#because if he can fight back enough control to make it SEEM like Dazai’s dead

[miraculous-ninjabird]

Considering Chuuya and the potential technicalities of the vampirism and I can’t decide what is more painful.

The idea of Chuuya being completely unaware of what he’s doing and only realizing what he’s done afterwards or the idea of Chuuya being 100% aware of what’s happening and being forced to watch helplessly while being controlled by someone else’s ability.

Chapter 109 spoilers in the tags

[hayateart]

Chuuya joins the Armed Detective Agency

AKA Today in fanfiction I will never write.

So I really like the idea of Chuuya joining the Agency but I also need it to be a realistic scenerio. And, since it's me, a very angsty scenerio.

The mafia is in trouble. The government has some evidence of them using an ability user for a crime that is a clear breach of laws concerning ability users and they are at risk of losing their license as an ability functioning company. At the very least, the license will be suspended. At worst it will be taken away.

When that happens, the government has the right to take away and retain all ability created or ability controlled objects, like Ace's gems, Q's doll and Chuuya himself, since yes, in the eyes of the law, Chuuya is no more that a vessel for an ability, currently owned by the mafia.

Mori gets warned about the license problem and is quick to react. After all, it would be very inconvenient if the government gained possession of Chuuya. He cannot allow that to happen. He knows, what they would do with him - further experimentation or execution, both equally likely - and he knows that Chuuya would fight back, possibly using Corruption if the situation is dire enough. Either way mori would be losing an executive and a very powerful weapon, which simply is unacceptable.

To keep Chuuya away from the hands of the government, he arranges a temporarily transfer of Chuuya's ownership from the Mafia to the Armed Detective Agency. He discusses the matter with Fukuzawa, Ango and Dazai present

Fukuzawa needs to become the new owner of Chuuya, as the director of the ADA. He is reluctant to own another human being, especially a mafia person. however, he agrees since he is always one for saving lives.

Dazai is not happy, since he would be working with Chuuya again but he is even less happy, when he finds out that Mori's intel about government plans comes from Ango.

Ango says that he warned Mori because he doesn't want the government to continue the research on ability users on unwilling subject. Even if Chuuya doesn't have an official status as a human, he has proper consciousness and that makes him enough of a person in Ango's eyes. Besides, Chuuya saved Yokohama from the dragon, and that's the only way Ango can repay him.

Reluctantly Dazai agrees that it's the best course of action [internally relieved that they are all working to save Chuuya, even if they all have different reasons for that.]

After the meeting, Ango tells Dazai that there was another reason for him warning Mori - Chuuya used to be Dazai's partner, and his very first friend, even if they didn't seem to get along at the first glance. Ango just didn't want him to lose one more person he cares about. Because, even if Dazai hates him now, Ango still cares about him deeply.

Dazai, of course, rejects that. He wants nothing to do with Ango, and he couldn't care less about what happens to the slug, thank you very much! But we know he's touched. He knows that, too. he just doesn't feel ready to forgive Ango just yet.

And so, Chuuya joins the agency. He's not very happy about it. The agents are not very happy about it, especially since they don't know the details - all they are aware of is that Chuuya has been transferred because of the license problems. They have no idea Chuuya can be repossessed.

Because of that, they think Chuuya is just Mori's spy, only there to learn inner workings of the Agency. Only Ranpo figures out the truth but he doesn't share. Or maybe Mori wants him to pass the Agency's entrance exam, so Chuuya can control corruption. Or maybe, he's there to just kill all of them, when they least expect it.

Chuuya, for his part, hates his situation. He is parted with his friends and family, thrown into hostile environment full of people who would rather see him dead than here and worst of all, he is acually partnered with Dazai again [a precaution on the Agency's part since Dazai knows him best and would be able to stop him if any of detectives' suspicions turn out o be true.]

Things from there go as you'd expect. Chuuya befriends Atsushi, Kyouka and Kenji, since he's good with children. Other detectives, very reluctantly warm up to him. But most importantly, Chuuya learns that Dazai is actually a better person now. He acually cares about saving people, not only about his plots and schemes. And Chuuya is happy with Dazai. He really is. He finnally sees a proper light in the eyes of the empty child he met so many years ago. And devastated... because, he knows that means Dazai will never accept him as Mafia's most loyal Executive and Mori's most powerful weapon.

Chuuya could never, ever betray the Mafia. That's where his friends are, that's where his family is. He is not a good person. He has been created for the sole purpose of bringing death and destuction wherever he goes. He can never, ever chancge, can never have what Dazai has, he can have Dazai. He knows that as soon as the license is secured again, he will come back to the Mafia. And he will be happy about it. And he might have been happier with Dazai, but he hasn't been built for life in the light and he cannot change, because he's not even his own person. He's just a possession that changed the owner temporarily and that will have to eventually come back to its master.

And that's it. I don't think this story would have a happy ending. I don't think any of realistic Soukoku stores would have a happy ending. Fortunately, we have more optimistic fanficion writers than me.

[sword-dad-fukuzawa]

Framing in BSD

This post arrives as a product of a bunch of rewatched scenes, pondering before going to sleep and while in the shower, and many frustrated screams. Anon, I think I’ve finally figured out what hell Bungou’s deal with framing is. Yeah, it’s going to be a long post, folks. 

So, the basic question, posed by anon, was this:

During the Fifteen arc in the anime (haven't read the manga) I noticed there are a lot of scenes where we're really zoomed out and they have the characters in these huge empty spaces (abandoned warehouses, Mori's office, etc.) with sharp dividing lines between them (e.g. window lines, or pillars, or metal supports). Any thoughts on that? Like why position them that way? 

Bungou has framing like this frequently enough that it has to be on purpose. A simple wide-angle shot of two people, usually facing each other so we see only their side-profiles, seems like a very lazy and simple shot. But it happened too damn often, and during moments of really high tension/flashbacks, that I needed to figure out why. The fact that the lighting usually splits the screen further into diagonals also kept poking at me, along with the emphasis on scenes during sunset (I talk about that in this post). 

Can I just say that finding screencaps for this was hell?

In short, I think that it comes down to relationships and characterization. Like anon mentioned, characters are in huge empty spaces. Usually, according to my boyfriend (who knows cinematography stuff, unlike me) wide-angle shots suggest that the environment is important. But in this situation, the opposite is true. The sparse, clinical environment draws attention to only the characters, but because it’s zoomed out, we don’t have the luxury of watching their facial expressions. Instead, we’re given posture, lighting, and color, which allows for subtler characterization. 

Posture, first of all. I want to talk about this scene, which is from the very first episode of the anime. 

Notice how Dazai’s standing, completely relaxed, and in the shadows. Atsushi’s illuminated by the moonlight but he’s on his back foot, backing away as if in fear. The harsh line separating them emphasizes the contrast. At this point in time, Dazai holds all the cards. He’s the one with the power, the confidence, and the skill to back it up; and, added to the shadowy lighting, it’s almost menacing. Atsushi just looks like a scared child. This is the power dynamic that BSD begins with, and it’s summarized pretty clearly in a single frame. 

And here:

The setting of Mori’s office is built to demonstrate power dynamics. You know all those scenes where Mori’s in his chair, calm as you please, while some harried character petitions him while standing? In Dark Era it’s Dazai, in Fifteen it’s Chuuya, but it emphasizes that Mori’s the one who calls the shots, and it’s Mori who’s in control.

Okay, now let’s talk lighting. 

Pretty sure this is from the episode where Ranpo goes on a sidequest inside Poe’s book, but I did get this screenshot off of @/animeronavirus on twitter. So, again, posture shows that Ranpo’s in a position of power. But more than that, he’s illuminated by a shaft of bright light. It demonstrates fundamental differences in their characters. Ranpo’s bright, extroverted, and friendly, who really doesn’t care who he pisses off and says what he wants to. Poe is shy and introverted, preferring to stay in the darkness because other people scare him. This dynamic is summed up, once again, in a single frame. Their relationship looks a lot like the above, with Ranpo tugging Poe into his light. 

Lastly, color. 

(Do you see all these diagonals?) It’s black and white, but I picked this frame to talk about color for a reason. It’s dreary outside, raining and cloudy like the day Oda went to confront Gide. The cafe they’re in is similarly gray, but there’s a bunch of bright colors underneath the table. It draws your attention to the two men bracketing the colors, rather than the sharp, unforgiving blackness of the top left frame. Power dynamic between Natsume and Oda aside (one sitting, one standing, there’s a clear contrast there) it’s what they share that makes this relationship special. 

They both have stories they want to tell. Shared between them is their need to write books, to write stories, and that’s what brings color to the dead, washed-out world of the flashback. 

And, c’mon, Oda’s fight against Gide is full of the red-blue symbolism that Bungou uses as shorthand for diametric opposition. 

And again, it’s the same shot. Wider angle, two people facing each other. Both Gide and Oda are standing tall with no extreme posture differences and the lighting is washed out. What it comes down to is the color, to show the opposition and conflict in their relationship. 

It’s about shorthand, all of it. Visual shorthand, and that’s what I’ve been beating my head against the wall to try and understand. It seems kinda obvious in retrospect now. Like this shot in Fifteen, look:

Dazai and Rimbaud, in opposition. Dazai is Mori’s protege, and Rimbaud’s a traitor flinging around the corpse of the old boss. But then, this is the next frame:

Chuuya, and he steps out on Rimbaud’s side of the frame, leaving Dazai by himself. This is before the fight, when Chuuya and Dazai haven’t really fought together as actual allies. The more important relationship, this frame says, is the one between Chuuya and Rimbaud--what Rimbaud knows about Chuuya. 

It’s just more visual shorthand, conveyed in a way outside of the limitations of dialogue. And it’s brilliant. 

[writing-radionoises]

encouragement

ship: pre-relationship beast! shin soukoku

genre: post-canon hurt/comfort

prompt: after dazai's death, atsushi is picked up by odasaku and temporarily lives with odasaku and akutagawa. akutagawa attempts to encourage some healing in atsushi.

notes: i want to kiss beast atsushi so bad and so i threw all of that onto akutagawa. there's not enough soft beast shin soukoku so of course, i provide enjoy!

“So, he’s staying with you?”

Akutagawa nods at the brunette at the door. Ango Sakaguchi, a government worker and a good friend of Odasaku’s. By default, this makes him a good friend and probable father figure to Akutagawa.

“The mafia disbanded and scattered to the wind, most of the executives have abandoned their posts and gone into hiding,” Akutagawa explained, “Odasaku-san found him half-dead in an alleyway, and you know how he is about kids.”

“No trouble with his ability or anything of the sorts?”

Akutagawa nods a no.

“He’s under control, kids don’t mind him. Don’t worry about Nakajima, we’ve got it under control.”

“Are you certain?” “Yes. I have a child to tend to, out with you,” Akutagawa shoos the government worker with a stern look as a toddler calls out for him in the background.

Ango gives him a strange look before hesitantly waving a goodbye, and Akutagawa closes the door behind him.

Akutagawa lets out a sigh, grabbing his tattered coat from off the coat hanger and throwing it over his shoulders as he picks up the small child calling for him.

She’s a new child Oda has picked up, no older than three or four. However, Oda unexpectedly went out of town, and so Akutagawa is stuck playing babysitter for two children.

Nakajima has proven himself to be a child at times.

The small girl clings to Akutagawa’s jacket, mumbling something softly to herself as Akutagawa gently bounces her, heading towards the kitchen to find Nakajima already at the table.

Most days were the same. Nakajima awakes late, enters the kitchen, sits at the table and spaces off for most of the day. He’s not talkative, though Akutagawa can’t say he is, either.

The tension between them is strong after what Akutagawa had done to Nakajima, though also because of their shared experience of the death of Osamu Dazai.

The shared knowledge of the book, which is held within Akutagawa’s possession.

He thought about using the book over and over again, though never quite goes through with it.

The truth is, Akutagawa finds himself not upset with his life.

Outside of Gin’s sudden hatred and distance from him, his life is rather good.

Odasaku is a good man who cares very much for him.

The agency serves as a family, they all care for Akutagawa more than anything.

He’s developed a knack for caring for children, helping them come out of their shells.

He  can cook and function like most of any normal human being these days.

There’s no telling what his life would look like if he tried to change it.

“Who was at the door?” Nakajima deadpanned from the table.

Akutagawa glanced over, almost surprised at the other’s voice.

“A man, don’t worry about him. He’s a friend of Oda’s.”

“What did you tell him?”

“Nothing special,” Ryuunosuke replied, “As I said, don’t worry about it.”

Nakajima falls silent once again as he sets the toddler in a highchair, grabbing a fold out stool from beside the fridge to reach up and grab the cereal for the toddler.

The toddler seemed calm and happy now with a tray of Cheerios in front of her as Akutagawa sits beside her, across from Nakajima, and watches the child half-mindedly.

“He’s a clever man, I bet he works for the government,” Nakajima continued, his eyes glued to the table as he pulls his jacket a little closer to his face.

“Clever…” Ryuunosuke mused, “You could say that. He is a government worker, he mostly just checks in on the agency every once in a while. I suppose he got word that you’re staying here.”

“... He should’ve arrested me.”

“Perhaps, but I think he has bigger fish to fry.”

The two fall silent once again as the toddler crunches down on the cereal happily. Akutagawa runs his hands through his hair. He can only wonder what’s going through Nakajima’s head, he hasn’t been the same since he witnessed Dazai’s suicide. Though, it’s understandable. Akutagawa struggles to remember that Dazai was not pure evil like Akutagawa remembered. In Atsushi’s eyes, he was a good man and mentor.

Akutagawa would argue, based on what he had seen Dazai do to Atsushi, though it’s not a fight worth picking.

Nakajima looked up from the wooden table, looking at Akutagawa with curious eyes.

“Why do you let me stay here, after everything I’ve done?”

Akutagawa glanced back over at Atsushi from the toddler, shrugging.

“I believe everyone needs some encouragement.”

Nakajima’s brows furrowed in confusion, looking away from Akutagawa as the conversation ends.

Akutagawa isn’t certain if he brought clarity to Nakajima’s mind, or confused him more.

“Go out and do something with him, something fun. Bring some life back to that boy for me, I’m getting worried for him.”

That’s what Odasaku had said to Akutagawa a day prior. Akutagawa had expected this to happen eventually, Odasaku always had him handle the tougher children.

Though, Nakajima wasn’t necessarily a child.

Akutagawa wasn’t quite sure how this would work out, he rarely interacted with adults like this, he had only a handful of friendly encounters with Nakajima.

One way or another, Akutagawa managed to get Nakajima in the car to drive off. Nakajima didn’t ask many questions, and accepted the answer of “it’s a surprise” when it came to where they were going.

Nakajima sat beside him in the passenger seat, watching cars and pedestrians go by as Akutagawa drove out towards a park, a rather empty one as he parked along the side, climbing out of the car to get into the backseat to get out a bag of frozen peas and lettuce no one in the house was going to eat.

Nakajima’s brows furrowed as he followed suit, looking around the park cautiously. Akutagawa led the way towards the duck pond, he thought about offering his hand out to Nakajima, though he decided against it.

It was trying maybe a little too hard to not baby Nakajima.

Nakajima followed behind Akutagawa like a lost child, his hands laced together as he looked around the empty park. He sat beside Akutagawa on a park bench in front of the duck pond, he seemed to grow more and more confused by the minute.

As Akutagawa fumbled with the bag of frozen peas, Nakajima finally spoke up.

“What… Are we doing here?”

“Feeding the ducks,” Akutagawa replied simply, holding out a small handful of peas for Nakajima to take.

Nakajima took them hesitantly, looking over them before tossing them out to the ducks beginning to crowd around them.

Akutagawa did the same, the silence between them filled with the quaking of happy ducks. Akutagawa resisted a smile, instead opting to bounce his left leg.

“Are you trying to get information out of me?” Nakajima asked, looking over to Akutagawa.

Akutagawa nodded a no, “I’m getting you out of the house.”

“You didn’t need to.”

“What, and let you sit there and rot away? I think getting out might’ve been the best for you, it’s easier to get over things when there’s more going on around you,” Akutagawa explained.

Nakajima looked down at his lap, falling silent as he nuzzled into his coat once more.

Akutagawa didn’t push for more answers, continuing to watch the ducks as he shifted his head from side to side half-mindedly.

“... If you’re trying to get me to talk more, it’s not working,” Nakajima hummed, brushing his bangs out of his eyes as he fidgeted with his fingers, “I don’t like talking.”

“I don’t either,” Ryuunosuke replied, “Though, I suppose I can talk enough for the two of us. Kenji-kun tells me getting to know someone is a give and take thing, I’m working on it, however… I’m much more used to talking to children than people my age.”

“You… Work with children that often?” The silver haired boy asked, hesitantly, to which Akutagawa nodded.

“Yes, I work under Odasaku, so it’s natural. My past makes me relatable to children we help, my background as an older brother usually makes me likable to younger children. I don’t mind it, talking to children is… Easier than an adult. Children only understand so much, they lack the knowledge of social normalities most of the time, it’s easier for me…” Ryuunosuke explained, “I grew up with very little social interaction, I spoke with my sister and a few other orphaned children, though that was about it. I never learned how most people communicate.”

“Your sister…” Atsushi mused, eyes glued to the ground.

A slight pain made its home in Akutagawa’s heart from the mention of Gin. Even now, it’s difficult to think about her. He’d never let her go, and never love anyone quite as much.

He isn’t sure if anyone would quite understand how he felt about his little sister, not even Tanizaki could quite understand. Akutagawa grew up alone, raising Gin himself up until Dazai stole her away.

It was less of a typical brother-sister relationship and more of a father-daughter relationship.

“Her name is Gin, right?” Atsushi asked, breaking Akutagawa out of his thoughts.

He nodded, “Yes, her name is Gin… She’s a sweet girl at heart, I’m not sure how she really lasted in the mafia…”

Akutagawa propped his head up in his hand, trying to take his mind off of whatever pain he was feeling. This wasn’t supposed to be about him, he shouldn’t dump his baggage on the other.

“... She was strong,” Nakajima commented, “I only met her a few times, but she was strong, physically and mentally. I don’t quite get how she survived Dazai, either, especially now… I barely survived Dazai…”

Akutagawa looked over to Atsushi, watching the boy continue to feed the ducks, a little more confident and out about himself.

“For the sake of my sanity, did he ever hurt Gin?” Akutagawa asked.

Atsushi paused, looking up in thought before eventually nodding no.

“Not to my knowledge. He didn’t hurt physically most of the time, he would manipulate you into hurting yourself,” Atsushi explained, “I’m sure… I’m still under some of his manipulations, but I’m not ready to address that…”

Akutagawa knew he was referring to the collar, though decided not to comment on that.

“That’s alright, address it when you’re ready. Healing is a long process,” Ryuunosuke reassured, “We’ll be here when you are ready to address it.”

A slight smile came to Atsushi’s face.

“Thank you, I’ll try my best.”

Akutagawa smiled back, watching the other happily watch the ducks.

A part of Ryuunosuke thinks Atsushi’s smile might be the cutest thing he’s ever seen.

[yellowcanna]

Two Sides, Same Coin

Summary: Since the beginning of Quirks, Yokohama has announced independence from Japan and closed itself from the rest of the world.

To this day and age, no one knows what lies within the city of Yokohama—or that was what the public was made to believe. In reality, Yokohama has long fallen into the control of the world’s largest criminal organization known as the Port Mafia.

Follow Class 1-A as their principal organized a field trip to Yokohama! In their short trip there, they must change their perspectives and learn exactly what it means to be justice and what it means to be villains.

Rating: T

Genre: Crossover, hint of shounen-ai (boy love)

Pairing: Contains mild Soukoku (Dazai x Chuuya) and Shin Soukoku (Akutagawa x Atsushi) if you squint

Author: Canna / Yellow Canna

Available on AO3!!

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CHAPTER 16

THE BEGINNING (NIGHT 3: TUESDAY)

This story has been beta'd by Momentary_Flight, Nanami_ontheShore, Shady Spades

“Jirou-chan…will be alright, won’t she?” Hagakure mumbled worriedly.

The three U.A students stood by the wall, nervously watching the doctor work on Jirou who was laid across the table. Her legs and arms were raised with random items they gathered to keep her limbs up so her blood flow would be concentrated around her torso.

Midoriya and Shouji didn’t answer Hagakure’s question. They couldn’t. The three of them just stared at Jirou, as if her eyes would suddenly pop open at any moment.

“Geeze, you people are acting as if she’s already dead,” the little blonde girl huffed with her hands on her hips, conceitedly looking up at the three older kids.

“Oh no! That’s not it…we’re just a bit worried!” Hagakure tried to explain, though no one could see what expression or gesture she was making.

They all had been so worried about Jirou that they had forgotten about the young girl!

“Um, my name is Midoriya Izuki!” Midoriya crouched down so that he was eye level with the petite girl. “You’re Elise-chan right? Thank you so much for saving us back there! You were very brave! Normal people wouldn’t be able to do that!”

The green-haired teenager had spoken with a voice filled with excitement accompanied with the brightest smile. However, the reaction he received was…different than he expected.

“…Did you hit your head?” The girl deadpanned, seeming to be disgusted by his behavior and even took a step back to keep a distance. “You’re more disgusting than Rintarou. Don’t come near me.”

Midoriya was completely petrified by the girl’s sharp words. Worst of all, he didn’t even know what he had done wrong! He couldn’t ask either, for the blonde had already walked away, going to the far side of the basement.

“Don’t worry about Elise-chan,” the doctor snickered, turning his head to look at the high schoolers. “She’s a little shy around strangers.”

“I’m not shy!” Elise hissed like a cat that had her tail stepped on.

“No, it’s alright!” Midoriya frantically waved his hands.

He watched the doctor turn back to Jirou. With the tension eased, Midoriya found his eyes wandering around the basement. It was a very empty basement. There wasn’t anything except the table, a couple of boxes and some old wooden chairs. Elise was sitting by one of the boxes and using a red crayon to draw over it.

“Hagakure-san, Shouji-san.” Midoriya turned back to his classmates. “Back then…when that person appeared, what did you see?”

“What do you mean?” Hagakure asked in confusion.

“The man that took Kyuusaku-kun. When we saw him…did you see anything else?”

“Umm…no?” Hagakure replied after some thought.

“Was there something we should have seen?” Shouji inquired.

Midoriya’s lips were pressed into a thin line as he remembered that gigantic tiger. It was just like he thought, Shouji and Hagakure hadn’t seen anything. He was the only one who could see…which meant there was something more to those goggles.

Or perhaps…the goggles weren’t meant to be used as a see-through tool in the first place?

Midoriya snuck a glance at the doctor. While the doctor himself was suspicious enough showing up in this kind of place, he was helping them and he had Elise with him. While Midoriya didn’t fully trust the doctor, he also had no reason to suspect him.

“I saw a white tiger,” Midoriya finally said. “When that man appeared, I saw a gigantic tiger. It was only after the goggles broke that I saw him.”

“A tiger?” Shouji’s brows arched up at the unexpected information.

“So…you’re saying that the goggles made you see a person as a tiger, Midoriya-kun?” Hagakure’s voice went a pitch higher upon realizing what could possibly have made her classmate see such things.

Midoriya nodded slowly. He recalled the form of that massive beast with claws that looked like it could easily tear apart a grown man.

“I believe that the goggles you’re talking about are Ability detectors,” the doctor suddenly spoke up.

Midoriya’s head snapped to the doctor, not expecting him to know anything and even if he did, wouldn’t have made any comment. 

“Ability detector?” Shouji repeated the name.

“It’s a device that detects a person’s Ability,” the doctor explained while using a handkerchief to wipe his bloodied hand.

“That is the reason they are fighting up there.” He pointed towards the ceiling, turning around with a smile on his lips. “Those white cloaked men out there created these devices that can detect Ability users. The Port Mafia caught wind of it so they came to destroy them.”

“Why?” Hagakure asked.

“Simple. If this organization were to use their technology, then they will harvest many Ability users, even those that are newly born. That is something the Port Mafia cannot overlook,” the doctor replied.

“You know a lot about these things...” Shouji looked at the doctor suspiciously, then to the little girl who was still doodling on the box.

“You’d be surprised by how much information doctors can learn.” The raven-haired man carefully peeled his rubber gloves off, making sure his bloody fingertips didn't touch his skin. “Yokohama also has laws enforced by both the Special Ability Department and the Port Mafia banning any technology targeting Abilities.”

“Special Ability Department…” Midoriya remembered that Kunikida had mentioned this name before as well. 

“You can come up now.” The doctor tossed his rubber gloves onto the floor and stepped aside.

At the news that the operation was done, the three U.A students all but ran up to the table.

“Jirou-chan!” From the hand print on Jirou’s arms, Hagakure was gripping onto her friend while calling out her name over and over. Unfortunately, Jirou didn’t show any sort of reaction.

Her skin was deathly pale and her lips a dark purplish hue. Her eyelashes didn’t even flutter in the slightest movement. If they didn’t know any better, they would all think she had died.

“Judging from her injury, the bullet that went through her body was about 11 mm and has damaged the inferior vena cava. I’ve cauterized the injury, but that is as much as I can do.”

“Inferior…vena cava?” Hagakure struggled to repeat the name.

“Oh? You don’t know?” The man looked at them in mild surprise. “Do they not teach you in your Hero school?”

They all shook their heads, not even surprised anymore that this man could tell they were Heroes considering how many times their covers got blown already. Right now, they just want to know if their friend was alright.

