's one thing that bugs me about that," the older of the two males mused.

"You want to say that the soldiers were far too skilled, right?"

"Yeah."

"They're former soldiers ... According to my information, the head of that organization is a powerful Ability user who apparently uses it to command veteran soldiers." It had been tricky getting even that much. The flow of information on new foreign groups, freshly arrived in Yokohama can be a pain and mostly futile until they create a presence for themselves in the underworld, but Dazai hadn't been trained by the best of the best so as to have no information at all.

"A powerful Ability?" Oda echoed. "Does the Boss know about this?"

"I reported it to him. Then he ordered me to come up with an anti-Mimic strategy and command the front." The shadows suddenly seemed far too ominous cast on Dazai's face, the light at his back not helping at all. It gave him an eerie feeling the Agency wasstillnot quite used from their colleague. "I already set up various traps."

"I'm going to ask something rather rudimentary, but if it's an international criminal organization with Gifted members, wouldn't this be a matter for the government agency?"

"Does he mean you guys?" Higuchi asked and the Agency members could only shrug.

"Are you referring to the Ministry of Home Affars' Supernatural Special Operations Division? They won't show up unless the situation is rather extreme." Hell, they hadn't even shown up for the Verlaine incident, only making an appearance when the Mafia was already setting up to clean up a part of their own mess while Dazai was multitasking between taking care of post-Corruption Chuuya for the first time and dealing with the fallout the mini war against one man had caused not only the Port Mafia, but in the entirety of Yokohama's underworld. After all, Port Mafia is the warden of the night. The reason the Dragon Head conflict was able to start at all was because, for just a minute, the Mafia was perceived asweakeneddespite that being the beginning of Dazai's tenure as the Demon Prodigy. It's what caused the tensions to rise until sh*t hit the fan and the conflict started, then became an outright war and got even worse when Shibusawa got involved. Speaking of, the Supernatural Special Operations Division hadn't gotten involved back then, either. The Supernatural Special Operations Division, or the Special Division for Unusual Powers, most commonly called Special Abilities Department on the streets because no one wanted their stupid mouthful of a name, were cowards hiding in the shadows of 'justice'. They had been the ones to send Shibusawa out in the first place, escalating the conflict. Unfortunately, they hold a lot of power over any and all Gifted individuals and even more so over Gifted organizations. "Because to the outside world, they technically don't even exist." They're far more shady than you'd think. It would be easy to manipulate them. There's just so manystringsto pull and pluck!

"And what about Ango?"

"It's basically been confirmed that Ango was the one who leaked the passcode to the storage unit that was cleared out while I was being attacked," he shared. "Did Ango betray the organization? Everything makes perfect sense if we go by that." Just then, Dazai's phone rang and he answered it on the second ring. "It's me," he answered, because if someone is calling this number, they're very well aware of who they were dialing. "Understood," he replied to the news as a satisfied, dark smile stretched over his lips and his eyes glinted like a predator's, almost red despite the light not hitting that perfect angle for it to actually do that weird change of color thing. "A mouse fell into one of my traps."

"As expected of Dazai-kun," crooned Mori, missing the days when he would get a rush whenever Dazai came into his office to bring in his latest report. Dazai, after all, never brought about bad news. One could even say failure was not in his dictionary!

They were briefly shown a scene of Oda going through Ango's books and records in his office before they were brought by the vision into a strange, dimly lit room that all the Port Mafia members, of course, recognized.

Akutagawa in particular winced as he realized what they were about to watch. This had to be his dumbest, stupidest, most suicidal moment in his whole life, including going out to fight the Guild while still suffering from grave injuries or the night he and Dazai actually met.

"I'd like an explanation ... " The youngest Executive in Port Mafia history said quietly, staring at the scene before him. Dead Mimic soldiers captured specifically for the purposes of interrogation and, if necessary, torture, the mice Dazai had so carefully caught so he may play with them to get the information he wants. His men, shuffling around, tense, uneasy, well aware that this will be viewed as a failure in the eyes of their superior, for theyhavebeen warned that these guys were not afraid to raise a hand against themselves for the sake of their organization's secrets. They'd been given clear instructions. Yet the enemy soldiers were dead.

"We captured Mimic's vanguard that attacked the casino," one of the senior members of Dazai's squad dared to give the report, knowing things could only get worse if they didn't explain themselves. "With the knockout gas, as planned. One of them committed suicide, but we brought in the other three here. We were planning to have them talk about the others. We even removed the poison hidden in their teeth."

"Hey, wasn't that guy there for when Mr Fancy Hat was brought in?" Yosano asked, pointing out the man giving the report. "The guys with him, too!"

"Yeah, they were some of Dazai's best men," Chuuya answered.

"Were?" She echoed uncertainly. The short man nodded, face grim. "Oh."

"Yeah."

"I know that," Dazai said, a bit more sharply. "Because that was all part of my plan. What I want to know is what happened after that."

The gathered subordinates gulped. "O-one of the soldiers woke up earlier than expected. Before we could put handcuffs on him, he stole one of our guns and most likely shot his comrades so they couldn't talk. He also came after us ... "

'Why didn't you handcuff him before? How stupid are you to get your gun stolen off of you? I've trained you all for such scenarios! Why were they even kept together? There's plenty of room in both the dungeons and the torture section!'

"I thought these guys were supposed to becompetent," Tachihara scoffed.

Gin snorted. "Please. Just last week, you spent ten minutes pulling on a door that had a clear sign that said PUSH-"

"WE AGREED YOU'D NEVER TELL ANYONE ABOUT THAT!"

"Will the both of you shut up?" Hissed the Rashoumon user. "As if my shame isn't embarrassing enough, I don't need the two of you arguing over it as it plays out!"

"Huh?" Was the collective response before Akutagawa's voice echoed around them again, but twenty year old Akutagawa wasn't the one speaking.

Instead, sixteen year old Akutagawa made his appearance. "So I decided to take care of it," the younger teen said as he confidently stepped up towards his mentor, the other subordinates stepping aside and making way for the Silent Rabid Dog of the Port Mafia, Dazai's personal apprentice. Dazai did not turn to face his subordinate, already feeling like this will be an exhausting exchange. "Is there a problem?"

"I see ... " He said almost as a sigh. He was not in the mood to give a lecture today. "No, it's nothing," he continues, as though he wasn't actually a little ticked off. Another show of insubordination ... A public one, at that. The only reason his men weren't already reaching for guns was because this was Akutagawa, his student, and because they already knew they, too, had messed up. They wouldn't dare to breathe without his say so for at least a few weeks after such a monumental failure. But they're not ones he has to worry about right now, are they? "You defeated the fearsome, unyielding enemy, and protected our comrades, Akutagawa-kun. That's absolutely splendid." In a way, he wasn't even being sarcastic, considering the way he'd been in the past. Akutagawanotkilling his menwasan improvement, but a minuscule one. "If it weren't for your powers, they wouldn't have been able to defeat such a powerful enemy on their own in a single blow." He finally turned to face him, though he did not yet look at him. "Nothing less from my subordinate."

"That's a rather ... cruel take on his usual little sh*t attitude," Kouyou said with an unpleasant twist to her mouth. With how wholesome some of these visions had been, it was easy to forget how cruel eighteen year old Dazai had been.

"I can't believe you acted without permission in such a manner, Akutgawa-kun," Hirotsu said with a deep sigh, sounding almost reprimanding but minding his place.

"I'm well aware I ... fuzzed up, thank you," Ryuunoskue huffed aggressively even as a flush of embarrassment graced his cheeks.

"Thanks to you, all of the enemies we captured are dead," he continued, finally heading towards the heart of the matter. "The soldiers that I worked so hard to lay a trap for just to keep alive ... Now our clues are gone. If even one of them were alive, we could have found out their headquarters, motive, their commander's lineage, name and the powers they use to command the organization ... We could have gotten all of that important information." After all, there was not a single instance where someone didn't sing like a bird whenDazaiasked the questions. But dead men tell no tales.

Such things don't seem to be able to penetrate his mentee's thick skull, though.

"Information? As if I would-"

In the moment it took Akutagawa to arrogantly slowly blink, Dazai moved, swung his fist and launched the younger teen halfway across the room. Some of the training they've been doing seems to have stuck, at least, because he did a flip and landed on his feet, even if he was crouched over on the floor.

The Agency washorrifiedall over again to be faced with what Dazai's and Akutagawa's relationship had turned into while the Port Mafia members just winced. Gin held her brother's fisted hand, trying to get him to look away, but he refused to. This was a lesson Dazai had tried to teach him, one he'd thought he would never learn and he's not yet sure if he has, either. His memory of this event is distorted by his feelings that onlythat mancan bring out in him with such intensity, he needs to process it with a clear head now that he's getting a second chance to see the lesson so he may pass the test next time.

"To you, it must have seemed like I was waiting to hear some excuse," Dazai said, loud and clear without actually rising his voice, as he made his way through his subordinates that stood like the parted Red Sea before Moses. Only this was a sea of black parting way for a demon drenched in blood to the marrows of his bones, not some saintly prophet. He didn't so much as twitch at the blood spraying briefly out of Akutagawa's nose and mouth from the direct punch to his face. "I'm sorry for giving you the wrong idea. Hand me your gun," he said to the room in general but the demand was immediately met by the nearest subordinate, even as they all watched the bandaged hand's direction of reach so they knew which one would have to hand it over. They just watched the two teens, knowing better than to try and get involved. "Someone I know happens to be taking care of some orphans ... If Odasaku happened to pick you up from the slums, I'm sure that he wouldn't have abandoned you. He would have patiently and firmly guided you."

Akutagawa finally caught his breath enough to lift his head and look up at Dazai.

"That's what righteousness is." Dazai co*cked the gun. "However, I'm a man hated by righteousness," he said with dead eyes that still managed to show a smidgen of anger he could muster up for the setback this idiocy caused to the investigation. "Men like me ... Do this to their useless subordinates." That was all the warning anyone got before Dazai flawlessly aimed the gun at Akutagawa's head and fired three shots, the cartilages of the bullets falling to the ground like ringing bells even as Gin, Higuchi and Atsushi screamed.

Kunikida and Yosano looked repulsed, the Tanizakis and Tachihara were scared, Naomi even shaking a bit, for she has never seen Dazai that uncaring as he shot at someone, not in any one of the visions they've seen so far. Kyouka looked haunted and Kenji was concerned, while f*ckuzawa, Ranpo, Chuuya, Kouyou, Hirotsu and Mori just watched, Ranpo and Chuuya with clenched teeth and fists.

Akutagawa just stared at his mentor's young face, breath stolen from his lungs the moment Rashoumon manifested to devour the space the bullets would have needed to fly through in order to reach him. In that moment of stillness, where Akutagawa was trying to breathe and no one dared look at Dazai's face, approval and pride flashed through reddish brown eyes, satisfaction and something like relief making such a brief appearance that even Chuuya, Ranpo and Mori almost missed it.

But not Akutagawa, now that he was watching this memory. Not when he so desperately desired any scraps of approval and acknowledgement from his mentor that he was hyper-aware of it when it happened.

He berated himself for having missed it back then. It would have meant the world to him.

"Oh?" The approval was evenaudibleas Dazai lowered his gun, observing a move they had beentryingto make Akutagawa do formonths. Only for him to have finally succeeded.'Finally! Perhapsthiswill stop the stupid boy from acting like a weapon and actually realize there's more to him than just stabbing things. I guess youcanteach old dogs new tricks and Chibi wasn't the exception.'

"He didn't want me to be a weapon?" A stunned Akutagawa gawked shamelessly, eyes wide, feeling feint.

"That'swhat you focused on?! Dude, he could havekilledyou!" Tachihara screeched because, despite everything, the Black Lizards and Akutagawa and Higuchi were still kind of friends, alright?

"I'm going to punch that sh*tty mackerel for this when we get back," Chuuya said tiredly while rubbing at his face.

"Please don't, Chuuya-san," the older Akutagawa pleaded. "None of you may understand this, but I needed everything Dazai-san dished out."

"That's abuse, Akutagawa," Atsushi said shakily but the older half of Shin Soukoku shook his head.

"You needed a kind hand to reach out and coddle you. I needed someone capable of making me stronger and independent. I just ... I missed the other lessons along the way Dazai-san was trying to teach me. That's on both of us."

"At least you're willing to put some blame on Dazai," Kouyou mused. "Perhaps your relationshipishealing, in its way, at its own pace."

"See? You can do it. How many times have I told you?" Dazai asked as the Ability was dropped and the bullets fell to the floor. "Cutting open unfortunate hostages isn't the only thing you're good for."

"High praise from Dazai-kun," hummed Mori, especially in the light of all the things Dazai's thought revealed of his opinions of him.

"You should be able to use your powers for defense, too."

"I've never been able to successfully do that before this," both present and past Akutagawa said, making Atsushi and Higuchi fret over him even more, not that he paid them any mind.

"But you just did."

"That doesn't excuse you from shooting at a f*cking minor!" Kunikida screeched at the vision of Dazai, as though the message would reach him despite this having happened four years ago.

"Isn't that great?" Akutagawa looked up at that, with a pissed-off-scared glare, not that Dazai was intimidated. "The next time you mess up," he warned, eyes finally glinting that beautiful yet dreadful red. "I'll punch you twice and shoot you five times. Got it?"

"I can see why he was so feared, despite his young age," f*ckuzawa mused. "He has quite the presence to him. I wonder how he was able to keep it hidden from us for so long. I could sense the killing intent from all the way here with four years apart."

"You're always only able to get a glimpse of what the lad wants you to see," Kouyou answered. "Never more than that."

"Now, then," Dazai turned back around to the problem at hand, no longer acknowledging Akutagawa's existence. He'll have to help his mentee to train the speed of activation for his Ability later. "Let's check their corpses. Something might turn up."

One of his subordinates practically ran after him like a puppy. "Ano ... What should we check on the corpses?"

"Everything," the brunet casually replied. Like it was obvious. "We're going to find any trace of their hideout that we can. The soles of their shoes, their pocket lint, anything sticking to their clothes ... All those are clues. For crying out loud ... Apparently all of my subordinates must think that beating our enemy to death is the only thing the Mafia does." He was surrounded byidiots. He wasnotin themoodto be surrounded by idiots. "At this rate, Odasaku might figure this all out on his own."

"Is it just me, or is Dazai-san far more cut out to be a detective than he is a mafioso?"Junichiro wondered out loud. "I mean, he's using detective tricks to solve things, so clearly he's definitely more suited-"

"Bite your tongue," snapped Mori, but Naomi just stuck her tongue out at the Mafia boss while clinging onto her brother protectively.

"Dazai-san can be whatever Dazai-san wants to be," Hirotsu shrugged. "I think the insight we got into his life proved as much."

"I know that man, as well," Dazai's subordinate said. "Though he is part of the Mafia, he lacks the guts to kill a person."

Young Akutagawa was definitely paying attention too much to useless, inaccurate gossip.

"I can't see him associating with you at all, Dazai-san."

"That was the general consensus back in the day," Gin mused, as she had also heard the rumors.

"You've made two mistakes," Dazai retorted almost immediately. "Guts have nothing to do with being able to associate with someone or not. The other is a warning," he turned to face his subordinates from where he was crouching in front of one of the corpses. "You'd be better off not angering Odasaku ... Ever. If he were to truly become angry from the bottom of his heart, everyone in this room would be dead before any of us could draw our guns. When Odasaku isn't holding back, he's more terrifying than any member of the Port Mafia."'Not including Chuuya, of course, or Verlaine-san ... Or Ane-san, because who the hell is stupid enough to piss offAne-san?'

"Atta, lad," the female Executive purred in fond satisfaction.

"I would also like to add Dazai-kun to the list since he's purposefully leaving himself out," the Boss himself chirped, though he did not sound nearly as cheerful as he was aiming for.

"Why does this feel like a foreshadowing, though?" Kyouka asked, eyes narrowed.

"Akutagawa-kun, you could never defeat Odasaku in a hundred years."

"I actually believe it after I saw the way he avoided attacks," Akutagawa himself mused and that was the shock of a century to all those who know him.

"No ... That's impossible," his younger self, though, denied in despair. "Dazai-san, who do you think-"

"All right, back to work," the Executive casually said and followed his own example, rummaging through the cloak of the body for clues. "I know the enemy's trouble, but we need to hurry up and take care of this. Or the Special Abilities Department will show up and cause even more trouble."

"You have a very ugly frown, Akutagawa-san," Kenji said through a smile at the man, causing Higuchi to squawk in protest. "I think you should smile more! You're really pretty so you'll be even prettier if you smile! Even if you don't have eyebrows!"

Akutagawa looked like he wanted Ivan to come back so he can make the ground open up beneath him as everyone involuntarily burst out laughing.

Chapter 23

Chapter Text

18yo

"This is Oda," the said redhead answered the phone after three rings.

"Ya, Odasaku. I found a clue," came Dazai's voice over the speaker. "Would you head over to the place I'm about to tell you?"

"You discovered the enemy's hideout?"'As expected of Dazai,'came Oda's thought.

"Yup."

"Did their soldiers tell you?"

"Nope. But we were able to get results from a dried leaf that was stuck to the bottom of one of their shoes ... It was indeed a leaf."

"You guys had the access to necessary labs to do that sort of analysis?" Yosano asked, impressed, and Mori preened, but Kouyou cut him off before he could start bragging about yet another of Dazai's contributions to the organization.

"Yes. The lad thought we needed more substantial proof after an incident with a pair of twins that nearly started a gang war, so he invested in some labs. That's also, unfortunately, around the time Kajii joined." Both women sighed in annoyance at the reminder of the lemon-obsessed man's existence.

Tachihara was kind of just rubbing his head through it all. "Seriously, though, how come the Mafia evensurvivedthis guy leaving if practically everything was his doing, his ideas, his people who carried it out? Or, at least, why is he even stillalive? Isn't he basically a walking death threat against the entire organization? I mean, he knows us inside and out, both the workings and the layout of our organization ...Whyare we allowing this guy to be our enemy? You even had a whole saying about how bad it was to be his enemy!"

Mori gave an indignant snort at that while Hirotsu slapped Tachihara over the head and Chuuya glared at him for evensuggestingDazai be killed.

"Dazai-kun is of no use to anyonedead. He's a one in a billion type of genius, once in a hundred years. To kill him would be a bigger waste than to skip out on destroying an already vulnerable enemy organization. Besides, I knew Dazai-kun wouldn't go after the Mafia; the organization protects too many people he's come to care about, after all-"

"f*ck you," Chuuya, Hirotsu and the Akutagawa siblings all said in sync and Mori felt a cold shiver go up and down his spine, even as he continued talking.

"-and he's also quite aware of what would happen in Yokohama if no one governed the night. And it also seems that Dazai-kun knows about and respects the Tripartite system more than we were aware of, so he definitely wouldn't do anything that would disturb it. To kill Dazai-kun is to disturb the balance. Besides, if Dazai-kun were to die, Chuuya-kun would inevitably become a liability, it's only a matter of when, and I'd rathernotlose both of them, permanently, no less."

"You're gonna lose us, alright," Chuuya muttered to himself, but only Kouyou, standing by his side, heard him and she tried not to react.

"On top of all of that, I have full belief that Dazai-kun will come back, sooner or later," the Mafia Boss said smugly. "His blood is Mafia black, after all, more so than anyone else's. These visions were just further proof of that."

"If anything, these visions are proof that while Dazai may have Mafia blood running through his veins, he can still choose to do good," Ranpo countered, glaring at the Boss. "Have you forgotten who his parents are? Because we haven't. The Tsushima couple chose to leave the Mafia behind and start a new, honest life. Dazai evidently chose that, too, considering he's at the Agency now, causing you to sleep with one eye open all over again, right?" He grinned viciously, which Mori also returned, but f*ckuzawa stood behind Ranpo, glaring at his former partner, while Mori received no backup from his subordinates. Not a good sign for the Boss of the Port Mafia. "You're forgetting that Dazai's most formative years has been spent around morally gray people, yes, but all of those people have beenkind. Well, excluding his f*cked up grandfather and other relatives, kudos to Kiye for being different."

"And the f*cking Headmaster," Akutagawa added and while Ranpo nodded, he also pointed out Dazai hadn't been there all that long and left the Headmaster traumatized instead of the other way around.

"My point is, I do believe Dazai is more capable of kindness than youorhim believe him to be."

But Mori grinned at that like Ranpo had just fallen into the juiciest trap. "Oh, I never said he wasn'tcapableof kindness, or of change. But it seems to me, master detective, that you've missed the main point about Dazai-kun's personality and overall continuance and constitution, despite Masaoka and Natsume-sensei outright debating it in front of us in these visions." When those emerald eyes narrowed, Ougai laughed, delighted. "Dazai-kun is indeed capable of change and kindness, just like he is capable of being ruthless and merciless, just like he's capable of killing over one hundred people and orchestrating the death of at least a tenfold as many! Dazai-kun, however, has lead his life by the way of least resistance so far. Cruelty is much easier than kindness to someone who does not even consider themself human and who greets death like an old friend. Cruelty and murder is overall much easier than kindness and arresting in jobs as dangerous as ours. However, if there's anything Dazai-kun is good at, it's making a new mask to fit in. It's just another page in his blank book, just another imprint of the world he mirrors in order not to stand out. Hell, you lot seem to think he's incapable of paperwork but for the Port Mafia, wefearedwhen Dazai-kun picked up papers and a pen. You lot also seem to be under the impression that Dazai-kun is a good man, that justice and righteousness and the law mean anything to him. Dazai-kun could not care less, as you've seen so far. The law especially; after all, he hates the government and it takes alotfor Dazai-kun tohate. You've made a mistake on betting on Dazai-kun's place in the light. When push comes to shove, blood is thicker than ideals and friendship will reveal itself to pale in comparison to whatever it is that Soukoku has."

"I'll never ask Dazai to come back, Boss," hissed Chuuya, enraged by the mere suggestion even if his heart skipped a beat at the thought Dazai would return forhim, even if it made him miserable or simply completely indifferent towards life all over again.

"You wouldn't have to; the Port Mafia is the only thing protecting you from the government, Chuuya-kun, and Dazai-kun knows it because he's the one who set it all up," the former underground doctor pointed out with a sickly sweet smile towards his currently youngest Executive. He ignored the death glares Kouyou was sending his way for even implying something with his words regarding Chuuya's safety. "Should that protection ever become uncertain because of outside influences, or even inside ones, Dazai-kun will come back where he belongs to right the balance. After all, Chuuya-kun, you live in that boy's head rent free 25/8," he purred and Yosano looked ready to be sick at her teasing words now being used against the ginger and her coworker slash friend.

"That is enough, Mori-sensei," f*ckuzawa said with an authoritative tone, glaring at his former partner, reminded all over again why they had such a vicious falling out all those years ago. "Should push come to shove, Nakahara is more than welcome at the Agency, where we will keep him and Dazai both safe, as we have other people the government may or may not have wanted to get their hands on."

"That's kind of you, but both of you are forgetting one f*cking thing," Chuuya snapped,So Donewith people deciding his and his partner's fates without their input. "The Port Mafia may have created Soukoku and both of your organizations may currently hold one half of it, but Soukoku belongs only to me and Dazai. We'll f*cking decide where we'll be taking our devastating rivalry and unrivaled partnership together and the rest of these visions will help shape my decision and how I present my offers to Dazai when we get the f*ck out of here. You all like to point out how I'm all Dazai thinks or cares about besides Oda and Doc Glasses, two things he can't really care about in the same capacity anymore, well, here I am, living up to those little teasing comments. If it keeps Dazai safe from all of you lunatics and if it keeps me out of danger so he can f*cking relax and actually learn to even mediocrity enjoy life, Iwillresort to drastic measures, whether that's leaving or leveling Yokohama will be entirely up to your stupidity, sothread carefully. I'm not above f*cking murder and I'm not above torture. I'll make the last moments of this Earth of anyone who f*cks with us the most painful and bloodcurdling of their pathetic, sad little existence. So if you'redonewith all the f*cking posturing," he gestured towards the vision, where Oda was seen finding a tied up Ango in some abandoned building. "We have some more memories to watch."

"I see what you said about us potentially losing a nullifier."

"Told ya."

"Odasaku-san? You mustn't come here! Why did you come here?" Ango asked, sounding a bit desperate, as Oda walked over to start freeing him from his binds. "This was the facility the enemy was using as their hideout!"

"I thought you might have needed some help," was Oda's simple reply as he worked on the ropes.

"I didn't need any help!"

"Really? Let me deduce one of the reasons that you're troubled right now."'Maybe I've been spending too much time around Dazai, lately. Still, it's fun playing detective.'

"He would have been a good addition to the Agency," Ranpo said mournfully. "Even if he's as dense as a rock."

"Mimic found out that you were a spy."

"That's ... "

"Well, that's actually correct," Hirotsu mused. "Sakaguchi Angowasa spy within Mimic. Just like he was a spy within the Port Mafia-"

"SPOILERS!" Tachihara protested, only to get a deadpan stare from just about everyone.

"Tachihara, youdumbass, we all know Sakaguchi works for the government," Gin whacked him over the head. "He's one of the highest ranking officials and agents within the Special Abilities Division, for crying out loud!"

"Everyone in the Port Mafia believes you're a spy for Mimic. But it's the opposite. Sakaguchi Ango is a Port Mafia spy that infiltrated Mimic."

"Well, notentirelywrong," admitted Mori, earning glares from everyone for even breathing at this point. "But also not really right, either."

"Ougai-dono, for your own safety, I advise that you cease speaking."

"How cruel, Kouyou-kun."

"The reason those guys were looking into your room with a sniper's scope was so that the Graugeist, hidden in your room, wouldn't be stolen. But why didn't they hurry up and snipe the Boss of the Port Mafia? That's because you lied and said you didn't know where the Boss was."

"Actually, it's because Sakaguchi-kun knew the windows were bulletproof. Dazai-kun made it no secret that the entire building was secured, doubly so after nearly half the headquarters had to be rebuilt after the Dragon Head conflict. At that point everyone knew special armored glass was being installed so no type of bullet except armor-piercing shots could get through and, well, the headquarters was under constant watch. No sniper could get close enough and go unnoticed for longer than a minute and that's simply not enough time to get a good shot in-"

"As amazing as Dazai-san is, please shut up," Kenji cut in, not even smiling, and everyone else howled with laughter at the fact that even the sweetest boy on Earth was f*cking sick of Mori's bullsh*t.

"The reason you said that, as well as everything you said or didn't say, were all determined by the Boss."

Mori snorted but didn't say anything.

"Odasaku-san, please, run," Ango pleaded, not daring to meet his friend's eyes. "I, of all people, messed up ... There are time bombs hidden throughout this building ... They were planning to burn me to death for being the traitor that I am!"

"Wow, way to out yourself," Higuchi snorted and Akutagawa echoed it, much to the blonde's delight.

"I can't believe Dazai-san holds this man in higher regard than me."

"I almost want to take it back because we already have so many dumbasses at the Agency," Ranpo also commented, only to earn a flick on the forehead by f*ckuzawa for his bratty behavior. "Ow!"

"See? You were asking for help."

"Finally! It sure took him half an hour to get those damn ropes off! And he had to do it by shooting the rope! Isn't he sh*tty Dazai's BFF? Shouldn't heknowhow to undo such a simple knot? Dazai made me learn how to dislocate my wrist if I can't use my Ability to escape!" Chuuya complained, both at his partner and at the incompetence his partner's best friend had just displayed.

"If only we could learn such things from being in Dazai's proximity," Kunikida said with a roll of his eyes, to which Chuuya rolled his own, taking it for what it was: Dazai had not taught Kunikida any of his basic escape artist tricks, either. It almost made Chuuya feel smug that he was such a priority to Dazai ...

No one said anything as they watched Oda literally fling himself and Ango out of a window to avoid being blown up. They somehow miraculously avoided both breaking bones and getting burned by the heat of the explosion. Ango was having a hard time catching his breath, but Oda was only a little bit better.

"Are you alright?"

"I'm not cut out for all of this adventure," Ango replied jokingly. "But ... You saved my life."

"How much does our Boss know?" Oda asked, not acknowledging saving a friend's life and being thanked for it, because it just made sense to him to protect those he cares about. At least he will be returning to Dazai with good news ...

"Nearly everything. The only one who knew about me infiltrating Mimic was the Boss."

"So the reason the Boss had me look for you was for insurance."

"God I hate you," Ranpo directed at Mori, who only shrugged.

"Because he knew that I would look for you even if I didn't know the truth."

"I have to report to him immediately," Ango said, getting to his feet unsteadily. "The head of the Mimic is an extremely dangerous man. He plans to crush the Port Mafia."

"What's the leader's name?" The redhead asked, both of them ignoring the burning building in the background.

"His name is Gide. He has a very powerful Ability. We mustn't fight him. Odasaku-san, especially you." Oda was as confused by this as half of the audience. "The gun that was in that lockbox, the Graugeist, is a sign. There is a special craving in the co*cking piece, and that proves that you are a member of Mimic."

"What the hell is Mimic, anyways?"

"Yeah, I would like a better explanation of this organization, too," Kyouka muttered. "Are there any of them left?"

"Thanks to Dazai-kun's men and Oda-kun, no, there aren't any."

Kyouka just glared at the man she once feared. Her dislike for him was so great now that not even fear stopped her anymore.

"They are the remnants of those defeated in the war that can only survive on the battlefield. They are still haunted by the war ... "

"Who else is getting an eerie vibe from this whole thing?" Naomi asked, no one in general.

"What's that ... ?" Ango suddenly pointed over Oda's shoulder, sounding confused and a bit scared.

"CALLED IT!"