“It’s the largest vein of the human body.” The doctor pointed over Jirou’s wound. “In simpler terms, this vein’s function is to carry blood from the lower body to the right atrium of the heart.  If you cut this vein, it will trigger a massive blood loss that can kill a person in a matter of minutes. Fortunately, your friend’s vein was only grazed and because you have been holding her with her legs up, you managed to keep the blood flow around her heart. She wouldn’t have lasted this long if you hadn’t.”

“Then...!”

“She will be fine.” The doctor assured Shouji whose shoulder sagged in relief.

“That’s great…!” Midoriya fell onto his knees, the tension that had been keeping him on his feet finally disappeared. “Thank you so much! Thank you!”

“Yes! Thank you so much!” Hagakure hiccupped.

“We can’t thank you enough!” Shouji bowed.

The doctor just smiled, saying nothing as he checked his wristwatch.

“The people from the Armed Detective Agency should be arriving to pick you up soon. What do you say we talk a bit until then?”

“How do you know we’re from the Armed Detective Agency?” Midoriya questioned, his muscles tensing in anticipation in case the man turned out to be an enemy.

“Oh? It seems you don’t remember me.” From his coat pocket, the doctor pulled out a piece of crumbly paper. The paper was filled with scribbles drawn in yellow and blue crayons. When the man flipped the paper around, all three of them saw the familiar flyer they were handing out just this morning.

“You were the one who gave this to me on the street, young man.” The man waved the piece of paper in front of the green-haired youth.

“I-I did?!” Midoriya spluttered, voice cracking from how high pitched it had become. Never would he have expected that response. “I’m so sorry, I...I didn’t remember!” While apologizing, he tried to think back to this morning, but there were too many people passing by that he couldn’t remember every single person who took a flyer.

“It’s quite alright,” the doctor chuckled. At this, the little blonde girl came over and stared at him in disdain.

“You’re still keeping that, Rintarou?” She eyed the crumbled paper with her hands on her hips.

“Of course! It’s Elise-chan’s lovely drawing! How could I ever throw it away?!” The doctor swooned, not even hiding the fact that he had been using the flyer as scrap paper for the girl to draw on.

“But…how did you contact them?” Shouji asked. After all, they didn’t see the doctor pull out any device and even if he did, would his device even work?

“I was accompanied by my subordinate when we stumbled across you, so I sent him to find help,” the doctor replied. “I believe I haven’t introduced myself. I am Mori Ougai. This is my daughter Elise-chan.”

“I-I’m Midoriya Izuku! Sorry for not introducing ourselves before!” Midoriya stammered and hastily gave the man his own introduction.

“I’m Shouji Mezou, thank you again for helping Jirou-san.”

“I am Hagakure Tooru! Thank you so much, Mori-san!”

“It’s always nice to meet young, aspiring Heroes,” the older man commented. “Though I must say, I didn’t expect to meet so many Heroes so soon, especially after coming back to Yokohama.”

“Were you in Japan before?” Hagakure wondered curiously.

“I may not look like it, but I once managed a pretty large company,” the doctor boasted. “Though I’ve retired and was traveling around the world with Elise-chan for the past three years. In the end, we find ourselves returning to this city.”

“Do you…like Yokohama?” Midoriya couldn’t help but ask. He didn’t know why, but he just wanted to know the answer, especially after everything he had witnessed in that fight.

“I do,” Mori replied without second thought.

Midoriya was a little taken back. It wasn’t as if he was expecting the man to hate the place he was from, only that he hadn’t expected such a fast and certain response without even the smallest shadow of doubt.

“Mori-san…you mentioned that Yokohama bans technologies regarding Abilities. Why is that?”

“If people were allowed to research Abilities, what do you think would happen?” The doctor questioned back.

“Ability users won’t have freedom anymore and there will be more bloodshed to capture them.” Midoriya said after some thought. This was the only answer he could come up with, linking back to what the man had told them about those Ability detectors.

Mori chuckled, seeming to find something the boy said amusing. “If Abilities are allowed to be researched, then Abilities could one day be mass produced.”

“Is that possible?” Shouji couldn’t believe it. After all, these were powers, not solid products that could be made in factories. Even Quirks don’t have something like mass production.

“Well, it is simply a speculation,” the doctor shrugged.

“So it’s to protect everyone?”

“Protect?” Mori’s smile turned sharp for a split second before going back to normal. It happened so fast that none of the kids were able to see it. “Well, it certainly is for protection, but it is more of a necessity for the future of this city.”

“The…future?” Midoriya thought over the doctor’s words. “So you’re saying that if Abilities could be mass produced, then all the Old Humans will become Ability users...then Yokohama will become no different than our world…!”

“You catch on fast, young man.” Mori complimented. “If every single human within this barrier gained Abilities, then this city would fall into chaos. Unlike Quirks, Abilities are dangerous because their possibilities are limitless. You can even pull a god into the body of a human vessel.”

Creeeak

Everyone froze at the sudden sound. The three kids turned towards the source, which was coming from the other side of the door. It was at this moment that they realized how quiet it has gotten.

There were no more sounds of destruction going on outside…just an unusual silence.

Within that silence, they could hear something coming towards them from beyond the door. Midoriya didn’t know how to describe the sound. It sounded like something was constantly being crushed and grinded into pieces. It was a sound that sent a weird chill down his back.

With their training kicking back in, Midoriya, Hagakure and Shouji moved to stand in front of Mori and his daughter. They braced themselves as the sound came closer and closer.

Midoriya only saw a flicker of something moving through the door. He didn’t know what it was, as it was too fast for his eyes to follow. For a moment, he thought he was hallucinating but the next second, the door fell apart into tiny pieces—revealing a man in a black trench coat with black hair that was white at the tip.

The man’s hands were tucked in his coat’s pocket as he walked over the remains of the door, causing the wood to break apart under his feet.

Midoirya knew without a shadow of doubt that this man was an Ability user. It was the only explanation for how the door fell apart like this. But what power was it? With his hands in his pockets, it couldn’t be something that required his hands.

He tightened his fists and brought them up—only to be shoved aside when the middle-aged doctor’s body collided against him.

“Ah, Akutagawa-kun.” Mori walked up to the man with his hand also tucked in his pocket.

At the sight of the doctor, the man known as Akutagawa pulled his hands out, folding them behind his back and bowed.

“It has been a while,” the man spoke in an aloof tone.

“Indeed it has!” Mori nodded before looking back at the students. “Shall we go then?”

“Uh…go where?” Hagakure looked around—not that anyone could see her doing it.

“Out of here, of course,” the man answered. “Your agency members should be arriving soon. Akutagawa-kun, have you seen them?”

“No,” the man responded curtly, not providing any additional information.

“Well, I’m sure they’re on their way.” The doctor wasn’t the slightest bit bothered by the other’s lack of social skills.

He turned to Shouji and said, “Would you mind carrying your friend? And do keep her legs and arms up.”

“Should we be moving her?” Shouji asked worriedly. After all, Jirou’s condition did not look good. Even if her wound had stopped bleeding, it didn’t change the fact that she lost a lot of blood.

“Of course,” The doctor waved absentmindedly before turning to his daughter. Immediately, his entire demeanor changed and he called her out in the sweetest voice he could muster. “Come now, Elise-chan! It’s time to go!”

“I’m not done drawing yet!”

“But Elise-chan, don’t you want to change out of your wet clothes?”

“…Fine!” The girl tossed her crayon aside, clapping her hands from the filth before walking back over to her father.

“Let’s go then, Elise-chan!”

“Ah—” Midoriya wanted to call out to them, but the doctor and the girl were already making their way up the staircase.

The black coated man just stood to the side like a statue, making no move to leave.

“What do we do?” Hagakure whispered, trying to avoid letting the strange man overhear her.

“Let’s follow and see…” Midoriya swallowed, feeling those steel gray eyes lock onto him. It must be his imagination, right?

Very carefully, Midoriya and Hagakure moved Jirou into Shouji’s arms, holding her legs and arms up as instructed.

They were cautious around the man, but the other didn’t seem to care for them at all. They slowly walked around him, ignoring the way those sharp eyes followed them as they moved. When they emerged from the basement, all they saw was the ruin of what used to be a house. The house they went into was gone and in its place was nothing but piles of debris. The only place that was clear was the stairwell leading towards the basement.

“Hm…the air after a shower is quite refreshing,” Mori commented, gazing up to the sky to see the parting clouds.

Midoriya looked around at the destruction, taking note of how awfully quiet it was. Or perhaps the night was supposed to be this quiet, he just forgot.

There was no more screaming, no more gunfire, no more lightning, and no more rain.

Just…peacefulness, as if everything that happened was but a dream.

Within the silence, they could all easily hear the roaring sound of an engine coming from the distance. The three U.A students looked down the street to see a car driving towards them. It was a very plain and ordinary silver car, but the speed at which the vehicle was coming at them was anything but ordinary.

Hagakure let out a scream as the kids frantically moved back just as the car spun, making a one-eighty and came to a screeching stop in front of them.

With a light click, the door facing them—the passenger door—opened.

Midoriya, Hagakure and Shouji finally showed relief on their faces at the sight of the Armed Detective Agency President, Fukuzawa Yukichi.

Another sound of the door opening came from the other side of the car, but this one wasn’t as gentle. Yosano Akiko climbed out of the driver seat and slammed the door so hard that the entire car shook.

“Well, well, if it isn’t Mori-sensei.” Malice was practically dripping from her voice as she walked around the car, her red heels clicking against the cement road. Her eyes were wide with a grin on her face, making her look as if she had suddenly gone insane.

The woman’s behavior shocked the three teenagers.

In that moment, Midoriya was reminded of the first time when he had to engage with Villains back in the U.S.J. He was getting the same vibe as back then…except this one was stronger and more suffocating.

“Ah, Yosano-kun,” Mori smiled at the woman as if he couldn’t see the menacing way she looked at him. And just like that, he dismissed her and shifted his gaze to Fukuzawa. “Fukuzawa-dono. It has certainly been a while, hasn’t it?”

“So it has, Mori-sensei,” Fukuzawa said before looking over to the four children, eyes lingering on Jirou’s limp form a tad longer than the rest. “Yosano-kun.”

“Yeah,” Yosano walked over to Jirou with a small frown on her face and her gaze turning serious and losing that crazed look.

“Um…” Hagakure wanted to explain, but Yosano reached out, grabbing the make-shift bandage around Jirou’s abdomen and ripped it off.

“Be careful!” Midoriya couldn’t help but shouted out at how rough the woman’s action was.

Yosano ignored them, observing Jirou’s face that didn’t even twitch at her action. She pressed two fingers into the side of the girl’s neck and her frown immediately deepened.

“For someone who is no longer part of the Port Mafia, you sure are engaged in their affairs.”

“The Port Mafia…?” Midoriya’s head immediately snapped towards the doctor. This man used to be part of the Port Mafia?!

So he was...a criminal?!

“What can I say?” Mori shrugged. “My successor has no respect towards the word retired.”

He tucked his hands back into his lab coat pocket and looked towards the four children. “But retired or not, it’s part of my duty to ensure we uphold our end of the deals.”

 “Ability,” Midoriya’s attention was brought back to Yosano whose hand hovered over Jirou. “Thou Shall Not Die.”

Purple rings made up with small characters appeared and circled around Jirou’s body. The three children saw purple light shrouded Jirou’s entire body before bursting apart into tiny particles, fading away.

The moment the light was gone, Midoriya instantly noticed the change in Jirou’s body. The first was the missing hole in her stomach. The bullet wound was gone without leaving any traces of scars. And the second more noticeable thing was the healthy colour in Jirou’s skin. No longer was she deathly pale, and her purplish lips had also become red again!

“What…!” Shouji almost choked when Jirou moved. They watched as Jirou groaned, eyelashes fluttering a couple of times before her eyelids began to peel back, revealing black irises.

“Jirou-chan!” Everyone could hear the tearful cry in Hagakure’s voice. The invisible girl jumped onto Jirou, causing Shouji to stumble back, but somehow maintain his balance.

“H-Hagakure?!” Jirou nearly jumped at suddenly being pounced on. Then she looked around, noticing the unfamiliar area they were in.

“What happened?” As soon as she spoke, she sucked in a sharp breath as the memories before she passed out flickered by. Her hand instantly flew to her stomach, but she didn’t feel the wound that was supposed to be there.

“Jirou-san, are you ok?” Shouji watched Jiro pat her own stomach, the confusion on her face turning into surprise.

“Jirou-san, do you feel pain anywhere?” Midoriya added.

“No…” Jirou slowly shook her head while eyeing her stomach. “It doesn’t hurt…wasn’t I shot?”

“You were!” Hagakure cried while shaking Jirou back and forth. “We were so worried! I thought you would die!”

“Well then, it’s time for us to take our leave, isn’t that right, Elise-chan?”

“Eh?” Midoriya quickly turned around to see the doctor holding out his hand for his daughter to take. “Please wait!”

He hurried over to the doctor, but stopped just a couple steps away, maintaining some distance between them.

“You were…part of the Port Mafia?”

Mori didn’t answer his question. Instead, the man reached into his pocket and flicked something towards the teen. The boy’s first instinct was to dodge, but when he saw what it was, he reached out and caught a small white card.

“Give that to Toshinori Yagi-san for me, would you?”

“Toshinori?”

“Who’s that?

Shouji, Hagakure and Jirou looked to one another, none of them familiar with that name.

“That’s right, you know him better as All Might, don’t you?” 

“Eh?! You know All Might!?” Hagakure exclaimed in surprise.

Mori only smiled at her. Together with Elise, they walked away, casually strolling down the quiet street that was once filled with violence and bloodshed.

“Let’s go,” Fukuzawa told them as he too turned to leave. He walked back to the silver car and climbed onto the passenger seat.

The four kids followed and cramped themselves in the back while Yosano took the wheel.

“Buckle up now,” she told them with a smile. That was the only warning they got before she stepped down on the gas pedal—hard.

They couldn’t help but let out a terrified scream with how the car sped down the road so fast that the wheels were lifting from the ground.

“We’re gonna crash!!” Hagakure screamed when she saw how the car was heading towards a building.

Yosano didn’t slow down. If anything, she sped up even more and with a turn of the wheel, the car nearly flipped over as it made a sharp turn.

Fukuzawa sat there calmly with his arms crossed and eyes closed, seeming to be asleep while the screams of bloody murder constantly echoed from the back.

Shouji, Jirou and Hagakure were practically thrown to the side from the force of the turn while Midoriya clenched onto the door beside him for his dear life. It was also at that moment that he looked out the car window to see the night sky that was now clear of clouds.

His eyes were almost immediately drawn to the large full moon behind what looked to be a clock tower. On that clock tower, Midoriya saw two black figures standing on the roof. He couldn’t exactly make out their forms as the moon had casted a dark silhouette over them, but Midoriya could see the pair of gold and silver eyes looking back to meet his own.

Before he could get a better look, the car slammed back down and Midoriya knocked his chin against the car door. By the time he collected himself and looked back out, the clock tower was blocked by the rows of buildings.

The car sped through the street, going straight down the road until they came bursting out of the neighborhood the four teens had been trapped within for so long. They had gotten out so easily that they almost couldn’t believe it.

It was only when they began to see other cars and people that the vehicle slowed down, driving at a perfectly normal speed to blend in with the other cars.

Nobody spoke during the ride back to the Armed Detective Agency. They just stared at the bright light surrounding the street and the happy people walking about. It was almost as if they had come to a completely different world.

Midoriya saw a family of three walking out from a toy store with a boy hugging a robot toy. Seeing the little boy reminded him of Kyuusaku. He wondered where the child was at the moment, and whether or not they were safe.

When they arrived at the Armed Detective Agency building, they were greeted by all of their classmates who were outside waiting for them.

Aizawa and Toshinori were there as well, accompanied by the young blond boy called Kenji.

“Is everyone ok?!” Iida was the first to shout and rushed up to them with the rest of their classmates.

“It’s great that you guys came back!” Yaoyorozu’s shoulders sagged in relief.

“What happened? Did you guys get into any fights?!” Kirishima queried worriedly.

“Well…” Midoriya began, but was cut short when Fukuzawa spoke up.

“Let’s talk inside.”

All the children quiet down, as they all knew how much trouble they were in.

Thankfully, the atmosphere was brightened a little when Kenji bounced to the door. “Right this way please!” He sang in such a happy voice that it made them relaxed just a little.

Aizawa and Toshinori trailed after the kids, neither of them speaking a word. When they arrived at the Armed Detective Agency office, they were greeted by Kunikida who was waiting for them at the doorway.

“Come in and take a seat,” the blond told them, motioning to the chairs set up inside. There were twenty in total. The kids obeyed, taking a seat while the adults stood.

“I would like an explanation,” Aizawa was the first to speak up after they all settled down. At first, the students thought their homeroom teacher was talking to them, but Aizawa’s eyes were fixed on the members of the Armed Detective Agency and their President.

“What do you mean?” Kunikida glanced at the raven-haired teacher.

“You know what I mean,” Aizawa narrowed his eyes. “Why were my students put into danger? Why wasn’t there someone looking after them?”

“Your students are all sixteen,” the blond-haired man pointed out. “They should have been fully capable of looking after themselves. The only reason we had someone looking after them on the first day was to make sure they obeyed the rules of Yokohama. After the first warning, I didn’t think it was necessary to continue monitoring them.”

“That’s—”

“First,” the President cut in, “why don’t we have the students tell us what happened?”

In the end, Iida was the one who retold the story of how they got themselves into the situation…including how it was Kaminari and Mineta who got the location of the nightclub. After that, Midoriya took over in explaining the events of what happened after separating from the large group to chase after Kyuusaku.

The adults listened quietly without any interruptions. It was only when Midoriya mentioned Jirou getting shot that the class as well as their teachers retracted.

“Jirou-san, you were shot?!” Yaoyorozu shot up from her seat in alarm.

“Ah, I’m fine now, look,” Jirou lifted her shirt for everyone to see. “There’s not even a scar!”

Although Midoriya saw it happen with his own eyes, he couldn’t help but gawk at Jirou’s stomach again. Never in his entire life has he heard of any Quirk which could heal someone flawlessly like that. Jirou was not only shot, but she had also suffered heavy blood loss. She wasn’t even conscious, yet with just a wave of Yosano’s hand she woke up absolutely fine.

Rather than calling it healing, it was more like time had rewound on her body—returning her back to when she was in perfect condition.

“Let me see,” Aizawa pushed aside the kids and made his way over with Toshinori. The two teachers inspected the wound, but no matter how hard they looked, they couldn’t figure out just where the girl had been shot.

“What happened?” Aizawa questioned with a frown on his face.

“Yosano-san healed Jirou-chan,” Hagakure replied.

Aizawa glanced back to Yosano who met his gaze with a smirk.

“Let’s hear the rest. What happened afterward?” Kunikida looked back to Midoriya.

“Ah, yes!” Midoriya picked up from where he got interrupted. “After Jirou-san was shot, we ran into the alleyway and…”

Midoriya trailed off when the image of that woman’s head and her face flickered through his mind. It was an image he had tried hard not to think about, but now that they were safe, he involuntarily remembered it.

The woman’s dead gaze, the temperature of her head and the texture of her hair…

He couldn’t stop the sudden nausea in his stomach. He bent over and gagged, but there was nothing more his stomach could throw out.

“Deku-kun!”

“Midoriya!”

“Midoriya-kun!”

“Get back, he needs air,” Aizawa ordered, stopping the others from getting close.

“Young Midoriya, are you alright?” Toshinori rushed to his side almost immediately and crouched down next to him.

“Y-yeah…” Midoriya blinked away the tears that had come out while gasping for air. “Sorry, I—”

“It’s fine,” Aizawa told him before turning to Shouji. “Shouji, continue for Midoriya.”

“Yes…” Shouji nodded, knowing full well what had made Midoriya react in such a way. He finished telling everyone the story, including their meeting with the doctor who turned out to be a former member of the Port Mafia.

“That’s right!” Midoriya remembered the card pulled it out from his pocket. “That man, Mori-san wanted me to hand this to you, All Might.”

“To me?” Toshinori accepted the card from his pupil. He looked down and realized that this was a simple looking business card with the name of a clinic. He flipped the card around and saw the address of the clinic on the back with words written on the space below in fine black ink.

Wednesday 12:00 pm

“An acquaintance of yours?” Aizawa asked, looking down at the card as well.

“I’m not sure…” Toshinori replied unsurely. He racked his brains, but he couldn’t think of any Mori he may know of.

“He seemed to know you, All Might,” Hagakure added helpfully. That only made Toshinori’s brows furrow even more.

Unable to think of anyone, he decided to think about it later and tucked the business card into his own pocket.

“I think you owe us some explanation.” Aizawa had turned his attention back to the members of the Armed Detective Agency. “It’s too much of a coincidence that my students would head to the nightclub in an unpopulated area and get caught up in a war.”

“You’re right, it was no coincidence,” the President answered, looking back at the teacher calmly. “But we were not the ones who have set your students up.”

“But you knew it would happen.” Aizawa stated with full certainty.

Fukuzawa said nothing to deny it.

“If I may, your students are partly at fault for being so easily led by the Port Mafia,” Kunikida cut in. “Going to the night club is one thing, but if they hadn’t insisted on following some kid, they could still come back without getting caught up in the battle.”

“But Kyuusaku-chan was—”

“Look,” Kunikida sighed, holding up a hand to stop the invisible girl. He seemed tired of constantly repeating himself. “I will say it one more time, do you really think any ordinary kid would show up in that kind of place late in the night? Especially now, after knowing there was a battle so close by?”

“But we can’t just—” Iida wanted to argue, but Kunikida was already done.

The blond knew by now that no matter what he said, these Heroes wouldn’t understand. They simply don’t know the danger children could bring—especially if they were Ability users.

“Even if your students didn’t go to the nightclub and if the Port Mafia wished them to be involved, then there was no way to avoid it.” Fukuzawa said, pulling the blame off the students and onto the Port Mafia.

“You told us that as long as the children don’t use their Quirks, they won’t be in danger.” Toshinori said. “But they got involved in a battle and one of them was shot.”

“Are they in danger now, then?” Kunikida made his point by glancing over to Jirou.

“You know that’s not what we meant,” Aizawa snapped. “This wasn’t what was promised when we made the deal and came to Yokohama.”

“No, your deal is correct,” Fukuzawa replied. “But your deal was not with us.”

“What do you mean?” Toshinori didn’t know why, but he was starting to feel like the mystery was slowly starting to piece together, like he was reaching the answer of something, but just hasn’t grasped it yet.

“We, the Armed Detective Agency, were not the one who made the agreement with U.A to allow you into Yokohama.” Fukuzawa explained. “We were simply requested to take you in and have your students learn from us.”

“What…?” The two teachers’ eyes widened.

Their agreement wasn’t with the Armed Detective Agency?

Wasn’t Nezu’s old friend someone from the Armed Detective Agency? Aizawa and Toshinori even assumed that Fukuzawa was Nezu’s old friend, given the other’s age. While Nedzu didn’t make it clear, he also seemed to think his old friend was someone in the Armed Detective Agency.

“Who made this arrangement?” Aizawa hurriedly asked.

“The boss of the Port Mafia,” Kunikida replied. “He was the one who called us and had us take you in.”

“What?” Toshinori almost couldn’t believe his own ears. They all assumed it was the Armed Detective Agency that struck a deal with the Port Mafia…but it was the other way around?

“What is it? What’s going on?” Kirishima looked around, not following the conversation at all.

“Just shut the hell up,” Bakugou growled beside him.

“I know you have many questions, but we are not the ones who can provide you with answers,” Fukuzawa said. “The Armed Detective Agency merely took you in due to a favour I owe to the Port Mafia.”

“And what is this favour do you owe them that would make you take in twenty kids from a Hero school?” Aizawa didn’t like the sound of where this was going.

“A month back, the Armed Detective Agency and the Port Mafia were both attacked by an organization known as the Rats in the House of the Dead,” Kunikida explained. “The mastermind behind the organization is an Ability user from Russia. Both the President and an Executive who is the second-hand of the Port Mafia boss were hit by a cannibalizing Ability.”

“Cannibalizing?” Uraraka paled just hearing the name.

“As in…that cannibalizing?!” Aoyama squeaked.

“Is there any other meaning for cannibalizing?” Sero whispered helpfully.

“It is a viral Ability that contains minuscule supernatural lifeforms that grow into maturity in forty-eight hours and eat through the hosts’ bodies. There are only two ways to stop this Ability,” Yosano took over the conversation and held up a finger. “The first is that if one of the two hosts dies, the Ability will disappear.”

She then held up another finger.

“The second is to find the Ability user and make them cancel their Ability.”

“I want to hear your opinions as the future Heroes of the outside world.” Fukuzawa said seriously, looking at the children. “If the leader of the League of Villain, Shigaraki Tomura and Aizawa-san were infected by such an Ability, what would you do?”

“Of course we find the mastermind and beat the crap outta them!” Bagkuou roared, smacking his right fist into his left palm.

“Yeah! We’ll just find the guy and stop that Ability!” Kirishima shouted, pumping a fist into the air.

“There’s forty-eight hours! There’s plenty of time for us to find them!” Sero added.

Midoriya nodded in agreement with Todoroki.

The rest of the class more or less gave the same response, all of them agreeing to find the mastermind instead of going for the head of the other host.

“Is that so?” Fukuzawa muttered quietly, not even surprised by the children’s response.

“Is that not what the Armed Detective Agency did?” Iida asked, not noticing how the looks in Armed Detective Agency members’ eyes had changed.

“We chose to kill the Port Mafia Executive.” Yosano stated bluntly, startling all of the children.

“W…what?” Midoirya choked out, unable to believe what he heard.

They chose to kill the other?

Why?