When Odasaku turned around, it was to see a patterned purple, beige and blue ball roll over to a few steps in front of him. He bent over to inspect it, already grasping at the toy when Flawless suddenly warned him, too late, at the danger it hid.

"Poison? Not a bad touch. As expected from such a snake from the 'light'," Kouyou sneered as they watched Oda get paralyzed and fall forward. Seconds later, a squad of the Special Abilities Department's armed agents burst through the foliage.

"Ango ... Run ... "

"Odasaku-san," Ango knelt down by the non-killing assassin. "Everything that I just told you about Mimic is the truth. It is not a lie. Thank you for saving me. Take care." And with that insufficient farewell, Ango ran towards his true comrades, leaving Oda to slowly lose consciousness on the grass. "I would have loved to go drinking with you and Dazai-kun again at the usual place."

Oda just watched him and the special ops team run off into the night.'Sorry, Dazai ... Looks like I fuzzed up.'That was his last thought before he fainted.

Maybe five minutes later, Dazai's men sent as backup for Oda finally showed up and they all definitely nearly had heart attacks on the spot when they spotted what they thought might be a dead Oda Sakunosuke. It was a reasonable reaction, really, since theyhad, unfortunately, arrived a little late and that may as well be a death sentence all on its own but if it cost Oda his life ... One of the weaker-willed subordinates already had a gun in his mouth when Oda twitched and they all sighed in relief. Then they scrambled to help him and get him back to the nearest infirmary just so their good fortune wouldn't dry up.

"Wow, they'rereallyterrified of Dazai-san," Junichiro breathed, kind of still finding it hard to connect the Port Mafia Executive Dazai Osamu to the Armed Detective Agency member Dazai Osamu. They were like two completely different beings. Then again, Morihadbeen harping on and on about how well Dazai adapts to a new mask but he doesn't want to believe that the detective Dazai is a mask for the Executive Dazai.

"The Demon Prodigy was the boogeyman they scared recruits with," Kyouka informed him and Tanizaki just sweatdropped. It was to keep everyone from stepping out of line. There was no one better and no one scarier."

"Oi! What am I? Chopped liver?"

"Chuuya-san is too kind, for all his power."

"What about Akutagawa?"

"Whataboutme, weretiger?" Challenged said man.

"It's just that you lash out and like to kill things."

"I never said Ilikedit. I'm just good at it and overall indifferent to it. Thank you for showing your incompetence and stupidity for thinkingthatis enough to put me in the same rank of terrifying as Dazai-san. I'm sure he'll be just as disappointed when he hears about this."

"Bitch," Atsushi replied, though somehow it soundedfond.

Kouyou and Hirotsu were already having war flashbacks while Chuuya just snorted.

Dazai was indeed not happy with his men for being late and coming only in time to make sure Oda doesn't have some sort of seizure due to whatever poison the Special Abilities Division used. Still, he was relieved that Oda was alive and well, which he couldn't guarantee for Ango the next time he sees him. Dazai can be surprisingly forgiving to those he considers friends ... He wouldnotforgive this.

Not even for his own sake, but because not only did Odasaku get his hopes up, he also got hurt.

And on top of all of that, now that he knows Ango is most probably working for the government, he has to go through all the records again to see whether Ango touched anything of Chuuya's. Dazai's the only one who's been touching those foryears; he'll know if a single page is out of place.

If the government is looking into the Arahabaki project again ...

Dazai will burn Japan to the ground.

It's more than they deserve.

Thankfully for Japan or whatever, that's about the time Oda started stirring in his hospital bed. The windows let in the fading rays of sunlight as the great big ball set in the western horizon, indicating just how long Oda's been out. His eyelids fluttered once, twice, before he opened his eyes.

"Are you awake, Odasaku?" Dazai asked in as gentle a voice as he can manage. It's a voice he usually reserved for Chuuya after he used Corruption for long enough to require actual professional medical treatment, so it's extremely rare. His heart was beating like crazy; he wasnottaking it well that he had to use such a tone for Odasaku.

Because Chuuya's resilient. Whatever it is exactly that resides within him, whether a true god or a singularity or a combination of both, it helps his human body heal after he uses Corruption and ends up in such situations.

Odasaku was just a man. He can't heal that fast. So sue Dazai for being worried about his friend!

"How do you feel?" He asked next when he noticed his friend's eyes focused on him, clear and coherent, if a bit still groggy from the long nap he took.

"I feel like I'm experiencing all the hangovers I'll have in the next fifty years all at the same time," the redhead replied as he sat up slowly.

"Well, that's good, since he-"

"Don't youdarefinish that sentence," Gin hissed, wrapping a hand around Tachihara's neck to stop the joke. "Or I will tell Dazai-san and then you will havehimto deal with."

The ginger just raised his hands in defeat and winced, as he realized it really was a very bad joke if even Akutagawa, who seems to have beef with the guy for getting so much of Dazai's attention, andKenji, the lovable cinnamon roll, were glaring at him. The only one who wasn't was Mori and, well, Tachihara by now deduced that's not a very good sign anymore, now is it? "Right, sorry. My bad."

Gin let go of him. "You're such an idiot."

Higuchi took over berating him for her, even continuing the strangulation and no one heeded Tachihara's cries for help, instead watching these rare moments Dazai allowed himself to be so soft around another.

"I saw Ango at the place you told me about," Odasaku revealed.

"So Ango was there, like I suspected," he hummed, sitting in a corner where the least light reached, arms crossed over his chest and looking like he might just blend in with the scarce shadows in the room. He wasn't surprised at all. And Odasaku knew it.

"Yeah. He vanished into the dark with soldiers in black."

"Sounds like black special ops."'Sounds like the government, alright.'"It seems like recent events can be divided into two categories."

"Are they a separate organization from Mimic?"

"They're different. But we can pretty much ignore the black special ops guys for now." After all, they've extracted their mole and won't make further moves in fear of provoking the Mafia further. Mimic is the more dangerous enemy. Akutagawa-kun and the other combat squad members are dealing with conflicts in the city, but we don't even know what the enemy leader's Ability is. We're at a disadvantage."

"That Akutagawa is one of your subordinates, isn't he?" Odasaku asked, paying rapt attention to Dazai's reaction. "I heard his Ability has high offensive capabilities."

'Oh? Akutagawa-kun has managed to rack up a reputation? I ought to talk to him about the importance of maintaining it.'He also ought to tell him to get a reputation for something other than just stabbing things.Yes, he's still annoyed about the dead Mimic soldiers, but he wouldn't be Dazai Osamu if he hadn't been able to work around it. "He's a naked sword without a scabbard," is what he told Odasaku. "I'm sure he'll become the strongest Ability user in the Port Mafia in the near future, but, right now, he needs someone to teach him how to sheath his blade."

"Akutagawa-senpai!" Higuchi cried in panic as the said man literally fainted.

Chuuya grinned. "Well, what do you know? That sh*tty mackerel has always acknowledged you, huh? I guess he just knew he couldn't tell you when you weren't ready."

"Isn't that great, Akutagawa?" Atsushi smiled down at his partner, who was still in a catatonic state.

"Though didn't he kind of exaggerate it?" Tachihara mused. "I mean, Akutagawa's cool and all and super strong, but there's still Chuuya-san."

"I'm pretty sure Chuuya-san exists in a completely separate category in Dazai-san's mind," Hirotsu told him and the ginger nodded in understanding.

"Sorry, that was a tangent," the brunet apologized to his friend. "This morning, the council of the top Executives convened. They made the decision to attack Mimic with everything the Port Mafia can muster. Just now, my subordinates, including Akutagawa-kun, were hit by a surprise attack." You could tell by the slightest twitch in Dazai's expression that he was not happy with that. "They're still fighting at the art museum- Odasaku?" He cut himself off when he noticed the older man getting his guns and getting out of the hospital bed. "You're not serious about going, are you?" Sure, Odasaku was hardly in danger, but hehadjust recovered from being poisoned ...

"We're hitting them with everything we've got, right?" Odasaku retorted.

"I didn't think you'd be interested in conflict since you don't kill people." Odasaku sure did have a way of always surprising Dazai.

"I'm not."

"Then why?"

"I've acquired a lot of debt in my life," came the redhead's reply but before Dazai could tell him he didn't owe Dazai anything, Oda continued. "If your subordinates are in a tight spot, they need help." With that, Oda left the room, leaving Dazai alone.

"You should forget your debts," he mused to himself, even if his words were directed at the man who had already left. "No one remembers what you owe them."

"Is that true?" Kenji asked Kunikida, who could only shrug, so the boy turned to Ranpo, who didn't really have an answer, either.

"I think people mostly remember when you owe them money, but not genuine debts like this," Tanizaki mused and that seemed to be enough for Kenji.

"Oh, it's Akutagawa-senpai again! Isn't he just so cool," fawned Higuchi as the vision shifted to show Akutagawa killing the Mimic soldiers who had killed Port Mafia's gunmen in the ongoing firefight at the art museum. "Look at how talented Senpai is! He just learned that move and yet he's already using it flawlessly in combat~!"

"It is an impressive learning speed," mused f*ckuzawa. "Your Ability is indeed very versatile. I can see why Dazai insisted on you developing ways to use it outside of just straightforward attacks."

"So you're the one they speak of. The Gifted one in black," an unknown voice says and Akutagawa looks towards the source, finding a man dressed similarly to all the others, with long-ish white-gray hair hidden under a hood he takes off when Akutagawa asks him who he is. "My name is Gide. I am the leader of Mimic."

"He will never acknowledge me, no matter how many underlings I defeat," the teen in black said, to himself more than Gide. "I'd like to challenge you."

"You're a fool, you know that, right?" Ranpo asked Akutagawa, who only scowled at him.

"Is your Ability sufficient to release our souls from original sin?"

"Now that I think about it, I seem to attract a lot of religious or religious-like creeps," mused present Akutagawa to himself while everyone else just gawked at Gide'sridiculousquestion.

"Want to find out!?" And teen Akutagawa attacked, but Gide easily dodged. And dodged again. And again. He even bounced off of Akutagawa's Ability, who was losing his cool in the face of someone who could hold up against his powerful Ability. At one point, Gide even used mere guns to fire at the tendrils of Rashoumon to stop their advance, before he got in really close, aiming for Akutagawa's head ... Only for it to be blocked by Rashoumon devouring the space the bullet would have traveled across.

However, Gide used two guns. And the second one had fired into Akutagawa's thigh, just above the knee, making the teen collapse. Gide followed up by aiming at the boy's head, ready to blow his brain out. "Given a few more years, you might have grown powerful enough to grant our wish, but we cannot wait."

"Kill me," Akutagawa replied, glaring up at Gide. "Defeat means death. I regret that I could not be the enemy you wanted."

"DUMBASS!" Atsushi, Gin and Chuuya yelled, all three of them whacking their Akutagawa over the head for even thinking something so useless, let alone speaking it into existence for even just a second.

"Farewell," was all Gide said, preparing to pull the trigger, only to whirl around just in time to have both of his guns knocked out of his hands thanks to the precise shooting of one Oda Sakunosuke. He jumped away from the collapsed fifteen year old mafioso, staring at Oda flabbergasted.

"Did you get shot in the leg?" The redhead asked even as he approached Akutagawa and never took his eyes off of Gide, aim still steady.

"Hey!" An even more flabbergasted Akutagawa protested as Odasaku suddenly hefted him onto his shoulder as effortlessly as though he was picking up a pillow, carting him off like he was a sack of potatoes. "What do you think you're doing!? Let me down! Let me go!"

Atsushi looked like he was having the time of his life at how embarrassed both past and present Akutagawa were over the situation. He also found it unfairly cute.

Higuchi, meanwhile, was contemplating finding some sort of necromancer just so she could give Oda a piece of her mind for treating her respected Senpai like that!

"I'm Oda Sakunosuke," the non-killing assassin introduced himself as he ran out of the building still carrying Akutagawa over his shoulder. "I heard about you from Dazai and came here to help."

"Don't tell me you did something stupid," Chuuya warned, already prepared to berate the Rashom*on user.

Akutagawa did not meet his eye as his younger self launched an attack at Oda, who, of course, flawlessly dodged it by throwing Akutagawa off and shooting the tendril that came out of the ground by shooting at it.

"I've heard of you from Dazai-san," Akutagawa replied, as he crouched on the ground. "You're one of the lower ranking members."

"That's right."

"And I heard he considers you a friend. Is that true?" He demanded, meeting Oda's eyes with a glare.

Oda considered him for a second. "I have a policy of not using that word lightly."

"Oh, that would break Dazai's heart, for sure," Yosano winced.

"He's just wary," Ranpo assured her. "I'm pretty sure Dazai was the only person in the world Oda could consider a friend."

"Dazai-san said I wouldn't stand a chance against you, not even in a hundred years." And that still pissed Akutagawa off, especially combined with how callously this man treated his mentor's regard, at least in Akutagawa's eyes.

"Now's not the time to be having a fallout," Oda warned, but there was no reasoning with Akutagawa at that moment.

"Why ... Why doesn't Dazai-san ... !" And he attacked Oda. And Oda overwhelmed him with practically the same moves Gide did. "Are you the same!?" Which was the last thing Akutagawa was conscious of, because Oda punched him hard enough to knock him out cold, making the viewers wince.

"Sorry," the redhead apologized, sincere despite how level his voice sounded. "I have to bring you back, especially for a friend who has high hopes for you."

"Their friendship is something I would be willing to die for to protect," Kyouka says solemnly and, well, they all kind of wince at the fact that it wouldn't be possible, anyways. Well, aside from Mori, but no one cared about him, anyways.

Instead, they focused on the clash of Oda and Gide and marveled at the singularity that developed when their Abilities overlapped. They were all a bit stunned by the fact that Gide and his soldiers were willing to travel so much just to find someone like Oda, who would be able to honorably kill Gide and 'release the ghosts of the war' that were the betrayed soldiers making up Mimic. Gide and Oda were so perfectly matched that a fight between them would be an eternal stalemate.

If only Oda was willing to shoot to kill, that is.

But he wasn't.

"A man who takes lives cannot write about lives. That's why I won't kill."

"Well, that's certainly an interesting reason," Mori mused. "I can't believe Natsume-sensei had sunk his claws into Oda-kun, too. How intriguing, indeed."

"And that's the reason why you refuse to do battle with us?" A stunned, devastated Gide asked. "So that's your answer?"

"That's right."

"Why is he acting like he's entitled to some guy he never met before breaking all his beliefs and wovs just for him and then being angry because the guy doesn't want to do it?" An incredulous Tanizaki asks and Tachihara backs him up on this, but no one answers.

The enraged Gide tries to make Oda fight by shooting at Akutagawa, but Oda just jumps in the way, unharmed thanks to the bulletproof vest he had the foresight to wear. Present day Akutagawa definitely felt a little bad for being such a prick with Oda when he'd gone out of his way to keep him safe for Dazai's sake.

Eventually, Gide did speed off in a jeep that came for him, but with very ominous parting words that no one liked before the vision shifted again. It was nighttime and Oda and Dazai were together again, clearly heading towards Lupin judging by the alleyway.

"The night is a good time," Dazai was saying. "It's a time that belongs to the Port Mafia."

"What now?" Oda asked, hands in his pockets as he walked side by side with the teenager Executive.

"I don't know," came the admission. "That was quite some trouble you got into, though. Who would have thought that the enemy leader you'd just met would turn into such an earnest suitor?"

"They're weird, looking for war so that they can find a place worthy of their deaths," the elder of the two commented and the viewers had to agree. Though, in a way, Mori, Hirotsu and f*ckuzawa, if no one else, understood them. They've seen the Great War intimately, if in different ways. It haunts. Rare few escape it.

"Are they? Their wish to be creative about their deaths is something I hadn't thought about." It brings in a whole other dimension to this conflict Dazai wasn't sure he liked. He may have zero regard for his own life in general, but he didn't like how this revelation made him feel. Mimic search for a noble death worthy of their status as soldiers and warriors. Dazai sought death just to end things: his own boredom, the Book's threat, the memories he has to live with, the things he does to get by day by day ...

"How long will this conflict last?" Oda asks and that's the good question, isn't it?

"Mimic's soldiers aside, their leader's Ability is a nuisance." Where is that insufferable chibi when you need him? "Surprise attacks won't work." Because they currently don't possess someone capable of throwing a building on Gide. "That means we need inside information. Any leads you can think of?"

"Wait, can you actually throw aroundbuildings?" An excited Kenji asks, practically bouncing in front of Chuuya, who just ruffles his hair.

"Sure. Never tried it outside of Corruption, though, but, really, that's just manipulating gravity of both myself and the building, nothing special."

"Nothing special, he says," f*ckuzawa shook his head at the ginger's modesty.

"Only Ango."

"I agree," the bandaged teen replied to Oda's guess.

"I wonder if there's some way we can find Ango."

"He says that as though he's not walking side by side with the most well-informed person in Yokohama," Kouyou commented with a delicate snort.

"There is."

"Of course he knows there is." It was Ranpo, this time, who snorted. Though Oda seemed surprised, which was more surprising than the fact that Dazai knew where Ango would be.

"To be precise, there is no need to find him."

"Here?" Oda questioned, dubious, as he looked up at the flickering sign above Lupin.

"Where else?" And, indeed, when they entered, Ango was seated in his usual place with Sensei occupying the seat Odasaku usually sat in, on Dazai's right.

"Hey there," the traitor greeted, making Dazai divide his attention between Sensei and the man who'd lied about being his friend. Which was probably good for both the cat-shifter and Ango, because Dazai was not in a charitable mood. "I started without you."

'The nerve,'tsked the Executive internally. Still, they sat with him and ordered their usual drinks, only the magic of Lupin's usual tranquility was gone. Especially since both Odasaku and Dazai had silently tried to stir the other away from Ango, something the bespectacled man no doubt noticed.

"I really don't like this," Kenji admitted, frowning sadly at the tension between the three friends when the last time they saw them together, it had been a jovial mood. Well, aside from Dazai's trepidation about Ango's behavior and cover story.

"I'm afraid this was inevitable to happen, Kenji," Kunikida told him. "It's rare that a lie lasted this long, but all lies are inevitably brought to light. And lies hurt people; it is logical that Dazai and Sakunosuke are not very welcoming towards Sakaguchi-san."

"It's why I always say people should just be honest with each other," the boy said softly and the Agency felt bad for not being able to comfort him. Perhaps if he had been present, Dazai could have, but Dazai was not one to throw around empty words to comfort people. Even when the brutal truth hurt, he would mercilessly deliver it, for all that he was a practiced, almost pathological liar.

"You could've called," was the first words spoken since they all sat down, from Oda directed to Ango over Dazai's space in the middle.

"I had a hard time losing my tail," was Ango's response. "But today's fine. I can spend as much time here as I want. Well?" He looked towards them. "How'd you know to find me here?" He was doing his best to sound casual, normal, like nothing had happened ...

"Just a hunch, I suppose."

Ango looked away at the bland answer, slightly disheartened. Still, he wasn't hopeless quite yet, since his friends had still sought him out. "I'm lucky. I didn't think I'd be able to drink here again."

Dazai was having nothing of that fake jovial atmosphere. "Youé pretty sentimental for a mole." And, as always, Dazai's words aimed for the juggler. Even if Ango didn't outright flinch, the words hit their mark, like always. "Even before you joined the Port Mafia, you had a different identity And that's as a secret agent of the state." And Dazai had known, perhaps not the exact division, perhaps not the exact station, but he'd always known Ango was not like him and Oda. After all, neither Oda nor Dazai had any real attachments to the Port Mafia besides the people within it, but Ango was extra flighty, even compared tothem. "You were an agent of the Ministry of Internal Affairs' Special Abilities Department. Your mission was to monitor the Port Mafia." Probably because the organization acquired both the only survivor of the Arahabaki project and the only true nullifier in the world. A powerful, dangerous combination, something the Department would have surely realized as soon as Mori-san sent them on their first mission together and after the incident with Guivre, when they first used their deadliest move ... Yes, it made sense to have someone infiltrate them and keep an eye out on the two teenagers with monstrous power between them. "Though the Department oversees all those with Abilities throughout the nation, should there ever be an all-out war with the Port Mafia, they will suffer heavy casualties."'And lose, too. I'd make sure of it. Especially if it's the government.'

"Because of Mr Fancy Hat, right?" Yosano guessed and Ranpo and Mori nodded.

"The Department's primary purpose is to manage, not annihilate the Ability users." And if that's a dig about sending Shibusawa out into the Dragon Head conflict, well, itoughttohurt. Dazaiwantedit to hurt. "That's why they had an agent infiltrate the Port Mafia and monitor their movements. Then Mimic came to the table. The Gifted criminal organization had been planning to enter Japan. They must have been a headache for the Department, so you were ordered to infiltrate Mimic ... as the Port Mafia's spy."

'Which brings about an interesting question. Mori-san is nowhere near my level, but that old fox is sly enough not to have missed a play like this, brilliant as it may seem.'

DAN-GER DAN-GER DAN-GER DANGER DANGER DANGER

'Well, that confirms it, more or less. But I'm still missing something ... It's right there, just out of my reach ... What is it? I don't like it.'

The way the Book practically vibrated from within his coat, he knew it didn't like it, either. And that's never a good sign.

Ango adjusted his glasses as Dazai finished his deduction. "As a lowly government worker on a salary, it was a job entirely above my pay grade."

"So, in other words, Ango wasn't a double agent, but a triple agent," Oda summarized, sounding sad and sorrowful.

"What a mess," Higuchi commented, wincing for the Lupin trio's sake.

"Is that why Dazai-san got Sakaguchi-san hit by a car?" Atsushi asked, having literally everyone whip their heads around to look at him incredulously.

"I'm sorry, Dazai didwhat!?" Kunikida thundered and Yosano just shrugged.

"Yeah, it happened during the whole three-way war with the Mafia and the Guild. He had me heal him after he struck some sort of deal with him."

"Probably for Kyouka," Kouyou realized and felt the need to cackle.

Eventually they got down to business, about Gide's Ability and Mimic and the Department's intentions to have the Mafia deal with them. Something about it all blared alarms in Dazai's head. Mimic was a pain to deal with, even for the Mafia with Dazai leading the charge, mostly because a lot of his strategies wouldn't work because of Gide's Ability, so similar to Flawless. Even though Dazai knew how to get around it, it would require a perfect execution and he simply lacked the resources for that at the moment. After all, a lot of his men had already been injured or killed in this conflict and, and, most importantly, Chuuya was out of the country so all Soukoku scenarios, the only ones with a true 100% success ratio, were off the table.

Getting an explanation on how singularities come into being was a bit funny to Dazai, because he already knew practically everything Ango had to offer. He'd spent too much time around Chuuya and Verlaine to not learn as much as he could about the subject so he could find ways to protect them. Besides, there were a lot of files from the lab Dazai recovered, as well as from Randou's mansion that no one knows he's in possession of. Still, to hear what the government shared 'freely' ... It's always good to know your enemies.

Especially in situations like this. After all, this was different from whatever created For The Tainted Sorrow or the singularity created by Illuminations to keep Verlaine alive. This incident involves two almost identical but different Abilities colliding and overlapping.

"It would be a huge problem if the brass found out I was meeting you guys like this ... I'll have to go underground for a while ... "

"Well, well," Dazai interrupted such musings, a dark tone finally entering his voice, as befitting of an Executive who just found and caught a traitor. "You're talking as though you will leave this place alive."

Both of his older companions were a bit surprised by the sudden turn, even though they were well aware the forced tranquility couldn't last forever.

"Are you planning on making this a war zone?" Oda asked warily and, really, Dazaicould. It would beeasy. He could have his men down here in a matter of a couple of minutes and for all that Dazai is lanky and slightly shorter than Ango, he could overpower him easily. Ango wasn't a combatant and Dazai had been training with Verlaine, the Assassin King, for two years to take on Kashimura. Taking Ango down would beeasy.

"It's my fault. I was wrong," Ango admitted, in a quiet voice full of nostalgic longing and unbearable sorrow. "I selfishly thought that here, I could meet with you two without having to consider my position."

Dazai closed his eyes and took a subtle, deep breath, inhaling the scent of Lupin, memorizing the feeling of having two warm bodies on either side of him acting like beacons of warmth and light, committing the tune playing in the background to memory and compartmentalizing all the memories ofthreein this bar into a special corner of his mind. "Ango," he called. "Go before I change my mind."

That definitely threw everyone but the Agency members watching this in for a loop, because Dazainevershowed mercy.

But the relief they felt at this sign of Dazai indeed being capable of it even at his darkest moment was crushed by despair the second he continued talking.

"I'm not sad. I knew this from the beginning," he admitted, which definitely shocked Ango and Oda, though their own sorrow at what they were hearing overwhelmed any marvel they might have felt at their young friend's genius. "Whether you were with the Gifted Special Operations Division or not, I always end up losing what I hold closest."

Images of his parents, his home with Matsuki-san, Chibi and the servants, of his aunt, of Masaoka-ossan, that library which had been his escape and that parkour group that had accepted him, the relationship he'd had with the Akutagawas in the beginning, Q for all that they were alive ...

"It is a given that everything that is worth wanting will be lost the moment I obtain it." It was just Dazai's reality, even back when he was merely Shuuji. Chuuya and Oda were lasting a surprising amount of time as it was ... Dazai wasn't sure what to think about that, either. He had a bad feeling, has been having it for days ... Losing Ango like this ... Why does it feel like the least of his problems to come? "There's nothing worth pursuing at the cost of prolonging this life of suffering."

Both his friends felt his pain, Oda perhaps more so, because he could not keep looking at Dazai while Ango kept his eyes on his two friends' faces, knowing this very well might be the last time he sees them at all.

"Dazai-kun, Odasaku-san," he began, when even he could not bear to stare at the misery he'd caused to settle on his friends' faces. "If there ever comes a time when the Division and the Port Mafia don't exist and we all become free men, let's come back here and-"

This time, it was Oda who wasn't having it. The pain was already bad enough as it was and he could tell Dazai was suffering even behind the stoic facade of an Executive he kept up. "Don't say it, Ango." A moment of tense silence that made Oda's words echo. "Don't say another word."

And indeed, not another word was said. After a long pause, Ango just stood up, took something out of his pocket, slid it next to the youngest before leaving, not daring to look back. Oda and Dazai did not look, either. Instead, they both stole a glance at the thing Ango had left behind.

The photograph Dazai had insisted them to take the other night.

"I hate this memory," Tachihara said through tears streaming down his face that he desperately tried to hide, but to no avail. "Why the hell couldn't they just say friends!?"

"I have a feeling it's only about to get worse," Gin told him grimly, already grabbing at her brother because an assassin's gut feeling is never wrong. That's a lesson Verlaine made sure she would never forget.

The next vision started off innocently enough, just showing Odasaku coming back from the store with a bag full of groceries and some candy for the kids. He was alone this time, Dazai off to who knows where, wherever it is that his position as Executive and the Port Mafia's Demon Prodigy needed him to be. Oda was now free for at least a day or two after the investigation he'd led and concluded after Ango was declared a traitor with evidence to confirm it. He decided to spend it with the kids, maybe take them out for a movie or something. It was a nice day ... They could even go to the beach.

Such idle plans crashed the second he entered the restaurant under which the kids lived and found it a mess, everything upturned or destroyed. He ran over to the counter, finding the chef dead, shot while he was still holding a hot frying pan in each of his hands, slumped against the kitchen. Dead, he could tell immediately, as he was not breathing.

"Oh my god," Atsushi and Naomi whimpered, clinging onto the people closest to them - Kyouka and Akutagawa, and Junichiro respectively - while Kunikida rushed over to cover Kenji's eyes.

"Where are the kids?" Yosano asked with cold dread.

Ranpo growled.

Oda immediately ran up to the kids' room, yelling their names desperately and everyone prayed he'd find them alive, if not uninjured, but their room was empty, though in no better state than the small diner downstairs. There was, however, a note of sorts. A map stabbed into the bed frame of the bunk beds with a military knife. X marks the spot and everything.

Then the redhead heard an engine going off outside and rushed to the window, spotting the white wan he'd ignored on his way in. The curtains in the back seat shifted, revealing the five orphans he was taking care of banging on the glass and crying for help, Sakura right up against the window before they were tugged back by a big, adult hand. Oda was jumping out of the window with tears in his eyes and his heart pounding like crazy. He made a perfect landing, even though his knees twinged a little from taking the runt of the landing, and he started springing towards the wan, desperate to save the children-

When, with a deafening boom, the van blew up, right in front of his eyes, the kids still inside, blowing Oda back, too, making him roll across the concrete of the parking lot. He didn't stay down long, though.

The viewers wished he did.

Because as soon as he was up on his hands and knees, he was screaming. It was gut wrenching. It curdled the blood, it left blood in your veins, electric zaps going through your nerves and rendering you both numb and in severe pain. It was loud, it echoed up to the high heavens as Oda's little piece of safe haven, his little family, was wrenched from his hands right in front of his very eyes, going up, burning in flames.

Chuuya almost echoed Oda's scream, only in rage and horror.

Atsushi, Naomi, Junichiro, Higuchi and Gin were crying the tears Oda seemed incapable of at the moment, sobbing with all their hearts.

Yosano, Kunikida and Tachihara, in turn, were silently crying, not making a sound to honor Oda's anguished screams.

Ranpo kept rubbing at his eyes to stop the tears.

f*ckuzawa, Kouyou, Hirotsu and Akutagawa grit their teeth.

Kyouka hid against Atsushi and controlled her breathing to prevent herself from screaming, too. Oda's screams echoed in her ears like her own had the night Demon Snow protected her by killing her parents at her mother's orders.

Mori just watched, not daring to blink for even a second. He was not a man who ran away from the consequences of his actions. He will burn in hell for this, he is aware, so he faced it head on and imagined Dazai breathing down his neck with a scalpel to his jugular. That was his inevitable future. The question was just the tiger that will make it happen.

The vision, and Oda's screams, finally ended when those tears were finally shed and the reality sank in on the redhead.

His younger self had been right.

'There is no forgiveness in this world. Only retribution.'

Chapter 24

Chapter Text

18yo

Since Dazai technically owned the building, in a way, since he rented the whole place out for the orphans to live there safely, it was inevitable he'd be called to the scene. Even if Oda hadn't contacted him, voice hoarse, tone deader than he's ever heard him. Even if his subordinates hadn't told him about an explosion on one of the properties he made sure were secured.

The ones in charge of securing the property had been found dead already by the time he arrived to the scene and found an armed to the teeth Odasaku with that look in his eyes, but flatter, deader, emptier than ever before. Too much like the eyes Dazai saw whenever he looked into a mirror.

It was no longer a sunny day, like it had started off as. Thunderclouds were rolling in, indicating a storm was incoming.

The smoke was thick as it billowed in the air, even after the firemen have been trying to put it out for a number of minutes.

A crowd has gathered to watch the morbid display, showcasing humanity's stupidity and lack of true empathy as long as it did not directly affect them.

Dazai could not focus on any single one of those things.

All he could spare his focus on was Odasaku.

"Odasaku," he called out, dragging the older male's attention away from the shambles of the life he'd been building. "I know what you're thinking." It wasn't hard to. Dazai's seen that look in the eyes of men far too many times to be oblivious of it. "But don't do it. Even if you do it-"

"Even if I do it, it won't bring the kids back," Oda finished for him.

"f*ck, this is so messed up," Tachihara hissed through grit teeth, pulling at his hair. "What the f*ck, they were just kids! Who the f*ck targets kids like that!?"

"I think I might have an idea," Yosano muttered darkly, remembering her own past and recalling all the visions they've seen of Dazai's so far, especially the ones revolving around Chuuya and the Sheep. "I have a feeling that I'm right, too."

"You are," Ranpo confirmed, his jade eyes for once open all the way and observing everything that happened before them instead of just passively watching. "This is the moment that makes or breaks everything," he told her. "Either Mr Fancy Hat becomes one of us or Soukoku collectively disappears, never to be seen again. Whether they take down a few cities and organizations along the way is the real question, of course."

"This moment, you say?"

"Yeah," the genius confirmed. "This very moment. And if not this, then I don't know which it could be. Mr Fancy Hat isn't stupid, but perhaps he'll need a second to put the pieces into place. I'm not sure whether the visions will help with that or not."

"They seem to have a goal," f*ckuzawa said, joining their little discussion. "I hope we get the message we're supposed to receive. Otherwise, Dazai has suffered for nothing."

"Oh, you'll get the message. I can bet on it."

f*ckuzawa did not like the sounds of that.

"They still have an advantage in numbers," Dazai continued, hoping to dissuade Oda from going through with whatever downright suicidal plan that's developing in his mind. Dazai can almost see it. He can almost perfectly clearly see the way it will inevitably end. Even if one disregards his 'curse' regarding the people he comes to care for, even if Odasaku wins against dozens of trained soldiers and Gide, who has the same Ability as him, even if he survives whatever the singularity their Abilities might create by overlapping, before him stands a broken man.

Dazai already knows one of those and Verlaine-san was barely just starting to recover, if only enough to communicate with other people, mainly his students, Chuuya or Dazai. Verlaine-san has something to hold onto: he has to live to honor Randou-san.

Odasaku not only just lost the kids he considered family, but one of his two only friends had betrayed him not a day ago. And Dazai himself was suicidal, even if it's more so in the eyes of others than he actually is. Either way, he was simply not enough for Odasaku to cling onto. And that hurt, really it did, more so than Dazai had ever thought was possible considering how numb he usually was, but he'd rather live with that hurt than lose Odasaku. "And they're at-"

"I know where they are," Odasaku cut him off again, something the redhead so rarely did that Dazai was actually reeling from it, a bit. "I got an invitation, see."

"Listen to me," the younger of the two said a bit more authoritatively, getting desperate. "The Boss has just attended a secret meeting. It was with the Special Abilities Department. There's something more than this going on."

"There's nothing more going on, Dazai," Odasaku denied, walking past Dazai without sparing him a glance and that hurt, too. Dazai knew he would never measure up in Odasaku's eyes to the kids; they were innocent, while Dazai was drenched in shadows and he bled Mafia black. Still, to have Odasaku disregard him this much ... "It's all over for me."

"If he wasn't dead, I'd be tempted to kill him," Kunikida muttered, to the surprise of just about everyone, but that's only because they often forgot that beneath all of Kunikida's complaints about Dazai's work ethics and pranks and all the yelling and play-fighting, the blonde was rather fond of his partner and could get rather protective over him. "Who the hell acts like that with their friend? A suicidal friend, at that!?"

"Grief does strange things to a person," Chuuya said, not to really defend Oda, but just because it needs to be said.

"Why is it always taken out on Dazai-san, though?" Atsushi asked mournfully, recalling how Chuuya had also lashed out at Dazai during the Dragon Head conflict while he was desperately searching for his men or before that, when Dazai's relatives lashed out at young Shuuji, even if there was more to that than actual grief.

"It's because he's always there," Hirotsu said sadly. "He simply happens to be the closest target."

"Odasaku." The way Dazai so gently, yet so desperately called his friend's name hurt to hear. "Forgive me for putting it this way, but please hear me out. You need to rely on something. It can be anything. You should wait and see what happens next, whatever that is!"

'It's what I did and look at all the things I've found worth staying around just a little bit longer for. I met Chuuya, you, Ango, the Akutagawas, Hirotsu-san ... Even Verlaine-san and Q ... I found the Book, true, and it places a burden on me to die destroying it, but I found reasons to put it off ... Surely someone good like Odasaku will find even more reasons to love living in this world.'

"Oh my god," Higuchi sniffed, trying not to cry again so shortly after the orphans' deaths.

"Itwillhappen," he said with certainty, because life moves on despite the deaths of good, innocent people. Dazai also knows this from extensive personal experience. Even if one ignores his parents, the Aomori Tsushima manor's servants were innocent, good people. Even if one ignores his aunt, Dazai's parkour 'friends' were innocent. Even if one ignores Masaoka-ossan, the patrons of the library were innocent. Even if one ignores Randou-san, that detective Murase that had wanted to help Chuuya was innocent, or mostly so. Even if one ignores the Flags, Akutagawa-kun's friends were innocent, mostly so, as they were mere children. But the world didn't stop for any of their deaths, or any other tragedy that happens any given day.

For what else was a life but one more light that flickers and goes out in a sky of a million stars and infinitely more that are yet to be born. It is something that has happened a numerous amount of times already. Truly, what is one more in the scope of it all?

Yet humans cared for each one, didn't they? How foolish. Howbeautiful.

"Hey, Odasaku," he said after a painful stretch of tense, hapless silence. "Do you know why I joined the Port Mafia?" Dazai turned to look at his friend's back. Odasaku did not turn towards him. "I was hoping there'd be something in it for me. If you're in a place where you can feel raw emotions, where you're exposed to violence and death, instinct and desire, you can brush against man's true nature. I thought that way I could ... I could find a reason to live, somehow."

'One that doesn't revolve aroundanythingor anyoneelse.Yes, Chuuya and I are indelibly fated to wander this world like a soul split between two bodies; yes, I must live long enough to give Akutagawa-kun a better reason to;yes, I must live to find the right way to dispose of the Book once and for all and free Masaoka-ossan from the burden of having created it;yes, I must live until I find a worthy end that will honor my family and my manor's staff for their loyalty ... But ... Is it too selfish to ask for more? For justone, selfish reason that belongs to me andonly me? Can't I feel, if only for asecond, like a human being?'

"Damn it, Dazai," someone muttered, but it was not clear who anymore.

"I wanted to become a writer," Odasaku finally spoke up and Dazai felt a fleeting spark of hope, because that's it, that's something to strive for, tolivefor! But it was just that: fleeting. He could tell from his friend's tone even before he continued speaking. "I thought I'd lose my right to do that if I killed again. That's why I stopped killing."

"Odasaku ... "

"But that's all come to a close," Odasaku continued, starting to walk away again.

"Don't go! Odasaku!" Dazai begged, something he\'s never done before in his life, reaching out to snag the back of that tan jacket, ti tug and pull and keep Oda there with him, to keep him safe, to find him a better way to exact revenge that would not crush Oda so completely that life had no meaning to him anymore. No, Odasaku couldn't become like Dazai, he couldn't!

But he was already out of Dazai's reach, walking away.

Yes, Dazai could run after him ...

But it's not the physical distance that was the problem.

No, Oda Sakunosuke has already crossed a line into a territory not even the Demon Prodigy could follow.

"There's only one thing I want now."

Thunder crashed in the background.

"Odasaku!" Dazai's pained, desperate, pleading cry was ignored. He watched, feeling like he was going to cry again, for the first time since he was nine years old, as that familiar figure got further and further away.

Out of his reach forever.

'Unless I make sure he survives!'He thought, whirling around and demanding a car from his subordinates.'I'll make that idiot want to live again! Another goal to keep me going; I can live with that. I'll make him want to live like I'll make Chuuya stop doubting his stupid humanity! I don't need anything else to live for, so please, Odasaku ... Hang in there!'

The vision followed Oda as he walked away in the rain, unbothered by his soaked clothes and hair or the cold that was setting in beneath his skin. He was muchcolderat his core, after all.

"I'm not sure I can take this anymore," Kyouka admitted, sounding ashamed, and was immediately engulfed in Kouyou's arms in a tight, protective hug while Atsushi also offered his hand for her to cling onto.

"Oh, it's actually going to show that?" Ranpo wondered as they saw someone bump into the redhead, only for it to be revealed that it was Ranpo, out on a case.

"Did you recognize him?" f*ckuzawa asked curiously and Ranpo shot him an offended look.

"Of course I did!"

"Right, my apologies."

"Hmph!"

In the vision, Ranpo had just offered Oda a demonstration and was putting on his glasses to use his 'Ability'. His cheery and bragging disposition immediately sombered as he took in everything about Odasaku and deduced something rather terrible. "I'm not trying to be mean here, but you shouldn't go to where you're headed," he said, rather tactfully for Ranpo's usual standards. "You should reconsider. If you go, you'll die."

"You freak me out," Tachihara admitted and Ranpo would usually take that as a compliment but he wasn't in a preening mood. Especially in the wake of Oda's only reply.

"Yeah. I know."

"So he definitely knew he was going to his death. What's more, he was embracing it," Kouyou mused thoughtfully. "I don't think there was any chance of saving him at that point. He was indeed too far gone for salvation. Not even Dazai can save someone who doesn't want to be saved."

"Those who don't want or don't think they deserve to be savedcanbe saved," f*ckuzawa countered her and Chuuya nodded in agreement.

After all, Verlaine had been saved.

Kyouka had been saved.

Even Dazai and Chuuya have been saved, mostly by each other, far too many times.

But they had to agree with Kouyou that this time, it felt different.

It indeed felt like there was no saving Oda.

The vision shifted to Dazai again as he made his way hurriedly through the corridors of the Port Mafia headquarters, ignoring any and all calls for his attention over the various projects he's in charge of. It can all wait another hour, another day, another month, for all he cares. He'll make it work. Odasaku, however, couldn't wait even for a second too long. This was a battle against time. Dazai's won quite a few of those.

After all, hispartner'slife haddependedon it.Surelyhe can win when hisbest friend'slife depends on it, too.

Speaking of his partner ...'I'll get a Gifted unit sent to help Odasaku. My men will help him hold out long enough for me and the others to get there. It's a damn shame Akutagawa-kun is injured; I may berate him for not using his head or just mindlessly killing everyone, but that skill would be extremely useful right now. But I can't risk him with his injuries out on the battlefield; I have no use for a dead protege. However, what I can do is have the chibi called back. He'll need a hot minute to get here if he flies using For The Tainted Sorrow, that's why I need that unit of Ability users. As many as the Port Mafia can spare. All of them, for all I care. I just need to buy time until Chuuya gets here. Gide and Mimic can kiss their stupid Graugeist goodbye; Soukoku is undefeated. Even Odasaku wouldn't stand a chance against just one of us if we tried seriously, let alone if we're together. And I can rely on Chuuya to understand; he'll come help me. After all, he knows what it's like to not be able to save a friend ... He'll help! ... Right?'

"Of f*cking course I would have helped! But he never reached out!"

"Dazai never called you?" f*ckuzawa and Kouyou asked suspiciously and the ginger just shook his head no.

"We haven't heard from each other except by playing games in, like, three weeks before Dazai was reported as a traitor. At first, I figured he was busy, then I figured it was one of his bad weeks when it persisted and I just hoped there was someone around to get him out of his spunk before he made a serious attempt again that no one would be around to save him from in time. Then I thought that maybe he was angry with me over something? Except that didn't make any sense ... When he's angry with me, he just messes with my vine collection ... "

"Yes, that does, indeed, sound rather unusual for Soukoku," Hirotsu said in agreement, a sick feeling settling in his stomach. "Dazai-san was never one to ignore Chuuya-san. It was impossible for him. But I did note a noticeable lack of communication between you two ... Now that I think about it, Dazai-san often looked at his phone in confusion at certain times before he left."

Akutagawa nodded to show he agreed, having noticed a strange change in his mentor that he had been too young and too foolish to even think of offering some help about.

"But you guys heard from Mr Fancy Hat just fine, right?" Ranpo asked, directing it to Kouyou and Mori, mostly, both of whom nodded, though the Executive was already throwing looks towards the Boss. "How veryodd, indeed."

Nothing was said as they watched Dazai enter Mori's office without any of the screening other people usually got, especially in times of conflict. Dazai could honestly say he disliked the office. He remembered all too well the moment those pictures of his aunt's death were thrown in front of him, after all. He also remembered the day he jumped out of these very windows to escape his grandfather, to escape the Port Mafia. Looking back, he couldn't quite believe he survived that fall. It felt like a fairy tale ... But reminiscing is not what he'd come up here for.

The focus on saving Odasaku did not distract him from a bad feeling his instincts were trying to warn him about.

It didn't help that the Book was also blaring alarms in his mind.

"Oh? Dazai-kun? How rare of you to visit," the Mori of the past remarked, looking up at his protege where he was sitting in a plush red chair with a tea set on a table beside him. It was a little known secret that Dazai had gotten the Mafia Boss addicted to a special blend of teas Matsuki-san used to serve him when he was young and it was the only thing Mori Ougai would drink besides coffee. However, because Dazai refused to tell him the secrets of the blend, he drank the tea on special occasions, or when he was feeling in a particular mood. Dazai figured the meeting with the Special Abilities Department went well for Mori-san to break out the tea.

He also must have anticipated a visit from Dazai, perhaps expecting to get to share the good news with his right hand man? They haven't celebrated anything recently, after all. They used to, before, but not one since the start of this year ...

It wouldn't be unusual if Mori wanted to restart that little 'tradition' of theirs ...

But the timing was definitely unusual, especially with that feeling in Dazai's gut.

"Boss," he greeted, coming to a halt a few steps away from the seated man and his tea. The sunset had a rather eerie effect on the office, painting everything in shades of orange and red. The view, though, couldn't be argued that it was spectacular. "I'd like to ask permission to organize a Gifted squad to go out to save Odasaku."

Usually, something like this would be redundant at this point. After all, Dazai was basically the heart and soul of the Port Mafia. He'd stopped needing permission alongtime ago. Yet this was a delicate situation, wasn't it? If the government was involved ...

It could be quite a mess, indeed, if they didn't move carefully right now.

"Very well," came the immediate response, proving that it was, indeed, very redundant to ask for permission. "Permission granted."

Yosano looked confused for a moment. "Huh. I was sure you'd be an ass about it."

"But first, why?"

"Never mind, I was right. f*ck you, old geezer."

"How very cruel of you, Yosano-kun." Yet Mori's tone was not teasing as he watched therealmake it or break it moment Ranpo had mentioned earlier play out in the vision.

"Since when do you question Dazai's calls, Boss?" Chuuya asked suspiciously, his own gut feeling telling him something wasn't right here. He's never seen it happen since he joined the Port Mafia, not even once, so excuse him for being suspicious by the sudden change.

"You have not been present for all of our interactions, Chuuya-kun."

"No one questions Dazai," the youngest Executive present reported immediately. "It's a known fact. No one does it, Boss. Not evenyou."

"Odasaku is currently doing reconnaissance in full force by himself at Mimic headquarters. If we do nothing, he will die and we will lose a valuable Gifted agent."

Everyone had to commend Dazai for making his appeal sound logical and strategic on the spot. Then again, he was used to dealing with Mori, so it was just a part of his everyday routine at this point.

Past Mori was quiet for a moment before giving his reply. "I understand your reasoning. But I doubt Oda-kun wants to be saved by anyone." Alarm bells immediately rang in everyone's heads, Dazai's first and loudest, the Book practically screeching at him now. "What do you think about that?" Dazai did not reply, mind racing, calculations and theories and questions floating through his mind. Mori took his silence as a chance to give him a lecture, of all things. "Dazai-kun, the leader is the pinnacle of an organization and, at the same time, he is its slave. The leader must be more than willing to commit any atrocity in order to ensure an organization's survival."

It was a spiel Dazai was all too familiar with. Mori's been trying to beat that lesson into his head from the moment Dazai revealed he'd duped the former doctor. He's been trying to tie Dazai down to the Port Mafia like Prometheus was bound to a rock, to have the darkness of the underworld and the night pick at Dazai's spirit, sanity and soul like the eagle pecked Prometheus' liver. Only, unlike that ancient god, Dazai could not grow back the parts of himself that are lost and stolen. Unlike Prometheus, who would live long enough to be saved by some mighty hero, Dazai was meant to suffocate in his own Mafia black blood. For the sake of an organization that would never understand the depth of such a sacrifice.

For Dazai was not a champion of mankind in their eyes.

He was a demon, nothing more and nothing less.

However, the lecture was not what suddenly had Dazai paying acute attention to Mori-san. No, it was the black envelope he held between his white-gloved hands. He knew what it was. "That envelope ... " And suddenly, all those missing pieces fell into place.

The picture was complete.

The eyes of the Demon Prodigy saw through it all now that he knew not to trust his own.

"I see. I get it now."

Yosano did not even have it in herself to be angered by that phrase that usually left them either unsatisfied because the explanation did not follow or it ended up being too vague. The tension was too great for those games now. It was not a time to joke around.

It hadn't been since the orphans died.

They did not expect for Dazai to turn around, leaving his back to Mori, heading to leave the office with a solemn, perhaps a bit lost look on his face. The Mori from four years ago was a bit surprised, too.

"Where are you going?" The older man asked, causing Dazai to pause.

"To Odasaku."

That response had the guards at the door pointing their machine-guns at the Executive, causing Chuuya, Akutagawa and Gin to make loud noises of protest while Hirotsu and Kouyou watched with wide eyes at theaudacity. Of both the gunmen andtheir Boss.

"What the heck?" Tanizaki breathed as the Agency watched in stunned silence as one of their own was held at gunpoint all of a sudden, even if it had happened long before any of them had met him.

Dazai just stared with dead eyes at the guards, seeing the way beads of sweat rolled down the sides of their faces or necks. At his back, Mori radiated the energy of a satisfied cat and Dazai would know what that looks and feels like intimately; he has spent far too much time around Sensei not to. Besides, Chuuya sometimes called him cat-coded when he was drunk enough to spout nonsense or his real thoughts and Dazai knows he isn't exactly wrong.

The sensation this time made him itch for his mother's katana, however.

"We have not ended the debate, Dazai-kun," Mori said reprimandingly.

Dazai sighed, closed his eyes and focused. Now was not the time to get angry. Going 'off the rails', or as much as Dazai himself is capable of it, would help no one and would only keep him here longer, stopping him from saving Odasaku. Dazai can deal with the Boss more thoroughly later. Odasaku first.

And for that, he needs to get out of this office alive.

He'll meet up with his men and he'll improvise something.

"I've been thinking for a long time," he admitted. "About the Port Mafia, Mimic, the black special ops group ... Or, rather, in this case, the Special Abilities Department, and who's been the one controlling this conflict between the three groups. This bold and intricate handiwork was your work, Boss."

"What!?" The Agency - minus Ranpo - and Chuuya, the Akutagawas, Tachihara and Higuchi all yelled.

"Ougai-dono," Kouyou began but wasn't sure what she actually wanted to say, to ask, to demand.

"That black envelope says that much."

"What is that?" Atsushi asked.

"The Gifted Business Permit," the President answered him and Atsushi frowned, remembering the Guild's visit in an attempt to buy the Agency's from them.

"No matter how powerful the Port Mafia may become, we exist in constant fear of displeasing the Special Abilities Department and being oppressed," Dazai commented as he got closer to Mori again, even more so than before, reaching down to fetch the black envelope. "That is why, as a price of crushing Mimic, you negotiated for the insurance of this permit. This permit, which allows us to operate as a Gifted organization ... The Gifted Business Permit." Mori just kept smiling. The urge to grab a katana increased. Or a knife. Or a gun. Or a scalpel, for old time's sake. "Boss, you were the one who helped them enter the country illegally. You invited the enemy organization into Yokohama. to incite the Special Abilities Department into finally taking action."

"Yes," Mori easily admitted, not having anything to feel ashamed of, as if they hadn't lost dozens of men and suffered other losses, such as their integrity as the strongest organization in Yokohama and in arms and ammunition. "Thanks to that, we now have the Gifted Business Permit. The government has, for all practical purposes, ratified our illegal activities."

"How foul," Kunikida sneered while some of the younger members of the Agency could not believe the Port Mafia and their own organization were basically equal in the eyes of the Department.

"The troublesome aggressors will be taken care of by Oda-kun with his life. This is a glorious victory for us. And yet, why are you so angry?"

'Because I stand in front of you, Mori-san, and all I see is my grandfather.'

It was not just present day Mori who flinched at that thought or the lok in Dazai's visible eye, where it seemed not a single speck of life or light could penetrate the darkness settling in as his rage peaked.

"You're the one who let Mimic know about the orphans in Odasaku's care. You did it so you could counter Mimic's leader with Odasaku, the only Ability user we currently have that could be his match."

'You sent away Chuuya and somehow cut us off, didn't you. You knew he would come at my call, defying any and all laws of physics that may try to stop him. It's why you partnered us, remember? Ane-san isn't in Yokohama, either, as one of our more powerful Ability users. You can't be faulted for Akutagawa-kun's injuries, but everything else was your plan, wasn't it? For what? What threat is Odasaku to you to the point you went this far out of your way to get rid of him? What made you start a needless conflict that had the potential to ruin our organization, when you swore to Ane-san, Randou-san, Hirotsu-san, the Colonel and the others that you wouldn't be likehim?'

Dazai will figure it out later. He had a friend to save, so he turned around and faced the guns pointed at him again.

"Dazai-kun," the former doctor called out warningly and Dazai paused again. Odasaku needed him alive. He can't be rash now. "You need to stay here. Or is there a logical reason why you should go to him?"

However, Dazai was done playing these games. "There are two things I wish to say to you, Boss. First, you won't shoot me. Nor will you order your subordinates to shoot me." Killing Dazai would cause a rebellion, either started by Chuuya or Akutagawa or his men. The Port Mafia would be razed to the ground either way. Chuuya and Akutagawa had the power, but Dazai's men were trained to hold this entire organization by the balls. Most importantly when dealing with a man like Mori Ougai, however ...

"What makes you say that?" The Boss asked.

"Because you have nothing to gain from it." In Mori's eyes, Dazai was his greatest creation, his biggest success and failure all rolled into one. A demon untamable to all, including himself, with the ability to string along any and all he wishes and the Ability to render gods and monsters human before him with a single touch.

Dazai is the beating heart of the Port Mafia, as well as its 99% of brainpower.

To kill him is to kill the organization in one fell swoop.

"I believe you also gain nothing from defying me and going to him," Mori countered, probably confused by this side of Dazai. He'd no doubt set out to exploit it, one way or another, but Dazai refuses to dance to anyone's flute.

"As for the second thing, Boss, there may be nothing to gain by my actions, but there is still one reason why I will still go." He half turned around, letting Mori glimpse what little bits of humanity he'd managed to scruple together thanks to Chuuya, Odasaku, Ango, Hirotsu and the Akutagawas, as well as a few others before them who have helped formed the man that he is today, the Dazai Osamu that can and will strike fear into the entire Port Mafia with a simple genuine smile, starting with its Boss. "It's because he is my friend."

No one dared stop Dazai as he marched straight out of the headquarters. That was smart of them.

Dazai would not have hesitated to deal with them all appropriately.

He needed to get to Odasaku, ASAP!

As the vision shifted again, though, the watching audience was not about to let this exchange slide.

Ranpo was holding f*ckuzawa back from killing Mori.

Kunikida and Tanizaki were holding Yosano back from killing Mori.

Atsushi was holding Akutagawa back from killing Mori.

Kyouka was holding Kouyou back from killing Mori.

Tachihara and Higuchi were holding Gin and Hirotsu back from killing Mori.

Kenji was assigned to hold Chuuya back from killing Mori.

None of them were happy about it, since theyallwanted to kill Mori, but Ranpo had reasoned with them that they don't exactly know if that's the point of this Ability trapping them there, if killing even just one of them will leave them trapped here forever, never to see the real world again, leaving Yokohama and Dazai vulnerable. Not that it stopped any of them for reaching for his stinky neck, trying to wring it as it sank in what Mori did, what he allowed and led to happen, how that affected their friend's friend and then Dazai in turn.

"I'll f*cking kill you!" Chuuya has been yelling for the past seven minutes. "I'm going to f*cking murder you! I'll wring out every single one of your vertebrae and use them to crush your feet and hands! I'll f*cking rip out your femurs, sharpen them and use them to gauge your eyes out! I'll individually break each and every one of your ribs into pieces so tiny they may as well be dust! I'll rip out your own tongue and stuff it up your f*cking ass, you f*cking bastard! I'll rip out your heart and make youchokeon it before I fill your lungs with concrete and have you sink to the bottom of Yokohama bay! You think I'll let this go, you piece of sh*t!? You'llwishit's Arahabaki coming after your ass after I'm done with you, you waste of molecules! Howdareyou kill those innocent kids!? Howdareyouchase away MY PARTNER!? I'LL f*ckING MURDER YOU! I'll bury you underneath the ruins of everything you've ever loved! If Dazai was willing to let this city burn for me, WHY DO YOU THINK I WOULDN'T RETURN THE FAVOR!? I'm going to kill you, I'm going to broadcast it as a warning and then I'll f*cking-"

"I always knew you were as vile as the old Boss, but not even I could have imagined you could stoop this low, Mori," Kouyou hissed like a venomous snake. "I should have known that I shouldn't let you take over. I should have known that we would have been better off with anyone else but you or that old curr. I should have known as soon as I saw Dazai-kun as your shadow. You are a disgusting creature not worth the air you take up. If you think you will have my loyalty after youliterally turnedour Achilles Heel against us, for no other reason than because you could, you'redeadwrong."

"I take everything I said that night back. I should have staged a coup the second the situation with the Guild ended. I should have not defended your actions in Dazai-san's eyes. I should have killed you myself," Hirotsu growled, for the first time looking like a bloodthirsty killer and a true violent mafioso instead of the gentleman he was.

"Iwillkill you, Mori-sensei!" Screamed Yosano as she struggled against her coworkers. "I will watch the life die from your eyes and then I'll bring you back and kill you again. And again. And again! Until you've paid for all your crimes against innocent children everywhere! I'll let others take a turn killing you, too, before I finally leave you torot. It's the least you deserve, you piece of sh*t! It's the least you deserve!"

"You're the reason Dazai-san left? You're the reason I lost my mentor, why I doubted my reason to live was even still in this world?! I will introduce you to a true hellscape for this! My loyalty was never yours to begin with, but I will destroy your beloved organization in front of your very eyes! Let go of me, jinko!"

"As much as I want to let you do it, think of your promise, Akutagawa!"

"This is why our partnership and any other relationship ended, Mori," spat f*ckuzawa. "It is precisely because you are like this that I left without ever looking back. You don't value humans as humans, you only see tools, not people. You have a capacity for cruelty that disgusts me and you prey on children because they are vulnerable and easy to manipulate, orworse. Do you think Natsume-sensei would behappyfor what you pulled? That heapproves? You are a disgrace, as a leader and as a human being. That you are alive still is a miracle beyond my comprehension. Dazai must have the self restraint of a god."

"Are you all done?" Mori asked coldly, appearing unbothered by the threats to his life and all the insults thrown into his face. He didn't even flinch at the fact that the most influential and powerful individuals in his organization had openly stated that they will be gunning for his head after this. This only infuriated the others more, Gin spewing a string of curses that would make a sailor blush like a virginal maiden from long bygone days. "Did you get it all out of your system? Good. That's good. Now you can start acting your age instead of throwing this tantrum-"

"You'resick!" Naomi screamed at the top of her lungs.

"I've only ever done what's the best for the Port Mafia and for Yokohama."

"None of us would benefit from a dead Dazai. Or worse yet, avengefulDazai. You f*cked up big time, Mori. There's no going back from that," Ranpo corrected, somber instead of gleeful. Whether it was because of the reason behind five innocent lives lost plus the life of their caregiver or because of the severity of the whole situation and all the implications from his own words was hard to say.