That didn’t make any sense,

They can understand if the Port Mafia came to kill the Armed Detective Agency President, but for them to target the Port Mafia Executive? Certainly the other may be a criminal, but to kill them just so the other could survive?

And wouldn’t that just be playing into the mastermind’s hand?

“I will tell you the real reason why you were sent to us,” Fukuzawa suddenly announced.

“Why did you decide to explain all of a sudden?” Aizawa eyed the man skeptically.

“Because I’ve decided to allow your students to observe us for the remainder of your stay within Yokohama.”

“So you were never planning on letting us stay long,” Toshinori muttered. He wasn’t surprised. Since the first time he met the President, he has noticed how aloof the other was. Despite having so many additional people within his agency, he never showed up again until tonight.

“I hold no ill will towards you or your students,” Fukuzawa began. “Even if it’s to repay the Port Mafia, I do not want to let innocent people that have nothing to do with Yokohama get involved in Yokohama’s affair.”

“What changed?”

Fukuzawa didn’t answer. Instead, he turned to their Agency’s physician. “Yosano-kun.”

“My Ability is called Thou Shall Not Die,” Yosano started with a wave of her hand. “My Ability allows me to heal any injuries without any exceptions.”

“Any?!” Ashido gasped.

“Any,” Yosano repeated with a devilish smirk. “Even if you were to have your arms and legs chopped off, or had your organs ripped out...as long as you have a breath left in you, I can fully heal you.”

She paused to let the information sink into the Heroes who were all gawking at her in shock. Such power was unheard of. Just thinking how many people she could save if her power was to be used in their world…!

It wasn’t just the kids who were overwhelmed by the news.

Even Aizawa and Toshinori were caught off guard by the revelation of such a huge secret. As long as Yosano stood, there won’t ever be a single death around her. This was a power that people around the world could only ever dream of because such a convenient power did not exist—or so they thought.

“The condition to use my power isn’t as simple as you think,” Yosano told them. “To activate my power, my patient must be in critical condition. In other words, if I want to heal a minor wound, I have to half kill my patients first.”

“But you’ll be able to heal them back? That’s amazing!!” Ashido blurted out with sparkling eyes.

“Wait…then back then, when Jirou-chan’s…!” Hagakure’s voice trailed off as everyone looked towards Jirou.

The raven-haired girl blinked, feeling a bit self-conscious with all the eyes on her as she turned to Yosano. “So, uh, I almost died?” She absentmindedly rubbed a hand over where she remembered she was shot in.

“Are you familiar with Hypovolemic Shock?” Yosano asked, though she didn’t wait for any response and continued on. “You lost over half of your body’s blood. The lack of oxygen circulating in your body has already begun to destroy your cells. By the time I arrived, you were already in a coma.”

“Eh?” Midoriya’s eyes widened as he recalled how Jirou wouldn’t wake up no matter how Hagakure called her. He knew she had passed out from blood lost, but a coma?

“That’s why that man appeared…it was to save Jirou-san until Yosano-san could get to us,” Shouji muttered.

“Yosano-san…your power also allows you to bring back someone from a coma?” Yaoyorozu inquired.

Yosano ignored the ponytailed girl and continued to focus on Jirou, as if she was trying to capture the slightest movement she would make.

“I see, so that’s what happened…” Jirou looked up to Yosano and smiled. “Thank you for saving me, Yosano-san.”

Yosano���s eyes widened lightly, but she swiftly recovered herself and let out a small snort “Aren’t you a good girl?”

“Eh?”

“No, it’s nothing.” Yosano waved and walked back to stand next to Fukuzawa.

“Well then, do you now understand why the Port Mafia sent you to us?” Kunikida observed the kids, then to the two teachers whose eyes were fixed on Yosano. It seemed that the two pro Heroes had already realized the situation they were in.

“I see!” Midoriya gasped as he jumped out of his seat, startling Ojiro and Sero sitting beside him. “It all makes sense now!”

“What? What makes sense?” Kirishima asked, looking around to see if anyone got what Midoriya was getting.

“Are you a moron?” Bakugou snapped before his crimson eyes shifted back to Yosano.

“Remember what they fucking said? As long as we don’t use Quirks, we’ll be safe. But ear jacks over there got injured even though she didn’t do a damn thing!”

“I see…so that’s it!” Iida gasped while Yaoyorozu seemed to have gone into deep thoughts.

“Uh…what does that mean?” Uraraka asked while sheepishly scratching the back of her head.

“It means that even if we don’t use our Quirks, we could be in dangerous situations and even get hurt, but as long as we don’t use our Quirks, the Port Mafia can’t let us die. They will have to protect us until Yosano-san comes to heal us! This is what they meant by us being safe!”

“It also fucking means that these Mafia shits got plans to put us in danger just like tonight, isn’t that right?!” Bakugou smirked widely at Kunikida.

“And if we use our Quirks in those dangerous situations, the Port Mafia will kill us,” Midoriya finished, hand moving up to touch his neck.

“Yes…” Kunikida adjusted his glasses. “Precisely.”

◤◢◣◥◤◢◣◥◤◢◣◥◤◢◣◥

“There’s another one alive! Hurry and bring the stretcher!”

Bang

The echoing sound of gunfire resounded in the air as a man in a black suit stepped away from the body of a white cloaked man.

“Enemy survivors discovered in block C. They’ve been terminated,” the black suited man reported to his earpiece before continuing to check the bodies littered over the street, searching for anyone alive amongst the corpses.

“So these two are the Ability users from Mockingbird?” Higuchi Ichiyou walked up to two white cloaked men lying on the ground, bound in thick chains.

“Yes,” one of the men guarding the enemy replied. “The one on the left is the electricity Ability user and the other is the one creating the miasma.”

“How many sedatives were injected?”

“Four. It should be enough to keep them down for an entire day.”

Higuchi nodded just as a black van drove up to them. “Move them into the vehicle with caution. It’s possible that they still have comrades around.”

“I believe there is no need to worry about that.” an elderly voice cut in.

Higuchi turned around to see the Commander of the Black Lizard making his way over to them. At the sight of the man, the other Port Mafia grunts immediately tucked their hands behind their backs and bowed towards him.

“Hirotsu-san,” the blond-haired woman was slightly surprised by the sight of the old man. “Welcome back from your break.”

“It seems I have returned at the right time,” Hirotsu commented, looking over at the two bounded Ability users. “No, or perhaps this was all within his calculation…”

“Hirotsu-san?” Higuchi blinked, not catching what the man had just said.

“Who are these gentlemen, Higuchi-kun?”

“They are the leaders of the organization Mockingbird.” Higuchi replied. “A couple days ago, we received word that this organization created devices that allow you to detect Ability users.”

“Ho?” Hirotsu arched his brow with great interest. “That’s quite the achievement. What about the data?”

“Akutagawa-senpai should be—” Before the woman could even finish, there was a huge explosion in the distance. She turned around and saw black smoke towering into the night sky.

“It seems that they have been successfully destroyed,” Hirotsu chuckled. “But to go against the Port Mafia’s rule and secretly develop such technology…either they were confident in their strength, or there is a third party involved.”

“Yes…we’re still investigating that matter. Fortunately, it’s only a prototype with limited functions. At the moment, we’re disposing every single device—”

Another explosion sounded at that moment. This time it was from the complete opposite direction of the first one.

Hirotsu gave one glance to the second explosion before he smiled. “There really is no place like home.”

“So Hirotsu-san, did you come here for something?” Higuchi asked, glancing down at the case in his hand.

“Yes,” Hirotsu looked down the street to see a dark figure walking towards them. At the sight of the man, all the men and women in black suits around once more had to stop whatever they were doing and bow.

Within the silence, everyone could hear the light coughs the man was trying to suppress.

“Akutagawa-sama,” Hirotsu bowed lightly at the sight of the young man. “A splendid job as always.”

“I wasn’t the one leading the operation tonight.” Akutagawa replied coldly before his eyes fell to the briefcase in the elder’s hand.

“I see,” Hirotsu bowed again. “Then I shall pay my respects to Atsushi-sama in a bit.”

He unlocked the briefcase and held it up, presenting it to the younger man. “The boss has ordered me to deliver this to you, Akutagawa-sama.”

“These are… blood?” Higuchi furrowed her brows as she tried to figure out what was inside. She has never seen any drug as red as this before.

“These are drugs made from a Quirk user in the outside world with the purpose of permanently erasing one’s Quirk,” Hirotsu explained. “The boss wants you to test them on Ability users to see if it will affect Abilities the same way.”

Akutagawa pulled out one of the syringes, looking at the crimson fluid inside before his gaze shifted to the two Mockingbird Ability users.

◤◢◣◥◤◢◣◥◤◢◣◥◤◢◣◥

Yosano looked out the window, watching the U.A students and their teachers walk down the peaceful sidewalk and head back towards their dormitory.

She could still remember how excited the kids looked upon hearing her Ability. Even after they found out the real reason, they looked more relaxed rather than fearful, including the two teachers.

This made the woman frown.

To those people, instant recovery to their top form was like a dream in their fight against Villains. Heroes fight with a clear goal in mind—to save people and defeat the Villains. It was thanks to this simple, clear and reachable goal that they were able to fight.

But would they be able to fight in a war where the people on the other side were no different than them? Would they be able to withstand constantly being recovered and thrown back out into the battlefield, over and over until their mentally broke apart?

“Heroes are such a carefree bunch, aren’t they?” She looked back to see Kunikida and Kenji stacking the chairs away.

“…It can’t be helped. Our cultures are just too different for them to understand with words.” Kunikida sighed. “I can understand the President’s decision to let them stay.”

“Yeah,” Yosano agreed. She had been against the whole idea the moment she found out what the Port Mafia wanted her to do. However, that all changed after tonight—especially after hearing such naïve answers…

She clicked her teeth in annoyance because she knew that this whole mess was targeted at them, the Agency members. Sure the U.A students were targeted too, but the event that played out tonight was for those kids to experience and them to witness.

The Port Mafia boss knew they were going to turn these outsiders away, so they made a show tonight to convince them.

“It’s just like Ranpo-san said, isn’t it?” Kenji said cheerfully, not reading the heavy atmosphere.

Kunikida sighed, unable to argue with that. He hadn’t doubted Ranpo. The genius detective was never wrong, after all, but to think the Port Mafia would use such methods to get them to accept these children…

“Though come to think of it, who is this Kyuusaku they spoke of?” Kenji asked while tapping a finger to his chin.

“…I’m bothered by that as well.” Yosano crossed her arms over her chest and leaned against one of the office desks. She had never heard of that name before, but if those Hero students were right, then the one who picked the kid up was none other than the White Reaper of the Port Mafia.

Kuinkida paused in his cleaning up to ponder over that name as well. He had been concerned over this mysterious child ever since he first heard of them over the phone call. That was why he wanted those kids to ignore them and come back. In hindsight, he probably should have seen it coming given these Hero’s unusual sense of justice…but he hadn’t expected them to be bold enough to do that in an unknown territory.

Now that he knew that this kid was also part of the Port Mafia, he was even more wary. There were only two reasons the Port Mafia would have children in their ranks. Either that child was some sort of prodigy, or they were an Ability user.

Kunikida didn’t need to be Ranpo to figure out the answer. From how the kids described the child, they weren’t right in the head. If his assumption was correct, they would have attacked the students had the White Reaper not stepped in.

The thought of the whole mess tonight made Kunikida’s head hurt all over again.

“Really…” Kunikida grumbled while using his fingers to rub out the crease forming between his brows. “First the Selection war and now this…just what is that man planning?”

┏━━━━━━━━━༻❁༺━━━━━━━━━┓

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[musicprincess655]

Everything hurts. Everything is too bright, everything is too loud, and it hurts.

Chuuya winces away from the guard that grabs at his arm, closing his eyes as he’s pulled along. The darkness is a little better, but his exhaustion threatens to make him drop to his knees right here.

“Keep up,” the guard complains, yanking him so hard he stumbles. Chuuya snarls under his breath. “What was that?”

Chuuya could put this man through a wall if he wanted. He’s strong enough for it. If only he wasn’t chained within an inch of his life. He’s never once been able to break through these chains.

Through half-lidded vision, Chuuya stumbles the rest of the way back to the cell that’s been his home for longer than he can properly remember. He was free once, he knows it to be true. Knows it to be true, but can’t remember it, because this place has stolen over all his memories. Time means nothing in a place like this, a lab with no sunlight and no windows and no way to track time.

In fact, the only reason Chuuya knows that he’s fifteen is because he heard one of the scientists mention it in the session they had today.

He’s already fifteen, shouldn’t he be ready for the next round of enhancements?

It’s a sentence that drives cold fear through Chuuya’s veins. Every time it’s said, he gets strapped down to a table and cut open and ripped apart. At the end of it, he’s got some new level of strength, and that’s when the worst part begins.

See, the scientists don’t seem to quite know what their enhancements do. And that means, once they perform them on Chuuya, they have to test them out. Chuuya resists, of course, because he has his pride, and that’s when the true pain starts.

He always expects to get used to it with time, and never does.

This time, they had him lifting heavier and heavier objects until his body gave out, and his limbs are still shaking from it, and from the electric shocks the scientists used to force him when he refused. He just wants to lie down and sleep.

The guard throws him into his cell, and Chuuya stumbles for a few steps before he rights himself, crashing heavily on the bottom bunk of a bed he has all to himself. It’s maybe the only perk he has left; no roommate. There’s still a few hours left until lights out, the room bright with white LEDs set into the ceiling, but that’s nothing a pillow over his face can’t fix.

Chuuya tries to get comfortable, but it’s difficult considering how his chains hold his wrists and ankles close together, only giving his hands a small bit of slack from his waist. It’s just more proof that if he could slip these chains, he could leave this hellhole easily. They wouldn’t bother keeping him chained up if it didn’t matter. The walls must not be made of the same sturdy stuff the chains are.

Just as Chuuya starts to doze off, the door swings open. He groans. They can’t possibly expect another round of testing from him now, can they? Maybe he’ll make another break for it. They take off his chains to see the full extent of his abilities, and they control him with an electric shock collar. Maybe if he’s fast enough, he can break out before they can catch him.

“Stay here and stay out of trouble.”

Chuuya’s eyes snap open when he hears clumsy feet tripping over themselves. He sits up so fast blood rushes to his head, and when his vision clears, there’s someone else in the room with him as the guard slams the door shut.

“Or don’t,” the guard continues his thought. “Maybe if you start shit, he’ll just kill you and save us all the trouble of dealing with you.”

Well. That’s plenty of reason for Chuuya to not lay a finger on this kid. He’s all for doing things out of spite.

And it is a kid, now that Chuuya looks at him properly. Messy brown hair that hangs in his face and over his collar, limbs that have the awkwardness of being newly grown in, far too skinny from a growth spurt that must have been recent. Big, brown, innocent eyes. He’s fourteen or fifteen, certainly no older than Chuuya. Dusting himself off, he finally takes Chuuya in, intelligence in his expression belying how innocent he’s trying to make his eyes look. He’s pretty, in a way that wouldn’t get him noticed.

Chuuya braces himself to have to comfort this kid. He’s not great with children – or at least, he doesn’t think he is, but it’s been a long time since he’s had the chance to try. He’s not a particularly comforting person. But having someone his own age might make this place a little more bearable. It’s worth a shot, anyway.

“Hi,” Chuuya says, trying to modulate his voice so he sounds inviting. It comes out a little gruff but not unfriendly, which he counts as a win. “What’s your name?”

“I wanted the bottom bunk,” the kid whines, and all of Chuuya’s hopes for a companion – or, even, maybe, a friend – drain away.

“I asked you a question,” Chuuya grits out, all attempts at friendliness gone.

“Dazai Osamu,” the kid says. He eyes Chuuya, assessing. “I bet I could move you if I wanted.”

Chuuya snorts. Dazai might be bigger than him, but that doesn’t mean shit. Even without all the enhancements, Chuuya knows he used to be a street kid. He knows how to fight. Dazai has the kind of fine elegance in his movements that betray a spoiled upbringing. Chuuya would be surprised if Dazai’s ever been in a fight in his life.

“Go ahead and try,” he taunts.

And despite the clear intelligence in his eyes, Dazai goes straight in, like he thinks he can just throw Chuuya to the ground and plant himself on the bottom bunk and be done with it. Chuuya has very limited range of motion, but he can still lift his legs and kick Dazai clear across the room. His back hits the wall, and he drops with a startled sound that makes Chuuya feel the slightest bit bad. Just because Dazai annoys him, it’s not really a fair reason to seriously hurt him.

Dazai lifts his head, and rather than the anger Chuuya expects to see, his eyes are alight with interest, trained only on Chuuya.

“You’re one of the experiments!” he exclaims. “What are they doing to you?”

“Uh,” Chuuya tries, because it’s the last thing he expected. Does Dazai know about this place? How does Dazai know about this place?

How does a rich citizen of No. 6 even end up in this place?

“I was so close to finding out what they were doing here,” Dazai complains. “And now you can fill me in!”

“Uh,” Chuuya tries again.

“Did they make you stupid?” Dazai asks. “Can’t you say anything else, slug?”

“Excuse me?” Chuuya snaps. “I have a name!”

“News to me.”

“My name’s Chuuya!”

“Just Chuuya?”

“Just Chuuya.” If he has a family name, he doesn’t remember it. Well, whatever. He can pick one for himself if he wants. It’s not like he remembers any family he’ll disappoint by doing so.

“Well then, Chuuya, what are they doing to you here?” Dazai asks. Chuuya bristles at the way his name drips off Dazai’s tongue. He somehow managed to make it sound as mocking as slug did.

Dazai is clearly someone used to getting his way. He might even be charming, if he puts his mind to it. It just makes Chuuya want to deny him more.

Still. What the hell else does he have to talk about? And maybe if he gives Dazai something, they can both shut up and go to sleep, and Chuuya’s exhaustion is still making itself known.

“Some kind of enhancements,” Chuuya says. “Superstrength.”

“Really?” Dazai asks, looking him up and down. “How?”

“Injections or something, fuck if I know,” Chuuya says. It’s his best guess, based off the wounds he has when he gets put under and wakes up with whatever new enhancement they’ve given him. “Then they test out what they’ve done.”

“How?”

“Mostly by making me pick stuff up, but they test my endurance too.”

Those days are the hardest. Chuuya’s made to run until he collapses, shocked every time he tries to stop. Once, they got it in their head that Chuuya might be immune to extreme temperatures. He isn’t. He still has the scars on his hands.

“They make you run in those chains?” Dazai asks.

“No, of course not,” Chuuya snorts.

“Then why don’t you leave when they take them off?” Dazai asks. “Or is your superstrength just shitty?”

“Wanna try it?” Chuuya threatens. “Obviously, they don’t just let me go free, dumbass. I’d love to see you escape with your whole body seizing up with electricity.”

“Oh, I’m sure I’ll never escape here,” Dazai says. “This is the most secure place in No. 6, I had a hell of a time even trying to hack in to see their data.”

“Is that why you’re here?” Chuuya asks. Dazai nods, turning his attention to examining all corners of the tiny room. There’s nothing much to see besides the bunk beds and the toilet and sink in the corner. “Why were you trying to hack into this place?”

“Because it was interesting,” Dazai says with a shrug. “Life is so boring out there, Chuuya. It makes me want to die.”

“Are you fucking kidding me?” White hot anger courses through him. “It’s so much better out there than in here.”

“You’re probably right,” Dazai says cheerfully. “But I’ll be dead in a few days, so it doesn’t matter that much. Or, do you think they’ll make me an experiment?”

“You better hope they fucking don’t,” Chuuya growls.

The carelessness with which Dazai treats his own life shocks Chuuya. He really seems like he wasn’t kidding when he said he wanted to die, and that counters everything Chuuya believes. He doesn’t want to die. He just doesn’t particularly consider what he’s doing right now living.

That doesn’t mean he’ll be doing it forever, though. He makes it farther and farther with each escape attempt. He can charm guards into liking him, he can memorize shift changes, and if he’s careful, he can even steal keys; he’s done all of it before, and he can do it again.

The only thing stopping him each time is when someone catches him and triggers the shock collar. Chuuya still can’t force himself to keep moving through it, but that doesn’t mean he’ll never learn. It also doesn’t mean he’ll never learn how to turn off the security system long enough to get out. There’s not a doubt in his mind that, with enough patience and effort, he will one day be free.

If Dazai wants to stay here and die, Chuuya won’t stay with him.

“So. Anyway. About the bed situation,” Dazai starts.

“You can take the top bunk or you can take the floor,” Chuuya says. “I don’t care which you pick, but lights out is soon so I suggest you pick one fast.”

“Why don’t I just share with you?” Dazai suggests. “You’re so tiny, I bet you don’t even take up that much room.”

Chuuya has had just about enough of Dazai. He stands, marching across the room to grab Dazai by the collar. He doesn’t have much range of motion in his arms, but with a little bend to his leg, he tosses Dazai up so Dazai lands in a heap on the top bunk with a disgruntled squawk. And okay, yeah, that’s kind of funny.

“You can stay up there or you can sleep on the floor, but if you try climbing in my bed, I will throw you back up there, and if you wake me up after lights out, I’ll drag you up there and tie you down,” Chuuya threatens.

“Kinky,” Dazai says. Chuuya doesn’t think he’s really flirting, despite his tone. He’s trying to gross Chuuya out enough to get his way. “You’re not cute at all, Chuuya. You’re an annoying little slug.”

“And you’re a slimy mackerel with a bandage wasting problem,” Chuuya snaps back. Dazai reels back like Chuuya’s said something hurtful.

“Who says these are wasted bandages?” he demands.

“Just stay up there, you suicidal freak,” Chuuya says. “And you better hope for your own sake you don’t snore, because if you do, I’ll kick your ass two ways from Sunday.”

“Scary,” Dazai snorts, turning his back on Chuuya and fluffing at his pillow, like that will really help.

Chuuya collapses on his own bunk. He’s even more exhausted after dealing with Dazai. Maybe he’ll save everyone the trouble and just kill himself. That might be the best outcome Chuuya can hope for.

[misstinfoilhat]

Whumptober 2019 #16: Scars- Bungou Stray Dogs

This is part 2 of this ----

“How can you do this to yourself?” Kunikida asked, deep in shock. Obviously, Dazai had been hiding something under his bandages. Self-mutilation had always been a distinct possibility, but not in his wildest dreams had Kunikida ever thought that it would be this bad. Nobody should be able to hurt themselves to this extent.

It should not be humanly possible, but then again...

A chill went down Kunkida's spine as he realized for the first time how the name of Dazai's ability actually seemed to fit the distraught man in front of him, in some sick, distorted kind of way. 

Maybe the idea of being in possession of no longer human was what fueled him, manipulating his body and mind into enduring these horrible actions which any sound mind should be unable to commit against oneself.

A faint shake of the head was the only response he could get out of the lethargic man and Kunikida decided to let it be for now.

If he pushed him too hard, it would only end in disaster. Even if Dazai always seemed to worm his way back to life, into the same annoyingly carefree and chipper 'bandage-wasting-suicidal-maniac' (which somehow had become a term of endearment around the agency) he usually was- this situation right here, right now, felt different.

It was real and right in front of him and uncensored and absolutely heart-wrenching.

So Kunikida kept quiet and continued cleaning out the wounds, using strips or stitching them together before covering them with excessive amounts of gauze while his thoughts were spiraling out of control about the days leading up to this...

...which had been utterly uneventful. Nothing to warn them of what was to come at all.

They had been just like any other days, weeks or months, with Dazai doing slightly dangerous things around the office, declaring them as possible suicide methods while wearing a huge grin on his face. Or, shamelessly getting down on his knees in front of any woman in his proximity that he deemed worthy, begging them to commit double suicide with him.

Teasing, agonizing Kunikida to no end, abrupting his thoroughly planned out schedule just to get a reaction- which Kunikida always would give him.

Pretending that Ranpo wasn't fiercely competitive towards him- letting the abilityless (and just a bit clueless), but never the less genius, detective solve several puzzles Dazai himself likely had been able to figure out the second he had laid his eyes on them.

And the way Dazai was huddled up in the corner of the room like a ferocious animal when Kunikida had come in...

“Who did you think I was?” Kunikida finally asked carefully. Dazai bearly stirred.

“Hm?” Dazai hummed, still a long way from his bathroom in his mind. But, he finally seemed to be waking up from the hypnotic daze he had been trapped inside.

“When I came in... You seemed to think I was someone else.”

“Oh.”

Dazai was weary and pale, probably from blood loss and sleeplessness. Kunikida had just begun to sew shut yet another gash on his arm, but the stinging, throbbing sensations that radiated from the self-inflicted wounds exceded far beyond Kunikida's precise stitches.

“I- I'm not sure,” Dazai answered sincerely, winching a little as Kunikida tied the first stitch at the next laceration.

“Sorry,” Kunikida muttered quietly, but Dazai only waved it off as not a big deal.

“I think I was somewhere else, in my mind, I mean,” Dazai explained before he scoffed drearily. “When you let yourself in, I was looking for a weapon I haven't borne in 5 years.”

At that, Kunikida raised an interested eyebrow, but continued his work meticulously all the while, hoping that his cryptic partner might continue this rarety of opening up if he didn't interfere too much.

Of course, Dazai didn't, which wasn't too surprising considering that he was the same man who had managed to keep his past position as one of the most powerful (not to mention dangerous) people of the Japanese underworld a secret for years. A position he had reached when he was still just a teenager.

How this suicidal, manically depressed goofball could manage such a thing, was something Kunikida would never be able to truly comprehend. It was likely something none of them would ever understand- they would never know how a scrawny child with a death wish had ended up as an executive in one of the most feared gangs in the world.

The only person in possession of those answers was currently seated on a toilet seat in front of him, bleeding from countless lacerations reaching from his throat to the soles of his feet.

So, Kunikida decided that he couldn't pounder on that part of Dazai's past anymore. It was simply too bizarre, and even if Dazai clearly was very haunted, maybe focusing on who Dazai was now- not who he used to be, could somehow pull him out of this self-destructive apathy.

Or maybe it's not Kunikida who needs to stop thinking of Dazai as a monster.

Kunikida cleared his throat, catching Dazai's glassy eyes that had previously stared blindly into his lap.

“Dazai, I know I might be the last person you'd want to hear something like this from, but I'm going to say it anyway... You have to stop blaming yourself for... whatever it is that's tearing you apart. You need to stop living in the past and start looking forward to the future... The past is clearly eating you alive, but the future just might save you.”

Dazai only looked at him. For a long time, while a small, pained smile slowly tugged at the corner of his mouth. Dejected, he let his hair fall in front of his eyes, and something in his expression shifted.

“Of course, Kunikida-kun... I have to stop dwelling on the past and focus on the future. It all makes sense now,” he murmured in an eery whisper, bitterness, and animosity dripping off his tongue like blood from a blade.

Like the blood, dripping from Dazai's hands, arms, legs, feet, torso, hips, chest, neck... Kunikida was clearly over his head in gaping wounds.

“Dazai...” Kunikida started to say, but Dazai jerked his head back up. Exhausted yet fiercely focused, half-lidded eyes peered holes through Kunikida, almost startling the usually stoic man out of his kneeled stance in front of him, needle still between two pieces of flesh, ready to tie it back together.

“No, you're absolutely right. If I just stop thinking about it, it will all go away. I will win back my will to live. This aching, gnawing, harrowing emptiness that makes me utterly unable to feel a single thing except for unbearable guilt, will just disappear! The loved ones of those I've tortured and killed will finally be at peace! It won't matter that I've orphaned countless children and simultaneously been the sole reason that the only man that could've saved them was killed-” his voice broke off in an abrupt, pained choke.

Trying to brace himself, he inhaled a sharp shuddering breath. Carefully exhaling, everything shattered again and he was left heaving on the toilet seat, somewhere in between a sob and hyper-ventilating.

“Shit, Dazai... I didn't mean...” Kunikida quickly finished the stitch he had been working on and cut the thread. He backed up, giving the struggling man some space.

“...do you really want to know why I do this to myself?” Dazai asked venomously, crouched down on himself in a way that Kunikida couldn't decide reminiscent a hug or a straight-jacket.

“It's my punishment. These are all my sins. No matter how many scars that litter my body, it will never be enough...” His voice was shaking, fragile and small, struggling to bear.

“I can't keep count of them, just like I lost count of all the people I've hurt... how many families I've destroyed... So, I wear these scars on my sleeves as a constant reminder of what I've done, and it will never be enough... Not until it kills me.”

Kunikida wanted to say something, anything.

...but what was there to say, really? Kunikida knew a thing or two about regret, that much was true. Still, what Dazai had done... What good was a regretful sinner to anyone? Or a dead sinner, for argument's sake...

It wouldn't change the past. It wouldn't change his wrongdoings.

“At least, you're helping people now, Dazai. It won't cancel all the other things out, but it does count for something.”

“...do you know what the worst part is, Kunikida?” Dazai asked, seemingly ignoring the blonde's attempt of encouragement.

“...the worst part is, that... even if what you say is true...” 

He was unable to finish that sentence the way he intended.

Again, Dazai choked on his words. He cleared his throat, fighting back tears (because he didn't deserve to cry- didn't deserve to grieve or morn or feel fucking sorry for himself-) before he was able to force out in a pained whisper, “...it won't bring him back.”

Kunikida had come closer now, leaning down with his hands hovering insecurely over Dazai's battered body, wanting, but lacking the courage to place the comforting touch he so wanted to set on his partner's shoulder.

Suddenly, Dazai yanked his head back up. His expression was tight, and he bit his lip hard enough to draw blood. His irises seemed to wobble from unshed tears as he grabbed onto the taller man's shirt.

At the blink of an eye, literally, Dazai's body betrayed him. One tear fell, two tears fell, and finally, the flood gates opened.

Kunikida stared horrified, paralyzed by the rare sight. Dazai was showing real, unfiltered emotions.

Quickly, the idealist shook himself out of his stupified immobilization and pulled the trembling man in, locking his arms around him tightly.

Dazai cried silently. The only sound coming from him was an occasional shuddering heave for air, and Kunikida only tightened his grip around him, whispering repeatedly in his ear that it was okay.

------------------

Kunikida came around his car to help Dazai out. He had reluctantly agreed to use the crutches that Kunikida had found inside the closet in Dazai's bedroom, to ease the pressure on his newly stitched feet. It had been the strict condition for driving him out here instead of to the infirmary.

Dazai stood, heavily leaned on them and peered over the graveyard he had lead them to. Kunikida stood beside him, trying to follow his gaze, which guided him towards an old, weeping willow. Its branches leaned tiredly over a sole gravestone at the absolute edge of the site, with a beautiful outlook over the ocean.

Dazai started to hobble his way towards the tree, the snow dancing around him like angles in an ethereal snowball fight before Kunikida was able to shake himself out of his musings and hurried to catch up to his partner.

“Wait up,” he said, raising his voice slightly before catching up to him. Dazai really didn't need to slow down- the trail was icy and Dazai was clearly struggling to make his way, with the crutches slipping off the path now and then- leaving him looking unstable and clumsy.

But, he didn't look back. He soldiered forward, aimed intently at the modest gravestone under the beautiful tree.

Once there, Dazai let himself crumble to the ground in front of it, reaching inside his pocket and pulling out a lighter. Using his bare hands, he dug out a small lantern from under the snow, and re-lit the light inside of it.

It immediately illuminated their surroundings, giving their evocative spot in the dim graveyard a serene, celestial glow.

Kunikida curiously leaned over to read the writing on the stone. It said Oda Sakunosuke- born October 26th, died January 10th...

...oh.

Reading further, the engraving read in beautiful cursive, “Be on the side that saves people. If both sides are the same, become a good man. Save the weak, and protect the orphans.”

Suddenly, he understood the significance this man had had on Dazai's life.

“It was his last words,” Dazai said calmly, apparently noticing Kunikida reading. “He is the reason I left the Port Mafia, to spend my life in the light.”

Kunikida nodded, captivated by the moment.

“You truly cared about this man, didn't you?” Kunikida stated severely. Dazai gave him a curt nod and concentrated his attention back to the tomb.

“He was a good man,” Dazai confirmed solemnly.

“I'm sure.”

“He...” Dazai started to say, but cut himself off.

Kunikida kept standing behind, watching the wind tearing at his partner's clothes, ruffling his hair in the frigid winter-breeze.

“...yes,” Dazai finally continued. “He was... He was too good for this world.”

The snow shifted behind him. Kunikida lowered into the snow by Dazai's side.

Together, they sat there in comfortable silence, quietly honoring the man's life on the anniversary of his death.

The air was chilly, and Kunikida felt the snow soaking through his trousers, but he was going to keep sitting there for as long as Dazai needed.

After some time, Dazai reached into his pocket and took out a small flask. He opened it, muttering a quiet “Kenpai',” and poured out a small amount onto his friend's grave, before bringing it to his own lips, taking a sip. He passed it along to Kunikida- who was driving, but still accepted it. “Kenpai,” Kunikida repeated with a nod, gesturing towards the grave in a small toast.

The whiskey burned on its way down his throat, warming him up a little.

After their drink, Dazai was finally starting to get up, and Kunikida hurried to his feet to help him out. He handed the crutches over to him and turned to leave.

Dazai stayed back for a moment, smiling faintly at his friends final resting place.

“See you soon, Odasaku,” he murmured silently, bowing his head in respect before following Kunikida's lead.

Kunikida didn't want to think about what he might have meant by that.

Calmly, they walked back towards the car, side by side. Dazai still struggled a bit but was keeping Kunikida's pace never the less.

“Thank you,” Kunikida uttered suddenly, and stopped. Confused, Dazai tilted his head and peered back at him.

“For what?”

“For showing me this. I really appreciate it. I know it's... sacred.”

Dazai lowered his gaze for a moment, before a sad sort of smile appeared on his lips.

“Oda deserves for people to know what a great man he was. I should be better about that, huh?”

Kunikida shrugged. “Maybe so, but I think an even better way to honor his memory, is to stop disappearing for days and hurting yourself. I didn't know Sakunosaku-san, but if he's half the man you claim him to be, I'm sure he wouldn't want that for you.”

Considering this for a moment, Dazai nodded his agreement as if it was a thought that had never occurred to him before.

“Yeah, you're probably right...”

“None of us do,” Kunikida pressed on.

They had arrived back at the car now. Dazai got in, while Kunikida ushered the crutches in the back before getting into the driver's seat.

Longingly, Dazai stared out of the window as they pulled out from the parking lot in front of the graveyard, heading back towards the solitude and pressing atmosphere of the dormitories. 

Somehow, Dazai dreaded it, afraid that his head would spiral back into that dark space. He already envisioned ripping open the countless amount of stitches one by one, fixating the pain from his inside to the outside of his body- letting crimson liquid escape, reminding him of the many screams of his defenseless victims as he stomped their heads onto the pavement and-

“Don't.”

A hand was placed on top of his own, and he realized that he was subconsciously picking at his stitches over the bandages. Dazai blinked several times, surprised that he had let his mask slip.

Kunikida sighed audibly.

“I'm sorry,” Dazai muttered, parting his hands.

“Don't apologize, just... Just don't do that.”

Ashamed of himself, embarrassed about his slip-up, Dazai kept quiet for a long time. The silence in the car felt pressing and uncomfortable- and Kunikida racked his brain for something to say. He didn't want to leave Dazai alone with his thoughts for too long.

“...if you don’t, I'll tape oven mitts to your hands, like a toddler with chickenpox.”

Dazai snorted, willingly taking the bait. 

“Actually, picking at your stitches soften the skin and make it scar less,” Dazai proclaimed matter of factly.

Kunikida side-glanced at his bandaged partner, for once, understanding where this was going-

“You should probably write that down,” Dazai smirked knowingly, receiving a chuckle in response, and a light smack across the head.

[shianhygge-imagines]

Jonquil (Bungou Stray Dogs) [Kunikida/Reader]

AN: I wrote this while in a depressed haze a while ago. Thought I’d try the “hanahaki disease” concept out. Tragic romance... just the thing to make my heart hurt. (AHHH LOOK AT HOW HANDSOME HE IS!)

Jonquil [a toxic flower of the Narcissus genus] - the pure white flower holds the meaning, "Love me" a desire for affection returned.

|Masterlist Link|

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

You couldn’t stop staring when you met him.

Kunikida, Doppo…

In the wake of devastation. Of corpses and injured, Port Mafia and civilians alike. Was the striking appearance of a man in glasses that nearly concealed the golden irises behind. He wasn’t the only individual that had arrived to stop the catastrophe occurring in Yokohama, but he was the one you’d concentrated on in an attempt to control your power.

All around you were the corpses and puppets… the result of your power, “The Stranger.” It was a curse, if you were honest with yourself. A hypnotic power that forced the people you spoke to to hallucinate and abandon all sense of morality or self control. Whenever this happened, the people affected would commit crimes, become severely depressed and kill themselves, or they just became indifferent. Since you discovered this power, nearly a year ago, you’d had trouble controlling it during times of stress, deciding to move in with your aunt and uncle in Yokohama. Away from New York, which was infested with reasons to cause stress.

How were you to know that Yokohama was about the worst place to move to?

Somehow, the Port Mafia had gotten word of your abilities. You didn’t know if they had labeled you a threat or a possible asset, you just know that one moment, you were peacefully strolling down the streets, the next, you started noticing the strange men and women in suits, following you around. You’d deployed all strategies to stay calm: deep breathing, singing, reading, speaking to your friend back home. But it was all for naught, because once the mafia knew you were showing signs of losing control, they aimed to subdue you.

The situation went from zero to a thousand in no time at all. Several individuals had placed their hands on you, and your cry of, “Let go!” was all it took for everyone within a twenty foot radius to fall under the control of your power.

Upon hearing of the situation, the Port Mafia had sent in more people, this time with the sole goal to kill you in order to protect the people of Yokohama. Eventually, the Armed Detective Agency was informed, and Fukuzawa Yukichi was forced to dispatch all members available. This team consisted of Osamu Dazai, Kunikida Doppo, and Yosano Akiko. In the end, it was this team that saved the Port Mafia, the civilians of Yokohama, and yourself.

Your power didn’t protect you from the people you hypnotized, so you were a target amongst the chaos, fleeing from your victims, hand clamped over your mouth to prevent the spread of the afflicted. You remember crying as you dodged your victims. You didn’t mean to lose control. But wanting to take it all back wasn’t going to bring the dead back to life.

“Ahh~ So this is the cause of my losing a day off!” it was teasing, a little nasally, and as you backed away from another attack, you saw a man with brown hair dressed oddly in a trench coat and bandages on his arm. He was staring straight at you with a calculating look, but his face was morphed in exasperation and teasing delight.

“If you’re thinking about that being a creative way to die, you can stop now, Dazai.” it was a firm rebuttal which brought your eyes to his figure, standing with his arms crossed and shifting his glare at both you and the bandaged man, you now knew as “Dazai.”

It wasn’t love at first sight, but he was damn attractive.

But back to the matter at hand. It was a correct deduction that you were the cause of the deaths and fighting. After all, you, F/N A. Camus, were standing at the epicenter of chaos crying and unaffected by the apathetic crimes all around. The man, Dazai, for all his teasing, had soft eyes when you used sign language to communicate the condition for you ability.

Anyone who hears me speak will fall under the hypnosis of my ability. Even a cry of pain is enough.

Your sign language was much to be desired, the sentences not flowing as they should, but it got the point across, as Dazai’s eyes sharpened, “Ah, so the madam cannot control her ability.” A snap of his fingers and a wide grin. “Kunikida-kun! If you would be so kind!”

Dazai had no intention of waiting for Kunikida, whom gave an indignant cry of “Ha?” as his partner leisurely strolled towards you, expertly dodging those under the hypnosis of “The Stranger.”

“Oujou-chan~ Please concentrate on Kunikida-kun!” a simple request, you were, after all, already staring at the bespectacled man. “Yosano-san! Please tend to the wounded!”

Before you knew it, Dazai was crouched next to you, blocking your view of the enraged Kunikida, who had used his ability to summon a taser, using it on anyone who attacked him. Warm brown eyes framed by even darker brown locks, then a warm smile, and a poke to your nose. And all of your victims fell to the floor, knocked out and no longer under your ability’s influence.

Surprised, you had shot Dazai a questioning expression. He only grinned, ignoring Kunikida’s furious yelling about being reckless and not making a plan. “My ability. ‘No Longer Human.’ It cancels out a person’s ability.”

Fatigue and exhaustion, and you found yourself in Dazai’s arms crying more, “I’m sorry. I’m so sorry!”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Within the month, you were tested and accepted into the Armed Detective Agency. Working with Dazai and Fukuzawa-san, you were able to control your ability. Dazai had taken to flirting with you, yet still your attentions wandered and lingered on Kunikida, who seemed to avoid you as much as possible.

You thought, that as with Atsushi’s case, Kunikida would eventually warm up to you. That perhaps his aversion towards you was the product of a fierce and stubborn protectiveness.

“Kunikida-san!” You jogged up to the taller man with a stack of papers in your hand, when he turned around, you held the mission reports out to him with a shy smile. “I finished the paperwork for my last few missions!”

His golden eyes merely narrowed as he took the stack of paper from you hands, and without a word, turned around to leave the office. As you watched his back retreat, your smile dropped and your eyes were cast downward. All your interactions with Kunikida were like this. You were always on your best behavior, but he never spoke to you. You got along with everyone else in the office, but only Kunikida remained aloof to your friendship.

The next time you approached him, was after a group mission, when the two of you were alone. It was a few days after the incident with the Azure Messenger. Watching him stare after Sasaki Nobuko had stirred something within you. During that investigation, you’d started coughing, suspecting that you might have come down with a minor cold.

“Kunikida-san?” He had been in the middle of walking out of the agency, as it was nearly ten at night. Your crush stopped, but made no verbal or physical indication to acknowledge you. “Have I done something to offend you? Is there a reason that you don’t seem to like me?” You were sad and desperate. You didn’t want to get too close to Kunikida, after all, your coughing had recently worsened.

“How can I possibly like someone such as you?” it was sharp, and the man you pined after turned to glare at you with disdain, disgust. “Someone who took the lives of more than a dozen innocents. Someone who goes so strongly against my ideals. I can’t do anything but hate you.”

Your breathing hitched as you once against watched his back retreat out the door. Suddenly, the coughing started up again. This time with a fierceness that shook your entire body. It was like something was caught in your throat and you struggled for breath. You started to gag as you felt something in your throat, darkness crept at the edge of your vision. You coughed until you were forced to your knees bent forward with you hands supporting your body from falling. And just when you were sure that you were to pass out in that office alone, the thing in your throat gave away. With a final cough, the thing landed on the wooden floorboards.

And you wanted to cry at how unfair the world was. That night was the first time you coughed up a petal.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hanahaki Disease.

How poetic that it would be love that killed you. More specifically, the unrequited love that slowly choked and poisoned you to death.

It progressed slowly at first. A few petals as it slowly set in that Kunikida did actually hate you. That because you were the cause of so many deaths, you would never be accepted or liked much less loved by the man that held your one-sided affections. And when Kyouka joined… the disease progressed at a faster rate. A few petals became a dozen. A dozen became whole flowers. With the whole flowers, came the stomach pains, the nausea, the vomiting.

Kyouka has murdered as many people as I have. And yet… how can he accept her? Was it because I’m an adult? That a child’s crimes can be forgiven, but my own cannot? Even when we both are unable to control our powers. Bitter thoughts that accompanied the jonquils that left you.

By this time, nearly everyone had caught wind of your nausea and vomiting, displaying worry.

“Y/N-chan? Do you need any medication?” Naomi had asked you, brows scrunched in worry as you threw up for the fourth time that day.

You only shook your head from your position over the garbage can. “No thank you, Naomi-chan. I don’t think medicine will be able to help me.”

From across the room, Kunikida ‘tsked’ and leveled a glare at you. “Typical symptoms of morning sickness. I’d expect nothing less from someone such as you.”

Everyone in the room froze before bursting out in outrage at Kunikida’s comment. It seemed everyone had a complaint for the man, throwing the room into chaos. You couldn’t do anything when you started coughing violently.

Not wanting anyone in the office area to find out about your illness, you silently made your way into the Director’s office, where Fukuzawa sat with a cup of tea at hand. As you closed the door to the office, the Director leveled a comforting and sympathetic expression as you coughed out the flowers. Being the man that he was, Fukuzawa had long since been aware of your condition. He didn’t know who you loved, but he knew that you didn’t have very long.

“Jonquil flowers.” his gravelly voice muttered lowly, grey eyes trained on the white flowers. “They are poisonous, correct?”

You only nodded, “I don’t think I have long.”

“You have not revealed your feelings to the person? Why is that?”

A wry smile. “Would it make a difference?” Your eyes shot up to look the Director in the eyes as you came clean. “Kunikida hates me for I am the antithesis of everything he believes in. If I tell him that I am dying because of my love for him… what then? His disdain for me is so deeply rooted that I doubt he’ll feel anything except pity. And even if he felt guilty, only returning my love would cure me.” Your eyes darkened significantly, “I don’t want love born of guilt. Like some sick mutation of that pure emotion.”

Fukuzawa didn’t look pleased. He felt helpless. It was his job as the Director of the Armed Detective Agency to keep his employees safe. And he felt that by letting you surrender to your disease, was him failing you. “Would you at least seek treatment? The Agency would cover all costs towards the procedure.”

A shake of your head as you played with the flower in your grasp. “I don’t want to forget the feelings. Even if it kills me.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It was Dazai who found your body a week later. You’d died peacefully, surrounded by hundreds of blood stained jonquils. Dazai could only hold your body grimly, quickly figuring out the cause of your death and why.

At your funeral, Atsushi, Kyouka, Naomi, Haruno, and Kenji cried. Kunikida could only stare at the flower that Dazai gave him. He had been shot with a pointed glare by the usually suicidal man, not exactly blaming Kunikida, but berating him for the way he’d treated you while alive. But still, you were right. All Kunikida felt was pity and a tinge of regret.

But after all this time, it didn’t matter. You were long gone. And the flowers were all that remained still pleading to the man.

“Love me, Kunikida.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Thank you for reading! If you enjoyed my work, please consider buying me a Ko-fi!

[courage-a-word-of-justice]

Demon Slayer 12 - 13 | OPM 23 - 24 (FINAL) | BSD 36 - 37 (FINAL) | Shield Hero 25 (FINAL) | Fruits Basket 12 - 13 | To the Abandoned Sacred Beasts 1 | Astra 1 | Maou-sama, Retry! 1 | UchiMusume 1 | Dr Stone 1 | Fire Force 1 | Granbelm 1

Summer debuts aplenty!

Demon Slayer 12

I assume the creature on the episode titlecard is a boar…?

I see…! So Kyogai uses the drums like a game controller! Y’know, like A = attack and directional keys to move.

I almost expected Inosuke to appear from behind the screen door, but it was just Tanjiro…

Huh? For some reason, I find Zenitsu funny now…but only the tiniest bit. Not enough to laugh out loud, but enough to give tiny “heh”s.

Well…that episode title didn’t lie, at least…

Ah-hah! I knew it! Knewwwwwwwww it! It’s the double-personality trope I liked 5 years ago (you see it embodied in Martin/Alter-Az). The only thing I didn’t know was how Zenitsu would become badass…well, now we know. He sleep fights…I still think ingesting blood to invoke a second personality is still way cooler though.

Shoichi? Is that the kid’s name?

“Marechi” doesn’t seem to mean anything…

“Show me your wounds.” Then again, there are some wounds that you can’t present to others…not unless you show the side effects.

As much as I was scared by Exposition Crow, I have to be thankful the little feathered buddy is around. I wouldn’t understand “marechi” otherwise. But seriously, where does that crow hide in his spare time…?

Oh…the duty of filial piety…I know your feel, Tanjiro.

Tanjiro’s brain!Zenitsu is so accurate, I LOLled…a tiny bit.

Tanjiro, you gotta remember: be proud of where you’ve gotten today! Don’t be the man you were yesterday! Keep evolving with the times like water itself, because that is what water is about – change! (triumphant music plays in the background to accompany this declaration)

The only problem I have with filial piety is…what happens when your family has only daughters???

OPM S2 Ep 11 (Ep 23)

Garou’s got a point in that villains are meant to be sympathetic in order to get a good story. However, I’d still root for the heroes all the same.

Naruto running…why’s it so popular???

“Mentsuyu” (on Saitama’s blue shirt) means “noodle soup base” = a mixture of dashi (soup stock), soy sauce, mirin and sugar.

It took me a replay to realise that Garou turned red when the tree fell down.

BSD 36

Uh, dude? Who calls their kid “Eruisu-chan”…? It’s Elise, isn’t it?

Katai – yet again, can I just say he is the husbando we need and not the husbando we want? (LOL) There’s even what appears to be a sake bottle in the bottom left corner…  

Is there such thing as a bullet-proof futon???

Come to think of it, this scene with all the rubble about halfway through the episode looks like it comes from the Dead Apple first key visual –the one that came out when the movie was announced. Not the Shin Soukoku one, the other one with Soukoku in a rubble-filled place looking at the horizon.

Looking at Natsume-sensei from the back reveals his hair is calico-coloured too…

I wonder how much of Dazai’s scheming is actually just Natsume-sensei…?

“What did you have for dinner last night?” “Yeah.” – Just imagining this with a monotone instead of Akutagawa’s usual anger is hilarious!

Snakes don’t run…?

Oh, I get why he was calling Akutagawa “bro”! When you’re married, you call your brother in law “brother” as well!

Bungou Stray Dogs 37 (FINAL)

I discovered something – the kanji under ECHO, 回向, are read ekou. What do they mean? The verb form means “to hold a memorial service for [someone]”, so I’d assume it’s “memorial service”.

For some reason, when Atsushi said “you’re not paying for this ride!”, I thought, “It’s your Ubr driver here”…LOL.

I seem to remember that Goncharov controls rock and his power is The Precipice…but I don’t remember reading past ch. 52…

“How can you be so sure?” I thought it was something like “Because that’s what I would do.” Turns out I was right…maybe I have read chapter 53??? Or is this a previous chapter that’s been movd forward???

Hmm…come to think of it, why is Akutagawa’s power to control fabric anyway? (Because he can control other things, it’s just that he chooses to use his coat as a default.) Does the Rashomon story have to do with that…?

Oh, that’s cute. Shin Soukoku are on the same thinking wavelength now. (somewhat sarcastic)

Come to think of it – season 1 anime!Atsushi was about as whiny as Zenitsu…hmm. Now there’s a cross-anime comparison I never thought I’d make.

“…what appears to be a hiker…” (or maybe it was multiple hikers…?)

Did you notice Akutagawa was missing his coat?

“Fancy hat boy” – That’s why the fandom calls Chuuya “Mr Fancy Hat”, LOL.

One thing’s for sure – whether you like BSD or not, you gotta admit they have a great sense of closure.

Shield Hero 25 (FINAL)

See? There is a Meteor move for Naofumi!

Raphtalia’s mostly been saying nothing but “Naofumi-sama” over and over again…it kind of irks me. It’s too bad I’m almost finished with this show.