Somehow, that was what had everyone calming down just as the vision around them settled again, showing Oda's battle against Gide with Dazai's men and Mimic's soldiers falling around them like dominoes in the hail of bullets from all over the place as the sun bathed their battlefield in bloody gold hues worthy of the sacrifice being made for the future they got to live. The overlap of their Abilities and the singularity it created was breathtaking and confusing as time seemed to stop, just for a second. They almost pitied Gide when he lamented not having been capable of ever leaving the battlefield and instead roaming like a ghost across the globe to find a worthy death he had sworn to greet like an old friend for his fallen soldiers.

"I have one regret," Oda in the singularity lamented in turn, eyes closed, letting himself rely on his Ability in what he knew would be his final battle, for what he knew would be his last shot. The last time he pulls the trigger. "I did not say farewell to my friend. To the man who was my only friend in this world I live in."

Some sobs were choked out at that, Atsushi the loudest, but Higuchi and Naomi weren't far behind and Tachihara and Kunikida were furiously rubbing at their eyes as the tears just kept coming.

"He seemed to have tired of the world and was waiting for death." For as long as Oda had known Dazai, the brunet was seeking relief. And relief only seemed to be available in death. It was like his only comfort in this world was that he could die. Oda, of course, wished it wasn't like that, but he didn't have what was needed to battle demons that have existed in Dazai's head almost as long as he was alive, even if they must have been quieter at some point for him to have lived this long.

"Was he in search of death like me?" Gide asked.

"No," denied the younger. "I think it's different."

They fired, the double gunshots almost blending into one, the singularity released around them, perhaps even terminating their Abilities for a moment, because Oda could not feel Flawless. It was nothing like when Dazai touched him and No Longer Human nullified his Ability with an almost soothing cold feeling creeping through his blood and nerves. No Longer Human makes you aware of what you come to lack upon contact with Dazai.

This left him hollow.

"Sakunosuke," Gide breathed, relief and awe in his tone. "Even your last shot was perfect." With that, the gray haired man fell over and the relief almost had half the viewers falling over in relief, completely forgetting, just for that one short moment, how this story ends.

Of course, that short lived relief vanished the second Oda fell over, too, just a second or two after Gide.

"ODASAKU!" Dazai's desperate voice echoed hauntingly through the now empty improvised base for Mimic's operations in Yokohama and more choked sobs came when they saw Dazai running towards his fallen friend.

He looked more disheveled than anyone really saw him, frantic and out of breath. He'd hurried to Oda's side as quickly as he could, but the men he'd managed to gather on short notice and him had ran into a Mimic squad guarding the road. Dazai's men assured him they would take care of them so he sprinted through the forest. He was lucky to have found a jeep the Mimic used; it handled the terrain marvelously, so he cut his travel time short by a good margin, yet by the time he reached the base itself, there was a breadcrumb trail of dead Mimic soldiers, bullets and blood. Before he could even enter the abandoned, rundown building, he heard the thundering shot and his heartbeat spiked in a way he'd never felt it do before. He sprinted through the house, abandoning climbing the stairs for climbing over the handrails to save himself every second he could spare. He dislocated his shoulder when he slammed into a wall when making a turn but not even that slowed him down as he forced it back into its socket with grit teeth.

All that ... And he was still too late.

Oda was lying in a growing pool of his own blood, his breath already struggling to come in and out. Gide was dead and Oda was dying. And Dazai had no supplies nor no way of knowing when his men would arrive with a field medic. For once, Dazai didn't even have any sparebandageson him. He was utterly helpless and useless in saving his friend.

Yet Oda still looked relieved and glad to see him as he gathered him in his arms and berated him when he saw all the blood he was losing. "You're an idiot, Odasaku! A complete idiot!"

"Yeah."

"Why did you go along with what he wanted?" Dazai asked, still completely stumped because it couldn't have been just revenge, right? It almost never isjustanything. And usually he could tell any other motives with a single glance ... Yet this time ... He felt blind.

"Dazai ... There's something I want to say to you."

Dazai could feel his panic spiking at that. And to think thathe, Dazai Osamu, the Demon Prodigy, waspanicking. But Oda sounded so weak and he was shaking all over, in pain and as the chill of blood-loss set in. He would be going into shock soon and Dazai could do nothing to help him. His mindwouldn't let him think up possible ways to help him! For the first time since that night in Suribachi, Dazai was completely helpless.

"No!" He denied, voice hoarse. Why was his voice hoarse? "Don't! You might still make it!" And yet, even as he said it, Dazai's damn mind provided him with why that was a lie. He was always running calculations and predictions. Judging on everything that's been observed so far, his men and Mimic were equally well trained, equally skilled, equally matched. At least when Dazai's not pulling the strings directly. There were roughly the same number of Dazai's men as the soldiers who cut them off. If they were not here yet, then they met the same fate as the squad that had gone ahead to help Odasaku. Which meant no backup, no medical help was coming and Dazai couldn't just leave his friend here all alone while he potentially futilely searched this base for some medical supplies. Yet he couldn't accept it. He refused! "No, you will make it! So don't talk like th-"

"Dazai," Odasaku firmly called, a hand covering his cheek and fingers burying in his hair on his bandaged side. "Listen."

The brunet quieted down, faced with the reality of it when he saw the look in Oda's eyes. This was it, whether he wanted it or not, whether he could accept it or not. These were the last moments of Oda Sakunosuke, his best friend, a man he admired and loved like a brother he never had. The first person who saw the inhuman in Dazai yet still saw achild. Who saw a person instead of a tool or a demon.

And Dazai was losing the only person in this world who never rejected him, who was only ever kind to him.

Just like his parents, Matsuki-san, the other servants, his aunt Kiye and Masaoka-ossan.

"You told me that you might find a reason to live if you lived in a world of violence and bloodshed," the redhead continued, voice strained, eyes becoming a little hazy already but he refused to lose eye contact with Dazai.

"Yes, I did. But who cares about what I said now?"

"I've never heard him sound like this before," Chuuya said with a rough voice of his own as he watched his partner fall apart at the seams and not being able to do anything about it.

"You won't find it."

Oda's words definitely surprised more than just Dazai.

"You must know that already. Whether you're on the side who kills people or the side who saves people, nothing beyond what you would expect will appear." And it hurt Oda to say those words, more than the wound that was killing him, almost as much as the death of his kids, especially when he saw that stricken look in Dazai's eyes before resignation and sorrowful acceptance settled in. His eyes glistened and Oda wondered if he was really going to make his friend cry. He never wanted to see that.

He wanted Dazai to be happy, to be a kid ...

"I can't take this anymore," Yosano cried, hiding her face in f*ckuzawa's chest, clinging to him and Ranpo. This somehow felt so much worse than the Tsushima couple's death, or Mtasuki's and Chibi's. After all, Dazai appeared flayed open in this moment after spending years guarding his heart.

"Nothing in this world can fill that lonely hole you have. You will wander the darkness for eternity."

"B-but that's n-not true," Kenji sobbed out. "D-Dazai-san i-is with u-us now!"

"Odasaku," he pleaded in a painfully small voice. He did not recognize it as a sound he was capable of making. He was sure he had never sounded so much like an open wound, so vulnerable, in his whole life. Not as Tsushima Shuuji and most definitely not as Dazai Osamu. He felt sosmall... Is this how Chuuya felt when the Flags died? How could he have taken this frief times five and then again times six just a few months later? Dazai can't even imagine. Dazai had cried only once in his lucid memory and it had been over a stupiddoghe'd done his best to avoid. Yet the tears refused to shed this time, even if they burned his eyes. "What should I do?"

"Be on the side that saves people," Oda told him gently, still holding his cheek and his hair. He didn't have much time left, both men could tell. Dazai wondered if he was holding onto Dazai to stave off his own Ability's effects, so he would not see his own death coming ... Or so he wouldn't see the way Dazai might shatter in the wake of it. But such thoughts vanished from Dazai's mind as the words registered.

"Huh?" Just about everyone intoned with Chuuya as Dazai's eyes widened again.

"If both sides are the same, become a good man. Save the weak and protect the orphans. Neither good nor evil means much to you, I know ... " Dazai felt a new spike of panic when Oda closed his eyes for a bit too long on the next blink. "But that'd make you at least a little bit better."

"How do you know that for sure?" A stunned Dazai asked, unable to believe what he was hearing. Saving people? Dazai sucked at that. All the people he 'saved' only ended up worse off ...

But three faces flashed through his mind: a blond boy around his age, a beautiful mother-to-be and a black haired girl a little bit younger than him. He'd saved them, hadn't he? That day in the library ...

Another, long-forgotten face flashed before his eyes: white hair in an unfortunate haircut and a beast beneath the moonlight hiding in a body so small and frail ... But Dazai didn't know what became of that boy. Was he even alive? Did giving him some chazuke even count as saving or even helping?

But those were only a gold few instances. Dazai was not meant for saving people. Someone so comfortable with death was not someone capable of saving a life, right? Chuuya and the Akutagawas were perhaps the best examples of what it means to be 'saved' by Dazai. He only dragged them into the same darkness he was doomed to by birthright.

"The f*ck is this idiot saying!?" The gravity manipulator in question fumed. "He saved me just f*cking fine!"

"I would be dead or a walking corpse if not for Dazai-san," Akutagawa said by way of agreement and Gin nodded fiercely.

Oda had none of Dazai's doubts. "Of course I know. I know better than anyone." He finally opened his eyes to lock them with Dazai's one visible eye. The eye that can be like a black hole, like an open wound, or the most beautiful, bright eye one can ever see. The eye of someone who chased away Oda's loneliness and made his world just a little bit more beautiful. "Because ... I am your friend."

That ... That shouldn't have stunned Dazai so much, but the fond, gentle, loving look in Odasaku's eyes ... That's something he refused to forget. It was something he could live for, right? Just so the memory of that look, of those eyes would never fade into nothingness. Because Dazai was the only one who could carry that memory, right? There was no one else.

Even if it hurt, Dazai would preserve. He would live, he would cherish that memory, he will go to the light and let it burn him from the outside in and inside out. He would stand there and soak it up so that when he inevitably meets Odasaku in whatever might come after death, he can share it with him.

"I see. I'll do that."

"People exist to save themselves, huh?" Oda mused with relief, not once looking away from his young friend even as his strength left him. "How true ... " And so he breathed out his last, somehow content and happy with the knowledge and relief of Dazai having heard him out and having promised him that he would not rot in the darkness that was devouring him no less than the light would burn him. His friend set on a path of safety and potential happiness, Odasaku let go, closing his eyes one last time ...

His hand, still tangled in Dazai's hair and bandages fell away, tugging at the white cloth until it gave way and unraveled, revealing Dazai's full face for the first time in so many years that it felt to the viewers like they were seeing a whole different person, especially in the golden light of the sunset which made them look like honey, a shade they had so rarely taken in these vision. Dazai looked ethereal as he watched over his friend's passing, like a guarding angel, even as the loss numbed him inside out.

'I hope you find peace, Odasaku. Say hi to everyone for me. I won't be coming home just yet.'

There was quite a lot of bawling as the scene faded away in a new whirl of color as Dazai lowered Oda's body and stood up, which was the last they saw of those two.

"He left to honor his friend's wishes?" Higuchi asked in a quivering voice as tears streamed down her face. "It feels horrendous now to think of him as a traitor! And I wasn't even close to him before!"

"He left because Mori chased him out," Kouyou corrected. "He went to the light for Oda Sakunosuke's wish."

"He's doing great in fulfilling it," f*ckuzawa said quietly with a sad yet proud smile on his face as he looked between Atsushi and Kyouka, who only started crying harder. Kyouka had burst into tears from the moment Dazai had remembered her mother and Atsushi's been crying since Oda fell over.

"I can no longer be angry that Dazai-san left," Akutagawa declared and that really was a shock, because his bitterness at being left behind was legendary and caused a lot of problems all over the place. But they guessed they understood now why he was having this change of heart.

Akutagawa Ryuunosuke, too, had gone out of his way for the sake of dead friends. He could not fault his mentor for his actions.

"I just wish he asked us to come," Gin spoke his thoughts, grabbing his hand. Both siblings squeezed, wondering what their lives would have been like had Dazai done so. They both knew they would have followed him without hesitation. He was their family, after all.

"Yeah," a wistful Chuuya agreed. "Me too."

"You would have followed him?" An incredulous Tachihara asked, because everyone knew how loyal Chuuya was to the Mafia. He considered them his home, hisfamily... This was more than surprising to hear.

"Of course," the older ginger replied immediately, sounding offended that anyone thought otherwise. "All I ever wanted was just for someone tostay. I just wanted someone to belong with. And no one could top Dazai in that category. Had he asked, I would have said yes."

"That's good to know," Mori said ominously, only to receive a punch from Kouyou.

"That's enough out of you," the redhead hissed. Then she turned to Chuuya. "I may have my own bitterness with the light, but you have my blessing, lad. I just want you safe and happy and it's clear you could not be more so than by Dazai's side. Just ... Don't be a stranger, alright?"

Chuuya promptly hugged the woman he considered an older sister and they both held in tears.

The vision finally settled again, showing Natsume in cat form seemingly leading someone to a local bar, wherein Director of the Special Abilities Department Taneda Santoka was having a drink by himself, just chilling and enjoying the atmosphere. Until a bandaged hand snatched up the newly served bottle of sake.

"I didn't think a heavyweight in the Ministry of Internal Affairs would be drinking alone in a cheap bar like this," Dazai Osamu, looking much more like himself of the present days, said as he brazenly sat opposite to Taneda, smiling and playing around with the bottle he'd stolen. "How lonesome, Chief Taneda~"

"You are-"

Even dressed completely differently, it was easy for Taneda to recognize the most feared man in Yokohama's underworld. The tan coat may have replaced pitch black and there may be less bandages than he received in reports, but it was impossible to mistake the Demon Prodigy for anyone else in this world. The boy was still so shrouded in darkness, despair and danger that the shadows did their best to cling to him even in a place as lit up as the bar they were seated in.

"Now, now, now," the younger interrupted, filling up his cup jovially. Dazai may seem more casual than anyone has seen him in probably nearly a decade, but that didn't mean he wasn't here on business.

It has been a busy two weeks for him. And it was just about to get busier.

After all, Akutagawa had recovered enough to start hunting down the three stragglers from Mimic.

Mori had finally announced him a traitor to the Mafia, yet there was no talk of a 'successor' to his Executive position, which is truly a foolish move on Mori's part. It's a perceived weakness and their world preys on weaknesses. Even if the Port Mafia is more than capable of withstanding any attacks - Dazai made sure of it over the past three or so years - it will be a blow to their resources which they really shouldn't think they can take, not when they've lost Dazai to make up the difference. It will take them time to recover, especially if they start searching for him, which they will undoubtedly do. Dazai is the crux of that organization; they haven't been able to wipe their asses without him there to hold their hands for the past three years. He's done everything for them; they will need a lot of time to recover and regroup, to re-systematize everything that used to go through him. Dazai's glad he could give Mori one last huge headache before he disappears.

He knows that he will have to, considering what he plans to do, regardless of how this little meeting with Taneda goes. He's settled all his scores. There's a bomb under Chuuya's car bound to go off any minute now; that will keep him safe of any suspicion that Dazai might have involved him in his escape. Akutagawa had only just gotten back onto his feet; he would have been in no condition to offer help. Gin had been stuck at his side since she returned from her latest assignment over a week ago. Hirotsu was scrambling to keep the guerrilla squad going as Dazai's men no doubt retreated into complete inactivity without their leader there to give them orders. Verlaine never left his basem*nt and Kouyou would never help him, even if he begged.

Ango was already gone with the wind.

Dazai had already buried Odasaku. He made sure it was a nice, classy spot with a good view of the sea. It was under a sakura tree; he had to pay quite a penny to buy that lot. The kids' bodies couldn't be recovered so Dazai instead carved their names into a slab of marble and placed it beneath Oda's body in the casket. The men meant to lower the casket into the ground wren't happy about that but when has Dazai ever not gotten what he wanted or ordered someone to do?

Mori's coat, a lot of his weapons - including his mother's katana - the Book, some documents and some of his other things were hidden in a safe house he'd selected because no one knew it belonged to him. It was, after all, listed under Tsushima Kiye before her will left it to a 'Oba Yozo', an alias Dazai discovered was for him when he raided the Yokohama Tsushima mansion after he recruited Chuuya.

Whether this deal with Taneda and the Division works ultimately doesn't matter to him. Oda's wish was, mainly, to save people. To protect the weak and help orphans. Dazai's already donated every last penny from one of Mori's accounts to charity and he'll be helping the whole world if he simply destroys the Bookandhimself.

But before he does that, he intends to save someone one last time.

This was not a mission he would let the government know about, he'll have to be careful about it. But no one can match him, not without getting Chuuya or Dostoevsky involved and even then, he can outplay them if he has to.

He will not fail this last mission, regardless of what his future may hold.

Still, he'd rather fulfill Odasaku's wish. He'd rather live, just a little bit longer. Just until Chuuya's safe from everything, inclduing his own Ability. Just until Akutagawa finds a better, healthier purpose, a better, healthier way to feel emotions. Hopefully better and healthier emotions, too.

He'd rather like if he was able to ever feel even remotely human before he ends it all.

Therefore, he will give this a try. Sensei, if no one else, will back him up and Sensei's word means a lot. He will be on his best behavior and he will make a place for himself in the light, even if only for a short while.

"But Dazai-san belongs in the light," Atsushi said stubbornly and the others don't know whether to admire his tenacity or pity his conviction because, as much as they wanted to believe it, does Dazai,really? All except Mori wanted to believe it, but it was hard after the light was described as something that burned him.

"I heard rumors that you had gone underground for a while," Taneda comments, letting him do as he pleased, sensing that Dazai was not here onthatkind of business, just ...business.

"I'm looking for a new job," Dzai replied as casually as someone who isn't him would say that sentence, his hands now shoved into his pockets, one hand clenching around the matchbox from Lupin Oda had last used to light his cigarettes. The other clenched around air, fighting the newest urge he'd developed of rolling around the stone of his bolotie between his fingers. Oda's lent strength will have to do, for now. He's sure his parents are watching over him now, if something like an afterlife exists, and breathing a sigh of relief. After all, he was leaving their initial legacy behind, finally fully detaching himself from the hated Tsushima name, from the Port Mafia. He was making a new way for himself, wasn't he? "Do you know of any good positions?"

"Do you wish to join the Gifted Special Operations Division? If so ... "

"I respectfully decline the offer," Dazai immediately shot down politely, still smiling, even as his fingers itched for a gun at the mere thought of seeing Ango everyday after his betrayal and how it all spiraled from bad to worse toworst. He's not sure he wouldn't strangle him, at the very least. "I don't do too well in workplaces that have a lot of regulations."

"Unless he's the one making them," grumbled Kouyou and the rest of the Port Mafia members there for Dazai's reign as an Executive shivered and nodded in agreement.

"Why can't he be like that in the Agency?" Mourned Kunikida, even though he's actually kind of glad that the Dazai he knows wouldn't take off his head for fulfilling paperwork wrong. The piles the Port Mafia had to deal with were not pretty, not at all. The piling bodies were bad, too, of course, but still n one wants to deal with all that paperwork!

"Then what are you looking for?" The bald man asked, confused and a little annoyed he had to deal with a literal boogeyman from the criminal underworld suddenly wanting a legal job. He's sure no one had ever had to deal with this sh*t but him.

"Well, there's only one Dazai," Yosano joked. No one laughed, but it was a good sign that things will get better, probably. It's what they desperately need after these last visions.

"Somewhere I can help people." And Dazai was equally as surprised as Taneda at how sincere those words came out.

But he watched, patiently, as Taneda processed that, thought about it, hesitated, before conceding. "I have a lot of questions for you, but ... Your history is too sordid. You'll have to go underground for atleasttwo years to get a blank slate."

'I bet I'd be sentenced to the chair if youactuallyknew everything, but yes, two years isperfect!'

"Oh my god," Kunikida whimpered while Chuuya just snickered, given he'd participated in some of the atrocities the government was no doubt not aware of, if Dazai's protectiveness of him when they were involved was anything to go on.

"But I suppose I may have a lead ... " Taneda finished with a teasing look sent the teen's way and he looked a bit too endeared by the genuine excitement Dazai couldn't help but feeling andshowing.

Natsume let out a long, loud yawn and Dazai reigned himself in.

"Let's hear it."

Taneda took out his fan and spread it open, as if he were a gossiping housewife trying to hide her sh*ttalking from prying eyes. "There is an armed organization of Gifted individuals. They take on cases that are in the legal gray zone and are untouchable by civil workers."

"That ... sounds really wrong when you say it like that," Naomi pointed out and no one could disagree.

f*ckuzawa sweatdropped at the way his Agency was described by Taneda. He'll have to talk with the man about how he sells the Agency's integrity to others, lest there be some misunderstanding.

"The company president is a man of integrity. You might find him in alignment with what you wish."

This almost sounded too good to be true. A good leader, supposedly? Interesting cases to work on? Protection from the police and the government?

'I should grab Chuuya-'But he froze that thought and chased out any similar ones regarding his partner out of his head. After all, had he been even remotely sure that Chuuya would go with him, he would have asked.

Chuuya made a distressed noise.

But he knows that Chuuya would never betray the Mafia. Not so much because he agreed with everything they did or even because he particularly liked Mori, but because of his principles, his loyalty etched so deep into his soul that he wouldn't beChuuyaif he ever committed such treason. He wasn't like Dazai, who had no allegiance but his own. Chuuya had already sworn his loyalty to Mori, to the Mafia, to the people in it.

And Dazai no longer fits in that category.

Chuuya made a louder, more desperate distressed sound at that.

Besides, perhaps it was for the best this way? Ever since they discovered Corruption, they'd been pushed together by everyone as though hoping they can mold them into one entity by force, as if that would strengthen their bond to be as hard as the diamonds they are sometime referred as. But Dazai knows that diamonds are as brittle as they are hard and he'd rather there be nothing that can actually shatter Soukoku.

Some distance will do themsomegood ... After all, Chuuya already hates him as is, so what's a bit more anger added to that, right? He'll probably even celebrate when he learns Dazai left.

Besides, could this organization, if it's what he thinks it is, really protect someone like Chuuya from the government?No, governments. If they prove worthy, there's always the future for Dazai to drag his dog into it, right? Chuuya will probably hate him some more, but that's okay. Chuuya can hate him all he wants.

Dazai's rather be hated than bury one more person he loves.

"DUMBASS!" Screeched Chuuya, rubbing away a new wave of tears that finally won out against his control.

"Can I do work that will save people?" Was the only question Dazai asked, hoping that what he was doing, the choices he was making, would make Odasaku happy and proud of him.

After all, Dazai could no longer be the little kid he took care of, no matter that he had never been a proper child to begin with.

It was time for him to grow up.

Chapter 25

Chapter Text

19yo

"This thing is giving us no breaks, huh?" Grumbled Kyouka as the world around them was awash in the by now very familiar whirl of colors. "Hopefully whatever we see now won't be like the last few visions."

"I always did wonder what Dazai did in the years before he could join us," Ranpo admitted and everyone was kind of shocked he didn't know already. But as these visions have shown, Dazai was very good at hiding things from them, even the greatest detective in the world.

"I always thought he would just be lazing about, considering his lack of a work ethics, but that was while I thought he finished high school or some private college before getting the job at the Agency," Kunikida said. "Of course, I knew he was shady, it was really obvious in the Dazai of long bygone days, but I never even thought his past could be this sordid and tainted in sorrow. I honestly thought he was, at the most, a part of some minor gang and I thought he mostly didn't get his hands dirty, since he didn't show any fighting skills and seemed so slender and weak. I thought he was just like a strategist and that maybe he made a heist or bank robbery or two. But now that we've seen all of this, I really do wonder what he did before he joined us at twenty, because at that age, I was a math teacher assistant," he finished in a drawl and everyone - except for Mori, because no one cared what he did anymore - snorted at that.

"I remember when we were all trying to guess Dazai-san's previous job," Kenji said with a nostalgic smile and Naomi immediately grinned.

"Okay, everyone, shoot! What do you think Dazai-san did before joining the Agency but after he left the Mafia!"

"Probably tried to drink himself to death," Kouyou said with disapproval.

"Played with the stock market," Chuuya said confidently. "Among other things."

"He probably did something with the Book," Ranpo added his own guess confidently.

"He probably threatened figures in power for Chuuya-san's sake," was Hirotsu's guess.

"He played video games," was all Gin said.

"He probably hunted down his enemies and made them wish they were never born," Akutagawa pointed out but Atsushi gave a disapproving shake of his head.

"Dazai-san's trying to change, remember? My guess is he wrote a novel under some pseudonym to honor Oda-san."

"He made more hard tofu," Kyouka guessed, though she was kind of hoping for that. She wants to eat tofu made by Dazai.

"He tried every silly suicide attempt under the sky, just because," was Kunikida's exasperated but worried guess.

"He practiced with his mother's katana," came from f*ckuzawa.

"Terrorized the Boss in some way is my guess," Tachihara hummed.

"I think he made a list of things he might regret and want to fix," was Higuchi's guess after some thought.

"I think he researched Abilities some more," came from Junichiro.

"I think he tried to be a model for some foreign company," chirps Naomi. "He's good looking enough for him to be pestered by recruiting agents, I'm sure of it!"

"Well, if we're going that route," Yosano started teasingly. "My bet is that he became a stripper, just to try something new."

"YOSANO-SENSEI!" Kunikida thundered as, for who knows which time, he covered Kenji's ears, Atsushi covered Kyouka's and Akutagawa covered Atsushi's while Hirotsu, just to join in on the 'fun' covered Gin's, for which he earned an annoyed glare from one Akutagawa and an approving nod from the other.

"Lad, breathe," the female Executive told her younger, male counterpart, who had gone so red in the face, he resembled a shining tomato.

"It's starting," Mori pointed out but everyone ignored him besides looking back to the vision.

The first thing that reached them was sultry music. Then they realized that some of the strange lights and colors had nothing to do with the change in visions anymore and was rather a result of the vision itself, which turns out to be a club of some sort. They quickly realized what sort of club as waitstaff dressed in skimpy outfits pranced around, serving drinks and food around tables and private booths, or going into rentable private rooms for the more ...funstuff.

"Dazai, I was joking!" A honestly scandalized Yosano exclaimed while the others just gawked.

"Are we sure it's going to show Dazai-san at all?" Gin asked nervously, eyeing the place and trying to spot anything that could be of interest to the brunet genius. "We've seen visions that don't directly involve him before."

"Well, yes, but who or what would we have to seehere?" A disgruntled Higuchi asked, mentally comparing everyone to her Senpai and finding them all lacking.

"This place is a pigsty," Kouyou declared with a wrinkled nose. "I would never let any of my establishments be so filthy and stuffy and the clients here are nothing more than dirtbags. What's worse, half of these workers look like they're being starved and don't get nearly enough rest to be healthy. I doubt you could leave this place without getting some disease even if you were just tobreathe."

"Is it a public house?" Tanizaki asked, confused. "Because it looks more like a very loose club rather than a public house."

"Not one you'd find in the Port Mafia's red district, that's for sure," Tachihara huffed. "But I think it's a mix between those two. Europeans and Americans like that sort of sh*t, apparently."

"The selection of beverages makes me want to bleach my eyes," was all Chuuya could contribute.

"Isn't that Kashimura?" Came from Kyouka and suddenly no one cared about the state of the bar, the bathrooms, the stage with the strip pole, the tables and booths or the private rooms. Instead, they all turned to where the girl was glaring daggers at, indeed, the very man himself, Kashimura Kansuke. Except he looked much worse for wear in comparison to the last time they've caught a glimpse of him.

The scar from the explosion in Suribachi seems to have healed horribly over time, becoming more pronounced as his skin aged without proper medical aftercare and his once brown eye that had turned blind that night now looked like a white marble, no sign of him ever having had an iris or a pupil in that eye. His hair had thinned out considerably even if he'd let it grow longer, reaching the middle of his back at this point and still as fiery orange as Chuuya's was. He had an unattractive stubble around his mouth, as though he'd tried to give a sh*t while shaving before finding he didn't care. He was dressed in a raggedy military uniform that no longer seemed to quite fit right. He'd lost weight in certain places but he still seemed in a better shape than your average citizen. Kashimura was seated in a private booth and the table in front of him was a mess of cheap booze and cheaper greasy good. He had a bottle in his hand from which he was taking an occasional drink and his eyes were glued to the stage as one after the other, amateur or drugged up dancers did their best to earn a few yen so they can either afford some food or a new fix. His booth was one of the closest to the stage, so it seems that the cheap booze and food was by choice, which only made him even less 'endearing' than the others could have found him in some alternative universe.

"Isn't he married?" Naomi asked, disgusted. "Shouldn't he be with his wife who's no doubt waiting for him at home instead of in this dump? Urgh, men. Nii-sama could never~"

"N-Naomi!"

"Why are we being shown Kashimura is the real question here," Mori pointed out, only to be ignored.

"I wonder why we're being shown Kashimura?" Atsushi asked out-loud and suddenly everyone threw around theories, making Mori's eye twitch violently. Ranpo, who of course caught on to that, flipped him off.

The atmosphere in the strip club? suddenly changed as a new pole dancer strutted onto the stage. It was hard to tell their gender, actually. They had what had to be the glossiest, most voluminous wig on their head, their figure was slim and a little on the flat side, but that doesn't really say anything in the long run. They were tall, almost ridiculously so, made even more so with the high heels and platforms they were wearing that made even the girls itch in their ankles. And they strutted with a confidence and grace the other dancers didn't have, immediately drawing the attention of everyone in the club as a far more sexy beat started playing.

Atsushi covered Kyouka's eyes, Akutagawa covered Atsushis, Kunikida covered Kenju's and closed his own, f*ckuzawa covered Ranpo's and Hirotsu covered Gin's. Yosano, Naomi and Kouyou, on the other hand, catcalled as the dance began with the danver embracing the pole and thus proceeded some of the more basic tricks, like spinning and grinding and some other things. Just your usual night in a strip club. But then the dancer climbed the pole, did some upside-down tricks that had the whole club catcalling and whistling their appreciation, before the dancer did one of the most daring acts by dropping down and stopping a mere centimeters or two from their head hitting the stage, earning an outright applause from all watching.

The whole time, a few of the viewers noticed, the dancer's golden eyes stayed on Kashimura, which was to be expected. He looked way better off than the other patrons and he was even still considered a rather good looking man, all things considered. It would make sense for a dancer to focus on one customer in hopes of getting a good tip, so no one was surprised when the dancer set their sights on him. It was far more surprising when they twisted their body to do a handstand from which they stood up straight on their feet before gracefully jumping off the stage raised at least a meter above the ground level of the club for better visibility of the dancers.Thatwas impressive to do in the ankle-killers the dancer was wearing!

Chuuya hissed in rage and looked away, as did Kunikida and Tanizaki, when the dancer strutted over to Kashimura, so they missed the grace of a predator on the prowl as the ginger former military scientist was approached. Mori, f*ckuzawa and Kouyou narrowed their eyes as they spotted it while Hirotsu drew in a shocked breath as he thought he recognized it from somewhere.

"What's going on?" Kenji asked, a little bit irritated that he didn't get to see the interesting new type of big city dance going on!

"Nothing that's for the eyes of the youth," Akutagawa, of all people, answered somewhat kindly and Kenji accepted it with a pout.

Higuchi squeaked when the dancer suddenly plopped themself over Kashimura's lap, arms already settling over his shoulders and starting a teasing dance over his lap while the man watched mesmerized. One of his hands reached up to touch the dancer's hair, bringing it to his nose and moaning as he inhaled whatever fragrance they were using.

Red painted lips curled up in cold satisfaction and a whiskey-gold eye glinted like a knife. Then suddenly the temperature dropped in the entire establishment the second Kashimura's hands dared settle on the thin waist, because there was anactualknife - a scalpel, to be more precise - digging into the man's neck, right beneath his Adam's apple.

"You're a sick man, aren't you, Kashimura Kansuke?" A lilting voice basically echoed even over the loud music in the short space between them. "You have a wife at home but here you are, staring at pretty little things in a strip club. I'm only nineteen, you know. The age your son would be. Is that why you like me so much? Or is it perhaps because I remind you of a woman who would never return your feelings? I guess it really is too bad for you that my mother had such good taste in men." The last sentence was said in a very familiar and very recognizable tone, making Kyouka, Atsushi, Kenji and Gin perk up while Ranpo's jaw dropped to the floor and he wrenched f*ckuzawa's hands off of his eyes just as Chuuya turned back around togawkat the brunette.

"Dazai, I wasjoking!" Yosano yelped.

Kashimura seemed to sober up in a second when the dancer's voice changed from slightly high and feminine to velvety smooth but definitely masculine and the glinting golden eye became red as Dazai Osamu tilted his head to achieve that perfect light angle.

Without a second to waste, Kashimura used his Ability to blast himself through the booth he'd been seated at, separating himself from Dazai, taking on a defensive stance as people started screaming. Since it was a shady club or whatever, the other patrons almost immediately had their guns out and started shooting willy-nilly, creating even more chaos as lights were shattered, tables and chairs were broken and alcohol was thrown around only for it to catch fire from some sparking wire or someone's dropped lighter. Kashimura sent a blast at Dazai before running away, heading towards what appears to be the backdoor, Dazai hot on his heels,inheels, the blast of vibrating air having been nullified by No Longer Human before it could even properly ruffle his wig.

Sensing his pursuer, Kashimura burst into some small alley behind the club and started running through a veritable maze of narrow paths that seemingly lead nowhere. It didn't take him long to figure out they had been purposefully blocked off by his enemy and he was too drunk to tell whether he could safely blast his way through any of them. He tried, on one wall heknewhadn't been there when he'd ventured into the club a few hours ago, but his Ability wouldn't work on it.

Unbeknownst to him, Dazai had been setting this trap up fordays. He'd found the perfect quick-drying cement, he'd found a place that sells basically kilometers of plastic, see-through thread and prepared webs of it in advance. Then, after Kashimura had went into the club, he'd paid a small, illegal building company to build up the walls to block off every exit and route Kashimura could think to take, including behind doors of unwanted buildings he didn't want Kashimura going through for an exit Dazai did not approve of. Then he draped them all in the webs he'd made, connected by a single thread to a string Dazai prepared to wait for him at the club. As soon as he took that one string into his hands, No Longer Human's effect traveled through the threads and into the webs, making them basically immune to the effects of other Abilities, so when Kashimura sent vibrating air at them or tried to use his Ability directly on the walls, it wouldn't work.

"Holly sh*t!" Tachihara whispered and most of the rest couldn't help but nod in agreement.

This left Kashimura with only one option.

He burst into an abandoned warehouse. He didn't know it, but it used to belong to Tsushima Corp before Kiye had to sell it because it wasn't safe for neither workers nor cargo anymore. Technically, it still belonged to the Tsushima family, specifically Dazai, but it wasn't used and was even scheduled for demolition in the next few weeks.

In short, it was perfect for what Dazai had in mind as he followed after Kashimura, turning his steps silent as death, just the way he'd trained with Verlaine-san.

"I can still feel you, you know," Kashimura called from where he was in the middle of the open area where the biggest cargo used to be kept in the two story warehouse. "Your steps can be as light as a single ant's, but I'd still feel it. Even with that despicable Ability of yours canceling my reach as soon as my Ability comes close to you. It just gives you away even more, you are aware of that, right? Thelackis very distinguishable."

'I'm aware. It's why I never planned on relying only on my stealth.'

"What's he gonna do?" Kenji asked, as he was now at least allowed to watch since nothing obscene or scandalous was happening. Well, if one didn't count on the thing Dazai was still wearing, that is.

"We'll have to wait and see, becausenoneof us knows about this sh*t," Chuuya answered, narrowed eyes fixed on the scene and not straying for even a millisecond.

"Why isn't he taking off those shoes?" Tanizaki wondered. "Wouldn't it be so much easier to move around without them?"

"It's still impressive how stealthy he is even with them on," Kouyou observed. "If the vision wasn't focusing on him, I wouldn't have been aware of his existence at all." Gin nodded along with that and marveled at how she and Dazai had both had the same training, something she'd truly never been aware of before they got stuck here and the man's past was exposed to them.

"I wonder if the tiger would have been able to hear him?" Atsushi mused but all such questions were dropped when Dazai reached a hand out to a specific crate, wiggling the lid loose and taking out a small remote. With the press of a button, blinds shut over all the windows and doors, leaving the warehouse in almost absolute darkness. Another press of the button and suddenly, seemingly out of nowhere, music started blasting so loud it was almost impossible for the ground not to be shaking with the guitar riffs and drums. Dazai even amped up the volume to the maximum and put something in his ears to cancel out the too loud noise while Kashimura grabbed his head in agony, both at the sudden stimulus to the technique he'd been using with his Ability to keep track of his surroundings and the sudden pounding to his eardrums. Dazai could still hear the music, it was that loud, but his eardrums were safe from the worst of the assault.

That done, Dazai quickly got into position, still moving as silently as a breeze of air, and took out a pair of guns, both equipped with silencers. He waited for the right moment until there was a very loud pounding of the bass drum coupled with shrieking electric guitar before he fired. His aim was true and Kashimura realized the difference in vibrations of the air too late. Both bullets hit, one in his thigh, the other in the shoulder of his dominant arm. His cry of pain was drowned out by the music but the way his body went rigid and shook minutely told Dazai all he needed to know. He shot again, hitting a foot and a hand before he had to change position since Kashimura, as an experienced war veteran, figured out the general trajectory of the shots and sent a violent wave in that direction, the vibrations so fast they could actuallycut.

"Holy sh*t! This guy's no laughing matter!" Tachihara exclaimed, watching with wide eyes as that blast cut up every crate Dazai had used to hide behind, leaving nothing but little chunks in its wake. Dazai would have, of course, been unharmed by the wave itself but the debris it created could have seriously injured him.

"How did we never learn of such a talented Ability user?" f*ckuzawa questioned with a frown on his face and wondered if his old friend may have known the man, since he'd been in the military.

"You think I don't know you're here alone, boy!?" Kashimura yelled over the music, not that Dazai really heard him. "Everyone knows the Port Mafia's beloved little Demon Prodigy ran away! I know you have no backup! I know you're here all alone and you'renothingwithout that partner of yours! So why don't you give up while you're still ahead,Shuuji-chan!? You gotlucky! There won't be a second chance!"

Dazai internally snorted at the resemblance to Chuuya's shrill rich girl impression with how loudly Kashimura was yelling in hopes of Dazai hearing him that heactuallyheard him. All that was missing was the pose and it'd be identical.

"Is this really the time, you bastard?" An embarrassed Chuuya grumbled and avoided everyone's eyes, especially Hirotsu's, who'dactuallyseen the origin of that old gag and was sighing in exasperation.

In many ways, Kashimura was right. The might of Dazai Osamu can't compare to the might of Soukoku even in a million years, because he's only half of a whole. The scheming half, at that, the brains to Chuuya's brawn and battle prowess. As such, he never needed to exert himself too much on Soukoku missions and he was usually surrounded by his men at all times so he was rarely ever needed to get his hands directly dirty, as far as most of his ignorant enemies were concerned.

However, he did not kill 138 people - that the government knows of - just by standing back and giving orders.

No, Dazai had killed as young as nine years old and not once had he regretted it.

(Technically, he killed at seven, just before he was meant to turn eight, and hedidregret the way No Longer Human accidentally killed his parents for cancelling out his father's shielding Ability but of the few things he felt actual guilt about, this was not it, for he knows his parents would not want him to blame himself for their deaths. Instead, he's blaming the true culprits, most of whom are already dead. And he's here today, dealing with the last and most responsible one.)

Dazai had spilled blood plenty of times and he'll do it again and again, as long as it is needed, for all that he promised Odasaku that he would become a better man. But ridding the world of a man like Kashimura and those like himishelping people. It's not moral, but Odasaku didn't expect Dazai to suddenly grow those out of the nothingness in his heart.

Dazai is not delusional. He will never be a truly good man. Perhaps Tsushima Shuuji could have become one, with the proper guidance of his parents and Matsuki-san, but Dazai finds that he doesn't regret beingDazai, either.

There is something beautiful in this world, after all, even for someone like Dazai Osamu.

'And if I can't have that stupid chibi by my side right now, I'll have his spirit here, instead.'

The music changed as one song ended for another and then it was blaring again, not as loud as before, because Dazai took out the ear caps he had on. He stepped out of his latest hiding place, a familiar black coat over his shoulders that hasn't seen the light of day or moonlight for the past year or so that Dazai's been hiding and bidding his time for this exact moment. He hated the coat, hated that he'd finally grown into it, but black was easier to blend into the darkness of the night than beige ever will be.

"So you finally show yourself," Kashimura taunted with a smirk as Dazai tossed off the wig, revealing the true fluffy brunet hair that had been hiding underneath. "You've sure grown up,Shuuji-chan. I wonder what your parents would say if they knew about your current profession after the last one?"

"Kaa-chan would probably buy me a club for myself," he replied in a deadpan. "Though I'm not here to talk about my family. Instead, let's talk aboutyours."

The older man snorted and cracked the ground beneath him by sending vibrations through it, then used the oscillations of air to pick them up in an eerily similar way to how Chuuya and Verlaine use their gravity powers. "So you know about A-258's really identity, huh? Or, well, you think you do. I wonder, what are you hoping to be true: that he's a clone or that he's my actual, human son?"

"I hate that we're getting this f*cking officially confirmed," Kouyou cursed, making everyone flinch at how cold and sharp her tone was, how deadly.

"Chuuyaishuman, of that I have no doubt. The real monsters are hiding in the night, in this very place, Kashimura Kansuke. And only one can walk out of here tonight."

"Bring it, brat!"

However, before Kansuke could launch the ground pieces at Dazai, the former mafioso had already flung something glittering and silvery, traveling fast towards the ginger. Kansuke focused on stopping that and grunted as two more bullets hit his body, having come in the wake and overtaking the speed of the scalpels Dazai had thrown as a distraction. More scalpels and bullets came flying, but this time Kansuke was aware of the trick.

"That won't work twice! I'm not some amaARGH!" He was cut off as a katana - Tane's katana, to be precise - lodged itself into his left shoulder, somehow having sliced through the shield of vibrating air Kashimura had put up to protect himself. "How?"

"My Ability is a heretical anti-Ability with no peers even in the west," Dazai replied as the vision showed that the katana was wrapped up with a bandage, from hilt to the guard on the blade, the bandage leading back to Dazai's forearm, the whole thing fading from No Longer Human's glacial light. "I'm not my parents, nor am I Chuuya. But IamDazai Osamu. And the misfortune of my enemies, or so I've been told, is that theyaremy enemies."

"You co*cky piece of sh*t!" Kansuke tried to use his Ability but there was no use. The second it flared up, No Longer Human kicked in. And that was Dazai's cue to take out actual hunting knives and throw them at his opponent, who was then too busy dodging them to react when Dazai practically teleported in front of him, grabbed the katana's hilt and twisted, making Kashimura let out a guttural scream.

"Atta boy!" Kouyou cheered while f*ckuzawa noted the stance Dazai took up as he yanked the sword out in the most painful, damaging way possible, coating both men in blood. Dazai was quick to adapt to Kashimura's attempt to put distance between them or send something flying at him, closing in again and leaving long, gashing wounds across his torso until Kashimura got his hands on a thick metal pipe and started parrying his swings.

One had to hand it to Kashimura; he'd earned whatever title and rank he might have once held in the military. He was a good fighter; not so much a swordsman, but he had good battle instincts and he had more raw strength than Dazai. However, he was used to using his Ability to tip things over in his favor and he was drunk and tired, things Dazai used to his advantage to get in more blows than he received. Still, Kashimura eventually managed to get the opening he needed and sent several whole crates flying at the brunet, before using their smashed pieces as projectiles, too, forcing Dazai to go into hiding.

Once again, he upped to music to the max to disrupt Kashimura's control over the vibrations in the air.

However, this time, the song had changed to something else. It was no longer just some rock band playing without a vocalist.

This time, there was most definitely a singer.

Donna chinpu nagamemo

Saigo made yatte yaru kedo

Sanryuu sakka no tsukutta

Scenario ja manzokushineeze

'I see. I guess that's my cue, nee, chibi?'

"Ayo, what the f*ck!? Chuuya-san, you never told us you could sing!" Tachihara said accusingly and Chuuya just shrugged.

"Eh, I used to go to karaoke as a kid. Usually with sh*tty Dazai. Can't believe the f*cker didn't delete that recording like I made himswearhe would!"

"I wouldn't delete it, either," Yosano commented. "You sound like a professional rock star, for f*ck's sake! No one sane would delete a song that soundsthisgood."

"Yeah! You really sound so good, Mr Fancy Hat!" Kenji gushed and Chuuya blushed at all the compliments.

"I can't believe Dazai used a karaoke recording to fight a powerful Ability user," Kunikida sighed in exasperation and at the mention of the fight, they all turned their attention back to said fight just as Dazai clicked a different button on the remote.

Suddenly, the torrent guns mounted around the warehouse activated, took aim and sent a hail of bullets at Kashimura, who was just barely managing to maintain a shield around himself, trying to keep the bullets away.

"What the hell!?" Higuchi screamed in surprise.

"Holy sh*t!" Came from Tachihara again.

"The same strategy as against Verlaine-san," mused Hirotsu while the Agency could just watch as Dazai ruthlessly let the torrents keep on shooting at Kashimura while he climbed up onto the second level and then go up to the ceiling's metal support beams. He knew it was only a matter of time before Kashimura gathered enough bearings even under these conditions to send the bullets flying back at their source. After all, the torrents were made visible for a reason; to be the target. It's the speakers Dazai needs to remain intact, therefore he'd hidden them throughout the warehouse in such a way that only someone like him could find them. They were arranged to surround the area so that Kashimura received equal stimuli from all sides, preventing him from hunting them down one by one and taking away Dazai's only true defense against the man.

If Kashimura wants to stand a chacne against him in these conditions, he'd have to drop his Ability completely or else he'll end up getting overwhelmed soon enough. The human body and mind werenotmeant for this sort of oscillation assault, even the body and mind of a vibration manipulator. You could say that's a rather big drawback for Abilities, that they don't force the body to adapt.

It's why Chuuya suffers so much damage from Corruption, perhaps the biggest proof they have that he's human, because Verlaine-san doesnot.

Corruption could easily kill Chuuya, if left to go on long enough.

Brutalization would not kill Verlaine, as long as he's the one who initiates it.

"But didn't he almost die after you defeated him?" Tanizaki asked Chuuya, who shook his had.

"That's different. What I did was basically erase the energy of the singularity that existed within him. His body no longer had the energy to function, like how starvation and dehydration eventually does to a regular human body. Had he been in control, Verlaine could have easily come back to himself and continued on living as though nothing happened. I can't do that after Corruption." He frowned. "I guess I never thought of it this way, like Dazai did. I should have questioned why Arahabaki causes me so much damage compared to Guivre and Verlaine. There's got to be a reason, right?"

"I wouldn't be surprised if Dazai-kun already discovered it."

For once, since Oda's death, Mori was not ignored or shot glares at. Well, except by Yosano and Akutagawa. His point still stands, though.

Dazaimusthave figuredsomethingout, right?

Dazai knows he doesn't have much time, so he acts fast and finds the hanging chain he'd prepared for this plan. He quickly climbs down to it and starts descending until he's nearly at the end of it, where he stops and pulls out yetanotherbig weapon out of his coat. A sniper riffle, at that.

"Where the hell does he keep these things?" A perplexed Atsushi asks, even though the answer to that was obvious. "Or rather,how the hell does he keep them in just one coat!?"

Dazai takes aim, propping up the riffle as though it wasn't a very heavy gun and fired a single shot, though it seems his target was not Kashimura.

In fact, the bullet bypassed Kashimura by quite the margin by aiming low, behind his knees. Because the true target was a small box that just about anyone would overlook, which is exactly why Dazai put it there and used it to hide the next stage in his plan. Inside that unassuming box was, well, another box, or rather a cube. There was an Ability user that sold them on the black market and Dazai had them deliver it here yesterday night since the Ability product would dissipate if he touched it. The cube was essentially an explosive of ice precoded to have a special shape or effect.

So as soon as the bullet went through the box and shattered the cube, spikes of ice burst forth and Kashimura didn't even have the time to turn around before one impaled him right through the chest, by some miracle missing his heart and lungs but he won't be recovering from that injury without a Gifted healer anytime soon.

"Brutal," Yosano whistled, impressed despite how gory the scene looked as red blood covered the sharp, almost transparent ice. Or perhaps she was impressedbecauseof how gory it all looked. One can never be sure, considering her sad*stic side.

"He must have spent a lot of money if he got it on the black market," Kyouka guessed but Ranpo shook his head.

"His reputation preceded him. He probably got it at aridiculousdiscount."

"The power of Dazai-san," marveled the little former assassin and Akutagawa and Atsushi were very quick to nod in agreement.

"This guy's though," Kunikida observed as they watched Kashimura, not giving up, use his Ability to shatter most of the ice around him, preventing the other spikes from causing further harm but not daring quite yet to focus on the one impaling him. That may have been the first thing others focus on, but Kashimura couldn't spare a single thought to it as he focused on using the ice shards to destroy the torrents before using the remaining ones to aim at Dazai, still on that chain he was hanging on.

'In many ways, vibration manipulation, the Ability to control the oscillations of everything, especially air particles, is much harder to master than control over gravity,'Dazai mused to himself as he oh so nonchalantly let go of the chain with his hands, discarded the riffle and let himself fall, only to catch himself dangling from the chain by his legs, in an eerily similar move to one a pole dancer may use in their performance, dodging the shards sent towards his head and chest because there was simply nothing of him there anymore.

"No f*cking way," Yosano breathed with a wide, maniacal grin as it dawned on her why Dazai even chose to preform as a pole dancer when he could have easily disguised himself as a prostitute or the waitstaff.

'Neither the chibi not Verlaine-san can control liquids or gas, so they don't take them into account and instead use the brute force of their Ability to get the desired results. Vibration manipulation requires each part of the system to be in sync in order for air resistance not to mess with the speed of the traveling object or particles. However, the need for this precise control has a drawback.'Dazai used his core strength to make himself and the chain swing, whipping out more scalpels and throwing them at Kashimura to distract him.'For one, causing vibrations outside of his own Ability makes a big opening not just in his sensing technique, but also in his learned control of the elements around him. Another big drawback is that his attacks are simply way slower than Chuuya's; to my eye, so used to that brute, it looks like it's in slow motion.'

Kashimura's aim was still pretty good and he wasn't giving up anytime soon. His experience allowed him to accommodate Dazai's movements and broaden the range of his attack, covering the spaces Dazai was, used to be and might be. In response, Dazai whipped around his coat in front of himself and took the opening Kashimura's shock at the stopped attack to deliver his own final blow.

Letting go of the chain and falling with the fearlessness of an acrobat - or just a suicidal person used to falling from high places thanks to his parkour experience - the brunet flipped in the air once until his was heading feet first towards the stunned ginger. Kashimura had no time to react, having used up all the shards he'd had at his disposal, before Dazai landed on him heels first. The stilettos proved to be an actual weapon and not just a part of a disguise, because the tips were sharp enough to easily stab into Kashimura's flesh, one through his left lung, the other through his liver. Dazai's weight also made Kashimura's body sink further onto the ice spike and Dazai slid down with him, twisting out of the way of the spike like it was the pole he'd been dancing around just under an hour again. When then got to the thick enough part of the spike for it to nick Kashimura's heart in a fatal injury, Dazai grabbed the spike and watched as No Longer Human dispersed it from existence.

Kashimura hit the ground, bleeding all over the place and barely able to breathe, but still alive. Not for long. Dazai did not plan to let this man leave this place tonight. However, he also did not plan to leave this place empty handed tonight, either.

"You certainly ... have your parents' brutality," Kashimura managed to gasp out around the blood rushing up his throat and out of his mouth as he stared up at the red eyed 'demon' standing on him, pinning him down withheelsand restraining his Ability from just that, too, both of them glowing with the gentle light of No Longer Human. "You live up ... to their ... reputation ... No wonder you ... broke all of their ... records."

"I'm not here to talk to you about your bisexual dilemma over my parents, Kashimura Kansuke," Dazai interrupted with a cold, curt, cutting tone, a neutral expression on his face yet a deadly look in his eyes. "I'm sure you know why I'm here. You're not so out of touch if you know about me, so I'm sure you've kept tabs onmy partnerover the years, too."

"Right ... 'Nakahara' Chuuya ... supposedly," huffed the dying man. "I heard about ... that ... You're trying to ... prove if he's actually human ... right?"

"Wait, what?" A stunned Chuuya gasped, eyes going wide as saucers.

"Is that really a surprise at this point?" Atsushi can't help but ask him, rather sassily, if I may add. "I mean, for the last few hours(?) you've basically been on Dazai-san's mind, like, 92% of the time." The Akutagawas and Kunikida nodded, having done a brief calculation of the approximate amount of time Dazai Osamu dedicated his thoughts to Nakahara Chuuya. the other 8% were mostly occupied with the time before Dazai as Shuuji met Chuuya in Suribachi at seven soon to be eight years old. "And nearly half of that was dedicated to proving you are human, either methodologically or just to you." Again, the Akutagawas, Kunikida and even Mori nodded to confirm this 'math'. "So are you really surprised? Because if so, I can see why Dazai-san calls you a slug."

"Damn, Atsushi," Yosano whistled and Ranpo cackled while Chuuya glared at the weretiger, then the Akutagawas, then the two besties before he glared at Kouyou and Hirotsu, who were trying to hide their own amusem*nt.

f*ckuzawa just watched and wondered if the Agency's building will stay intact after they leave this space.

"You should know ... by now," Kashimura continued, stopping the bickering that could have started up over the topic of Dazai's more or less obsession with Chuuya and how it's not only mutual, it's acompetitionbetween both halves of Soukoku. "That prototype A-258, or as the government call it these days A5158 ... " Dazai looked ready to murder even more than before at both the numbers used instead of Chuuya's actual name and theitpart. He dug his heel harder into the older male's liver, making him cry out weakly, not for a lack of pain but from an increasing loss of strength for even that. "I-it's not h-human ... I-it never was-"

"I know you had a son," Dazai hissed, stopping the nonsense before it could anger him more. "I know the lie you told your wife." Kashimura just chuckled, more blood bubbling out of his mouth. "I know what you did to your son. I know you used him for the experiment. I know that your son was not the one that melted in Chuuya's arms." Kansuke didn't seem as amused anymore, glaring weakly up at the former mafioso who grinned, baring his teeth like a shark that has smelled blood in the water. "In fact, I know that that wasn't the only clone made. It was just the newest one, gathered from the DNA in Chuuya's blood from that time Chuuya got stabbed by that stupid Sheep and had to be taken to a hospital. You had his blood samples in the database, so as soon as a match appeared, you and N got all panicky, didn't you? Your inumane experiments were basically bared for all the world to see. If Chuuya had been a clone, the blood work would have shown irregularities. It didn't."

"It is a good ... clone."

Dazai stomped on his liver again, earning another howl of pain, this time trailing off into a pathetic whimper. "I guess you don't know how good I am at getting information. I got that 'other Chuuya's' DNA samples. For at least that one, which was clearly made in a rush if it melted away so easily, there are, indeed, irregularities that show it was never a human. Chuuya doesn't have those irregularities. Moreover," he pressed harder now with the heel puncturing a lung. "There's far more to Arahabaki than even N was aware, wasn't there? You didn't start off that experiment together. I saw the logs. N was trying to recreate a singularity host such as Paul Verlaine. You, on the other hand, actually had an elder god on your hands."

"Shut the f*ck up," Higuchi gawked.

Hell,everyonegawked. Chuuya especially.

Even Mori gawked and he had access to msot of Chuuya's retrieved files.

Well, turns out Dazai took the most important ones, it seems.

"But how would such completely different experiments end up overlapping?" Kunikida asked but no one had an answer.

"Singularities are unpredictable," was all Ranpo could offer as his own explanation. "And they are incredible sources of energy, though it's not an energy that can be harvested. But what would that energy have to do with an actualgod?"

"My head is starting to hurt," Naomi complained. "Is Mr Fancy Hat a god or not?"

"I ... don't know," Ranpo confessed, looking very distraught over that fact. "I think the only person left alive who may know the truth now is Dazai."

"What about Verlaine-shishou?" Gin asked but the great detective just shook his head.

"Even Verlaine only got his information about himself from second-hand sources. Rimbaud and what he could find out from the labs that made him, and then later N's own insufficient information but even that was lost the second he died. Everyone involved in making both Guivre and Arahabaki are dead, right? Rimbaud killed the first and the latter were either destroyed in Suribachi along with the lab or were finished off later ... Kashimura Kansuke might just be the last person in the world who knowsanythingabout this ... And Dazai had no intention of him seeing another sunrise."

"And once Dazai-kun sets out to do something, he finishes the job," Mori finished for him and, once again, no one snapped at him. Not this time. It wasn't the moment for their grudge against him, not when all the highly functioning brains were needed to figure out the biggest mystery of the events that have taken place for almost two decades and that have dictated Dazai's and Chuuya's life, as well as the lives of all those around them as they're sucked into Soukoku's drama whether the like it or not.

Kashimura barked a laugh at what Dazai said, impressed and not surprised at all. If anyone would find out so much about the whole situation all those years ago, it would be Tane's and Gen'emon's brat. "Whatcha gonna ... do 'bout it?"

"You're going to tell me everything I want to know about my partner's origins and they you will die, taking all those secrets with you to the grave," Dazai smiled 'sweetly' at his latest victim. "Depending on your answer, this information will reach Chuuya or it will be gone forever in a shroud of uncertainty so he may live his life by making his own way with his own two little hands and his brutish strength. I'll not allow for doubt to cloud his judgement and that fire in his chibi soul. After all, that's what makes me such a good partner, no?"

At this point, to say everyone wasgawkingwould be an understatement. And to say they had even more questions than before Dazai said all that would be laughable. They had a doctor thesis level question before. Now they might as well be questioning what existence was, because while certain things made a lot more sense, with this new perspective, it also cast a shadow on other things they thought they knew, leaving them stuck in a cycle of questioning everything they know about Dazai Osamu and his motives, as well as about Nakahara Chuuya and his origins.

The ginger haired man surprised them all, though, by smiling at Dazai's declaration. "Gen and I ... were partners, once ... But you're just like him, y'know ... " He was starting to slur his words. There was a huge pool of blood beneath him now, too. He didn't have much time left. Trapped under Dazai's foot - literally - and with such intensive injuries he can't even slow down the bleeding from because No Longer Human nullified any and all effects of his vibration manipulation, Kashimura Kansuke had no choice but to die. "An' fo' dat ... I ain't tellin' ya sh*t." He threw a bloody grin Dazai's way as the light started fading from his eyes. "A-258 ... is ... n ... huma ... "

"No, you don't get to die yet, you bastard!" Dazai screamed, leaning down with impressive balance, considering he was standing on a human body in stupidly high heels, and flexibility to grab Kashimura by the neck, only to freeze when he felt how cold his skin was and that there was absolutely no pulse under his hand. "Tsk." He quickly unbuckled his shoes and stepped out of them, straightening back up to run a hand through his hair in frustration.'I spent so much time on this thing ... I should have lowered the efficiency rate from 98% to at least 92%. Maybe he would have lived long enough to actually torture some information out of.'