I’m gussing the reward has to do with Raphtalia’s village.

Is Naofumi leaving???

LOL, before Naofumi faced the Waves, he was wavering…geddit??? (Oh, that joke’s terrible…)

Fruits Basket 12

I think Shigure attended the ceremony to procrastinate on his writing…LOL.

Okay…I started this episode a few days back and now I hav a bowl of piping hot pho to go with it! Let’s get back to business!

Momiji is a scheming little brat, ain’t he?

The “Yuki wearing a girls’ uniform” was funny…because reactions.

Hmm…even though I know what’s going to happen, I only just realised Akito and Yuki only seem to wear traditional Japanese dress when tied down to their curse or their main house. Westrn cloths thereby symbolise progress for them…but you can’t say the same for Shigure, though, so there goes that hypothesis…

I thought for a second they were going to play baseball…that’s what they did in Star Driver.

Fruits Basket 13

Snake attack!!!

Hmm…Ayame clearly used a convo diversionary tactic there (avoiding the topic).

“Aya says he sells men’s dreams.” – LOL.

Demon Slayer 13

I find it interesting Tanjiro also has respect for his opponent, not just empathy.

Aww…this message of recognising your skills and having them be recognised by others is cute. I needd that, really – ever since about a year ago, sometimes I’m so negative I just want to be erased from the face of the earth. That’s why I love Rokuhoudou so much – it was my solace from such thoughts.

Seeing the eyecatch’s strip go vertical for Zenitsu was interesting – I didn’t think it would change orientation midway through the show.

Okay, in this book I read recently – Symptoms of Being Human by Jeff Garvin – the protagonist admits to having “an overdeveloped sense of theatricality”…or dramaticism or something like that. I now realised Zenitsu has that too…although now he’s back to bugging me as a result.

Oh! So Inosuke was the 5th survivor! I had a feeling that would be the answer, but now I’ve confirmed it.

WHOA! I’ve never seen Tanjiro go all Papa Bear like this!

…and you can tell with that pre-OP shot that Ufotable ran out of budget for once.

The Legend of the Eight Samurai is also known as…wait for it…Hakkenden! There’s an anime called that, y’know? Update: It’s Satomi Nansou Hakkenden vs Hakkenden (with some subtitle on it).

To the Abandoned Sacred Beasts 1

First anime of summer! Now if only my CR would stop buffering so much…I’d be a happy person.

Oh…great. Fantasy information dump right here…just like Fairy Gone.

Is this weird that I recognise Patria to be…Korea? (At least in history. Its people seem to be generic Europeans.)

Is this a “dudes in war are scarred for life” thing again??? Please, please don’t let this be another Spec-Ops Asuka.

…and now here come the furries. (sarcastic)

Aren’t the white coats really impractical for battle???

If Cain isn’t a vampire or based on a bat…I dunno what I’d do, but I’m pretty sure he is, based on those pretty boy features.

I thought her name was Nancy…? Her name is Nancy Schaal Bancroft, after all.

Ooh! It’s the Abominable Walrus! I’m so scared~! (mocking tone)

This is basically an AI story, but fantasy-based, isn’t it…?

90s fire in the background…LOL.

“I’m going to ask Elaine to be with me.” – Now there’s something I didn’t think Hank would say.

LOL, Cain Madhouse really is mad! (in the Joker-style “insane” sort of way)

Well…uh, it was a bit predictable, but had its perks. I mean, there’s no CGI in it at all for one thing…I guess we wait for more (of this show and the debut of other shows) to see if it stays.

OPM S2 Ep 12 (Ep 24) (FINAL)

Shouldn’t that be “whale on an opponent”…?

What’s up with the montage, though???

*dead Centichoro* - Now that’s what I call “legs for miles”…! (LOL)

Astra 1

I’ve read some of the manga for this, so it’s my most anticipated anime this season! I can only hope it lives up to its own hype.

Double-length 1st episode! Ooh! Just like the manga’s double-length debut.

Okay, who decided on using CGI for Aries? Put it on the ship, not on her!

Oh, foreshadowing! Me likey.

I can’t really tell what Aries is meant to be screaming because she’s screaming over the woman, but it’s definitely not “beef” Aries is yelling.

Is it just me, or is there a frame around this scene at the Spaceport…?

I guess Aries is what they call a space case! (Wahaha!...Okay, I think that’s one stupid joke too many, now.)

Boob shot??? Why??? Also, according to the manga’s supplemental material found between chapters, Yun-Hua’s suit is newer than Aries’s (IIRC).

I definitely do not remember seeing a picture of Kanata’s sensei in the manga at all. I know Kanata refers to his sensei quite a bit, but…hmm…maybe the fact he looks like Charce means something. Update: For some reason, I remembered Charce as “Charles”…?

This scenery, with the ground making platforms in the air, looks like Dr Stone!!!

I just noticed the frame expanded after Kanata entered the sphere.

Did we need the flashback again???

Zetsubou is “despair”, at least from the way I learnt it – from Sayonara, Zetsubou-sensei, of course. It can be translated as “hopeless” in context, though.

Second recap from earlier in the episode. Well, at least it’s not Detective Conan or Demon Slayer bad…

Wow, they’re really trying to sell a potential Kanata x Aries ship here. That wasn’t in the manga either.

This is the 3rd time for the same recap…geesh. The things you notice when the episodes are compiled and online for you to watch…they can get kind of annoying.

I think the star = planet thing makes more sense when in Japanese, since “hoshi” can mean both. In English, it makes Aries sound like more of a space case…

Maou-sama, Retry! 1

…and the award for Most Boring Opening in a While goes to…this show!

I almost expected blonde!Rem to be called Rem…I knew that her name wasn’t Rem, but still…

Seriously? The face game of this show should be higher for it to pull off a gag involving funny faces…

The run cycle of this show’s…kinda suckish. Like Dororo’s one scene where he’s Naruto running.

“It’s you who is the root of all evil.”

UchiMusume 1

Aka “If It’s For My Daughter, I’d Even Defeat a Demon Lord”.

The language on the title card seems to be a substitute for English. If you just take that thing that looks like brackets as one symbol, that seems to be a Y. How can you tell? Because “little” matches the 3rd last word.

The devil language seems to be based on Japanese, though…at least from what I’m picking up. Update: Oh! So when she says “toilet”, it’s just the syllables backwards! Just like in Hataraku Maou-sama.

I swear, if this guy isn’t voiced by Yoshitsugu Matsuoka, I’m going to have to swallow my hydralyte drink properly! (I’ve been struggling to drink it all day today.) Update: Nope, it’s Nobuhiko Okamoto.

I thought I just read something on the devil list that said “Bobble Space” in English…wuh?

Dr Stone 1

This is my 2nd most anticipated debut of the summer 2019 season. Let’s go!

Ooh, I see Crunchyroll even got themselves a fancy new intro card…which makes them more like what Funimation used to be on that front…

I know people have been comparing Senku’s hair to green onions…and now I can’t unsee it. Dang it, you guys! That’s the first real thought I’m having for this anime?!

*raises arms like Christ the Redeemer*…and Boichi and Riichiro Inagaki said, “Let there be light!”…and for some reason, it was green light…

Hmm…I thought in the manga Yuzuriha was shoved to the tree, which made Taiju look more like a hero to her. Turns out she ran to the tree then got petrified, if the anime is anything to go by.

I heard a really accurate “what’s happening?” in the scene which is meant to have English speakers in it…it’s almost creepy, to be honest with you.

Shuei…LOL. It’s clearly a play on Shueisha.

I didn’t think of this when reading the manga, but this anime’s very much a Holmes and Watson scenario…although Watson here is a little bit too dumb for some people’s liking…

I swear TMS used pictures of the real thing when looking at those grapes…

I love seeing Senku being pissed off. He’s so smug all the time, I needed that change of pace.

Maybe one day Senku will make vodka…LOL. I’m kidding.

Fire Force 1

Oh geesh…so Ohkubo grabbed the Aria from Ao no Exorcist to make his nuns work???

Why is there Naruto running???

“I’m a newly-assigned…”

Kyoukai means church. Does it really mean “cathedral” as well???

“Is that the scent of a damp woman?” – Uh, duuuuuuuude? Excuse-moi? That is not how you treat a lady you’ve just met…!

Can I insert a “Twinkletoes” comment from Toph (Avatar) yet…?

Okay, scrap that. Can I do that Overwatch “Molten CORE!” thing instead…?

Granbelm 1

I started watching this because it’s being promoted as “magical girls drive mechs”.

One of the mech ladies reminds me of…what’s her name…from the Re:Zero LNs…I believe her name is Beatrice, but that’s the name of one of the library loli, isn’t it…? *Googles* Okay, her name is Priscilla. AFAIK, “Priscilla” is NOT the name of the orange-haired lady in Granbelm, though… Update: Her name is Anna, actually.

These mechs remind me of Kim from Twinkle Star Sprites.

Wow…ripoff purple iPhone, much…?

Shingetsu = new moon, mangetsu = full moon.

I feel like Mangetsu is a relatable protagonist, but also annoying as a result of being relatable.

“Pennies from heaven” is a phrase you say to declare your good fortune, much like you say “speak of the devil” for bad luck when it comes to a certain person who arrives at the wrong time.

[izanyas]

Build Upon The Ruins (4)

More Pacific Rim Soukoku fic! (Unbeta’d this time, sorry for the probable typos and mistakes.)

Rating: M Words: 8,000 Warnings: vomiting, very vague mention of pedophilia, murder by strangulation.

[Read from Chapter 1]

Build Upon The Ruins Chapter 4

Chuuya was sixteen years old when every government in the world made drift-testing mandatory.

It shouldn't have changed anything for him at all. He was two years too young to test, far enough from the watchful eye of the law that no one cared to make sure he did, and those who could drift at all were rare. Zero point zero one percent of the population. By all logic nothing should have changed. He should have kept living alongside his organization and watched from afar as men and women from all over the world piloted giant robots to fight giant aliens. He should have stayed part of the ninety-nine point ninety-nine percent.

It shouldn't have affected him at all, except that when Ozaki Kouyou tested, it turned out she could drift.

Chuuya had never had any family before meeting her. He hadn't had any parent or sibling to smile with. The law didn't allow forceful enlistment into jaeger programs, but Kouyou was a criminal; she was given the choice of either joining in or being put in jail, and Chuuya was left alone either way.

He was furious.

Other than the fact that his sister found herself dragged halfway across the world to undergo a training she didn't want, there was the fact that, in her absence, Ace became the boss of him.

Chuuya hated the obsequious bastard with a burning passion. Ace hated him about as much. He found himself tasked with the lowest and most dangerous jobs of his organization, many of which he thought Ace meant to end with his murder. Chuuya stayed alive mostly out of spite between the calls Kouyou was allowed to give him.

He was seventeen when he decided to get the tattoos, and he didn't have his group in mind when he picked blue hydrangea for the design; only the blurred memory of Kouyou's face, his own restless anger, and how much heavier the perspective of the world's end felt with no family to die with.

Chuuya tested three months after his eighteenth birthday. A year and a half after Kouyou's departure. He queued alongside bright-eyed high schoolers who each bragged about knowing a friend of a friend of a friend who knew a pilot, who muttered about telekinesis and mind control, who spoke of conspiracies. Chuuya waited for his turn inside the white stall in the city hall's meeting room and let rage consume him, breath after breath, blink after blink. Until every drop of his blood was molten with it.

A woman dressed in pink took his outdated ID with disdain. A man dressed in white sat him down inside a plastic chair before rubbing cold gel over his forehead. Chuuya was still when the glinting device was put onto his head.

"Try to make that arm move," the man said in complete boredom.

He pointed toward a metallic appendage on the table next to them, plugged all the way through with various cables, linked to the thing Chuuya wore almost as a hat.

Chuuya didn't know how he was supposed to. He lifted his own arm.

Nothing happened.

The man wrote something down on his pad with absolute lack of surprise on his face. He said, "Thank you for coming," with the air of someone who would have forgotten so much as Chuuya's existence in this life by the time he would walk out of the door, and all the soft air in Chuuya's lungs sizzled and burned.

He threw his fist forward. The metallic arm sitting two feet away from him flew up and broke the man's nose.

They didn't have to threaten him to get him to enlist. He knew getting into the program was his only chance of seeing Kouyou again. Chuuya was driven from Tokyo to Yokohama that same night, and he withstood training for months in the wide black hangar there, talking to no one, not even any of the men and women training alongside him. The few who tried to approach him—most notably a girl named Sasaki who wanted to talk drift psychology with him, of all things—he ignored.

Luckily, he was good at the training.

He got used to the feeling of solo drifts, just him and the simulation cockpit. He got used to letting his mind escape through cables and meeting the cold unfeeling presence of a machine at the other end. He killed fake kaiju on a wide screen with vicious ferocity. He kept up his own personal training until all who sparred with him got too scared to do it again. He walked along Yokohama's jaeger dock with his arms bare so that they could either admire the lacework of blue flowers running along his skin or fear it.

His life stayed like this until the six month mark: train, ignore people, obey instructions, train, call Kouyou in America, train. Ignore people.

And then—

"This is wrong," he told his simulation instructor, Natsume.

He was maybe the only person here whom Chuuya mostly tolerated. Chuuya could obey orders regardless of his personal feelings—Ace had driven him into the ground and left him there to bleed, and Chuuya had never once rebelled against him, after all—but it was always easier when someone was agreeable.

Natsume looked at the charts Chuuya was pointing to with thoughtful eyes. "I don't see how, Nakahara-kun."

The -kun was part of the reason Chuuya liked Natsume so much. He was too often referred to simply by his last name—a name he had long stopped using for himself. He wished Natsume would just call him Chuuya.

"It says I'm second in simulation scores. I'm never second in simulation scores."

"Well," Natsume replied, and he looked amused. "It seems this time you were."

Chuuya frowned. "Bullshit," he declared. "I still hold the overall record. Who the fuck did better than me this week?"

"You know I'm not allowed to give you the other trainees' personal results—"

"That would be me," someone said into his ear.

Chuuya turned on his heels with his fist raised—and it was caught promptly, easily, by the boy standing behind him.

The boy took a second to stare at the tattoos with curiosity. This in itself was nothing new. His grip tightened when Chuuya tried to pull away, though, making the already simmering irritation in Chuuya build up into a boil.

"Who the fuck are you?" he growled, though he knew who the boy was. He had seen him training just as he did. He was one of the precious few who could drift, just like Chuuya.

The boy's thumb stroked over the inside of his wrist lightly, right above the last of the heart-shaped petals. Right above his pulse.

"My name is Dazai," he replied, dropping Chuuya's arm at last. Chuuya didn't acknowledge the goosebumps that the his fingers had left over his skin. "And you are the one who's been hogging the best simulation scores for the past few months. It was a pain to beat you, you know."

"That's the point, you moron."

Dazai smiled coldly.

"If you're quite done," Natsume said—Chuuya almost jumped, having forgotten all about his presence. "I need to go talk with the big boss."

He left them like this, staring at each other, Chuuya's weekly results strewn over the table between them.

Dazai didn't seem to mind that they were confidential. His eyes roamed over the numbers, his mouth twitching once he reached the lines detailing Chuuya's strategy training. Then he looked at Chuuya again.

And he said, "I didn't know they made kid-sized stations. It's a wonder your legs even reach the footholds."

"Fuck off," Chuuya snapped, advancing toward Dazai with a look he knew could make grown men cower. "Get out of my face before I punch you out of it."

Dazai didn't move an inch. He smirked down at him with the same dead-eyed hollowness.

"What's your name?" he asked.

"Chuuya," Chuuya said between his teeth.

"No last name?"

"You didn't give me one."

"Dazai is my last name." Dazai's grin grew. Chuuya's lower back shuddered with revulsion. "Fine then. Chuuya. Let's see if you can grab back that title of yours, yeah?"

His name had stretched into Dazai's mouth like pulled candy, sweet and tooth-rotting.

Chuuya sealed the deal by showing Dazai exactly how far his legs could reach when he kicked hard enough.

He barely lived through the month that followed, pushing himself even harder than before. Climbing back to top simulation scores only satisfied him until Dazai literally destroyed his record, so Chuuya focused on strategy hard enough to finally reach the same digits that the other flew by. There was no need to ask for names for the anonymous numbers on Natsume's charts. Chuuya knew who the only one who to ever top his was.

It could've gone on for a longer time. Maybe even the full year until the batch of newly-made jaegers that they were supposed to try out were ready. They could've kept souring their rivalry into something darker, into true and virulent hatred. Chuuya had enough anger stored in him then to last him millennia.

Instead, by coincidence or fate, several things tipped the scale.

First, Kouyou came to Yokohama. Chuuya was there to meet her the moment her car parked in front of the building, walking steadily toward her and crushing her into a hug under his instructors' bewildered staring and the heavier weight of Dazai's unreadable eyes; she hugged right back, her face shoved into his hair and her shoulders shaking under his hands.

She was already a pilot. He had known that. He had seen her exploits in the news, had spied on communications every time she was deployed—Dazai had sat next to him in silence the last time he did, because they had been in the middle of arguing when the news of an attack had come. He had followed Chuuya into the hub and not said a word until the kaiju fell and Chuuya's shoulders dropped, at last.

The second and more important thing was that, not even two weeks after that attack, another happened. In Yokohama.

Chuuya wasn't supposed to pilot yet. He wasn't even supposed to test pilot yet, not this soon into training. But one member of the duo that were supposed to break in the brand new black jaeger stored in the dock's depths had fallen down stairs and broken his wrist, and so the giant stood unused.

Kouyou and her partner were overwhelmed.

It was a terrifying thing, that kaiju. One of the lightest but one of the tallest. Nicknamed Hayate, it stood like a flightless bat, electric blue eyes gleaming in the dead of the night, steaming saliva dripping between its giant teeth. The membrane linking its fore and hind legs moved the air to record speed, causing damage not unlike hurricanes.

Chuuya didn't know what to do when he was requisitioned to step into the jaeger except obey. He stood unseeing, almost unbreathing, as they dressed him all in black, the suit ill-fitted but all that they had on hand. He let himself be led into the cockpit and strapped down at the right side of it. The side he would control, he was told. And he said nothing.

He said nothing, until he found out that Dazai was the one being strapped at his left.

"Wait," he breathed out. The man securing his feet didn't answer, and Chuuya spoke louder, "Wait. Hang on. I'm not drift compatible with him."

"You're both the best we have on hand. He's your most likely match in the system," the man replied tensely.

"No. What the—no way." Chuuya shook in the harnesses, but he couldn't free himself, not alone. Dazai wasn't saying anything. "Oh come on," Chuuya said to him, terror driving his voice to a shout, "you can't be fucking serious. Find someone else, we're not going to make this thing move, we don't have time, Kouyou—"

The last of the clasps shut harshly against his back, making him wheeze.

Then everyone left. The cockpit closed. It was just Chuuya and Dazai in the jaeger's body. Chuuya heaved through the panic unfurling in his guts, barely managing to hold his breath as the drift gel washed over his face from inside the sleek helmet he wore. He sputtered as soon as the liquid ran below his mouth.

"Initiating neural handshake in twenty seconds," a voice said in his ear.

Chuuya struggled against his bonds. It changed nothing except for the loud noises of it, echoing back against the metal lining of the jaeger's head.

"Come on!" he roared. "You're wasting your time!"

"Fifteen seconds—"

"Fucking—Dazai, I swear to God, help me get out of—"

"Don't you have faith in me, shorty?" Dazai said. Those were the first words he had spoken since stepping into the machine.

"You're a genius, you fucking tell me!" Chuuya yelled at him. "It'll take hours to reset the drift once this fucking joke fails, and Kouyou—" he choked, eyes burning, all air gone.

Kouyou wouldn't last hours. Her jaeger, Golden Man, was already badly damaged. No other machine was on hand.

"Ten seconds."

"Who is she anyway?" Dazai asked. He sounded somber in a different way than usual—almost as if he were wary. "Who is she to you?"

"She's," Chuuya tried.

The words clogged in his throat. Tears spilled out of his eyes.

"Seven seconds."

"She's my sister," he rasped out. "She's my friend. She's the only family I have."

Dazai looked at him with no cruel laughter in his brown eyes. No smarting comment whipping off of his tongue.

"Three seconds."

"Then," he said quietly. "Let's make this work, Chuuya."

"Neural handshake initiated."

Chuuya was thrown out of his own mind, out of his own body; but this time it wasn't cold unfeeling metal waiting for him at the other end.

It was the shiver of a breath in his ear and the stroke of fingertips at his wrist.

Distantly, he was aware that the speed at which the connection took on was abnormal, but he couldn't care. Not when he felt Dazai's lungs expand every time he took in a breath; not when he felt Dazai's own surprise and wonder match his like a mirror. Chuuya closed his eyes to focus on the flickering images unfolding through their shared mind and grabbed greedily at the ones he knew weren't his—except they were, now. They were his.

It would be a long time before he was able to put words onto what exactly shifted in his very essence the moment he felt the first brush of Dazai's mind against his. His entire life felt insignificant in the face of Dazai's heart and memories; he felt Dazai feel the same about him, felt him plunge into his mind to relive pain and love and loss alike and soak himself with them until his soul was gorged.

Chuuya had no conscience of physicality anymore. He didn't see, didn't taste, didn't touch; Dazai gasped, and it was Chuuya gasping. When he blinked, Dazai blinked. His grief became Dazai's, Dazai's anger his own.

All the lonely, wounded rage he had accumulated through his life flickered out and healed.

He would learn, later, that the drift stabilized near-instantly. So fast that at first the people monitoring them thought it hadn't worked at all.

Chuuya saw Dazai's life unfold in flashes and knowledge burn itself into his brain as if he had lived through all that Dazai lived. He saw himself run away from an unloving home and into the streets of Yokohama, saw himself meet the man who helped around an orphans' home, saw himself con people out of their money for amusement and need alike. He saw himself smile at a girl and then fall into bed with her for the first time. He saw himself meet the man who had threatened to close the orphanage and looked at Odasaku's children with unspeakable vice in his eyes—saw himself murder him before he could lay a finger on them. Felt his hands squeeze the breath out of Mori Ougai until he was blue and cold. Chuuya rose above the dead body, burdened with no remorse; he was Dazai realizing, in that moment, how little he deserved to call himself human.

He was Dazai getting dragged away by the police. He was Dazai being put into a testing chair and offered the same ultimatum that Kouyou had been given. He was Dazai hacking into the jaeger dock's system to find the name of the one who kept beating him at the only thing he was allowed to do anymore. He was Dazai, meeting Chuuya's eyes for the first time and thinking, He's cute. Fleeting and innocent.

Chuuya breathed, and he was Dazai breathing, and these were the first breaths either of them had drawn.

"Can you move it, boys?" the faraway voice of Natsume came through their helmets, rough with excitement. "This is incredible—I've never seen a first drift like this—"

The thought that they couldn't never occurred to them at all.

They moved their right arm, and the jaeger moved with them.

-- 

They took Hayate down in an hour.

-- 

Natsume led them to a single room with bunk beds once they came out of the medical ward. It was wider than the tiny quarters Chuuya and Dazai had occupied with the other trainees, with its own bathroom and kitchen.

"You're pilots now," Natsume said proudly. "Though you're not supposed to be until another year… well, anyway. You need to be ready quickly the next time we need you on the field—the alarm is really loud in here, you'll have to get used to waking up to it. I'll leave you to rest."

He patted their shoulders and left.

"I'm taking the top bed," Chuuya said immediately.

"By all means," Dazai replied—he sounded so smug that Chuuya thought he would have felt his lips twitch regardless of the awareness that still floated between them. "I don't want to end up like the last man you skewered."

"Shut it. I just don't want to hear the damn thing creak every time you wake up, you fucking insomniac."

Dazai turned his head to grin at him, and Chuuya had never seen him look like that, but he knew this smile all the same. It was the kind of smile Dazai reserved for only one other person.

Affection fit into the lines of Dazai's face like it was always meant to be there. In the low light of their room it was easier to see that his hair was brown instead of black, that it fell strikingly softly around his face despite the sweat and effort of the last hours. There was laughter to be found behind the stone-cold mask Dazai harbored around those who didn't know him. There was humanity, contrary to what Dazai thought.

This was the person who had witnessed Chuuya's life and felt only kinship. This was the the boy whose mind Chuuya had felt latch onto the drift with desperate abandon the second it was turned off, as if he never wanted Chuuya to leave again; who had felt Chuuya latch back in turn as if trying to reach through uncrossable distance and touch their fingers together for just one more second.

Chuuya let himself smile back, hesitant and thrilled, and Dazai's eyes lit with wonder.

He understood, right then, that he had never known anyone before. Not like this. He stood wordless in the only home he had a claim to, however reluctant a claim it was; and as he let the whispers of a connection that no two humans should ever share bleed out, he realized that he would never again know someone.

"Now," Dazai said, watching him greedily. "This is a sight for sore eyes."

Hello, Chuuya thought, heart shaking.

It was Dazai's voice he heard whispering back.

It's so good to meet you.

--

--

Nakahara hadn't smiled once since Double Black's test drift. Not even in that mean way of his that always made whoever it was directed to feel like the inside of a sewer. Kouyou stood between him and Yosano, and Nakahara didn't answer even her concerned glances, however tentative they were.

Yosano didn't think it was a good idea to take him with them to the labs, all things considered. But it was protocol that Kouyou's second be by her side for things like this, even if he hadn't been family to her; and Nakahara would demand an explanation if she did try to stop him, and end up unhappy anyway. Yosano could only think of one person whose conversation might be able to help with that, but Dazai had disappeared from everyone's vicinity the moment he had peeled off his suit.

The words she had said to Kunikida to try and soothe him still lingered in her head.

She felt a first tug of apprehension in her stomach when she approached the door to the labs, Kouyou beside her, Nakahara hanging slightly behind. The lights were dimmed despite the late hour. Kajii was always making some sort of noise inside that could be heard down the hallway, be it from moving around or listening to music loudly.

Yet now there was only silence.

Yosano opened the door carefully. The reason for the darkness was easily found—only the lamp sitting on Kajii's main desk was lit, its orange glow barely reaching through the entire width of the room, never mind the cabinets and tall piles of boxes that stood in its path.

"Kajii?" she called.

She saw Kouyou tense from the corner of her eyes when no one answered. It was enough to drag Nakahara out of his own thoughts and make him lift his head with a frown. He stepped ahead of them quickly, and that was when Yosano heard it, right as he started to walk around a tower of thick folders sitting on a low table—panting, quiet and hurried, like someone going through panic.

She felt her heartbeat spike the second Nakahara growled out, "Fuck," dropping his cane on the floor and limping into the shadows as fast as he could.

"Chuuya!" Kouyou gasped.

She ran after him—Yosano couldn't do anything but follow despite the well-known panic surrounding her, the one she thought she had mastered long ago, when the Double Black pilots' broken bodies had been dragged in front of her helpless hands.

Kajii was convulsing in a wooden chair next to the tall glass tube holding the kaiju's brain. She got there in time to see Nakahara rip the drift helmet off of his head and lift him out of his seat—it wasn't until he looked at her with fury and pain twisting his features and yelled, "Help me!" that she realized he was shaking too.

She ran the way between them to take the brunt of Kajii's weight out of his hands and help him down to the floor, mind protesting both the sight of Kajii's blood-stained face and that of Nakahara falling to his knees—God, the pain he must be in—

"He's seizing," Nakahara panted. "Shit—"

Kajii's limbs were flailing, his torso rising and falling abruptly. Nakahara reached over his body in front of Yosano's unresponsive hands to turn him to his side, one palm under Kajii's skull, the other resting over his shoulder carefully as it jumped.

Yosano couldn't move. She knelt with her mouth open and her mind in a daze, fear battling away confusion to roam through her and lock everything down.

It was Kouyou who pushed her away to relieve Nakahara in making sure Kajii stayed on his side. Nakahara hunched forward immediately, catching himself on his hands, shaking through all of his body. He was white as a sheet.

"Chuuya," Kouyou said hurriedly, "you need to sit down. You need to get off your leg."

Nakahara was heaving now, still paralyzed in his kneeling position. "I can't," he let out—Yosano saw the panic settle onto his sweat-slick face like it had inside her chest, saw him realize that he feared the pain of moving more than he feared the agony of staying as he was.

She barely heard the sound of more footsteps hurrying toward them, didn't notice that someone had joined them at all until Dazai was dropping down next to Nakahara and grabbing him by the middle. Nakahara shouted when he was pulled sideways, the sound of his voice ripping through the room and pulsing through Yosano's chest.

He turned away from Dazai the second he was on his backside and retched bile and saliva until he was completely dry. Dazai was silent as he waited it out; he fitted his knees behind Nakahara's back, held his shoulders so he wouldn't fall into his own sick. When Nakahara was finally able to take in a breath without his stomach trying to turn itself inside out, Dazai guided him down and laid him flat onto the floor.

He was pale too.

"Yosano," he said evenly, still looking at Nakahara. Nakahara's eyes were closed now, his chest still shaking, sweat beading at his temples. "Kajii."

The name pierced through her like an arrow.

Kajii was almost done convulsing. She loosened his collar and belt with trembling hands, keeping an eye on his breathing and the way his eyes moved. The blood on his face seemed to have come out of his nose rather than anything more worrying—it was nothing she hadn't seen coming out of failed drifts. His eyes were red, but not leaking anything other than tears.

Finally, his shoulders sagged, and he stilled.

"Kajii," Kouyou said, probably understanding that Yosano couldn't speak yet. "Can you hear me?"

He hummed, mumbling something close enough to Boss to be satisfying.

Kouyou sighed in relief. "I'm going to ask you a few questions, okay? Just to see if everything's working right."

"M'kay."

Yosano blocked out the sounds of Kouyou's firm coaxing to redirect her focus onto Nakahara.

He was still laying flat onto the ground, though Dazai had apparently used the few moments she hadn't been looking to shove his jacket under his head as a makeshift pillow. His eyes were open now, his breathing still chaotic.

"How bad?" she made herself ask, crouching by his side.

Dazai had put a hand over his chest as if to keep him from rising. With how hesitant his hold was, it just looked as though he were trying to feel him breathe.

Nakahara took a long time to steady himself to speak. "It's fine," he said with effort. "The worst is over."

"Don't give me that crap, Nakahara—"

"If you wanted to help you shouldn't have fucking frozen up," he yelled.

Her throat tightened. Her mind was clear enough to feel guilt, now, and it settled like ice into her belly.

"Did you know he was gonna do this?" Nakahara pressed on, angry now instead of pained. "Did you allow this, Yosano?"

"He said he wouldn't do it on his own," was all she could reply.

He moaned, either from how badly his leg shook or from how horrified he was.

Eventually the noise died down. Kajii's voice turned to silence, his breathing evened out. Nakahara's did as well, and he tried to sit up—only to be stopped by Dazai's hand on his chest. He glared at him with his jaw clenched.

Whatever silent exchange happened between them then only lasted a second. Dazai's fingers shivered on the fabric of Nakahara's shirt before drifting away, and Nakahara pushed himself up with his left hand until he was sitting upright. At least he didn't try to stand; Yosano wasn't sure he even could, right now.

Kajii had rolled over to his back despite Kouyou's obvious disapproval. He looked giddy.

"I did it," he breathed. "I did it."

"What the fuck were you thinking?" Nakahara spat out immediately—Kajii flinched, but Nakahara either didn't care or was too tired to show it. "What in the world gave you the idea of drifting with a—a kaiju brain?"

"Oh God," Kajii said, eyes snapping wide open. "I need to write everything down."

He was jumping to his feet next—Yosano almost shouted at him to stop, and Kouyou as well, but he merely wavered in place for a moment before running to his desk.

The next minute was spent in utter silence aside from the scratching of Kajii's pens and papers. Dazai shifted from his knees to his backside on the floor, still close enough to Nakahara that he would catch him if he fell. Nakahara wasn't looking at him, though; he was staring at the floor, face white, biting his lips.

Kajii straightened from his lean over the desk and announced, "I need to do it again."

"No," Nakahara replied.

"I'd also advise against it," Dazai said almost in the same breath.

"You don't understand," Kajii continued, febrile. "This is so—this is so—"

He was waving his papers around, and his nose was bleeding again—Yosano pushed herself to her feet and grabbed him by the scruff of his neck, pushing him down into a chair. She pulled his head back and said, "Hold your damn nose, Kajii."

"Listen," he spoke, though he obeyed the order and pinched the bridge of his nose while Yosano went to fetch her bag for some cotton. "We were right—the kaiju, they're not real aliens. They're almost like machines."

"What do you mean?" Kouyou murmured.

"Ane-san," Nakahara said sharply.

She and Kajii both ignored him. "The ones creating them… they know exactly what they're doing. This isn't just a random bunch of attacks from creatures who happen to stumble into our world—they're waging war on us. They're colonizers." Kajii took in a deep breath, choking a little when Yosano shoved cotton up his nose but thankfully not complaining. She didn't feel sturdy enough to deal with complaints. "They hop from planet to planet once they've exhausted the resources. They were already here once as a test run—dinosaurs!" he yelled, making all of them jump. "That was them!"

"You got all of that from drifting with a war machine?" Nakahara questioned, bitter.

"Their minds are all connected," Kajii replied dreamily. "I went so far back… everything's already slipping away, drifting is so inconvenient."

Yosano saw all three of them flinch at the same time—Kouyou, Nakahara, Dazai. She said nothing.

"Oh. Oh, shit," Kajii said. He massaged his forehead, breath coming in quicker once more. "The kaiju they've been sending so far were just small fry. Boss," he added, turning toward where Kouyou sat, "they're planning double and triple events like I thought, and they're planning them soon. Category four kaiju and higher."

"They're done playing with us," Kouyou muttered. She rose to her feet as well. "What about the breach? Did you find out anything—"

"Enough," Yosano cut in, eyeing the way Kajii's eyelids drooped. "He just had a damn seizure, Kouyou."

"The breach will stabilize," Kajii replied regardless. "I was right about that too. But there was… there was something…" He clenched his teeth against the headache that had no doubt been ringing through his temple all this time. "I need a new kaiju brain. I need to drift with it again and make sure—"

"I'm done listening to this shit," Nakahara said.

They all turned to look at him.

He had dragged his left knee back toward his chest. Dazai was rising as well, and in the few seconds it took Yosano to understand what was going on, he had crossed the distance to where Nakahara has dropped his cane and then come back. Her protest died on her lips at the look Nakahara gave her. He allowed Dazai to help him up and then pushed him away, leaning on the cane with all the strength left in him.

"I don't need to hear this," he repeated, voice strained. "Do whatever the fuck you want if it'll help us win, but I never want to hear about it again, Kouyou. Not a word."

"I understand," Kouyou said sadly.

Nakahara lifted his right hand to his face and rubbed the back of it against his lips shakily. "Drifting with a kaiju," he muttered. "I can't believe anyone would—"

He stopped, sucking in another heaving breath, as if he were about to hunch over and retch again. Dazai stood still and silent by his side, but Yosano thought she could read the same nausea on his features anyway. The same bone-deep horror.

They left without another word, Nakahara limping badly, Dazai shadowing him without touching him.

"Well," Yosano said, throat tight. "That could've gone better."

Kajii emitted a deep snore behind her. When she turned around to look at him, he had fallen asleep as he was, head craned back as far as it would go.

Kouyou rubbed her face with one hand as she approached. The other came to rest above the quickly-scribbled notes that Kajii had taken, and she eyed them thoughtfully.

Yosano very much wanted to hold her.

As if reading her thoughts, she asked, "Are you all right?"

Yosano sat on the very edge of the desk, feet still touching the floor. "I'm fine," she replied.

"You looked…"

"Yeah." She swallowed painfully. "I, I'm so sorry, I don't know what—"

"Akiko."

Yosano's eyes burned. She shoved her fingers under her glasses to catch the wetness before it could roll down her face.

"Oh, darling," Kouyou whispered. There was a shuffle of feet against the dusty floor, and then warmth, the soft of Kouyou's arm wrapping around Yosano's frame to hold her as she tried to bite back sobs, as she gasped into her palms. "It's okay. Nothing bad happened."

Yosano breathed, "I don't know why I…" She couldn't finish, but it didn't matter; her lips dug into the curve of Kouyou's neck, her arms coming up to hold her back as she breathed into her skin.

"You've gone through great lengths to make sure you would never be faced with surprise emergencies again," Kouyou said against her temple. "And you snapped out of it quickly enough. You have nothing to blame yourself for."

Nakahara's accusations echoed through Yosano's head—the sight of him panting on the floor, wrecked with pain, pale and shaking. "He was so angry," she let out.

"He was in pain." Kouyou's fingers ran through her hair gently. "Chuuya doesn't blame you. He'll apologize to you as soon as he's calmed down."

They didn't stay like this for long. Yosano was never much of a crier; her eyes had dried almost as soon as they had wetted, and her breath was settling down, matching Kouyou's against her chest. Kouyou took her hands back, and Yosano let go of her so she could step away.

For a second longer they both breathed in the stale air and thought.

"Kajii said something about the breach," Yosano said at last.

Kouyou nodded, looking at the man himself, still asleep in his chair. "We can't afford to let that slide," she replied.

"So you'll let him do it again."

She made a face, about as disgusted as Nakahara's had been. In that moment they truly looked the part of siblings. "I don't want to," she admitted. "The thought of using the drift to connect with a kaiju is…"

Her sentence trailed off without an end.

Kouyou was not as silent as Dazai and Nakahara were about her memories as a pilot. Yosano could recall countless nights spent talking about it; countless times being woken up by the way Kouyou's lungs stilled in the nightmare-memory of her once-partner's death. She didn't talk about Fukuzawa easily—she had never shared with Kouyou what she had glimpsed of the mysterious man's life.

But she talked about what it had felt like to share thoughts with him. She had spoken of their quiet friendship, born out of her loneliness and out of his compassion, with a smile on her face. She still mourned him now, five years after his death. Yosano knew she would always mourn him.

She had loved him deeply.

"We can't let this slide now that we know something might prevent us from attacking," Kouyou said softly. "We only have one shot at this."

"The brain is fried, though," Yosano replied, gesturing to the tall glass tube. The thing in it that hadn't stopped squirming earlier during the day now rested at the bottom, still as stone. Its color had gone from white to grey. "How are we gonna get our hands on a live kaiju brain? It's a miracle Kajii got one at all. These things never survive out of the body for long."

Kouyou was silent for a moment, looking thoughtful. This close to the orange glow of the desk lamp her hair and lips almost glowed, stark against the pallor of her skin. In the end she sighed and took something out of her breast pocket, handing it over.

It was a card. At first Yosano thought it blank, but then the light shifted on it—a motif appeared in a light shade of green. Crossed guns in a circle.

"What is it?" she asked.

"Something I've been meaning not to use," Kouyou replied wryly. "You know there's a black market for all sorts of kaiju parts, don't you?"

"Yeah. They sell fifty grams of useless bone powder for about five thousand dollars."

"Profit never stops, not even in the face of certain doom." Kouyou gave a chuckle at that. "Well, there's a man here, Fitzgerald, who has his hands into all sorts of pockets. If anyone can get us a kaiju brain, it's him."

"That doesn't sound very legal," Yosano said, looking up from the card.

"It's not," Kouyou replied. "But it's not like we're being funded by legal means anymore."

Yosano stepped away from the desk and pocketed the card. "Will he agree to help us?" she asked.

"He owes me one, but he's not trustworthy."

She made her way to where Kouyou stood, glancing briefly at Kajii to make sure he was still dead to the world. Once she reached her she slipped a hand behind her nape, pulling her head down until the few inches of difference between their heights was no more.

Kouyou kissed her warmly, dry lips to dry lips, her fingers coming to stroke against Yosano's cheek as if the world wasn't ending around them. As if they could ever afford to have a love like this.

It was the only thing they both tempted fate with.

Yosano's face was flushed when she pulled away, her mouth tingling, but she felt calmer than she had in hours. "I'll go," she whispered against Kouyou's chin. "As soon as I'm done making sure this idiot didn't give himself brain damage."

Kouyou nodded, cheeks dimpling around her smile. "Be careful," she replied.

-- 

Chuuya wanted nothing more when he finally reached his quarters than to let himself fall onto the bed and pass out.

The mere thought of the pain that the impact on his mattress would cause almost made tears build into his eyes, though; so instead he reached down with his weak hand to support his weight, regardless of the phantom aches coming alive in his back and shoulders, and let himself sit carefully. He didn't think he would even be able to undress for the night.

Dazai closed the door behind them and made his way to Chuuya's desk in silence. He turned the chair around and sat down, facing him, half of his face drowned in shadow. Neither of them had thought to turn on the lights.

"How do you feel?" he asked conversationally.

"Why are you even here?" Chuuya said instead of answering.

His right leg burned from ankle to knee. His thigh shook even as it was, resting atop the bed, and his temple was flaring with remembered pain. So was the rest of his body, truth be told.

His morning exercises were going to be a blast.

"I was brooding in the storage room. Heard you yelling." Dazai didn't even have the decency to look ashamed about it. "I'm glad I picked this hiding spot instead of the one on the tenth floor."

"I'd be glad if you stopped acting like a child," Chuuya said between his teeth.

The jab was cheap, and Dazai didn't laugh at it. He just leaned back into the chair and glanced at the locked drawer of Chuuya's desk for a second too long.

Chuuya looked away. His rooms were some of the best situated in the base; Yokohama's harbor unfolded under its window and gave out to the endless sea. It had thrived, once, with ships from all over the world. Now at least the sound of the waves remained.

The last few minutes came back to him in a rush.

"Fuck," Chuuya breathed, rubbing a hand over his eyes. "I yelled at Yosano."

"She kind of deserved it."

"No, she didn't." He inhaled slowly. "It's not her fault she panics with stuff like this. And it's not her fault Kajii decided to go ahead and—"

He couldn't finish. The thought alone, the idea itself of using the drift with a kaiju felt like heresy. It felt like violation. Nausea crawled up Chuuya's neck until he thought he would puke again—knew he would have if his stomach weren't already empty, his mind too bruised and exhausted from the events of the day to be horrified any more.

He really hadn't been as prepared as he had thought to witness Dazai open his mind to someone else.

Chuuya swallowed, breathing deeply to calm his nerves. Then he asked: "What the hell happened during the test?"

Dazai didn't answer.

Chuuya looked back at him and found him reclining as far as he would go, expression bored with the sort of emptiness he hadn't worn in years.

"Dazai," he said.

"Nothing especially surprising," Dazai cut in. He was staring at the darkened ceiling. "The usual sort of rookie mistake. We got it under control before anything happened, so it's no big deal."

"Don't give me that crap," Chuuya replied, irritation and something else he refused to give name to catching on his voice—ugly, burning, restless. "You were the one chasing the RABBIT at the end. You've never done that before."

"There's a first time for everything. It won't happen again."

"I want to know why it happened at all."

Dazai lowered his head, and Chuuya didn't need light to know that their eyes were meeting across the ever-growing space between them.

"I guess I'm just not used to it anymore," he lied.

Chuuya's fingers dug into the fabric of his bedspread until the pressure was uncomfortable, tugging harshly at his nails, and still the crushing pain in his leg didn't abate. "You were holding back," he accused, voice low.

"You know that's not possible."

"Do I?" Now his palm hurt, too, and Chuuya took it off of the mattress before he ripped holes into the sheets. "It's the only reason I can think of. You were resisting the drift. It shouldn't have taken ten seconds for you and Kunikida to stabilize, not with how compatible you are."

Dazai was silent for a long time, long enough that Chuuya was about to drag up more of his anger and speak again, but then he said: "I thought it might be easier for him."

All of the fight in him loosened at once. Exhaustion crashed into him like a sledgehammer. Chuuya blinked slowly, looking down at the carpeted floor, and let it run its course until even his damaged nerves felt too tired to hurt.

"You have too much experience to let your copilot slip like this," he said. "You can't just… Fucking hell, Dazai. We don't have time for holding back."

"Think of it that way, Chuuya," Dazai replied mildly. "Kunikida-kun knows what to expect, now. It's better to chase the RABBIT during a test than during a fight. He'll know how to get himself out of it if it happens again."

"Have you even talked to him about it?" Dazai's silence was all the answer he needed. "Dazai," he sighed. He almost swallowed before speaking again, almost let the words die on his tongue from lack of a resolve. "Whatever it is that's you don't… want him to see, or I don't know. Whatever it is you're struggling with." He made himself meet Dazai's eyes despite the heavy weight of his heart. "You need to let it go. You need to be able to pilot with him."

Dazai's suspended breath rang through the padded silence. It dug deep into the longing that Chuuya carried around like a second skin, into the cloud-like words he never quite knew how to say.

"We can pilot," Dazai replied at last. "The drift was strong enough."

"It could be stronger."

Dazai exhaled loudly. He ran a hand through his hair in a way Chuuya knew, deeply, that he only did when he was truly shaken—and the sight stabbed into his ribs, folded around his heart, made every wound crawl back to life.

"What do you want from me, Chuuya?" Dazai muttered, looking at his knees. "Did you expect me to be happy about…"

No. Chuuya hadn't expected him to. He hadn't wanted him to. Even though he had no right to such selfishness.

"You told them yourself," he said. "You can't expect to drift and keep any part of you private. You won't be able to pilot with him if you keep trying to hide things. You need to let him see what matters."

"Oh, trust me," Dazai laughed without any humor, "he saw everything that mattered."

He glanced at Chuuya, eyes soft and fond, and Chuuya couldn't breathe through it at all.

He let himself fall back onto the bed to escape it. His chest tensed upon touching the mattress, now matter how minimal the impact was; it took a second for him to be able to relax, and even then he didn't yet try to crawl backward and properly lay down. That would take very incremental moves, considering the pain in his leg.

Silence unfolded through the room. The walls were too thick to hear from the outside, built to withstand kaiju attacks as well as humanity could; still Chuuya looked at the starlit sky and imagined the spread of the sea under it, gleaming and peaceful. He turned to his knowledge of it until he could hear the waves' whisper against his skin.

The sound Dazai made as he stood from the chair was muffled by the drowsiness of it. "Just let it go," he said to himself, echoing Chuuya's words.

He stepped toward the bed, stopping beside where Chuuya lay. Chuuya didn't look up at him as he mumbled, "Go talk to your partner."

"I am."

Dazai's hand hovered by Chuuya's arm, not tensed but not relaxed, fingers curved into the shape of a hold. It was the same hand that had rested on his chest earlier as he heaved through the pain. Chuuya had only had that to latch onto and avoid losing consciousness; he had focused on the weight and feeling of it until he thought he felt Dazai's fingers directly against his heart.

Do it, Chuuya thought in his weakness, in the deepest, most cowardly corners of his mind. Touch me. Don't wait for me to hurt this time.

Dazai slid his hand into his pocket. "Good night, Chuuya," he said.

The light of the hallway shone for a second too long onto the ridges of the room, drawing sharp, long shadows out of all furniture. The imprint of it stayed behind Chuuya's eyelids long after he closed the door.

He fell asleep to the imagined lull of the sea, letting his mind fill with it until it muffled all other noise. Only moonlight shone anymore. It lit the keyhole of the drawer where he kept the broken remains of his pilot helmet.

[PREVIOUS] [NEXT]

[reviewinganything]

Reviewing Shows: Bungou Stray Dogs

I sure watched Bungou Stray dogs! Why did I watch Bungou Stray Dogs? Because, well, It kinda sucks, but in a fascinating way. Or at least in ways that seem like they might be instructive.

The thing about Bungou... the thing about BSD is it has poor tone control. It tries to blend a hyper-real grim mafia story, irreverent comedy, and cool action together. It does not manage this well.

Spoilers ahead, even though spoilers are a fake idea.

So BSD follows a sadboy orphan weretiger (Atsushi Nakajima) who helps out a drowning man (Osamu Dazai), then is in turn helped by the un-drowned man by being a little-bit press-ganged into working for the “Armed Detective Agency,” a para-governmental organization with a rare and valuable permit to operate with use of members’ super powers.

The premise set up in the first two episodes seems to be that we’ll be joining this wacky cast of characters in the detective agency as they solve crimes involving strange powers with their own strange powers. This is not the arc the show winds up following. Instead the show winds up involved with the Port Mafia (why is it the Mafia and not Yakuza anyway?), the local super powered criminal organization, and their open conflict with the detective agency. Then, in the second half of the show, it introduces a foreign criminal organization called the Guild which the Mafia and detective agency team up to fight.

Oh, I haven’t had a chance to mention that the show’s large cast of characters are mostly named for famous authors from the early 20th century. Every character with a super power — simply called abilities — is named after an author, and their ability is named for their most famous work. The allusions have only a superficial relation to their power, and virtually no impact on the themes of the show. The man named Hermin Melville can summon a spectral whale that can be cladded with iron to become a ship, because, well, Moby Dick was a whale, I guess, and the novel takes place on a ship. The character Mark Twain has two doll friends named Huck and Tom who help him to aim guns really good because ??? There isn’t much else to say about the use of these names because it really has little impact on the actual story; it’s just baffling, one set of arbitrary decisions among many.

As I said, BSD tries to blend moments of absurd humor, dark psychological drama, typical shonen action, and the flavour of a mystery or crime procedural. Audacious, though similar things have been done (Cowboy Bebop comes to mind, blending humor, drama, suave action, and ambiguously moral characters with former ties to criminal organizations well), but BSD bungles it.

For example, at the end of episode three Atsushi and two of his detective agency friends have a run in with the main muscle of the mafia, Akutagawa, and all three are impaled, if not also dismembered, by Akutagawa’s generally sharp darkness powers. The show spends a good several minutes emphasizing the desperation and panic Atsushi feels, along with fanning his “I cause nothing but trouble for people around me, and shouldn’t live” flames. This causes him to black out and go were-magical-tiger, fight evenly against Akutagawa for a bit, then their fight is cut short by Dazai’s ability to cancel abilities. Akutagawa calls off the attack, and has an amicable chat with Dazai over the lead in of the cheerful credits tune. Then the next episode reveals that the fatal wounds of Atsushi’s friends can be healed by the detective agency’s doctor, whose ability fully heals people, but only from the brink of death. Her sadistic enjoyment of hurting to heal is played for laughs.

On paper this doesn’t necessarily not work. But the show plays the drama so dead serious, and the humor so absurd it doesn’t come together as a gestalt. It forever feels like disparate elements being stitched together in one high contrast package. The grittiness of the psychological fear section doesn’t mesh with the empowerment and adrenaline of the super-power action (Atsushi heals himself and becomes invulnerable to things like bullets when a weretiger). Trying to portray the mafia as a ruthless villainous organization doesn’t gel with them also calling truce and chatting for a little while before walking off. Trying to raise the stakes and suspense of an action scene doesn’t gel well with a character who can magically and comedically heal people from fatal wounds.

Speaking of the Port Mafia and wanting it both ways, BSD tries to play this morally grey area, and it winds up breaking the show. The Port Mafia are clearly evil — they extort, they assassinate, they’ll nonchalantly kill dozens of innocents in their way —but we spend a good chunk of the show following their members escapades, and we’re clearly supposed to empathize with them.