But his reaction was telling enough. The forbidden experiment extremely rare few knew about in the entire world, let alone Japan's government, had indeed taken place and Kashimura Kansuke had been involved in it before it was merged with the singularity experiments. Dazai wouldn't be surprised if everyone who knew about its existence had been killed, if not after Chuuya escaped in Suribachi then later, after the incident with Guivre and Arahabaki's reemergence.

And with Kashimura dead ...

'I'll have to do this the hard way, won't I? Hopefully, this bastard's the prideful sort of scientist who doesn't destroy his work and instead selfishly, desperately hoards it at home. But before I can head down to Yamaguchi ... 'He turns off the music blasting from the speakers and picks up his mother's katana, forgoing the coat Mori had given him altogether. It has served its purpose for the final time. Dazai will not be killing anymore.

He doesn't bother to take anything else out of the warehouse as he leaves through the main door. He doesn't even bother to judge the distance he puts between it and himself when he sets off the explosives he'd left all over the place. The flammable things he left inside to feed the following inferno do their job and it's one of the hottest, biggest fires in Yokohama's history that, for days later, they can't entirely put it out. The structure of the warehouse itself barely survives in its wake, let alone anything inside. Kashimura's body is reported as found in the ruins, but there's no identifying him. But that's a problem for Yokohama to deal with for days after that night.

Dazai, on the other hand, wastes no time and just gets into the stolen car he'd broken into and jump-started earlier that evening. With a skill he never let Ango see in his attempts to teach Dazai how to drive safely - as though Dazai didn't already know the drive a getaway car, considering the sh*t Soukoku got up to on their missions and the fact that, sometimes, they had to use Corruption and Chuuya was simply in no condition to do the driving, so he'd given Dazai lessons instead - he takes off into the night as yet another inconspicuous, ordinary citizen.

"Dazaiknows how to drivewithoutgiving someone aheart attack!?" Kunikida demands of the ginger Executive, who's too busy trying to sort out his feelings at Kansuke's death, considering he may or may not indeed be his biological father.

"Not the time, boy," Hirotsu admonishes him and the blond actually feels embarrassed for his outburst as the vision blurs out and shifts around them yet again.

"I'm honestly kind of disappointed in Dazai-san," Atsushi shamefully admits, earning himself a deadly glare from Akutagawa for even daring to utter such words. "He promised not to kill anymore, to save people, yet he did kill Kashimura ... He broke his promise ... "

"I'm sure it was an exception to the rule," Kyouka assures. "After all, Dazai-san doesn't even carry around weapons anymore. I'm sure this was the only way that situation could be dealt with."

"You're not wrong, Izumi-kun," Mori piped up and while Yosano and Kouyou already looked ready to kill him just for speaking up, and directly to Kyouka at that, Ranpo signaled for them to wait to get some more insight on Dazai, considering Mori was the adult figure for the longest part of his conscious, sentient life if one doesn't account for Natsume, who never actually had a hand in shaping andraisingDazai. "It was, indeed, the only way to deal with Kashimura. However, all of you need to stop being so hung-up on your ideals and morals. Dazai-kun does not function that way, as you should have long since realized by now, especially given some of the recent visions."

"f*ckyou, Mori," Yosano hissed but let him continue to speak.

"All I'm trying to say is that Dazai-kun will not care nor feel guilt for those he finds necessary to kill. As you've seen, even while he was my Executive and right hand man, he did not kill just for the sake of it. When he killed, it was because it was the optimal solution. That's not going to change overnight, or probably ever. Our little Russianfriend, if no one else along the way, will only be able to be dealt with in such terms that we don't have to worry about him again. Only death will spare us more of his meddling and schemes. So yes, Dazai-kunwillkill again and he'll only regret that he broke a promise,notthat he took a life. Good and evil, right and wrong mean nothing to someone who realized long ago that they're just constructs of society to prevent chaos and a lack of tax payers."

"Cynical as ever, Mori-sensei," f*ckuzawa sighed, even though he knew that, in part, Mori was right. A bigger, major part, at that. These visions had indeed showed them that Dazai has no personal moral compass and instead looks to others when he needs one. More often than not, he doesn't care to even look. His time at the Agency has forced him to construct an artificial one, in the sense that he's abiding by it because he's been told what's right and wrong, not because he actually cares or believes it on a personal level.

Normally, that would be a really sh*tty thing and not something you'd want as part of the attitude for your law-abiding organization, but Dazai's helped solve many cases and save many people since he joined. Does it reallymatter, likereally, that he doesn't believe what he preaches if he's still practicing it and helping people?

A discussion for another time, perhaps.

"I'm not even trying to throw this as a pitch why Dazai-kun should return to the Port Mafia, though, f*ckuzawa-dono," countered Mori with an offended frown. "I'm just saying how Dazai-kun is. Practicality over morality. And you know I'm not wrong, just as Dazai-kun isn't; how many of the 'good people that serve this country' have you discovered to be more corrupt than most of my business partners? There was a time your sword gleamed with the blood of such scum, too, Yukichi. It's why you put your bladeaway, in the end: you got too busy and killing such scumbags is always a slippery slope. You're just a better man than most. You gotscaredwhen you found even a hint of enjoyment in the kill. It's something I both always admired about you and couldn't help but pity you for. A conscious is a horrible thing. Believe me, I know from experience, which is why I comatosed mine."

"'Comatosed'?" Kouyou asked, having picked up on that bit like most of the older occupants of the ... 'space' they were trapped in. "Notkilled?"

"I couldn't afford to go that far," the Boss replied to his oldest Executive. "My aim has always been the betterment and well-being of the Port Mafia and Yokohama. I never wanted to turn out like the old Boss."

"You've come prettyf*ckingclose, I'd say," growled Chuuya, still enraged about Oda and his kids and how it was all just a plot to chasehis partneraway because Mori became f*cking terrified of the power Dazai amassed just by doing his job, as was demanded and expected of him as the Demon Prodigy.

"Yes, it seems so. I'll have to work on that."

... It ... It Probably shouldn't sound as promising and sincere as it did.

f*ckuzawa narrowed his eyes at his former partner. "See that you do, Ougai. I'll be keeping an eye on you."

"I won't apologize," the black haired man countered.

f*ckuzawa hummed, as though he doubted that and even Ranpo stared at him like he was crazy for doubting Mori on that one.

Only Chuuya sighed and ran a hand through his hair, realizing it and understanding it like no one else could.'Only a diamond can polish a diamond, huh?'

The vision settled again before they could discuss the topic more. This time, they were in a place none of them could immediately identify. They seem to be on the edges of a bigger city, but definitely smaller than Yokohama. It seems that they were in a more traditional part, since all around them were traditional Japanese houses with big yards. It kind of reminded them of the Tsushima Yokohama residence in its style and belied old money.

It was an idyllic scene, what they were presented with. A beautiful woman, probably middle aged, in an range kimono that contrasted her blue eyes, her hair done up in a big bun with hair ornaments, sat on the engawa, almost like a doll, practically blending in with the house. She had a content smile on her beautiful face as she looked out at the children playing out in the yard. There were five of them, all apparently about a year apart from one another, the eldest looking just barely around six and totting around the youngest, who may as well be a newborn. The kids all greatly resembled each other, sharing their sky blue eyes with their mother and the shape of their face, but not much else. They all seemed rather energetic, moving all over the place to contrast their mother. All five boys - or it could be guessed based on the youngest's clothes - were dressed like little spoiled firstborns of dotting parents, for all that there were actually five of them. The eldest wore a kimono like his mother while the others were dressed in simpler clothes to let them play more easily.

Their laughter echoed around the big yard and into the open house as the shining sun reflected over their hair like copper.

The woman looked up and away from her boys when a shadow fell over her. She made a confused face at the man dressed in all black, holding an open umbrella over his head. "May I help you?" She asked in a soothing, melodic voice, blue eyes locked on burgundy ones that gazed down at her with something between apathy and pity.

"Are you the lady of the house?"

"Yes," the woman replied, furrowing her brows a bit. "I am Kashimura f*cku. Do I know you, sir?"

The surname definitely broke everyone out of their stupor upon this sudden change in tone of the visions compared to the last one they saw. It actually made them study the woman more, Chuuya especially.

Especiallywhen the visitor seemed to swallow a lump in his throat that may as well be coal on fire.

"I see." The visitor in black knelt down beside the mother, closing his umbrella and setting it to the side. "It's an honest honor to meet you, f*cku-sama. I wish it were under better circ*mstances," Dazai Osamu said as he glanced at the playing children, a dark shadow casting over his eyes and a tight note to his voice.

"Do you have business with me or my husband, visitor-san?" f*cku demanded, seeing the attention turning to her children and getting defensive.

"Yes, actually. I'm here to speak to you about your son. Chuuya."

"Oh! Are you that new, young teacher he was talking about? My apologies if I came off as rude. Would you like to come in for some tea?"

f*cku's honest hospitality actually managed to crack Dazai's indifferent mask, a pinch forming around his eyebrows. He quickly smoothed it out, hiding all the cracks and putting back up a perfect mask that only Chuuya, Mori and Oda had been able to peek behind so far. "That is not necessary, though I appreciate the offer, f*cku-sama."

"You hardly need to be so formal with me," the mother waved him off with a charmed smile. Dazai traced it with his eyes, finding all the similarities and all the differences between her features and the features of a boy he knew like the back of his hand, or perhaps even better than his own soul.

Chuuya, meanwhile, was frowning at the scene that was playing out. "That's ...Notthe woman I saw."

"Lad?" His once mentor and big sister figure asked and the ginger shook his head, gesturing at f*cku.

"When I finally got my hands on my files as an Executive about two years ago and I went to the address my family supposedly lived in ... It's the same address, it's definitely the same house, but that'snotthe woman I spotted. She looked much older, if I'm honest ... But therewerekids around ... I think a lot more kids ... A birthday party of some sort, maybe?"

"Is it possible your actual mother moved out after this?" Gin asked and Chuuya could only shrug, as he had no answer.

"You think he just saw someone else?" Higuchi questioned and Gin shrugged, too.

"I have a feeling it's something completely different," Ranpo said gravely and, really, no one liked the sound of that.

"What about that whole teacher thing?" Kenji piped in, reminding everyone of one of f*cku's earlier sentences.

"Yeah, how long was this after the previous vision?" Tachihara asked in agreement with Kenji and it was all just becoming more and more confusing by the second.

"I really do," Dazai replied to the woman. "You are, after all, the person who brought my partner into the world. How can I do anything but show my deepest respect and gratitude?"

The elder of the two was on edge and confused all over again. "Your ... partner?"

Dazai took a deep breath and stood up, coming to stand behind the lady of the house. "Thank you, f*cku-sama, for being born and birthing Chuuya. To show my deepest gratitude, I'll make it swift." In a second, a by now very familiar katana slid across f*cku's throat, elegantly and with minimal blood splatter, leaving her kimono mostly clean as she swayed in place with a gurgle. "I promise to take care of Chuuya from now on."

"M-my son-"

"He'll be safe and happy. You have my word."

Tears slipped down her cheeks and she smiled as her vision swam, still focused on her yard where her kids were playing. "T-thank you ... visitor-san ... " She started falling sideways but Dazai did not catch her until he saw the light fade from her mostly closed eyes. Only then did he catch her body, before it could hit the floor.

"WHAT THE f*ck!?" Practically everyone, even Atsushi who had only cursed a couple of times during these missions and Akutagawa who had never cursed because he knew his mentor never did, screamed. Mori cursed. Hirotsu cursed. Kouyou and Kyouka cursed.

Chuuyaragedand mourned in his scream.

Only f*ckuzawa and Ranpo continued studying the scene they were being shown, remaining calm because of their knowledge and experience that not everything is as it seems.

And as the world around them flickered, thier patience paid off.

Because that flicker had nothing to do with the visions themselves, which had remained steady and consistent. It made the others fall silent and actually look around their surroundings. They wished they hadn't, when they did, for the image they were greeted with was disturbing on so many levels.

The serene atmosphere and happy scene from earlier was nothing more than an illusion, as it turns out. If only that were all there was to it, though, it wouldn't be so bad that even the veteran mafioso wanted to vomit. First off, the five children in the illusion all looked the same, when one actually takes a good look at them, not just similar. It was the same person, at different stages in their life. The same kid. A boy who greatly resembled what a five year old Chuuya would have looked like, with bright orange hair and brighter blue eyes. There was no mistaking him, really, not even if he were to have five other siblings that all took after Kansuke in coloration.

Secondly, once the illusion finally lifted as its caster left the world of the living and No Longer Human helped it dissipate faster, the scene underneath was horrific and heartbreaking. The five kids were all malnourished and had a common trait among them besides looking like they were walking corpses: they had gigner hair of varying shades and blue or gray eyes. They also weren't playing by any means. In fact, they were shackled to cages, the chain barely long enough to let them take five steps away to do their necessary bodily functions, as it seems, contributing to a horrendous smell. The youngest of the children even looked bad enough that it was already cloer to the world of the dead than the realm of the living.

The worst part of it all, though, was the third part, which was the overall appearance of the yard and the house. Mostly the yard, because a house that's falling apart is hardly the biggest tragedy in the world. No, it was the yard that was horrific, because those five kids were hardly the only ones in it. The only ones leftalive, sure ... But not the only ones there. Bare bones stuck out from various places in the ground and most of the viewers were versed well enough in human anatomy to recognize them as human bones. The bones of children, to be precise, and Dazai could see it even better than them. There were maybe three dozen other, now empty cages, some had actualskeletonsinside of them, some had rotting corpses that couldn't be older than a week chained to them ...

Kunikida was green in the face and looked ready to throw up when they spotted a corpse maybe a day or two old, of a kid that couldn't be older than four, with crows and other animals picking at its flesh before it rots too much.

Naomi and Higuchi screamed.

Kenji and Atsushi started sobbing.

Even Mori had to close his eyes to mourn and block out the disgusting sight.

Chuuya's face was pale and he looked fairly ready to faint on the spot. He stared at the Ability user responsible for it, his own mother, who Dazai somehow still cradled like she was an injured, fragile bird as he took out a phone and called in the investigators and ambulances to come deal with the mess.

Dazai only set f*cku's body down when he noticed a familiar cat-shifter, currently in human form, approaching the house. He got up and marched inside, slamming the door behind him. He needed to gather himself. f*cku's murder was hardly his first or his worst, but this felt different. He'd just done what everyone else has been doing.

He'd just robbed Chuuya of something that could never be restored.

He'd spilled the blood of a woman who'd gone mad with grief over her 'dead son', who hadn't even tried to fight him. She wasn't even hostile towards him. She'd been polite and even welcoming.

Dazai had never taken the life of someone like that, someone who was important to his partner.

And, as he walked through the halls of the practically abandoned house, it was for nothing. There were no traces of a young Chuuya living here. Only inside one room, which must have been the youngest Kashimura's nursery or kid room or whatever you want to call it, were there traces that a boy had ever lived here. And even this room looked bare of any personality, everything almost too perfectly cleaned and arranged in comparison to the rest of the house, so unlike the person Dazai knows Chuuya to be.

He fell to his knees as his failure, for the second time in about a year, stares him in the face.

Was all that effort, all that bloodshed ... really for nothing?

Sure, he'd saved some kids, but that was just a byproduct of his presence here, a split-decision he made when he realized there was an illusion around him and No Longer Human helped him stay unfooled, unlike the rest of the world. But he'd broken his promise to Oda, especially if the Division finds out, on top of killing Chuuya's only remaining family member who actually loved him and would have wanted him back.

Except there was still no way to tell whether Chuuya's body was a human-born one or a lab-made one. Dazai doesn't think a body really makes one human or not. In his research of Abilities, he's come by the knowledge that every Ability user has to be human because abilities come from the soul. Even Verlaine, who is most definitely a clone, has a soul. Whether it's been harvested from an actual human or he grew one with the help of Arthur Rimbaud's loving care and devotion over the years is the real question. But in the way that matters the most, Paul Verlaine is human. Similarly, so is Chuuya. Dazai's not sure why those two are so hung-up on where their bodies come from.

Hell, Dazai's own body is technically made by the Book, for all that his mother did in fact give birth to him, and he thinks he's started actually developing into a human in the last five years, thanks to the people he's met during his lifetime. After all, he wouldn't have an Ability if he wasn't, right? Even if it's supposedly the only anti-Ability in the world.

Sure, that could mean that, in contrast to other humans, he doesn't actuallyhavea soul, but the Book did not make No Longer Human. For being an all-powerful, indestructible, reality-altering artifact, the Book is actually completely powerless against No Longer Human. Dazai is not sure if it was destiny or whatever, but it wasn't by design that he got his Ability specifically.

But that's not the point now.

The point was that Dazai destroyed the one thing Chuuya's desperately been searching and reaching for since he was tricked into joining the Port Mafia: his past, any potential family he might have had, proof he was human.

He'd destroyed the thing he himself had been searching for since he was fifteen because Chuuya is a stupid dog who needs someone to properly prove it to him that he's been doubting himself like an idiot for nothing.

It's all gone now. There's nothing here, not a speck of presence that could possibly match his fiery partner-

Dazai's mind screeches to a halt when he notices something. A bigger than usual gap in between tatami mats that covered the child's room that had supposedly belonged to a young Chuuya. Such a small detail would have probably slipped by unnoticed by anyone who didn't have Dazai's attention to detail and perceptiveness or if they hadn't been forced to develop those skills because they were in the Mafia for many years.

Frowning, Dazai crawled over to the mat and found small or really slim fingers could easily wiggle in between. Now cautious but also curious, Dazai lifted the mat ... To find seemingly nothing.

Chuuya, who had been watching this intensely, deflated in disappointment. He wasn't the only one, of course, but this affected him personally, so of course he was the one who was the most sad about Dazai not finding anything that could have at least made up for f*cku's death. It was clear the woman was mad beyond saving, but she had seemingly gotten to such a state because she'd loved Chuuya so much. Or she was driven to madness not by grief, but by guilt, if she had a hand in Chuuya ending up in the labs to begin with. That part was murky even to Dazai and would stay that way for all eternity since all Kashimuras are dead.

However, Dazai's eyes are trained to find such things, so he easily spots a loose floorboard, too.

A loose floorboard underneath a loose, displaced tatami mat.

This had everyone perking up and concentrating to find the board Dazai was seeing. Of course, Ranpo and then Mori were the first ones to find it, but the other Mafioso and Detectives were quick to spot it, too. They all watched with bated breath as Dazai used a knife he produced from who knows where on his person to open it, revealing whathadto be a diary, wrapped up in a plastic bag to protect it from molding or getting it covered in dust. Relief flooded through the brunet and he picked it up and immediately opened it, being greeted with clumsy, childish penmanship and kanji that might as well be hieroglyphics with how messy and deformed they looked. He huffed in fond amusem*nt as he spotted places where the pen had been pressed excruciatingly hard against the paper, leaving indents on the next ten pages and Dazai knew.

Thiswas the speck, thesparkof Chuuya he was searching for.

He leafed through it, searching for and quickly finding what he was looking for. There was an entry, just after Chuuya's fifth birthday, about some fight in kindergarten and about a 'boo-boo' on his wrist where the other little rascal got him with a pen. It matched the reports he'd left in the Port Mafia. That was good. That wasdamngood.

Now Dazai just needs some more concrete proof.

How he was going to find it ...

Well, the diary surprisingly gave him an answer.

'Helping me even without being here at all or even before you knew me, huh, chibi? As expected of Soukoku.'

"Holy sh*t," Tachihara breathed out as Dazai read through a five year old Chuuya's wonderings about the 'big boy papers' his father brought home in a 'strange yellow thingy', an occurrence that happened all the time, apparently, because there was a pouty tone to Chuuya's complains to his diary that he was never allowed to see them but he was consoled by the fact his 'Mama' wasn't allowed to, either because of 'conf'dal'ty' and 'passable denibily', which was probably the child's attempts to say 'confidentiality' and 'plausible deniability', words he must have overheard from his father.

'It's a habit, or just a scientist's greed and paranoia over their project, their research,'Dazai theorized even as he pocketed the diary, returning the floorboard and mat into place, before he sprinted through the house. He found the parents' bedroom first and searched through it for the next fifteen to twenty minutes until not a single speck of dust wasn't overturned, but he found nothing. He didn't even suspect he'd find something there; it was too great of a risk of f*cku finding it and he doesn't think the woman would have liked what her husband was doing.

So he kept searching until he found the home office heknewwould be there somewhere. Rich adults who had their sh*t pot together usually had one so they can continue being workaholics even from home if a situation demanded it.

He knew he hit the jackpot as soon as he found the office, because it was protected with both traditional and electronic locks that require pass-codes, two different card keys and voice recognition to unlock. Unfortunately for this very advanced, no doubt very expensive lock, Dazai was a master lock-picker, even for locks he shouldn't be able to pick. But electronics were even more predictable than ordinary keyholes.

A little trick with a knife and he had the panel dismantled and his fingers all over the switches and wires. A little bit of tweaking and a cut wire here and there and he heard the lock disengage. Picking the three traditional locks took no time at all. And Kashimura's final defense against anyone who might want to enter his home office was rendered useless against No Longer Human, nullifying the vibrations trying to act as a shield preventing him from opening the door.

All in all, a typical break-in. Dazai's done it so many times it's funny to think thatanyoneconsidered this top notch security. Then again, Kashimura probably wasn't banking on him actually knowing where the f*cker lives.

'Not the time to trashtalk dead people, or else I'll trace all my problems back to too many people to name.'He has an office to search through.

And, as luck would have it, it's his favorite type of search. The too-much-information-to-go-through type of search. He hates the not-enough-information types the most because it means additional work. too-much is the best and this office is the very definition of it with all the files and papers in every corner of the room.

'If I can't find it here, I'll become a farmer in Kanagi.'

"He's seriously going to go through all those files without any complaint? But he complains for fifteen minutes anytime I ask him to look through a single two-page file!?" Kunikida explodes and Yosano starts cackling.

"Those files aren't about Mr Fancy Hat!"

The atmosphere miraculously recovers from the scene they saw outside as they all start teasing either Chuuya or Kunikida as Dazai searches through the room in the vision, storing up files he finds interesting and either collecting evidence for the police/Division or destroying it accordingly. Dazai makes a remarkable progress through the room, showing off all of his paperwork skills that he used to force the Port Mafia to develop. He's done with half the overflowing-with-paper room in a little less than an hour when he finally finds it. Kashimura had even been careless enough to leave it out in the open instead of any of his locked up cupboards and drawers.

Case fileDeux ex machina. Fitting, in a literal sense, he supposes. A god from a machine, probably how they got Arahabaki in the first place, from whichever actual dimension or realm that thing comes from. Or how they kept it contained until they found a way to weaponize it. Needless to say, when he opened the file, it was a very interesting read. Kashimura has been working on it foryears, almost since he got a slightly higher rank and a frankly ridiculous number of PhDs in physics on a smaller-scale project similar to the one that would become projectDeux ex machina. His first attempt hadn't been successful for the lack of resources, but in the big project itself, he had a lot of people with technology oriented or space-time continuum based Abilities to work with to help him not only reach into the real where gods apparently sort of exist, but also drag one out. Arahabaki was a minor god and those fools both lucked out and were very unfortunate that it turned out to be a god of destruction. A god of healing would have probably been better for warfare; that way, the famous Angel of Death wouldn't have been needed for the Immortal Infantry strategy Mori was oh so proud about while trying to keep it on the down-low. Or, you know, an actual god of war would have been great, too, but he supposes that these guys weren't aiming for any god in particular, just any they could get their hands on and use.

But that's where the project hit a snag.

One part of the file consisted of daily logs from Kashimura, who was leading the project as it was his ideaandhis Ability that contributed the most to restraining Arahabaki and keeping it in this realm, and in them it was easy to follow the progression of the project and how they simply could not find a way to weaponize the beast. It was both volatile and dormant, a scary combination when one thinks what it would be like if it were to wake up before they could contain it. And there was simply no containing it.

A simple human being or a simple machine couldn't do it; it would break apart.

Which is how Kashimura got introduced to N, apparently, who was working on an artificial singularity host and also hit a snag. They were forced to combine their projects, because apparently, a singularity could contain a god and a god could stabilize a singularity. The unpredictably of both these phenomena somehow aligned in a once in a lifetime opportunity and Arahabaki was trapped.

Now all that was left was to find a vessel.

Which is where Kashimura Chuuya comes in, apparently, with his first, natural Ability being to amplify others' Abilities. He and some other kids were brought to the lab and the experiments commenced while their parents were told they were dead or had gone missing. Little human bodies still proved too fragile to contain the singularity containing Arahabaki, so they tried out clones. Dozens and dozens of clones of the children who had powerful, potentially useful Abilities that could contain Arahabaki and the singularity. Except the kids started dying, because they were kids and not meant for such harsh environments and conditions.

Chuuya survived.

His clones more or less were stable, but not stable enough.

So instead, Kashimura threw away his son for a weapon and Chuuya was exposed to the singularity, which interacted with his body and Arahabaki got attached to its new host. It was an unstable bind, as all things singularity-related aren't exactly stable, but Chuuya's body apparently adapted to containing so much power in it.

The experiment was a success.

But the war was over and the research would not be getting any due credit since it would be considered a war crime or a crime against humanity at that point. So the newly dubbed Project Arahabaki was kept under wraps and demanded more and more secret funding.

Which is how, eventually, the Tsushima couple and their only son ended up in that military base on the same night Arthut Rimbaud and Paul Verlaine came to steal or kill 'subject A-258'.

'It all makes sense now,'Dazai mused, feeling overwhelming relief flash through him, embracing his whole body, inside out. He had proof ... He hadproof!'The clones were too unstable because For The Tainted Sorrow and Arahabaki are not the same as Verlaine-san's Ability and Guivre. Verlaine-san's body could withstand all that power, but Chuuya's clonescouldn't. His innate Ability is what kept his body safe ... And unlike Verlaine-san, whose consciousness was downloaded or uploaded into his body, who had a clean slate and thus no previous desire to live, that stupid chibi's always been too passionate, too loud, to colorful, too willful. He'sdefinitelygoing to withstand even the worst of tortures just to come out as himself in the end.'The diary even proves it.

Even without his memories, child Chuuya's personality is like a more innocent version of the current Chuuya's.

Chuuya ishumanand Dazai hasproof.

'I can use this to protect him from the government,'came the realization as Dazai gathered all the documents he considered crucial and just set the rest of it on fire.'If his body did indeed turn out to be a clone and For The Tainted Sorrow just a result of experiments, the government could have tried to claim him as their property. Or even just intellectual property, disregarding Chuuya's existence as an individual. But I haveproofnow. Proof that he was a human child stolen from his mother. He's not an object to be owned. Even if he leaves the Port Mafia one day, I have what I need to make sure no one will put him back in a lab again. at least not without a legal fight, at the very least. A fight I don't plan on loosing.'

The long trip was worth it, as were all the months he spent planning this out and the years previous to that dedicated to intelligence gathering and research.

'Randou-san can rest in peace now. I'll keep both those gravity brutes safe.'

Chuuya no sh*t startedbawling. His sudden sobbing made everyone jump, even Ranpo, who also didn't notice as Chuuya got more and more emotional as Dazai's thoughts echoed around them and the proof of his humanity stared him right in the face. This was Dazai's life's work, they realized, and that just made Chuuya cry harder.

Out of relief.

Out of grief.

Out of joy.

Out oflove.

"Oh, deary," Kouyou sighed fondly as she gathered him up in her arms, shielding him from the world with the long sleeves of her kimono and rubbing his back or carding her fingers through his hair to help him calm down. She knew she was no Dazai, the person Chuuyareallyneeded here at the moment, but she did her best and just let Chuuya cry. "Let itallout."

"Dazai can be really amazing, huh," Yosano commented and Ranpo nodded. Not evenhecould have confirmed Chuuya's humanity without going through all the loops and hoops Dazai had to just to get information.

"We'll have to keep a better eye out for the government in the future, though," f*ckuzawa said sternly and the Agency members all agreed. "This isn't even just about Nakahara anymore. Dazai himself could be in grave danger for knowing such things."

"But to think that humans were able to wrestle an actualgodout of its realm and tried to make it their slave ... "Kunikida ran a frustrated hand through his hair. "What iswrongwith people!? We all saw what Arahabaki could do and that when it's sealed within a, relatively fragile, vessel! What if it got loose before it was bound to Nakahara?"

"It would have probably been as destructive, if not more, as Guivre," theorized Akutagawa. "This is why Dazai-san is the msot amazing person on earth and no one can replace him."

"I can't even fault you for the fanboy behavior," Tachihara retorted. "Because this guy is f*cking badass and I still can't believe the Boss would chase him out."

"Perhaps it's for the best that he did, though," their resident weretiger mused. "I mean, we all saw how busy Dazai-san was as an Executive. When would he have had time to do something like this if he'd stayed in the Mafia?"

"Not to mention that he wouldn't be able to do it as discreetly," Hirotsu pointed out. "If Dazai-san has gone through so much trouble to keep those files and journals a secret all these years, he definitely wouldn't want the Boss to learn he has them and what they say; the Boss already had enough of a hold over Chuuya-san, he didn't need any more. Dazai-san wouldn't have allowed it."

"I still would have f*cking appreciated a f*cking warning when he left," Chuuya managed to gasp out between his sobs and Kouyou's almost suffocating motherly embrace. "I honestly f*cking thought hedied, even though I was always sure I would feel it in my core if he did. I thought I was wrong. I doubted so many f*cking things ... That f*cking dumbass, I'm going to kick his ass after this! Lovingly."

"Relationship goals," Higuchi muttered to Gin, who only nodded.

"Dazai-san really is setting the bar too high," Tanizaki chuckled. "Who could ever topthat?"

"I'm going to ask Dazai-san to give Nii-sama courting advice~!"

"N-Naomi!"

"COURTING!?" Chuuya screeched and Akutagawa suddenly looked like he thought he should be taking notes. "That wasn'tcourting! ... Was it?"

"According to well-known rumors," Kouyou replied with amusem*nt. "Tane-sama and Gen'emon-sama most definitely both courted in such an outragous way that no one else but them understood it and it involved a lot of property damage and trauma."

"I thought Tsushima Tane was never a part of the Port Mafia?" Kyouka questioned and Hirotsu and Kouyou shrugged.

"She was never officially a member, yes, and stayed clear of the 'family business', but she had the power and propensity to cause chaos when it suited her. She didn't get the moniker demon princess fornothing, you know."

"Besides, Mr Fancy Hat," Ranpo jumped in, picking up where they left off. "Didn't Dazai basically tell you he loved you like a day or so after you guys met? Everything he's done since that winter holiday in Kanagi wasdefinitelycourting. You were just oblivious to it."

"Shut the f*ck up."

Chapter 26

Chapter Text

19-20yo

The vision in Yamaguchi continued, only now showing Dazai after he scoured the rest of the house for any hidden clues of Chuuya's life there, finding only one picture from what appeared to be his third birthday where he was basically spraying spit over a birthday cake while trying to blow out the candle. The brunet was unreasonably charmed by it and thinks it will be a truckload of ammunition against Chuuya when they meet again, as they were indelibly fated to.

Chuuya blushed both at his partner's thoughts and all the coos the picture of his small, chubby, baby self produced.

The atmosphere sobered when they saw Natsume waiting for Dazai at the engawa while the police, firemen, medics and social workers tried to make sense of the scene and help the children. They all appeared horrified to have been blind to what was happening on these grounds but f*cku's Ability was some sort of illusion that prevented the perceiver from questioning it. Dazai was only immune to it thanks to No Longer Human. Everyone else would only see the sorrowful delusions f*cku was living in and portraying to the world.

"You've killed again," was Natsume's way of warily greeting Dazai, eyeing his black clothes and the katana he was carrying. "Twice. The Special Abilities Division will no doubt rescind their decision to make a blank slate for you if they were to find out."

"Which is why they won't," the bandaged teenager said with certainty.

Natsume, though, just sighed tiredly. "You were doingsowell. Why would you do something like this? In just a few months, you'll be joining the Armed Detective Agency and if you think f*ckuzawa-bozo and his own brat won't sniff out the blood on you, you're dead wrong. Not only will they not accept your application, they might just kill you on sight. Doing something like this is most definitely not worth your bright future-"

"Bright future? Not worth it?" Dazai gave a chilling, completely humorless laugh. "Who areyouto tellmeanything about abright future? You were quite content to leave me to rot in the Mafia since I made that part of the Tripartite, arguably the strongest and perhaps most important one, what it is today.Iwas the one to makeyoursystemwork. And you were okay with leaving me in such a dangerous, toxic environment, never to see the light. You havenoright to talk about abright futurefor me. Let alone what is and isn't worth such a vague concept. Not for me."

"And you think I was happy to leave you there!? Your parents were my friends!"

"That didn't stop you from letting my grandfather take me and try to turn me into his little weapon or slave. It didn't stop you from letting me barely survive day to day on the streets of Yokohama. It didn't stop you from letting Mori-san take me, next, and use me as he pleases. It didn't stop you any of those times, so why now?"

"Because of your promise," Natsume fired back, only to have Tane's beloved katana kiss the skin of his neck with its sharp,sharpblade.

"My promise to Odasaku is even less your business than how I want to live my life or how I weigh my actions," hissed the former Mafioso. "Chuuya is and always has been and alwayswillbe the exception. I willgladlykill again if it means I protected him or saved him from suffering. I've devised plans to defeat agodfor him and was ready to sacrifice Yokohama and all the people in it, perhaps even half the country, for him.What makes you think I wouldn't do it again?"

"If you don't marry that man," Yosano hissed dangerously at the ginger in question. "I will cut your dick and balls off!"

"While I don't endorse the killing again portion," Kunikida said, pushing up his glasses. "I completely agree with Yosano-sensei. And this is something Ineverthought I'd agree on withanyonein regards to Dazai."

Chuuya looked thoughtful. "Well, Iwasgoing to try to woo him. You know, dates and gifts and sh*t. The normal stuff. But now I'm just going to steal him and we'll marry as soon as we're out of here."

"Oi!" Kouyou smacked him over the head. "No eloping! I think I've deserved to be there for your wedding, Nakahara Chuuya!"

"Yes, Ane-san."

"Would he want that?" Natsume challenged.

'No.'"I don't care."'I let Odasaku die, but I can survive in a world without him. The pain reminds me I might just be human enough for feeling it. A world without Chuuya is unimaginable.'"Is that your best argument? If so, then stay out of my business and clean this sh*t up. That's the only thing you've been good for in the major moments in my life."

"Shuuji-"

A streak of blood starts gushing where the sword is pressed just the tiniest bit harder against Natsume's neck. "Tsushima Shuuji is dead. Call me that again and you'll be joining all of my enemies in hell."

The cat-shifter sighed. "Fine. I won't try to tell you or advise you how to live your life. It's not my place, as unlike even Masaoka-sensei, I was never directly involved in it, not when and how it really mattered. But I still don't want you drowning in darkness when you've been thrown a rope to help you climb out of it. I want tohelp. Yes, I'll help clean this up and keep it from the Division, but that's like putting a band-aid on a bullet hole. You're well aware of that. You need to be careful from now on, or else the very Tripartit system you rely on to keep your partner safe will fall apart under scrutiny. You won't be able to help him or yourself anymore if that happens and you know it."

"You really think I can leave the darkness? How foolish of you, Sensei. Iam the darkness." He pulls the sword away, though, polishing off the blood before sheathing his mother's prized blade. "That doesn't mean I can't walk in the light. It will just burn every step of the way, but that's neither here nor there. What matters is that we've reached an agreement, of sorts. You let me do my thing and I won't topple the government should they decide to go after Chuuya again. No, that's a lie, I definitely will. But I won't do it unless they cross the line first. In return for your cooperation, you'll have mycooperation and we'll keep the Tripartite system steady and Yokohama safe. However, should you ever try to butt in ... Well, I am my father's son, but more than anything, I am my mother's child. And personally, I don't think you'll like that."

"No need to threaten me," Natsume raised his hands in surrender. "You have my full cooperation as long as it isn't genocide or other war crimes."

"If you cared about war crimes, you wouldn't have sought out Mori-san."

" ... Touche."

They shook on it and that was that.

"It feelssogood to see Soseki-san get put in his place," purred Hirotsu and Zenki Soukoku couldn't help but agree. "Also, it seems that Dazai-san does indeed know the connection between Masaoka-sensei and Soseki-san. I do wonder if he knows about me, though?"

"I wouldn't doubt it," Mori pointed out. "As you know, Dazai-kun has a way of making peopletalk." He shuddered as he remembered nights he can't recall where he'ssurehe'd spilled some personal secrets to his former right hand man. It's never a good idea to be sleep deprived or intoxicated around Dazai Osamu.

Dazai didn't leave Yamaguchi quite yet. In fact, he stayed for nearly an entire month, helping find the kids' homes if they didn't already have families waiting for their return and also buying the Kashimura's land so he can renovate it into an orphanage to honor both Odasaku and Kashimura f*cku, the woman who gave life to Chuuya. He commissioned two statues, one depicting f*cku sitting on the porch with a toddler in her arms and another depicting Odasaku and his five orphans running around him which he placed in the front yard near one of the three playgrounds on the huge plot of land. He found the sculptors who'd do them justice buthewas the one to personally draw and design the statues, which is why it took so long for him to leave the city. It took some time to learn to draw properly when he'd never done it before, not even as a kid.

He supplied the new orphanage with everything it needed: furniture, groceries, hygiene and cleaning products and sponsors beside himself who will donate regularly to keep it going. He even personally interviewed each and every single person who would be hired and made it a sticking point that no one can be hired or come volunteer without being cleared by him. He still remembers that orphanage. He still remembers the tiger boy with those silly bangs. In honor to him, he bought enough tiger plushies for each kid who arrived to have one that they can do with as they wished.

His efforts for Yamaguchi almost earned him the title of honorary citizen, but he had to decline as he wants to do it all anonymously. More so because he doesn't want anyone from Yokohama to know about such a big project of his; the kids could be used against him even if he literally never interacted with any of them, though some of the first who filed through the orphanage's doorsdidseehimand stared at him with that childlike curiosity and innocence that made Dazai wonder if he'd ever had such a thing within himself when he was a kid or if he'd always been too ...himselffor it. He never allowed himself to dwell on it, instead focusing on another pet project of his.

Some of his most enthusiastic helpers were one Ibuse Masuji, a woman barely a year older than Dazai who had a very obvious and very unfortunate crush on him, and one Satou Haruo, a man perhaps even more unfortunately in love withher. He was twenty five at the time and despite being jealous of Ibuse's infatuation with Dazai, he was respectful and kind. They were both Ability users, though neither of their skills were battle-oriented. They were loyal and kind and Dazai chose them for that exact reason to play the roles of Chuuya's parents.

If his calculations were right, and they always are, Chuuya will become an Executive by the end of the year and probably won't be making his way down here for at least a few months more than that. He won't approach the house, he'll just observe from a distance because Chuuya's already chosen where he belongs. One of the many reasons Dazai didn't ask him to leave with him about a year ago.

"You're my family too, you idiot! You always were!"

So for Chuuya to find some closure, he needs 'Mr and Mrs Nakahara' to play house. He doesn't doubt these two can do it. After all, they were more lovey-dovey than Ibuse realized. He almost felt bad for poor Satou, who sometimes looked like he was on the verge of a panic attack whenever Ibuse was all over him and in his personal bubble. Still, it was very amusing and Dazai hoped that when Chuuya saw them like that, while also being so altruistic and philanthropic, he'll be content. He deserved to believe his parents were nothing but lovely and loving.

Dazai will make sure that heneverfinds out what the Kashimuras did.

"Well, too late for that," Naomi sighed and they all cast a look at Chuuya, wondering what Dazai will do when he realizes that his carefully laid plans were trampled all over by whoever it was that stuck them all in these visions. "Still, it's kind of sweet ... Minus the murder thing."

"No, no," corrected Kouyou, very vengefully. "Plusthe murder thing." The rest of the Port Mafia, Kyouka and Junichiro all nodded while the Agency members just sweatdropped, only then remembering they were actually in the company of actual criminals.

How ironic.

Dazai left Yamaguchi as soon as he was sure everything was taken care of, finally returning to Yokohama after so many weeks. It took a lot of driving and two days with minimal rest before Dazai was finally in the city again. It sure had felt weird to be away for so long. Mori had not allowed Dazai to leave the city limits except for a select few missions, including the one in Kanagi two years prior, because he was always so paranoid and because he so desperately needed to control every single aspect of Dazai's day if he could help it. Dazai hadn't cared; about the leaving Yokohama thing, not the paranoid control issues thing. He'd had his partners and his friends back then, so he was content in Yokohama anyways.

Well, now, there was not much left for him, was there?

A concept only truly solidified when Dazai returned to his old shipping container, figuring he might as well take the rest of his most important possessions before he returns to the hole the Special Abilities Division was hiding him in.

Only to find, in the place of his shipping container, a pile of slag. And it didn't even seem all that old, maybe a month at most since the container was turned into it, melting to the ground and getting stuck like that, leaving absolutely no access to the secret container Dazai had dug out underneath it.

He chuckled bitterly.'Damn it, chibi. Truly, we are Soukoku, Twin Dark. Pain for pain, parents for parents.'

A month ago, Dazai killed Chuuya's parents.

A month ago, Chuuya sealed off the only pictures and files he has of his own.

How ironic.

A fitting punishment.

'Damn it.'

"DAMN IT!" Chuuya screamed, in despair and rage at himself. The others did nothing to stop him. In fact, they were too stunned to breathe, let alone move or speak, when Chuuya took his hat off his head, threw it on the floor and then proceeded to kick it with all of his might, making the head-wear fly an impressive distance with the force he used considering it was so light. Kouyou had to interfere when he actually started pulling on his hair with all his might, as though he wanted to literally tear it out and get that bald patch Dazai was constantly teasing him about.

"Lad, you didn't know," she said, trying to calm him down and reassure him.

"I f*ckingshould have! I f*cking should have know that the container meantsomethingto him, for f*ck's sake! Anytime he was pissed at me, he would go there and he had more personal belongings there than in his Mafia-issued penthouse! I should have f*cking guessed! I'm hispartner!"

"The pictures are still probably there," Ranpo interrupted, making Chuuya stop his rant. "I am almost 100% positive that, sometimes, instead of going to Oda's grave, Dazai goes there to check on it."

"I guess that would explain the occasional dumpster smell," Kunikida grumbled.

"So we can just lift that," Kenji pointed towards the pile of slag that used to be a shipping container. "And get the pictures from underneath?"

"Probably," the genius detective said with a shrug and Kenji brightened.

"Okay! I'll go lift it as soon as we get out of here so Dazai-san can have his family pictures back~!"

"You are too precious for this world," Gin cooed at the freckled blond, who only beamed at her some more, almost sparkling.

Chuuya, at least, has calmed down and was taking deep breaths to gather himself properly. He hated what he did, he hated the possibility that he may have ruined the only piece of his parents that Dazai had left that was purely of sentimental value and not something with a proper function, like the bolo tie or the katana. Dazai had so few personal possessions he actually gave a sh*t about and Chuuya hated that the pictures of his parents and his childhood home's staff might be ruined under all the heat and pressure. Chuuya had truly taken it all out, all of his rage and desperation and hurt in a drunken stupor one night, he hadn't held anything back. The immense pressure in the air really had combusted the container.

Chuuya had been impressed and horrified come morning, when the last thing that had been his partner's and only his partner's was reduced to melted metal. He'd done his best to brush it off and never think about it again, convincing himself he didn't get sh*tfaced the second he returned home because he was mourning losing another part of his partner but rather because he was celebrating destroying that sh*tty place.

Kouyou had needed to hold an intervention with him before he actually became an alcoholic.

Chuuya forced himself to never think of the container again.

He'd finally succeeded when Dazai came back into the picture, livelier and healthier than ever.

He was reminded now of what he'd done and seeing it from Dazai's perspective was so much worse.

The vision shifted again, showing Dazai in what must be the room the Division stuck him in. It was a cramped one bedroom apartment with a kitchenette practically in the middle of the living room, though thankfully the bathroom was properly separated or else some of the viewers were going to havewordswith Taneda and Ango. But none of that was really important compared to who and what was sitting in the middle of the dimly lit space.

Dazai was at a kotatsu, mechanical pen in hand and the Book itself in front of him, open as he ...wrote in it!?

"WHAT THE f*ck IS HE DOING!?" Nearly half of the watching members of two very different organizations yelled as words easily flowed from Dazai onto the pages in a neat, small script, taking up so little space as the text extended and lengthened, Dazai's hand never slowing down for even one minute.

'The painting is the key ... If I remove everything around that painting from the equation ... Then Odasaku can live a happy, peaceful life, even if it means he never met me.'

That stunned them all, even Mori who would never regret his actions from four years ago, a wave of hurt crushing the air out of all of their lungs at the devastating revelation they just had.

'I promised Akutagawa-kun that he'd be much more fortunate if Odasaku found him ... But Akutagawa-kun isn't like others. He requires a reason, a purpose to live ... No one can understand that ... So I'll give him one, once again. Besides, Gin-chan will always need protecting ... '

"Dazai-san," came the strangled whisper of the Akutagawa siblings as their fates were changed and Ryuunosuke watched in horror as he was made to hate the man he'd proudly and in relief declared the master of his own life and being. His only comfort was that the Dazai of the Book's world treated Gin so much care and gentleness as if to make up for separating their little makeshift family unit, not just brother and sister but their respected mentor, too.

'That tiger boy from the orphanage ... Our paths will inevitably cross, given I think he is the guardian and tracker of the Book ... So having him on my side would be for the best. Plus, I can control his Ability should he go feral ... Not to mention that he needs to get out of that wretched orphanage ... Perhaps swapping him in for Akutagawa-kun? It will be interesting to train a tiger.'

"So he still takes Atsushi?" Yosano wonders but no one answers.

They can't.

'Ane-san and Hirotsu-san are basically the glue that holds the Port Mafia together and resembling the guardians of the night and not just a bunch of criminals bordering on terrorists ... But I can give them a rest ... Early retirement, perhaps, or just to distance them so they can leave if they wish ...'

"That boy, honestly." The two mentioned sighed fondly yet melancholically.

'Ango can go f*ck himself, for all I care.'

That earned snorts from even the ever proper, ever-exasperated-by-Dazai Kunikida and everyone agreed with Dazai's assessment regarding the government spy.

'Mori-san is tricky ... 'The man in question immediately stiffened.'For a world where Odasaku lives, Mori-san cannot remain the Boss ... Removing him from his throne is a must so I may control the night and extend my influence further to protect Odasaku and his kids ... But killing Mori-san out of pettiness is a waste of resources ... Someone needs to remain who knows how to lead, when it's all over ... A change in occupation is needed ... A debt, perhaps? Yes, that should work ... Making him take care of orphans would be ironic justice of the best kind ... Maybe it can even invoke the empathy that made that old idiot a doctor to begin with ... Would that require untangling his involvement with the Angel of Death? Or would that depend on the Demon Prodigy?'

"Damn it, Dazai," choked out the female doctor while her male counterpart stared in open-mouthed awe and something liketerrorupon realizing that, even when Dazai had all the right to hate him, the brunet was not removing him from the picture the way he had his own predecessor. Instead this counterpart of his was given a chance to become a better man while Dazai took on his throne, adorned his demon crown and ruled over the hell that is Yokohama's criminal underworld.

"I think I might need to apologize," he wheezed out, earning himself a look from f*ckuzawa.

"Youthink?" Mori was about to scowl at the man for making fun of theonetime he wanted to apologize for the damage he'd caused despite not regretting his actions, but rather the consequences of them, but he stopped himself when a big hand tangled fingers through his hair and practically petted him like he was a cat. "You better do right by that boy when we get back, or else I'm giving Dazai permission to fill your office with the contents of all the litter boxes in Yokohama."

And while Mori could only gawk at the sudden tenderness when he'd been all but spat on for even existing - rightfully so, of course - for the past however many visions, it was Chuuya's turn to feel like his heart was being stabbed.

'While I can make my parents give me up, I can't leave Chuuya untethered ... Even though the chibi will no doubt hate the other me more than even this Chuuya does ... Mori-san's disappearance and my appointment to being Boss will be suspicious enough as it is, me trying to distance Ane-san and Hirotsu-san will only ring more alarm bells ... I'll be suspected of murder, of usurping the Boss ... Chuuya will be crucial for my survival, especially if the five Executives system is abolished ... But Chuuya is loyal to a fault ... If he suspects me, too ... He'll kill me before I can secure that world ... 'And that's when Dazai knew he'd have to take what the Sheep did and implement it into the Mafia for Chuuya: isolation.

The Flags are the first to go: he makes sure to veto the creation of the Young Bloods to Mori, citing that younger members should be around more experienced ones, to ensure their loyalties despite Pianoman, specifically, being in the Mafia longer than Dazai. Dazai even uses it against him, making Mori believe the man to be a possible sympathizer of the old Boss. Pianoman never becomes considered for an Executive seat, despite his many accomplishments.

He lets the Flags meet, of course, but they never get introduced to Chuuya, never get entrusted with Chuuya.

When Verlaine comes, there is no one for him to kill.

When Verlaine comes after Dazai, as the only one near Chuuya's age that the ginger hangs out with, Dazai sets up an ambush and finishes what he started the night Guivre was released for the first and only time upon Yokohama.

Verlaine and Chuuya never even meet. Dazai pities the other Verlaine, but at least he's with Rimbaud on the other side.

N and Kashimura are dealt with with even more ruthlessness than Dazai's done in the real world.

He ships off Shirase and any other remaining Sheep to Yamaguchi. It feels like poetic irony.

He makes sure that Adam had never been allowed entry into the country to begin with and makes it the government's problem that another government's agent is trying to sneak in, anyway.

In order for Chuuya to discover Corruption, though, Dazai lets the Dragon Head conflict happen, only Chuuya isn't nearly as worried about his subordinates as the original. Kouyou had a lot more time to teach him not to care about every single life in the Mafia, as that would be a recipe for disaster. Instead, Chuuya decimates Shibusawa on orders of the Boss to retrieve Dazai, only to lose control when Dazai pretends to be dead. That same Chuuya pampers him until he recovers from the few injuries hedoeshave, despite the toll his first use of Corruption had taken on his body, and Dazai knows that the shift has settled.

It's cruel, the most cruel thing Dazai has ever done, including making his parents give him away despite knowing how much the originals loved him. The most cruel thing Dazai ever did, even as the Demon Prodigy, was becoming all that Chuuya has in the world of the Book, when heknowshe'll die as soon as the Mafia is stable enough to change leadership once again.

"WHAT!?" Chuuya screeched, watching as Dazai made sure his counterpart hates the other's counterpart, his desire to kill him conflicting with his duty to protect him, hatred and old fondness at war with each other as, seemingly overnight, eighteen year old Dazai changes to a completely different person and they're no longer partners, but rather Boss and his only Executive. It's a lonely existence for them both, filled with old familiarity yet enough toxicity to be considered a world-wide health hazard that will surely end with one or both of them broken.

And it gets worse.

Oh, it getsso much worse.

Because while the Book may be a self-contained, self-written novel if only enough parameters are given, Dazai had to choose an ending. The story, theworldwithin the Book will continue existing, but the centerpiece, the paradox, thesingularitywithin it must be taken out.

'There's only one thing I could possibly choose,'the Dazai who is writing thinks with bittersweet serenity.'After all, I promised Chuuya he'll be the only one to kill me ... So what better death is there for someone like the other me than the embrace of unforgiving, indiscriminate gravity?'

"No," a pale as a sheet Chuuya protests weakly, his voice giving out on him. "Please, no ... "

But truly, the most fascinating thing about the Dazai in the Book ... Well, he supposes it should be the Dazaisin the Book ... Is that they truly do create the most interesting paradoxical singularity to ever exist. After all, the Book's power creates whatever is written in it, as long as there is a constant, flowing, cognoscent narrative, but within it exists Dazai Osamu with No Longer Human. Those powers clash and collide and, somehow, even within the ensuing singularity, No Longer Human comes out on top, because it allows the other Dazai(s) complete awareness. They are aware that they are not the real, original Dazai, they are aware of each other, they are aware that their world exists only within the multiverse Dazai accidentally created by trying to create a world where Odasaku and his orphans can live peacefully.

They are aware of what they lost, what they can't lose no matter what, what they are and aren't capable of.

And, technically, all of that information is basically actively shared between them because each and every version and iteration of Dazai Osamu within the Book got their hands on the Book.

And he, the real Dazai Osamu, is aware of them all, of all the details, thanks to the most perfect Dazai in the Book. The Dazai who protects the world where Odasaku never meets him, never joins the Mafia and never dies; the world where Dazai doesn't take in Akutagawa, a boy so similar yet so different to himself that it could almost send chills down his spine, and instead becomes his most hated enemy; the world where Mori has the ability to regret and to seek redemption, where he doesn't obsess over little girls like a creep; the world where Chuuya hates him more genuinely than he probably ever could in the real world.

The world of the self-written novel Dazai Osamu wrote and calledBEAST, for the beast his counterpart must become to maintain the hell he lives in so the light on the other side can continue shining just a bit brighter.

He leaves an open ending, after his counterpart's plunge from the top of the Port Mafia building once he reveals the secret of their world and leaves it in the hands of the tiger child and that world's counterpart of his once subordinate. He takes a deep breath, closes the Book and, finally, he loses contact with it.

The audience is as entranced by the light show that almost immediately follows as Dazai is, getting to see the Book's power from up-close like this. The Book itself glows with a fierce, too bright white light, almost silvery as characters begin flowing out of it. They look a lot like Dazai's handwriting, something the Port Mafia members, Chuuya and Mori especially, recognize the best. They form silhouettes of people, of events, like Oda finding a slightly older Akutagawa, them seemingly working with the Agency, Atsushi kneeling before Dazai with Chuuya at his side, Kyouka and Atsushi fighting Akutagawa in the Port Mafia building, Atsushi and Akutagawa having coffee with too much sugar in the Uzumaki Cafe, Port Mafia Boss Dazai meeting Oda in Lupin and nearly getting shot at, Chuuya being sent away from Dazai's side for the first time in years, Gin walking away from Akutagawa, Atsushi and Akutagawa fighting, Mori and Atsushi meeting for the first time in the orphanage and finally ...

Dazai walked in between the alternate version of Shin Soukoku and jumped to his death.

The characters all retreat back into the Book and the light fades, leaving Dazai in the dark to stare at nothingness. He can't really do anything about it now that the story has started with the stipulations he made. It will take at least two years for his alternate self to make that world one where Odasaku can indeed be safe. That's two years that Dazaihasto live in order to see if his friend will be safe, if he'll be happy.

That's two years of him continuing to exist in this oxidizing world of a dream that feels more suffocating than ever right now.

He was alone, more alone than he's ever been, literally and figuratively. And he's got nothing more to do in this last week of being nineteen. He looks down at his bandages and contemplates ending it all even without taking the Book out with him ... But it would be stupid to do itnow. After he turns twenty, it'll take maybe a month before he can go to that Armed Detective Agency for his job interview.

There's a chance they won't hire him, considering his past and how his whole being was made for the darkness and violence of the Port Mafia, considering even who his parents and grandparents used to be ...

But considering his parents managed to leave all of that behind, and in order to havehim...

He needs to try, at least. For them and for Odasaku.

'I wonder what the slug is doing?'Was the last thought they heard before the vision shifted again and somehow that one line managed to lift all of their moods, making them snort at the unexpected yet completely normal train of thought from Dazai.

Yosano opened her mouth to tease Chuuya again, but Chuuya - already embarrassed and still distressed by the role he was being made to play in that alternate world - was not in the mood for it, so instead he actually pushed Kouyou at the Agency doctor and watched both woman stammer and blush when they actually toppled over and got their faces a little too close to each other.

"Huh. I thought you can't make Kouyou-san fluster," Hirotsu wondered in amazement and the whole Port Mafia present plus Kyouka had to agree.

The whirl of color that signified a shift between visions finally cleared again and they found themselves witness to Dazai's very first time in the Agency office. It was jarring, if they were all honest. Even the members who had been present for it felt uncomfortable as they watched the Dazai of then, so completely to the Dazai of now, walk into the Agency with such dead, empty eyes and such a rough mask of what Dazai planned to act like in their presence. No wonder they were suspicious of him back then.

Dazai was not surprised by the suspicion sent his way, either. After all, as far as these people were aware of, he had no past. Dazai Osamu had no past not writ in blood. Even before his Mafia days, Dazai had not spared violence as a last resort. Life on the streets rarely allowed such a luxury. And the life of Tsushima Shuuji was so completely different to that of Dazai Osamu that he's not surprised even the Agency's most prized Detective couldn't make the connection.

After all, for all intents and purposes, Shuuji was dead, has died as an innocent boy hated by his own greedy, jealous relatives.

And even Edogawa Ranpo can't see through the veil of death.

He was a fascinating man, Ranpo-san, Dazai mused. It was rare he came across individuals capable of competing with him in intelligence and wit. In fact, he's only met two people before, with Mori coming pretty close as a third. Ranpo-san, however, lacked the wickedness of Shibusawa and Fyodor. He had a deep rooted kindness that turned his dangerous mind into something that can be relied on to protect others. It was very clear why everyone at the Agency respected him so much.

However, despite having a very clear, very close relationship with both the President and the Agency doctor, he still seemed rather ... lonely. Dazai guessed he knew the feeling. It was lonely, being at the top, with a mind none can fully understand. Honestly, it was why he was so thankful for Chuuya and why he annoyed him at every chance he got. The chibi might not be as smart as the Russian rat demon but ChuuyaunderstoodDazai and that was both a blessing and a curse. Still, it only made him cherish the ginger more and, unfortunately, also miss him. Two years with no Chuuya had beenboring.

He has the feeling even the Agency will be boring, even as he gets the chance to sharpen his mind against Ranpo-san's. From the moment he walked in, they were basically having a deduction contest in who could figure out more about the other with that one first meeting. He has no doubt that the detective already figured out he used to be in the Mafia, perhaps he even discovered he was the Demon Prodigy. But Dazai supposed he had two unfair advantages over him.

Still, he gets the idea that Ranpo-san will be fun and probably a very valuable ally.

"Oh, wow, so we're really getting to see Dazai's first impression of us," a gleeful Yosano observed. Her and Kouyou had somehow recovered from the mess Chuuya pushed them into and they remained really close together. It seems that, somewhere between the President introducing Dazai to Kunikida, Ranpo and Yosano of the past, they agreed to go out for some wine?