There’s a hard break from the main story at the beginning of the second half of the show. For four episodes we watch a new character, Oda Sakunoske, as he follows an apparently traitorous member of the mafia. We’re introduced to him drinking in a classy bar with Dazai (back when he was in the mafia). He is the lowest ranked (yes, singularly low ranked, I guess) member of the mafia because he refuses to kill. Then at some point the enemy organization he’s looking into murders five orphans Oda had taken responsibility for after some other mafia killing spree.

Clearly this moment is supposed to make us feel sad, and sympathize with Oda when he makes it a suicidal quest for vengeance. But we spent all of a minute with the children, and Oda is already a man compromised by working with the mafia. Again, on paper there’s space for this sort of morally dark story telling. But the sheer earnestness with which it shows Dazai scream-mourning for the kids by the flaming wreckage is embarrassing. "Do you feel sad for this man? Are you sad five children are dead?” Nah man, not when they’re being used as a cheap emotional beat with 60 seconds of set up, dude.

So then after Oda’s four episode arc we enter the phase of the show where the Guild (all named for western authors) shows up and threatens to take over their city and the mafia and detective agency begrudgingly work together against them. I suppose the theme of Japan working together to fight off foreigners who want to profit off them is fair enough, even if it’s some sort of cultural allegory since they’re all named for authors, but I don’t get what associating half of the Japanese authors with an the bloodthirsty mafia really gets you. It doesn’t seem very well thought out.

The theme the show overtly ends on is one of wanting/needing acceptance of your friends/peers/cohort, and of trying to be a good person even if you’ve killed dozens of people. Which, huh. For the 13 year old whose power was used against her will by the mafia to assassinate 23 people, okay, I can understand where you’re coming from. It was against her will, she’s very young, she deserves a second chance. But when applied to Dazai, a man who apparently willingly worked for the mafia, and quit only because his friend died? Not to mention that Akutagawa, the mafia guy who kills several dozen dudes on screen throughout the show is the one who’s arc is completed when good-guy senpai acknowledges his strength. Uh???

Once again, it offers this sort of retribution with a hopefulness and clarity of intent that feels very out of place for the content of what’s happened. The denouement is a party at the detective agency. It’s all very fun and full of several gags, and it’s a tone that doesn’t fit the themes they’re trying to discuss. It’s like they either don’t trust the viewer to appreciate a show that settles in a mood for a while, or they don’t even know how to control the tone.

Ultimately Bungou Stray Dogs is lesser than the sum of its parts. The animation and music and sound are fine, parts of the plot are fine, some jokes are funny, some drama works, some action is cool, exploring the need for acceptance and of trying to do good despite your past are good, and using a dozen famous authors as loose jumping off point for characters is a bit high-school but fine enough in concept, but the parts wind up detracting from one another. Ah well, it was at least interesting enough for me to watch through.

[cyuya-nakahara]

You’re Insufferable (We’re Inseparable) - Ch 1

read on ao3

Chuuya hadn't known him very long, but Dazai drove him up the wall. It was beyond him how they would ever work well together. But, what the Boss wants, the Boss gets. Maybe they could make it work without slitting each other's throats.

Chapter One: Exercises in Trust and Humility

Chuuya twirled the knife he'd been given in his hand.

"Oi. What are we waiting for?"

He was lounging against a particularly large rock in the forest, and Dazai had been standing silently by a tree for what felt like ages. Dazai batted the air in Chuuya's direction. Shut up.

Chuuya huffed. "I hate that you won't tell me the plan," he whined. He kept his voice low. For a brief moment, Dazai stuck out his tongue with a self-satisfied grin.

They were supposed to be infiltrating the base of some group and stealing something from a guy that Mori totally didn't have a personal beef with. They were definitely here on important Port Mafia business, and were in no way involved in some petty feud involving a trophy, an oversized knitting needle, and a wooden cat. Definitely.

But certainly-important business aside, it seemed more accurate at this point to say that they were there to trespass and loiter as much as they could without getting caught. They'd been in the same spot for over an hour now.

"Can you at least give me a—"

Chuuya begun to ask for a hint about what they were waiting on, but in typical Dazai fashion it was time to go now, because of course it was, and his partner was hurrying him towards the building they had been observing. He'd evidently been waiting for the guard to go to the bathroom so that they could more or less walk right in. Chuuya supposed it wasn't a terrible plan. Why the other boy couldn't have just said that, though, was beyond him. Chuuya hadn't known him very long, but this brunet drove him up the wall. How they'd ever work well together baffled him. But he'd had little choice in the matter.

He had complained when he'd first found out about the arrangement. The Boss hadn't seemed to care very much, however, and it had quickly become quite clear to Chuuya as the Boss grew irritated that his discontent was seeking the wrong audience. So he'd complained again later, in a more secure environment, to someone a little more inviting.

"Why him?"

Kouyou gently ran a comb through his hair. He had just washed up, and was now sitting on the floor in front of her, dressed in one of her older yukata. He still didn't have much clothing of his own, and she was happy to dress him in hers.

"Dazai will be an asset to the mafia," Kouyou began flatly, "Even as young as he is, his perception is incredible –and his ability is useful. But he's no use to us dead, and a wet rag could put up a better fight than he could." Chuuya snickered a little and Kouyou pinned a segment of his hair, smirking. "But my charge doesn't have that issue." She continued smugly. "In fact, my charge is so good at fighting and has such a useful ability that the Boss himself thought he'd be suitable cover for a certain bandage-covered brat. That's more than Mori can say of his boy."

Chuuya had felt pride swell in his chest. He wasn't really sure that he could provide cover for anyone, let alone someone immune to his ability, but he glowed from the knowledge that others thought he could —and not just the Boss, but Kouyou too.

—Yeah, Kouyou was the only reason he was even trying with this guy.

This was their first job together. It was Chuuya's first job at all, and it was Dazai's first where he'd be out in the field. It wasn't a difficult job, though, and Chuuya knew that. It was meant to be simple, and the real job here was coordinating their teamwork. He was 11, not stupid. Whatever petty feud they were getting involved in for Mori wasn't the actual goal here, and they were failing this mission. But Dazai had to have known that.

"Hey, Nakahara." Dazai started with a smile. Chuuya already wasn't pleased with where this was going.

"You can manipulate gravity, right? This door is locked, so can you get yourself up to that vent up there, go through it, and unlock the door from the other side?"

Chuuya furrowed his brow slightly, trying to figure out the catch. Something seemed off but it was a reasonable enough request, so..

"Sure." he conceded. And "sure" enough, he'd been right to hesitate. Just as gravity turned him upside-down, Dazai caught the end of a strand of his hair, his ability activated, and Chuuya crashed straight to the ground.

"What the hell did you do that for?" He growled angrily, rubbing his head. Dazai walked around him to get to the door.

"Fun." He said, flashing Chuuya a smile as he went about picking the lock. "Why'd you trust me? You shouldn't trust so easily. We're in the mafia, you know."

Chuuya glared at him bitterly.

"I was under the impression we were supposed to be partners." Chuuya said through grit teeth.

The lock clicked open and Dazai opened it with an exaggerated display of chivalry, letting Chuuya in first. Chuuya walked in and was immediately flicked in the back.

"You did it again." Dazai snickered. This time, Chuuya ignored him entirely.

Dazai followed him inside. Sure enough, just as Mori had told them, a trophy, wooden cat, and a singular jumbo knitting needle all sat atop a tall bookcase in the back of the room.

"Go on." Dazai said, gesturing at it. Chuuya scoffed.

"You think I'm going to do it again? Nice try, but you're on your own. Climb."

Dazai stood for a moment, trying to work out some kind of leverage. Unfortunately, he had none.

"Fine." He grumbled. Chuuya smirked as the other boy started removing books from the lower shelves to make the beginnings of a ladder.

"It really sucks that you nullify my ability." Chuuya commented as Dazai made it up to the top. Dazai rolled his eyes.

"Why, because I made you fall? Here, catch these so I can get down."

"Nah, that's not it." Chuuya said, catching each item. "It sucks because to pay you back, I've gotta do this."

The redhead looked Dazai straight in the eye and stuck out his tongue as he increased the gravitational force on the entire second floor of the building, making the building's structure crumble beneath it. The room they stood in toppled to the ground, and Dazai crashed to the floor with the bookcase and books. Chuuya simply reversed his own gravity, and removed the gravity acting on the roof so that it didn't fall and crush them both.

As the rubble settled and the dust cleared, Dazai simply stared at the red-haired boy standing on the ceiling, a mix of emotions building in his chest and a broken arm shooting pain through his brain. His expression was caught somewhere between shock, anger, and amazement.

He really hadn't foreseen this possibility.

"Not so unbeatable now, huh?" Chuuya taunted. Dazai just kept staring. He wasn't sure what to make of what had just happened.

He was mad, but he wasn't quite sure at who. He was impressed, but he didn't want to be. And in some depth of his mind, he was a little bit afraid. Several things became apparent —for one, it was very clear now that Chuuya couldn't be manipulated and controlled so easily. For two, Dazai knew he'd only just suffered a broken arm because Chuuya hadn't wanted to do anything more than that. And for three, it was now exceptionally clear to him that being able to nullify abilities didn't mean he was safe from Chuuya's "For the Tainted Sorrow".

This other boy could kill him. That much was obvious. The threat Chuuya posed to Dazai wasn't merely his strength in combat. His ability was powerful and versatile, and even as young as he was, he knew how to use it to control the situation. He wasn't just strong, he was clever. Dazai watched his partner walk the ceiling over to a window and kick it open.

He'd underestimated him.

"Come on." Chuuya said, gesturing at the window. "I'm guessing I crushed most of the guards, but we need to go. And you have to go first if you don't want to feel what it's like to get crushed by this roof."

Dazai took a moment to swallow his pride.

"Um. I'm sorry."

"I don't really care, just be glad I'm not leaving your sorry butt behind."

"I am." Dazai thought to himself.

The brunet began trying to dislodge himself from rubble, working around the issue of his broken arm. The fall had broken that, but otherwise he was fine. He'd been spared most of the falling dangers. Chuuya tapped his foot impatiently as he waited, and in due time they left together, leaving a ruined building in their wake.

[sword-dad-fukuzawa]

Analyzing Shin Soukoku’s Fighting Style: Atsushi

Alright, this is going to be a three-parter: Atsushi, Akutagawa, and then what happens when they fight together. I was contemplating doing one for Soukoku, but then I realized that Dazai isn’t actually a frontline fighter. If he had a class, he’d be command or support. Shin Soukoku is unique among the three duos in that both members are frontline fighters. 

So, Atsushi! He’s actually quite capable when he isn’t using BBtM, though certainly not on Kunikida or Chuuya’s level, simply because he has really good instincts. We see in the very beginning of the show when he accompanies Ranpo. Ranpo shoves him towards the criminal and Atsushi is clearly taken off guard, but he manages to get behind him, move his arm so the gun he’s firing discharges into the air, and slam him to the ground then pin him. This kid is untrained and obviously malnourished and he took down a trained police officer like nobody’s business. I remember reading that scene and wondering when the hell Atsushi took a level in badass. 

This segues into the next bit: Atsushi’s main advantage in combat is his ridiculous speed. He’s so fast by the Rats arc that he couldn’t be seen by the human eye. That’s stupid fast, especially in an enclosed space. Google says the human eye can process an image at 13 milliseconds. And it’s not just his legs, either. Previously in that arc, he caught a bullet in his mouth fired at point-blank range. Because this is BSD, you can’t really do the math in a way that makes sense, but google says the fastest bullets travel at 1,800 mph. He doesn’t even have much of a warning other than Kunikida’s yell, but he catches it anyway. His reaction time and physical speed are his greatest assets. 

However, because BBtM is OP as fuck, he also has advanced regeneration acting as an automatic defense. I cannot tell you the number of times this kid gets himself stabbed and shot but he got up seconds later. Not to mention how his leg got ripped off and he regenerated in a matter of seconds (just long enough for Akutagawa to gloat). Atsushi is virtually unkillable at this point with his healing factor only really beaten by Yosano’s, if in sheer magnitude. Besides, he has a leg (heh) up there, too, because BBtM heals minor wounds as well. 

There’s one exception to the above, though, and that’s the fight with the Guild and Kouyou where Atsushi gets knocked out. This seems to be the only way to beat Atsushi--to knock him out, and this happens again onboard the Moby Dick during the boss fight with Fitz. If Akutagawa hadn’t yelled “JINKOOOO” and reeled him back in, he probably would have just kept falling. This actually only happens, I suspect, because of his control. Atsushi passed out when his leg was ripped off and the tiger took over, almost mauling our favorite emo boy. For some reason, this stops happening as BSD progresses. I’m going to chalk it up to Atsushi’s increased control meaning he keeps the tiger at bay even asleep. 

Atsushi, being never trained in the art of badassery, fights mainly with tiger-boosted punches. His only attack is a sucker-punch and...a barrage of sucker punches. No, seriously. I don’t think I’ve ever seen him throw a kick. However, despite the lack of versatility, Atsushi punches hard enough to literally shatter Rashoumon. By the Rat arc, he’s expanded his repertoire to...slashing. With his awesome claws.

Here’s the thing about BBtM that isn’t clearly explained. Akutagawa says something like the tiger’s claws have the power to rip through the very fabric of an ability, and that’s how they defeat Fyodor’s creepy earthbender at the end of the Rat arc. I’m pretty sure that’s how Atsushi broke through Rashoumon as well. He also pulls similar shit in Dead Apple, breaking abilities with the sheer badassery of BBtM. It’s not actually defined (yet) so all I’ll say is, if Atsushi tries hard enough, he can slice and dice ability constructs. Most notably Rashoumon, though I suspect he would be able to do the same thing to Hawthorne’s Scarlet Letter. 

His main weakness is that he seems incapable of dodging or blocking attacks, even though he’s quite good at acrobatics when you watch the Dead Apple boss fight. Instead of avoiding hits, he tanks them. Referencing his fight against Akutagawa on the cargo ship, he lets himself get stabbed over and over and over again. But because BBtM, all this does is delay a few seconds. Which, to be honest, he needs to work on. If his greatest advantage is his speed and he lets himself get stunned every few seconds, he’s not using it well. 

So, in summary! 

Advantages: as a close-range tank, Atsushi’s biggest assets are his ridiculous speed, his surprisingly good instincts and reaction time, and his OP regeneration ability. His weird, almost nullification secondary quality is good in a pinch as well. 

Weaknesses: he’s untrained. Entirely. Yeah, he’s learning from Kunikida by the time the anime drops off and the manga picks up, but this kid is a brawler at heart. He’s not good at strategic thinking and instead charges in to “hit whatever’s moving until it stops”. While his instincts compensate somewhat, like when he uses his tail to stop himself from falling, they can’t compensate entirely. 

To beat Atsushi, keep hitting him to stall for time because you cannot outrun this man, and knock him out for best results. Also, a clever enough strategy will put him out of commission, if the Hunting Dogs/Decay of Angels arc in the manga is any indication. 

Akutagawa analysis forthcoming.

[akutagawaprize]

You'll talk someday about how the Port Mafia is portrayed? ( not the bightest bulbs in the chandelier huh. Not the most subtle either) im not trying to rush you, it bothers me too and im just curious. I like your analysis. Have a nice day

Haha all kidding aside, I’ve been meaning to talk about them for quite a while now. It’s just that I want the stuff I write to make sense, because usually they’re self-indulgent rambles. And this one won’t be an exception, especially since I have so many feelings about Port Mafia.

Usually it’s the protagonists who are outmatched, outgunned, outnumbered, or just generally outclassed. Through sheer force of will and nakama power perfect teamwork do they come out on top. Even then sacrifices have to be made. At the start, the Armed Detective Agency seemed like it will follow this mold, but soon we are introduced to their abilities.

On paper and in practice, the abilities of the members of ADA greatly complement each other. This means that even with few active operatives who can work on the field, they got all bases covered. If this were an MMO they’d have Atsushi and Kenji as tanks, Atsushi again and then Kunikida for DPS, Tanizaki going for Assistance/Crowd Control, Fukuzawa as Buffer, Dazai as Debuffer and of course, Yosano as their Healer. Not to mention Ranpo, the formidable brains behind their operations (with Dazai as backup, or even vice versa).

Now let’s take a look at the mafia. Not counting Odasaku, in their group who doesn’t have an offensive ability? Ace? Sure, but his ability only applies to his subordinates, and anyway he’s also dead. See the problem? Chuuya probably has the most versatile ability in the mafia right now, but it’s either he takes great pride in his prowess as a martial artist or he just can’t think of creative ways to take advantage of the fact that he can, well, manipulate gravity. There’s also Elise, who seems to be “programmed” to be able to do feats no ordinary human can, but we don’t know much about her. Outside of these two, the one who impresses is Kajii. His ability sounded like a joke sure, but he knows how to make use of it and in the right circumstances, can be that one member to watch out for. There’s also talks about another executive member or two. Whether one exists we don’t know, but I can only hope they’ll possess an ability that is a supportive one, or something gamechanging like mind reading or memory wipe.

Don’t get me wrong! It is rather refreshing to see a team full of competent people, especially in their line of work where they’ll find themselves smack dab in the middle of dirty matters the police and the military would rather not handle. That they are well-rounded means it’s easy to imagine why the government would want their help, why they get the requests they do, and why they are favored to take on cases that will pit them against criminals/evildoers who have their own deadly abilities.

But at the same time, the agency members seem almost… overpowered. They have limits and restrictions, true, but these barely influence how they use their abilities. The times they get into action, the enemies have done absolutely nothing to counter them or anticipate their movements… which is a shame really! Heroes are only as good as the villains who oppose their ideologies and this time, Fyodor has Port Mafia beat in spades.

Imagine Chapter 47 with Tanizaki using Kunikida’s note (while he can materialize objects remotely we didn’t know if anybody else could activate it or if distance was gonna an issue, but this does not break previously established rules so it gets a pass) to materialize a switchblade. Wouldn’t it have been far more interesting if one of them saw the trap, retaliated, and then caught Tanizaki off-guard, causing him to use his illusion to play mind games, make them question each other, heck make them question their own senses. But we don’t see any of it, we just see Tanizaki tricking everyone and it’s frustrating to watch, especially since they are already aware of what Tanizaki can do and have taken no measures to ensure he won’t be able to pull the same trick twice.

You see this with Akutagawa and Chuuya too, both preferring brute strength over anything else. Would it have been too OOC to have a panel of Chuuya looking/glancing around, trying to eliminate any possibilities of a trap? I’m sure Ranpo would have succeeded in luring Chuuya regardless but no matter how hotblooded Chuuya is, he’s a mafia executive still! There should be an ounce of logic in that brain. If the one at the top is this hopeless, what about the others?

I wasn’t particularly affected by that scene in Episode 4/Chapter 5 where the ADA systematically wrecks Black Lizard and mops the floor with them because I knew they were the equivalent to Red Shirts despite being properly introduced and being called commanders of an elite fighting squad… Okay, okay, reading what I just typed and looking back, it does make you wonder whether the mafia’s full of jobbers like these guys or if the ones at the top are just much, much scarier. Akutagawa was beaten by an untrained and inexperienced Atsushi who had been with ADA in just, what, a month or two? Chuuya’s an executive who looks cool and has an ability that is even cooler, but stick him next to Dazai and he becomes a sheepdog who’s all bark and no bite. Let’s not forget how he can only activate the “true” form of his ability if Dazai’s there to cancel it or else his body will give up on him. Kouyou looks like she means business, but she goes soft for Kyouka. Despite saying she’d stay in the mafia to help run their organization, one couldn’t help but wonder based on her recent actions whether she’s having second thoughts. The Black Lizard… No comment. Higuchi… She’s a badass Muggle, but a Muggle nonetheless.

Mori? Now we’re talking. In episode 21/Chapter 30 we learn that the previous leader had gone delirious and started giving out illogical orders, resulting to confusion and punishing losses on the mafia’s side. Mori relieves the leader of his duty, with a young Dazai as the sole witness. Mori has ambitions, but the exchange also implies that if the leader hadn’t let things escalate to such a sorry state then Mori wouldn’t have needed to go that far. Remember, at the conclusion of the 3 Way War Arc, he gave Kouyou the option of staying or running away. He may be coolheaded, but he’s not coldblooded. All of the actions he takes are to ensure the continued survival of the mafia, which is why unless some other canon information comes out, I’ll choose to believe that until now Mori is wrestling with the idea of killing Dazai for good or letting him be. I won’t put it past Mori to think up of a plan to convince Dazai to go back willingly, even putting his life on the line. Just as he won’t kill Dazai, he’s sure Dazai won’t kill him because once that happens there will be no turning back. So as long as the chance of Dazai returning is not at 0%, Mori will keep Dazai alive until he is sure he won’t have any need for him in the future.

Moving on, this is all rather awkward, but one glaring weakness of Port Mafia right now is just how damn good Mori is at his job. His absence leaves such a vacuum that everything is thrown out of order. There is no one to assume command the same way he can; the successor he’d groomed has long jumped ship. All other candidates for his replacement are woefully inadequate and ill-prepared. It’s a fate which calls to mind those great conquerors whose kingdoms fell into ruin not too long after they have passed away. Again, this is probably why Mori had invited Dazai back even if he was the one who chased him out in the first place.The thing is, no one has shown awareness of this. There has been no talk about any fear for the future, about what would happen post-Mori. The way the mafia acts, they think they’re invincible, that the halcyon days would never come to an end. Never mind that the ADA and maybe even the police had cornered them with their backs pressed against the wall a few couple times. To maf members, their strength and number are enough; sense, caution and tactics can come later. Ironic, considering these are things Mori presumably values and holds in high regards.

The Port Mafia has no unifying goal, so to speak. Of course, the ultimate point of the mafia is to make money, with violence as a currency they are willing to spend on those who won’t bow their heads. It’s a choice of lifestyle for those who enjoy crime and the taste of power… for those who find it easier to be dishonest… and maybe those who simply have nowhere else to go back to like that kid who became Ace’s collared subordinate. The mafia is their home, but unlike with the ADA, they didn’t join to make friends or play house. Again, most of them are probably motivated by money. That’s why when Mori was incapacitated, they didn’t have the same desperation as ADA, even with Hirotsu saying they are fighting to prove their worth by protecting their boss.

Finally, while the Port Mafia are heralded as “wardens of the night” and are comfortable in monitoring and participating in underground dealings and criminal activities in Yokohama, outside of their jurisdiction they hold little power. They have no ties to other organizations, no allies to back them up. ADA can count on the government for support for example. Add to that, Lucy and Poe from the Guild are practically unofficial members now. So how about the mafia? Is it possible that other port cities like Kobe and Nagasaki have their own mafia, and are affiliated with Yokohama’s Port Mafia? What about international ties? Knowing Mori, they should have built up a network of clients and freelancers, ones the executives or the mafia’s Intelligence Division could have called upon once it was clear Mori was in grave danger and that the enemy knows mostly everyone in their organization. Outside help, one which the enemy wouldn’t have suspected, would have gone a long, long way and would have at least messed up some of ADA’s plans.

In wanting to give the heroes some spotlight, Asagiri-san has forgotten that the mafia has just as much as stake as the agency, but are not fighting like it. They are old dogs who won’t learn new tricks, while ADA has this “adapt or die” mindset. They have smartly split up into two groups (or 3, if you count Ranpo by himself) to explore all the options that could save Fukuzawa’s life. It’s probably this difference in their way of thinking that for a “rival organization”, the mafia has become bland and underwhelming.

scanlation credit: Dazai Scans, Easy Going Scans

[yellowcanna]

Two Sides, Same Coin

Summary: Since the beginning of Quirks, Yokohama has announced independence from Japan and closed itself from the rest of the world.

To this day and age, no one knows what lies within the city of Yokohama—or that was what the public was made to believe. In reality, Yokohama has long fallen into the control of the world’s largest criminal organization known as the Port Mafia.

Follow Class 1-A as their principal organized a field trip to Yokohama! In their short trip there, they must change their perspectives and learn exactly what it means to be justice and what it means to be villains.

Rating: T

Genre: Crossover, shounen-ai (boy love)

Pairing: Contains mild Soukoku (Dazai x Chuuya) and Shin Soukoku (Akutagawa x Atsushi) if you squint

Author: Canna / Yellow Canna

Available on AO3!!

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CHAPTER 10

REUNION (DAY 2: MONDAY)

In the long, awkward silence, all attentions were turned to the man standing in the middle of the change room.

The police stared with their jaws dropped.

The suspects gave the man a strange look, not sure what to think.

Minoura looked like he wanted to murder someone let alone solving a murder mystery.

The kids…well, they were still reeling from the information thrown over their heads.

“Ranpo-san…? Just now, what did you…?” Yaoyorozu had hoped she heard wrong. Weren’t they supposed to observe the man solving the case? How did it turn into them solving the case?!

“Hm? Did I not make myself clear?” Ranpo said in a genuinely confused tone. “I said to solve this case in thirty minutes!”

“Uh, no, we heard that part…” Kirishima scratched the back of his head. “But how do we solve this?”

“Just solve it like normal," Ranpo shrugged as if it was the most obvious thing.

“Like hell we can do that!” Bakugou roared in his face.

"Oh?” Bakugou wanted to smash his fist into the man’s smug face. “But I can solve this mystery in one minute!”

“Bullshit!”

“Just because you can’t do it, doesn’t mean anything. I would appreciate it if you don’t put a great detective like me on the same level as you.”

“THAT’S IT!”

“Bakugou!”

“Bakugou, calm down!”