The Agency doctor kind of unnerved him, if he was honest. He recognized her almost immediately, from rumors and files and Mori's drunken ramblings. Yosano Akiko, the supposed Angel of Death who supposedly controlled the tide of the battlefield because of her incredible healing Ability that worked only when her patients are almost dead. As someone who has indeed controlled the flow and tides of the battlefield as a strategist and front-line commander from the tender age of fourteen, he can safely say that no, Yosano Akiko had no such power. She could turn the tide of a battle, but not alone. Dazai's found and read Mori's proposals and texts about the 'Immortal Regiment' and to call it cruel would be an understatement and that's coming from someone bearing the title ofDemon Prodigy.

He had to admit, Yosano made him rather uneasy, at first, even if she warmed up to him faster than the President, or Kunikida Doppo, a blond man too deeply rooted in his ideals for Dazai's general comfort who was meant to be his partner and supervise him until he's proven trustworthy. There's something about her, something so unfortunate. He hates that someone so clearly kind, if rather sad*stic in her treatment methods, reminded him of Mori.

Yosano herself flinched at that while Mori chuckled unpleasantly.

It's not even in how they act, far from it, actually. But they had unfortunately similar coloration, especially the eyes, and so Dazaihadto go out of his way to check she wasn't actually Mori's illegitimate child or something. He would later feel guilty for doing a secret DNA test without her consent, but making sure Mori doesn't have any more control over her was his first priority and, to his relief, Mori has indeed remained bitchless enough to not have knocked anyone up.

This time, Yosano roared with laughter while Mori made an offended noise and incredulous face. Yosano made a note to be extra kind during Dazai's next checkup.

Of course, such line of thinking had him remembering a certain Russian rat and he scowled as he realized Fyodor could also be related to Mori if one relied on looks alone, plus their personalities were appallingly similar. From their cruel eyes to their greasy hair to their bastard attitude ... Dazai will have to check. It would be very bad if Dostoevsky had any sort of claim on the Mafia, after all. A worry for a later date ... In another two years, most probably.

"Right," Tanizaki muttered. "Dazai-san sort of knew Dostoevsky would be around to cause trouble this year."

"Petition to make Dazai-san get a vacation," Kyouka proposed and almost immediately, everyone's hands were up. The man deserved it, after all.

But Fyodor aside, there was one more unfortunate thing about Yosano that reminded him of Mori. He'd noticed it as soon as he saw her face. It wasn't hard to do a little bit of mental gymnastics until he could imagine what she would have looked like when she was younger.

Mori Ougai, the sick bastard, had modeled Elise after a ten, eleven year old Yosano Akiko.

It made Dazai want to empty a clip into him, if he wasn't trying to be a good man.

The Port Mafia members, who knew Elise, all turned to study Yosano and turned green in the face when they saw the resemblances. Yosano herself looked ready to be sick all over the 'floor' of this space where they were watching the visions. Kouyou wrapped a firm, comforting arm around her shoulders, using her kimono to cover up as much of the woman as she could, while f*ckuzawa reached over to grip her shoulder to ground her and Ranpo took her hand, giving it a squeeze.

"She used to be so lifeless and empty ... like a doll ... " Yosano murmured and Kouyou flinched, recalling how bratty and strong willed Elise could act, how mean she could be at times.

"She reminds me of Dazai-san," a horrified, pale Gin admitted and all heads snapped in her direction. The sister was clinging to her brother's hand until she might be hurting him, but Akutagawa made no move to dislodge her. Instead, he was staring at her, frozen, as she revealed this. "Yosano-sensei has straight hair, right? Elise has pretty curls ... And based on these visions ... She acts a lot like a younger Dazai-san."

"I think I'm going to throw up," Tachihara whispered, indeed looking to be on the verge of doing just that.

Chuuya clenched his fists until his leather gloves creaked.

Mori made no comment.

The vision went on, uncaring of the emotional turmoil its viewers were going through.

Meeting the President, the infamous Silver Lone Wolf, one of the best swordsman in the country, had been ... interesting. Perhaps some would even say intense. Dazai just found himself intrigued. This was, after all, the man whom his former Boss once called partner and whom he, to this embarrassing day, probably moons over.

Nearly everyone made retching noises at that revelation while Mori blushed and refused to meet f*ckuzawa's eyes, who was staring at him with a complicated look on his face.

f*ckuzawa was a fair man with rules he followed regarding his morals to the letter. It was interesting how elastic and adjustable those rules were. f*ckuzawa was the most suspicious of him, which made sense. Dazai knew that he, more than anyone else, resembled Mori; they were too similar, both from exposure and from how unfortunately their minds worked based on logic and efficiency, with the only difference that Dazai can put that aside for the sake of those he considers precious while Mori only saw people as disposable pawns. f*ckuzawa was nothing like that. After he became an official member of the Agency, the man would scold him if he put himself in too much - in his eyes - unnecessary danger for the sake of a case. Dazai didn't think the concern was necessary, but he could appreciate the thought behind it and respected the man's wishes. He was a very respectable leader, more so than Mori or even Sensei. Dazai could even say he rather liked him, even if All Men Are Born Equal irritates him and No Longer Human as it tries to attach itself to him and his Ability. It's a fascinating Ability, really, and very useful for helping individuals with dangerous Abilities they can't fully control, but it wasannoyingas it didn't know how to take rejection.

Dazai can honestly say he thought that, because f*ckuzawa can't connect to him the way he could with the other members of his Agency - even Ranpo, who has no Ability to speak of, despite how everyone's humoring him - he'd value Dazai less, but it seems the name for his Ability is very fitting for the man himself, because he cared about Dazai just as much, if notmorethan the others, especially in regards to injuries and fights. It was clear, of course, that the emotional attachment isn't the same and that's perfectly valid. Dazai was new while he's obviously had Ranpo and Yosano for a long time. Still, he really made an effort to not show any sort of favoritism except towards cats and Dazai really admired him for it.

He also pondered whether All Men Are Born Equal would work on Chuuya. He rather doubts it, seeing as Chuuya's Ability comes from a singularity that rests deep within him and is furthermore connected to anactualgod, not that anyone else is left alive to know that besides Dazai as of a few months ago, but it's an interesting thought. A thought too closely connected to Dazai's suicidal tendencies, unfortunately, so not one he ponders much.

After all, if Chuuya doesn't need him to tame Corruption and keep Arahabaki at bay ... Well ...

"Idiot," Chuuya murmured sorrowfully. "As if that's the only thing I need from you in my life."

"Do you think you could do it, though?" Kouyou asks the Agency President, who can only shrug.

"At this point, I think Dazai might be the best one to tell us anything regarding any Ability, let alone how other Abilities might affect Nakahara-kun's."

"I guess so."

Kunikida was the ... oddest of the bunch, he supposes. An idealist with too rigid ideals yet a temper that could match Chuuya's. He was a good man, undoubtedly, but he could be rather violent, especially in her interrogations as a civil servant, and this is coming fromDazai. Then again, Kunikida seemed like a rather impatient individual. Persuasion and manipulation in negotiation seems to be too much to ask of him. They clashed, him and Dazai, on their early missions. Dazai could adapt to a new partner and they worked well enough together to be considered a good partnership ... But, well, it was unfair, but he couldn't help but compare it to Soukoku and find it extremely lacking, this work partnership. It got better, of course it did, but it never reached the too high standard that was Soukoku. Even when they bickered or actually argued, like that one time during the Dragon Head conflict, Soukoku was just sort of ...perfect. Dazai supposes it's really not fair to compare someone he only recently started working with with someone who may as well be the other half of his maybe non-existent soul.

Still, Kunikida was fun to tease and Dazai made it a life mission for him to loosen the man up, both in his rigid posture and his rigid ideals. Ideals were great, don't get him wrong; Dazai desperately needed someone to be his moral compass if he was going to survive in the light that burned so harshly against his skin and eyes, so used to darkness. However, Kunikida was one step away from becoming an extremist not unlike the Azure Bomber. Kunikida was also so incrediblyfragilebecause of those same ideals. Dazai knew five hundred verbal ways, with nothing to back it up, to crumble the man into an irrecoverable state and the dormant Demon Prodigy within himitchedto wake up and sink his claws and fangs into the blond. Dazai, of course, didn't let that happen and instead slowly, steadily, forced Kunikida to become more flexible in his views of the world.

Otherwise, Dazai might just clock him to save himself the headache.

Kunikida was a good partner and a good friend, though. He quickly adapted to the fact that Dazai wasn't all there in the head and quickly became a motherhen towards him, creating a schedule by which he would check his eating and sleeping habits and creating time in his day for Dazai's shenanigans. He was easy to tease and even easier to trick than Odasaku had been, which was lots of fun. To the point that Dazai even let him manhandle him a little. He got worse from Chuuya in their own playful banter because the chibi is a brute by nature and doesn't realize how strong he actually is, so Kunikida was a piece of cake to handle. And while Dazai may have quickly adapted to Kunikida, the man also quickly adapted to Dazai out on missions. He worried too much or could be too rigid at times, but Dazai knew how to balance him out. He left it to the blond to do most of the physical fighting while he did his best to steer them away from any big, actual fights. Kunikida was no Chuuya and Dazai didn't want to check how much is too much for the blond. So while, yes, Dazai hid the fact that he could hold his own against pretty much anyone, even if he wouldn't come out unscathed, he also didn't let Kunikida fight where he knew the blond couldn't handle it.

Dazai also made sure not to handle weapons around Kunikida much. Mostly because the man's Ability is what he used to handle his own weapons, so if Dazai wanted a weapon, he'd have to carry it around and that ... was not a good idea so soon after he joined the Agency, when his pointer finger was still more used to a trigger than typing or supporting a pen. (Though that's probably not the best analogy. Everyone in the Mafia would be picking up their jaws from the floor if they ever heard it, considering the reforms Dazai made in their bureaucracy and paperwork.)

Living in the dorms, though,sucked. And this was coming from someone who used to live in ashipping container.

"Hey, it's notthatbad," came some weak protests from the Agency's side.

Dazai swears that he's never been picky about where he lives. Sure, he grew up in a mansion, but he also lived on the streets, spent some time in a sorry excuse for an orphanage, lived in what is basically a shed, shared a dingy clinic with Mori and Elise while Mori's patients groaned in pain just down the hall, lived in a shipping container for nearly two years and then switched to a penthouse befitting his calling as a Mafia Executive only to go to living in a shoe box of an apartment, but he's also been shoved into cages for weeks at a time and he thinks he wouldn't have complained about his time with his godawful grandfather as much as he would about the sorry little dorm he got from the Agency.

Dazai wasthisclose to saying 'Screw it' and getting his own apartment with his considerable wealth. He wouldn't even have to go into his blood money. He had inherited Tsushima Corp, after all, and he kept it running to this day. Having to deal with it is what had kept him sane when he'd been isolated and in hiding. There's also the stock market, which is so easy to navigate ... In short, Dazai could live like freaking royalty if he wanted to, but he'd never cared for material things like that. But this dorm? It wasthisclose to turning him into a materialist.

'I wonder if anyone would notice if I moved back into my old Executive apartment?'

The Port Mafia half of the audience paused.

"Did ... Did he actually do that?" Higuchi asks and now even the Agency wondered about it while calling Dazai all sorts of idiot in their minds.

"It would actually be a perfect place to hide," Hirotsu mused. "He moved out of that apartment and basically lived with Chuuya-san since they were seventeen."

"We moved out when Nii-san was still fifteen," Gin remembered. "After all, we weren't ranked nearly high enough to stay in it without Dazai-san there, even if he wasn't the one who reported out living situation to anyone."

"It was one of Dazai-san's men," Akutagawa revealed, a secret he'd been keeping for literal years from his sister. "Apparently, his men were sick of me always defying Dazai-san and I was apparently rude to him one times too many a long time ago, but since Dazai-san finally got angry at me, they made sure I regretted my actions by going through with a punishment Dazai-san himself wouldn't deliver or care about."

"You're an idiot," Atsushi told his partner, only to end up in a fight with him even as the visions went on, showing that, while Dazai had been tempted to tempt fate, he'd stayed in the dorm and continued bitching about it in his head the whole time.

'It's almost as bad as the off-brand clothes I have to wear now,'continued the complaining over days and days of Dazai becoming a proper, law-abiding detective.'The materials aren't nearly as comfortable against my skin and the detergent the Agency uses for thier laundry makes them itchy. I just hope no one ever tries to restock my bandages supplies, or I'll goinsane. Cheap bandages are just theworst. At least I can stock up on canned crab and sake here without needing to buy a bigger refrigerator. This place has horrible heating. It almost makes me miss my old coat; Mori-san wasn't a cheapskate when he got it, that thing was warm. Not to mention that it was so much easier to sneak around and not stand out in it.'At least he was a native to a colder region of Japan so the cold didn't bother him anyway. Not that much, at least. He should invest in a heater, though. He can already hear both Chuuya and Kunikida nagging at him and it's mixing up all in his head.

He doesn't like it, how Chuuya's voice sounds further away in his mind than Kunikida's.

"Did he seriously fear he's going to forget you? Fat chance of that happening," Naomi huffed. "Dazai-san should really trust his feelings more. His heart's been set on you for years so why is he doubting it now?"

"Well, even with his freakish memory, sh*tty Dazai managed to mostly forget his parents," Chuuya pointed out softly. "Also, I'll definitely be moving Dazai into my place after we get out of here. f*ck your Agency dorms, that place looks worse than the sh*ttiest, shadiest motels Dazai and I had to stay in for missions."

"We don't have a problem with that," Kunikida responded, pushing his glasses up his nose. "As long as you make sure he eats, sleeps and gets to work most days, we'll be happy to leave him in your more than Dazai-capable hands, Nakahara-san."

The two partners of Dazai sized each other up before Chuuya nodded. "Call me Chuuya."

Kunikida felt like he'd just been approved of, for the first time no less, by someone who knows Dazai better than anyone. It felt like quite the accomplishment, for some reason.

And the worst part of it all, he thinks, is thenaggingbecause these people get soworriedover him. He can't hide it from Ranpo when he didn't eat and Yosano was too good at spotting someone who didn't sleep a wink the night before. These were usual things for Dazai, things he was used to, his sleep schedule and eating habits incinerated a long time ago, even before he joined the Mafia. He's not even sure if he could blame his lunatic grandfather, because Dazai does remember being a light eater and an even lighter sleeper even when he lived with his parents and his paranoia over poisons and assassins only made those worse. After all, he couldn't die because of something so stupid, it would be a disgrace for his family and he doesn't think the chibi would survive much longer without him around. He would have been a liability for the Mafia. The only reason he wasn't to this day was because Mori probably thought Chuuya could be what brings Dazai back.

Hopefully Mori won't get any stupid ideas of sending Chuuya on any sort of suicide mission because Dazai willdestroy him and everything he holds dearif he even tries.

But that's not the point. The point is that Kunikida took on the role of a motherhen and forced him to take care of himself. It was something he was used to doing because of one Tayama Katai, as it turns out, a man who only briefly worked directly for the Agency before his introvertedness forced him to only become an associate. For the longest time, Dazai considered Katai his favorite Agency member, considering he never nagged at him or annoyed him by trying to clear out his dorm. Dazai did not like it when Kunikida did that. He'd rather suffocate in sake fumes and the smell of rotting crab leftovers in the cans than have someone go through his living space. He was just lucky Kunikida was so oblivious to all the secret compartments Dazai's made in his room and to the daggers Dazai glared at him while his hand itched on instinct for an actual dagger to dispose of a potential threat to his many secrets.

Kunikida himself gulped at this revelation and he recalled how, instinctively, he'd stopped physically retaliating against Dazai since he learned that the man used to be a Port Mafia Executive. He remembered the knowingLookDazai had sent him before he proceeded to annoy the ever-loving sh*t out of him so he'd at least still yell at him.

Kunikida wondered if he owed Dazai an apology for suddenly doubting him like that. After all, Dazai had never hurt anyone from the Agency before. It was completely unfounded, his fear that he might be the first.

Yes, he definitely needed to apologize to the brunet once this was over.

Dazai found it ironic, however, that how, at the same time, the others got completely desensitized regarding Dazai's suicidal tendencies. They used to be uncomfortable and freak out over them. Kunikida even nearly had a heart attack the first time Dazai jumped off a bridge in front of him, forgetting himself and jumping right after the former Mafioso with zero regard to anything else. Dazai had almost felt bad how the blond looked like a drowned rat once he dragged them out of the water ... Well, only almost. He used to find it amusing how Yosano not-so-subtly tried to get him to unwrap his bandages whenever he had to go to her for a checkup after a particularly grueling mission, despite him coming out seemingly uninjured. He never let her, not because there were fresh scars from something like self-harm under his bandages, but rather because the bandages hid very specific wounds he got during his childhood, both from the 'training sessions' with the Colonel and his jump from the Port Mafia building. He didn't want Ranpo to see either.

Tsushima Shuuji is meant to be dead andstaydead. After all, who was there left for Shuuji to live for? Sensei didn't count, since he'd almost never been around back when he was just Shuuji.

The President even tried to have a talk with him about it once, his suicidal jokes and tendencies. Of course, none of them, not even Ranpo, knew the cause of it or why he'd never gone through with a serious attempt. He likes it that way, honestly.

But he still finds it incredibly ironic how they would worry about his eating habits and sleep schedule but had stopped worrying over the fact that he would jump off of bridges, taunt dangerous armed individuals, look at sturdy branches and roof beams or make other such 'jokes'. Of course, Dazai didn't plan on dying just yet, but it didn't change the fact that the Agency had started taking the topic of suicide as something you'd chat about with your friends in a cafe or when you go out for drinks after work.

If they were in the Port Mafia, they would have probably been branded as practically traitors since they're not protecting 'such an invaluable asset' as the Demon Prodigy.

Dazai's not sure if he likes it that way or not.

Mori, Hirotsu, Kouyou, Chuuya and the Akutagawa siblings all turned to give a frigid death stare at the Armed Detective Agency at this revelation. The Port Mafia had, indeed, gone to great lengths to keep Dazai alive, some more than others, of course, but it had, indeed, practically been a company policy that Dazai Osamu must be protected from himself. There was no need to protect him from others, despite his frail appearance compared to other Mafioso with powerful combat Abilities. The person who underestimated Dazai deserved all of the Demon Prodigy's uncomfortable attentions.

But he can't lie; he was fond of the Agency. Being with them felt like a long-overdue vacation. Here he was, in an organization where he didn't have to be the most competent person around in order to keep it running. He could be as lazy and silly as he wanted, he could slack off on paperwork - which he secretly submitted behind Kunikida's back before the blond ever even finished his own, just to mess with him; also to stave off the visceralneedto lay in on this pathetic little office and teach them howrealmanagement looked, as the state of the current paperwork system in the Agency honestlydisgustedhim after the perfect one he'd left in the Mafia - he could sleep around all day and the only one who would care would be Kunikida. The Agency didn't depend on him and Yokohama didn't depend on the Agency.

People he actually cared about didn't depend on the Agency and the Port Mafia was strong enough to withstand a few storms with him gone to continue protecting those he wanted to protect.

Not that he didn't come to care about the Agency, but death was a mere tool there, thanks to Yosano. Dazai could also step back, blend in with the background while Ranpo took the spotlight as the smartest in the room, even if Dazai can match him wit for wit where it truly mattered and even outdo him in areas where Ranpo's kind heart simply couldn't survive. And Kunikida was the intended heir to the Agency's legacy, so Dazai didn't have to upkeep a certain image or be unnecessarily polite to clients or benefactors.

The work was also incredibly easier than in the Mafia, leaving Dazai was so much free time that he established three whole new information networks just to save himself from the boredom of it all. He used them to keep an eye out on the Mafia, the Division and the newest, rising attack unit in the Military Police.

To say that the existence of the Hunting Dogs pissed him off would be an understatement. A cheap knockoff, downgraded version of the Project Arahabaki with the most inefficient method of forcing loyalty in the form of life-saving monthly surgeries done by Gifted doctors ... Dazai understands now why Kashimura kept taking his research home.

He keeps a better eye out on Chuuya, since clearly the government is not yet ready to give up their human experimentation tendencies.

It turns out to be useful, just a couple of days after he turns twenty one and feels tremors running through the earth while the air charges with uncontrollable power.

And he hears a familiar roar that has him sprinting towards the port.

Chapter 27

Chapter Text

21-22yo

It doesn't take Dazai long to identify the sudden disturbance in Yokohama's 'peaceful' midnight one evening as he's taking a stroll upon finding it impossible to fall asleep.

It doesn't take the watching groups long, either, as they realize that the air is charged with heat and power, that the concrete is bending and buildings are creaking under increased gravity. They can't do much except watch as Dazai sprang into a sprint, faster than they've ever seen him run in the years any of them have known him. This isn't like the times they watched him parkour his way through a falling library while saving three people, even if it wasn't exactly at the same time. And it wasn't like the time he raced to nullify Corruption after the first time Chuuya officially used it, nor the time he ran to jump out of a Port Mafia window to reach him before he no longer could. And it wasn't like the time he'd chased Kashimura, either; that had been a game of cat and mouse.

No, this was a full on sprint, Dazai using the length of his legs to their full advantage, making huge strides and focusing on a single goal that was too many streets away.

"I don't remember using Corruption at twenty one," Chuuya commented with a frown, making everyone else look at him instead of Dazai running towards the rumbling and soon enough in hearing rage cackling that was coming from a younger Chuuya in throes of Corruption going out of control.

"I think I may know what instance this was," Kouyou said grimly and Mori nodded along, looking equally as serious. Chuuya just looked at them in confusion and askance.

"Do you remember that one Ability user who tried to take over the entire South-East port area, where there was a construction site for a ship-repair hanger? I sent you out personally with the squad of your choosing to deal with it, since the culprit possessed some strange charm to gather an unbelievable following in an absurdly short amount of time?"

"The one who turned out to possess some sort of Ability that forcefully activates other's Abilities?" Chuuya questioned, seemingly remembering the incident.

"Yes, that one. Only we lied to you, lad," the female Executive admitted uneasily. It sure elicited some surprise from the others who were just watching this all play out, both Dazai's race to Chuuya's rescue and the conversation going on between the highest echelons of the Port Mafia present. "It wasn't forceful activation of other's Abilities; it was compelment. The Ability user had the power to compel others to abide by his bidding and he meant to turn your full power against the Port Mafia. Only his Ability didn't grant him the knowledge of the people he takes under his control. He had no idea about Corruption."

"I thought you guys said I only entered some sort of pseudo-Corruption because, either way, it was someone else who forced me into it? Kinda like how Verlaine had done it?"

"We used that excuse, yes," the Boss admitted under his currently youngest Executive's glare. "Because there were only three explanations and two of them were so unlikely that they would be fictional: one, you managed to break out of a state of pseudo-Corruption by yourself; two, pseudo-Corruption doesn't make you go wild and instead has a time limit; or three ... Dazai-kun stopped you in full Corruption. Quite frankly, we knew the most likely was the third one, but there was no sign of anyone at the scene when our men came to get you after the destruction stopped. In fact, we were all expecting a gruesome corpse, if I'm being honest, Chuuya-kun. It was a blessing to find you alive and in relatively good shape."

"We were hoping you got some control over even a pseudo-Corruption state, that you no longer had to depend on Dazai for your survival," Kouyou added with melancholy while Chuuya fumed at them both for keeping the possible reappearance of his partner a secret from him. Theyknewhe dreaded the possibility of Dazai's death, regardless of what that would mean for his own hated trump card regarding his Ability and the possibility of surviving it, and yet they hid from him that Dazai was alive and well and close enough to save Chuuya!?

"We'll be havingwordswhen we get home," he hissed between grit teeth.

Neither adult, who were technically his superiors in a couple of ways, commented on the disrespect and just accepted their fate.

Meanwhile, the vision was showing how Dazai finally got Chuuya's location, finding the predictable chaos and destruction all around consisting of destroyed shipping containers - Chuuya really had a thing against those, huh? - warehouses and the slowly being decimated construction site. Chuuya was thankfully on the ground still and hadn't tried taking off into the night, cackling as he threw around graviton bombs and delighting in the destruction he caused as Arahabaki's madness took over. What surprised Dazaiw, though, was that there were still living people around, trying to fight him off or run for their lives.

There was one particular man who was yelling at Chuuya and while Dazai couldn't hear him over the noise Chuuya was creating, he could read the desperation, shock and a slipping grasp at attempted authority in his body language.'Orders. He's trying to order Chuuya around.'The realization came just as he finally drew Chuuya's attention to himself, but that was never a good thing while Arahabaki was mostly in control. It took a second for a graviton bomb to be formed and sent his way and then he was no more. The panic of the other people suddenly disappeared for a few seconds, as though they were confused, only to reappear ten times stronger and Dazai watched as they were all soon lost to the debris.

As much as he acknowledged that he should have attempted to save them, he also knew that he really shouldn't have. For one, he rather doubted they were innocent civilians or bystanders simply caught up in the chaos, not with the firearms they fruitlessly tried to use against Chuuya. Two, as they were clearly enemies, nullifying Corruption while they were still around with their guns and Chuuya was vulnerable with only Dazai around to protect him was not ideal, as Kunikida would say. So sacrifices must be made.

"Because Mr Fancy Hat comes first," smirked Yosano, even though none of the Agency members were quite comfortable with seeing Dazai let people die because it was the logical option in a situation without even trying to help them.

However, now that there were no more enemies left, Dazai sprung into action. He's not sure how long Corruption has been going on by now, but he needs to nullify it as soon as possible, it's always for the better. He wasn't in the Mafia anymore, after all, he can't just take Chuuya back. And he can't take him to Yosano, as much as he would want to because Corruption is a bitch to heal from for Chuuya. Chuuya was an Executive as of last year. Yosano may have sworn the Hypocrite's Oath, but the others haven't. Kunikida would throw a fit for sure and the President might suggest - very stupidly, which didn't fit the man - that they try to imprison Chuuya.

Dazai does not want to pit his new loyalties against the one he would always be loyal to. He liked the Agency. He wouldn't want to blow it up if they tried to take Chuuya in and thus leave him vulnerable to the government. He's also not sure whether it would be safe to be on the run with the Book, but if it comes down to it, he's sure Yamaguchi or Kanagi would be a nice place to settle down. Only Natsume would think to search for them there, but he's getting ahead of himself with this train of thought.

"Damn, Dazai would really leave us high and dry if he had to choose between us and Mr Fancy Hat." It was, of course, Yosano who teased but this revelation also had the Agency a little tense and thinking about how they will have to interact with the gravity manipulator from this point onward to ensure Dazai actually trusts them with him.

"I do believe Dazai did not know us well enough back then," f*ckuzawa shared his thoughts. "At least not in regards to how the Agency correlates with the government. Nakahara would hardly be the first person we protected from the government. The Agency is independent in its work and operation."

"Still, it would be a Port Mafia Executive," Kunikida pointed out. "President, I don't think Dazai was wrong to doubt us, if you don't mind me saying. Wedefinitelywould have turned him in, back then. You used to be very obvious in your distaste for the Port Mafia before the whole three-way war with the Guild. And we can all agree that Dazai would have easily picked up on that. From what we've seen, I could definitely concur that Dazai wouldn't make such a huge gamble where Nakahara was concerned."

"Kunikida's not wrong," Ranpo joined in and that was that.

Present day Chuuya just listened to them and shook his head. They were over-complicating everything when, for once, Dazai's thought process had been very straightforward. Anyone even remotely related to the Government was never to come in contact with a vulnerable Chuuya, especially post-Corruption; that was something he knew Dazai swore to himself. And it didn't even really extend just to the government. Dazai used to hover around him post-Corruption and wouldn't let even other Port Mafia members near him, especially if he wasn't around. His partner could get stupidly protective and Chuuya would be lying if he said he hadn't enjoyed it at least just a little.

He watched now as his past self finally noticed the younger Dazai in the vision and turned his whole focus on him.

Arahabaki-Chuuya cackled as he formed a big graviton bomb in his hand and aimed it right towards the brunet. Dazai froze in place, getting a sense of deja vu as the condensed black hole flew at him. Just like when he was still seven years old, No Longer Human nullififed the attack on impact and Arahabaki-Chuuya howled in satisfaction as it lunged at him. Dazai was confused. Chuuya never focused on him like this during past occurrences of Corruption, but Arahabaki-Chuuya seemed set on fighting him today. Dazai knew to stay still, to let the ginger get in close. He, however, instinctively gasped when long, black wings sprung from Chuuya's back, indicating that Chuuya had indeed been in that form for too long.

Thankfully, Arahabaki seemed intent on replaying history, because it used Chuuya's body to try to punch Dazai into smithereens. The punch landed and made them both fly back into the construction site. Still, No Longer Human lit up the night and Corruption was nullified, the wings falling apart into wisps of power and the red markings disappearing from Chuuya's skin, leaving him bloodied and unconscious on top of Dazai, but fully human once again. Dazai breathed a sigh of relief when he noticed that, despite Chuuyaclearlyhaving used Corruption for too damn long, he didn't seem to have trouble breathing, though his heartbeat was a bit erratic. He was going to be alright.

But Dazai's - and the audience's - relief was short-lived as he felt a rumble in the ground and heard creaking metal and breaking concrete from above and all around him before debris and nuts and bolts started falling down in him.

'This thing is going to collapse!'Came the realization immediately but it was too late to run now, especially with an injured Chuuya. There was no way Dazai could avoid or outrun the chunks of debris raining down on them from above, not like this, not from this low a start as he needed to at least get to his feet to start running.'Is this how the infamous Soukoku die?'

His body viscerally rejected the notion. Especially as this night reminded him of one so long ago. Only now he had only one, far more precious life to save than the three back then. And the library had been a far more likely place to kill him that night ...

'That's it!'