Kirishima and Sato were on Bakugou in a blink of an eye, pulling him back and away from the smiling man.

“Besides, the time I’m giving you should be more than enough. Or…” Ranpo opened up his right eye as if mocking them for their lack of knowledge. "Are you saying you can't even solve something so simple? I thought it's your dream to become heroes and help people."

Around them, the police slowly looked away—perhaps to save their last shred of dignity with how Ranpo’s insult had indirectly targeted them as well.

“If you can stop playing around, we need to solve this case," Minoura said through gritted teeth.

“Of course!” Ranpo hummed happily. “You have the great detective here after all! I assure you that I will solve this mystery! So Minoura-senpai, I will leave them to you! Help them out will ya?”

And then, without waiting for a response, Ranpo turned to the kids. “I’m being very generous by giving you all one minute each. Don’t bother questioning the suspects, I would use that time to inspect the lady for clues!”

“Hey!” Minoura instantly cut in. “They can’t go near the victim! The evidence will—!”

“With the great detective here at the scene, you don’t need those things anymore.” Ranpo waved. “Make sure you solve this in twenty minutes!”

“Wait, twenty?! You just said we got thirty minutes!” Ashido shouted.

“I did.” Ranpo pulled out a pocket watch from his pocket and held it out for them to see. “That was ten minutes ago, and now you have exactly twenty.”

Just like that, Ranpo left.

He actually left.

As in walking right out of the crime scene, out of the change room, into the elevator…

“Sir?” A policewoman turned to her chief. “What do we do now?”

All the police officers in the room could understand the underlying meaning to her words—are they seriously going to let a group of suspicious-looking kids join in on the case?

Minoura rubbed his temples as if fighting off some sort of major headache.

“Let them.” Minoura sighed in defeat before turning to face the kids. “Do what you want, but you can only get a closer look at the victim and that’s it. Touching the victim is prohibited, are we clear?” Minoura narrowed his eyes as the kids rapidly nodded. “Kobayashi, keep an eye on them. I need a smoke.”

“Eh? Me?!” Kobayashi stared at his chief in disbelieve. The only thing he got was a pat on the shoulder as his chief walked out on him. The young policeman then turned to his colleagues, only to find all of them looking anywhere but at him. It was obvious none of them wanted to be dragged into babysitting duty.

Silence filled the room as all eyes were focused on kids. Withstanding the pressure and gazes burning holes into their bodies, they slowly shuffled closer towards the shower room where the dead actress was.

From the blood pooling under her head and the bloodstain on the faucet, it wasn't hard to guess how she died.

“So how will we do this?” Kirishima asked, already lost.

“For now…we should analyze the scene," Yaoyorozu suggested. She eyed the corpse with some unease in her eyes. She wasn’t the only one. They were all nervous about getting any closer to the body. They didn’t smell it before, but when they got closer to the shower, they picked up the heavy stench of blood despite the water from the shower had already washed away most of that scent.

"What's there to look at?" Aoyama squeaked as he stood there shivering like a dried leaf in the autumn breeze. "Isn't this just an accident?

It was true.

No matter how they look at it, this looked like an accident. Suzuki Yui slipped, hit her head against the faucet and died. What else were they supposed to find?

“Excuse me—ugh, Kobayashi-san?” Midoriya called to the policeman, hoping he had got the name right.

“Yes?” Kobayashi came over to them.

“Why did the police think Suzuki-san was killed?”

“A fall like this wouldn't be able to kill anyone," Kobayashi answered, looking over to the body. "If she really did slip and hit her head against a faucet, the worst she would have gotten was a crack skull. It wouldn't kill her. But right now, the back of her skull is completely shattered and the brain inside is severely damaged. A part of her brain had leaked out, but the water already washed most of those down the drain by the time we arrived."

Those with weaker stomachs felt sick just hearing the simple descriptions.

“If you look at the faucet where the bloodstain is, you’ll find a small dent there. From the damage on her head and the dent on the metal, we believe that her head been mashed against the faucet multiple times.”

Some of the students gasped in horror at the information. Kouda let out a small, muffled cry before hurriedly slapping his hands over his mouth.

“T-that’s too cruel…!” Uraraka shivered as she looked down at the actress.

“They didn’t have to go that far to kill her!” Kaminari blurted out before realizing how wrong his sentence sounded. “No, they shouldn’t kill her at all!”

“Which means…” Ojirou crossed his arms and frowned deeply as he tried to make sense of any of this. “The person who killed her did it by grabbing her head and kept smashing her into the faucet?”

“It doesn’t make sense…” A soft muttered was heard and everyone turned to see Midoriya, mumbling to himself like normal.

“What is it now you fucking nerd? Spit it out!” Bakugou snapped impatiently. Unfortunately, Midoriya didn’t even seem to have heard as he continued his mumbling. Before Bakugou could explode at being ignored, Midoriya suddenly looked up with a gasp as he ran into the shower room.

“D-Deku-kun?!” Uraraka yelped in surprise as everyone watched Midoriya crouched down next to the woman’s hand and stared at her manicure. “Just like I thought!”

“What is it?” Sero asked. “Did you figure out something?”

“Look at her nails!” The green-haired teen said, pointing at the woman’s nails. Yaoyorozu stuck her head in a little, looking closely at the nail before a small gasp escaped her.

“What is it? What did you see?” Hagakura waved her hands impatiently, wanting some answers.

“Look at this.” Yaoyorozu pointed at the woman’s beautiful long nails. “Her manicures are perfect. There isn’t the slightest chip in them.”

“So?” Mineta said flatly, not sure why they’re talking about nails all of the sudden. It can’t be a girl thing, can it?

“I see!” Iida beamed as if he had just discovered a gold mine.

“So that’s how it is…” Todoroki mumbled softly to himself.

“Gero!”

“See what? What’s going on?” Kirishima looked around in confusion, clearly not getting what the smarter ones in the classes were getting.

“Are you stupid?” Bakugou snorted, gaining the attention of his oblivious classmates. “It means she was dead before she was even in this shower room.”

“What?!” Kaminari gasped in shock.

“How do you know that?!” Ashido asked in disbelief.

“The fact that her nails are so clean means she didn’t struggle against her attacker," Yaoyorozu explained. “If she had fought back against the culprit, there should be signs of scratches or chips on her nails, especially when her nails are so long.”

“She could have been knocked out or something though.” Sato pointed out.

“If that’s the case then the first impact would have woken her up," Midoriya said as he glanced over to the three suspects. “No matter how you look at it, none of those three people look strong. They wouldn’t be able to lift Suzuki-san’s head very high considering the weight of her body. The same for when they smash her head against the faucet. That’s why the criminal needed to smash her head so many times against the faucet…because that’s how many times it takes to break through her skull!”

“I see…” Shouji nodded. “And even if she wouldn’t have woken up, the culprit will still worry about her suddenly waking up and fighting back. It’s only logical that they kill her first.”

“But then why still do all this?” Uraraka

gestured to the shower room.

"Probably to cover up the evidence," Asui croaked.  

“The criminal must have killed her somewhere else with a weapon," Tokoyami said. “To cover up the weapon they used, they smashed her head repeatedly against the faucet to erase that evidence while creating a false scene to make everyone believe that her death was an accident.”

“That means if we find the weapon, we find the culprit!” Hagakure cheered.

“Kobayashi-san, does the rooftop not have security cameras?” Yaoyorozu asked.

“Unfortunately.” Kobayashi groaned at the reminder. “Because it is outdoor, cameras get wear out easily so the hotel decided not to place any cameras here. During the day, they have lifeguards and night times are only open to expert swimmers with licenses, so they never worried about accidents happening.”

“Then did the police find any weapons?” Ashido questioned.

"No, we've searched the entire area as well as the suspects and their rooms, but were unable to find anything that could be used as weapons to kill Suzuki-san.” Kobayashi replied. “Most likely the culprit has already disposed of the weapon. That’s why we called in Ranpo-san to help us. If we allow the suspects to leave, then any other evidence that might be left behind will be gone once the culprit gets free.”

“So we need to find what the weapon that killed her was.” Todoroki frowned.

“Maybe a bat!” Kirishima suggested, making a swinging motion with his hand. “Those things hit pretty hard! Especially metal ones!”

“So can a golf club.” Ojiro pointed out.

“A hammer works too!” Mineta joined in.

To the side, Kouda was frantically doing things with his hands to form rectangular shapes.

“Oh, you mean bricks?” Jirou asked after a moment of staring at Kouda’s hand gesture.

“How vulgar…” Aoyama was turning green at all these suggestions his classmates were listing that could kill people.

“I think you’re all just complicating things! Couldn’t it just be a knife or something?” Kirishima cut in.

“Can knives even go through the skull?” Sero asked.

“It’s possible," Yaoyorozu furrowed her brows as she thought over the possibilities. “As long as the weapon is sharp and sturdy enough, it might even be easier to break into the bone than blunt objects.”

“So basically anything could be a weapon!” Kirishima scratched his head furiously.

“No, we can still narrow some down.” Shouji patted the blond over the shoulder. “Her head was smashed into the corner of the faucet, so whatever the weapon was, it must be sharp. If it was blunter weapons like a golf club or a bat, the area would be bigger and harder to hide.”

“Is that true?” Kirishima turned to Kobayashi who jumped.

“Urgh…well, yeah…” Kobayashi blinked.

“So it’s a knife then!” Kirishima cheered. Finally, they're getting somewhere!

“Non, non, you’re all doing this wrong!” Aoyama interrupted, shaking his index finger left and right to empathize with his point. “Rather than guessing the weapons, it would be much easier to guess which one of those people is capable of doing it!”

“And how are we supposed to guess?” Sero questioned.

“That’s right!” Midoriya gasped as he turned to Kobayashi. “Kobayashi-san, could we see the surveillance camera of when they came here?”

“Uh…sure.” Kobayashi didn’t think there would be harm showing these kids the footages, so he tapped the bracelet on his left wrist. A holographic screen popped out in thin air, causing the kids’ eyes to round at the sight. With a few swipes of his finger and a wave of his hand, Kobayashi flipped the screen and the video began to play.

The first video was Saito and Suzuki walking into the elevator together. Both women were carrying a bag of their swimwear. There were no audio, but the two of them looked pretty happy as they exchanged small talks until exiting to the rooftop pool.

After that, the video switched to Saito walking into the elevator alone. She was wiping her wet that was still dripping with water before shoving the towel into her bag. After the elevator arrived at her floor, she walked out—presumably returning to her hotel room.

Another video was then played, showing the surgeon Omura walking into the elevator empty-handed. When he left the rooftop, he was as empty-handed as when he had when arrived. There weren’t any changes in him at all.

The third was the worker Hayashi. He came into the elevator pushing a cart of cleaning supplies.

“No matter how you look at it, this guy is the most suspicious!” Kaminari said as he pointed at the cart Hayashi was pushing in the video. “He could hide a bunch of things in there!”

“But if the weapon is just a knife, then the lady could hide it in her bag as well.” Sato pointed out.

“Ah! Damn it, you’re right!”

“But at least we can leave out that surgeon.” Tokoyami hummed. “He didn’t have anything he could hide his weapon in.”

“So it gotta be either the lady or that other guy!” Hagakure concluded.

“I’d say we just beat them all until one of them confesses!” Bakugou smirked as he smashed his right fist into his left hand.

“Bakugou-kun! Why must you always be like this?!” Iida yelled.

“I’m pretty sure we’ll all get arrested," Jirou muttered with a roll of her eyes. Did the guy even realize they’re literally surrounded by police right now?

“How do you guys think they stab her?” Asui spoke up, pulling the conversation back into the case.

“Well…it gotta be when her back was turned.” Sero pointed out the obvious.

“Oh! I know!” Mineta suddenly said. Everyone turned to him and saw the petite boy wearing a cocky smile on his lips. “That woman and that man got different heights. All we need to do is to see if the injury is higher or lower and we’ll know the criminal behind this! If her head injury is higher up on her head, it means that guy did it! If it’s lower, then it’s that woman!”

Kobayashi listened from the sideline with the corner of his lips constantly twitching. He briefly wondered if he should point out all the flaws that logic has before ultimately decided to just let the kids continue to play around.

“But that’s only when the victim’s standing.” Midoriya simply said, unknowingly slamming down Mineta’s chance to shine as he continued to look over the woman’s body hoping to find…well, anything. “She could have been sitting when it happened.”

“Then what—” Whatever Ashido was going to say, she didn’t get the chance to finish as another voice cut in, stopping all of them any further discussion.

“Twenty minutes up!”

They all turned to see Ranpo strolling in with a smile on his face and Minoura following behind.

“No way, it’s twenty minutes already?!” Uraraka gasped.

“Have you found your culprit yet?” The raven haired-man asked teasingly as if he already knew the answer.

“We know she didn’t die from getting hit on the faucet! She was stabbed in the head by a knife!” Hagakure told him their results so far.

“And?” Ranpo tilted his head to the side. “What knife?”

“What do you mean?” Yaoyorozu blinked in confusion.

“What type of knife killed Suzuki Yui-san?”

Ranpo’s question was met by silence. None of them thought to think about that. They were too busy trying to figure out who had the highest possibility of killing the woman.

“A…kitchen knife?” Kaminari guessed. After all, there’s a kitchen in the hotel, the culprit could have easily grabbed one from there.

“Wrooong!”

“Ugh…a…a fruit knife?” The blond tried again.

“Nope!”

“A scissor?!”

“Looks like that’s as far as you go!” Ranpo clapped his hands as if taunting their slow progress. “Well, it can’t be helped! After all, compared to a great detective like me, you’re all just novice!”

“What was that?!” Bakugou gritted his teeth so hard that the veins in his neck were popping out. “Then you figure out the damn thing!”

“Kacchan!”

“With pleasure!” Ranpo then pulled out a pair of glasses from his pocket and slipped it onto his face. “Ability: Ultra Deduction!”

“Finally…” Minoura grumbled from the side.

“That’s Ranpo-san’s Ability?” Midoriya gasped as he and his classmates stared at Ranpo intensely.

They expected…well, they didn’t know what to expect, but they had at least expected something—like that other Agency member with illusion Ability. In their eyes, it just looked like the man had put on a pair of glasses.  

That was it…nothing else seemed to be happening.

“Uh…” Midorya stared at the man awkwardly.

“The fuck?! Nothing’s happening!” Bakugou huffed.

“The culprit…” Ranpo raised a hand high into the air. Then he brought it down, pointing directly at a certain man. “Is you, Omura Daiki-san.”

“Eh?!” Everyone stared at the surgeon standing at the center of the three suspects.

“What are you talking about?” Omura snorted. “I didn’t—”

“You and Suzuki Yui-san were planning on marrying, weren’t you?” Ranpo said, gaining looks of shock from everyone around him.

“What are you—!”

“Your ring finger.” Ranpo pointed down to his left hand.

There, on the man’s ring finger was a faint white line that was somewhat visible around his slightly tan skin. “That’s proof that you used to wear a ring there. To leave a mark behind means you’ve been wearing that same ring every single day until just recently. Suzuki-san doesn’t have that kind of mark on her hand, meaning that you’re the only one who had been taking it seriously. When you heard about her dating the actor in the outside world and even planning on marrying him, you killed her.”

“Wait, I thought you propose with handcuffs?” Kirishima blurted out. Immediately, all the adults were staring at him with weird looks in their eyes.

“Who the hell proposes with handcuffs?” Minoura glared at Kirishima. He thought this kid was just trying to mess around, but when he saw the genuine look of confusion on his face—he became even angrier. His righteousness kicked in at that moment, feeling a sense of duty to pound some common sense into the boy.

Seriously, who in the world proposes with handcuffs?!

Kirishima blinked innocently, not sure why the man was suddenly yelling at him.

“Er…you…don’t?” Hagakure asked dumbly as a means to defend her classmate.

"Of course you don't!" The police chief scowled. "What the hell have you kids been taught?! Who are your guardians?!”

The man was already pulling out a notebook, about to record down all the people responsible for these kids and pay them a visit.  

As of this moment, there were only two thoughts going through Class 1-A’s minds.

The first was that they’re doomed.

The second was that they’ve been had.

Everyone was quiet as the police chief impatiently waited for the kids to respond. The only sound could be heard was the sound of Bakugou grinding his teeth, promising to kill that bandage freak if they ever run into him again.

“Now, now, we’re getting off the topic!” Ranpo jumped in as he patted Minoura’s shoulder. “And here I was getting to the weapon used to kill Suzuki-san.”

“Don’t spout nonsense!” Omura was fuming. If looks could kill, Ranpo would be reduced to ashes by now. “I would never kill her!”

“And that weapon is something only Omura-san can use~” Ranpo looked to the kids, completely ignoring Omura. “A weapon that is lethal, but small enough to be kept on your body without anyone noticing.”

“A weapon only he could use?” Tokoyami glanced at Omura, then to the other two suspects.

“I see!” Yaoyorozu gasped. ��Omura-san is a surgeon which means…!”

“A scalpel!” They all shouted out the answer. After all, what other lethal weapons would a surgeon have?

“Bingo!” Ranpo turned back to Omura. “You stabbed your scalpel into the back of Suzuki-san’s head and disposed of it the only way you can think of…"

Ranpo pointed towards the body of the woman—or rather, the shower room.

Midoriya, being the closest to the shower room, immediately started to investigate. He looked everywhere until he sees the woman’s hair that was half sucked into the drain…

“The drains!” Midoriya exclaimed. With Ranpo giving them a lead, every else naturally began to fall together. “He threw the scalpel into the drain!”

“The pipes in the showers curve at the bottom so the scalpel wouldn’t get washed down," Ranpo explained. “After fruitless searching and coming up with nothing, the police will have no choice but to let the suspects go. Once everything calms down you plan on coming back under the pretense of mourning for Suzuki-san and retrieve your weapon.”

“But how would he do that?” Uraraka asked in confusion.

“With a magnet of course!” Ranpo replied. “In rare times when a scalpel blade broke and is stuck in the body, doctors would use magnets to retrieve those broken pieces. All he needed to do was to tie a rope around a magnet and toss it into the drain. That way he can easily pull out the scalpel with traces of Suzuki Yui-san's blood. Bloodstains don't wash away that easily, I’m sure you know that, Omura-san.”

“You heard him, get a magnet and rope!” Minoura ordered his men as three of them hurried outside to find those items.

“Just because the weapon’s a scalpel, you can’t say it was me!” Omura continued to deny it, but they could all see the panic in his eyes. “Anyone could get a scalpel with enough money!”

"All we need to do is match the model of that scalpel to the ones at your workplace and we'll know whether it's yours or not," Minoura said coldly, glaring at the man.

“I—!”

“Omura-san.” Ranpo interrupted him, slowly opening his right eye as that emerald green orb peered into him, making the man tremble and took a small step back.

“When you were arguing with Saito-san back then, what did you said?”

“Huh?” Saito blinked, clearly confused as to why she was suddenly brought into the conversation.

“What are you going on about now?” Omura hissed.

“When Saito-san claimed she wouldn’t kill Suzuki Yui-san over such petty thing, what was your response again?”

“Like hell I’d remember!” Omura snapped without even bothering to recall the event. “What does that matter?!”

Everyone stared at Ranpo. This time, none of them knew what in the world the detective was going on about.

“You said, I wouldn’t either," Ranpo smirked. “Isn’t it strange? When a person uses wordings like that, you must first need to be agreeing to what the other person is saying and using their words to back up yours. That means you are agreeing to the fact that Saito-san wouldn’t kill Suzuki-san over something so petty despite accusing her of doing so. In other words, you knew Saito-san is innocent. Who else but the culprit would know something like that?”

Small gasps erupted from the students as they all stared at Ranpo in shock. Had Ranpo not brought that up, none of them would remember such small yet important detail. During that argument, the man had been contradicting himself and no one but Ranpo had noticed!

“That’s just—those are just words! It was a heat of the moment and I just said the wrong thing! You can't use that to prove anything!” Omoura spluttered, gaze wild as he began to step forward, only to be grabbed by two policemen who handcuffed him.

"We'll hear the rest of that at the station," Minoura spoke with authority in his firm voice before turning and dipping his head to Ranpo. “Thank you for assisting us with this case, Ranpo-san. As usual, that Ability of yours is amazing.”

“Ah, something like this is nothing to a great detective.” Ranpo waved before looking over to the kids. “Well then, our job here is done! Time to go back to the Agency!”

If the kids had any issues with Ranpo before, it was now all gone. They were all staring at the raven haired-man as if he was a second All Might. Well, perhaps not as amazing as All Might, but a close one.

“YES!”

As they walked out of the change room, Uraraka who was at the back of the group noticed a woman in police uniform speed walking by them and clutched in her hand was a red flower.

No, that was a spider lily.

Uraraka didn’t know she had stopped walking as she turned to stare at the flower in the policewoman’s hand.

“Sir! We found a flower in front of Suzuki-san’s room.” The policewoman reported as she held out the flower in her rubber-gloved hand.

“A flower?” Minoura frowned. “When was it there?”

“I’m not sure.” The woman was just as confused as her chief. “A cleaning lady brought this to us and told us she found it on the floor leaning against the door.”

“It’s probably a fan then." Minoura swore under his breath. "Most people in this hotel already found out about the murder. Let's clean this place up quickly!"

"Yes, sir!"

“Ochako-chan?” Asui called, looking back when she noticed her friend wasn’t following along.

“Oh! I’m coming!” Uraraka smiled as she hurriedly joined up with her classmates, completely dismissing the flower into the back of her mind.

◤◢◣◥◤◢◣◥◤◢◣◥◤◢◣◥

Ring

The melodic sound of chime echoed throughout the dimly lit room.

Ring

There was a sound of rustling sheets and spring creaking under the protest of the shifting weight.

Ring

An arm wrapped in white bandages stretched out from within the sheet, grabbing the phone that had been ringing on the nightstand.

“Ane-san.” Dazai greeted in his light and cheerful voice that was devoid of any sleep despite having just woken. “I trust that your mission went well?”

“Naturally.” Kouyou’s bemused voice came from the other side. In the background, there was a very faint rumbling sound of engines. She must be in a car. “I simply exaggerated the rumour about the target’s love life in the outside world and spread it throughout the hotel. That was enough for the man to kill her.”

“As expected of ane-san. This will save us a lot of trouble from those government dogs.”

“It’s such a pity…I had been looking forward to her new movie that’s coming out this year.” Kouyou lamented, though there wasn't any real sadness within her voice. “On my way out, I've come across those children. I suppose this is part of the Boss’s plan?”

“Something like that~”

Kouyou didn’t question it any further. Instead, she asked, “I trust that the documents I’ve asked you to look over have been approved?”

"Of course," Dazai replied without skipping a beat. “It’ll be ready on my desk.”

With that, Dazai cut off the call. He casually tossed the phone over his shoulder, not caring where the device landed as he snuggled back into his bed—back to the warmth being held delicately his arms.

“Let’s go back to sleep, Chuuya…” He purred, fingers stroking down the back of the smooth silk as he leaned forward, lips pressing against that patch of pumpkin orange hair.

It was at that moment that the door to his bedroom suddenly slammed open, followed by a scream he was all too familiar with.

“DAZAIIIIIIIII!!!!!!!!!”

Standing right at the doorway, shrouded by the bright light in the hallway was the Port Mafia boss's right-hand man, Nakahara Chuuya. The Ability user was fuming as he clutched onto the stack of papers in his hand.

“Oh my! Is Chuuya finally joining me in bed?” Dazai’s voice that came from the darkness was so cheerful and eager that it made Chuuya’s eyelid jump.

“Get the fuck up and start doing your work you bastard! I haven’t got a wink of sleep going through all these paper works you left me to do! The most you can do is be helpful and deliver these to ane-san!”

As he said that, he slammed the piles of paper against the wall. The impact causing the automatic light in the bedroom to slowly brighten, chasing the shadows away and revealing the Port Mafia Boss who was slowly sitting upright in his bed.

“What…the fuck is that?” Chuuya’s eyes narrowed as he glared at that specific bump beneath the blankets…right next to his boss.

Dazai hastily pulled up the blanket in an attempt to hide like a husband would do after getting caught in bed with his mistress. Unfortunately for him, Chuuya was already by his bedside in a blink of an eye. Despite being the boss and having control over the entire Yokohama, Dazai’s still strength was no match for Chuuya…or seventy percent of the Port Mafia for that matter.

Chuuya grabbed a fist full of the blanket and hurled it across the room, tossing Dazai along as well since the brunet had been clutching onto the blanket.

What happened next was very interesting—in Dazai’s view, that is.  

First Chuuya’s face turned pale, then to an unhealthy green, and finally, his face became so red that Dazai was sure he could light up the entire room.

“DA-ZA-IIIII!!!!!!” Chuuya snarled, whirling around with those icy blue eyes promising murder. “WHAT. THE. FUCK. IS. THIS?!”

He repeated his words from before, except the emotion and meaning it conveyed was now completely different.

“This,” Dazai jumped back onto the bed and hugged the body pillow tightly in his arms, “is my darling Chuuya of course!”

A body pillow.

A freaking body pillow that has the image of a certain seething Executive printed on the surface! And of all images, it had to be the one from that time when Chuuya lost yet another bet to Dazai (hell knows why he kept doing it) and was forced to walk out of the room while acting like some high-class-lady!

On the body pillow, Chuuya had his left arm folded to his chest, his knees tucked together and his right hand stretched out, pointing towards hell knows what. There was even a pink speech bubble on the stupid thing saying, “There won’t be a second time! ♡”

“Since Chuuya won’t stay with me in bed I have no choice but to get a replacement!” Dazai whined in disappointment before perking back up again. "But don't worry, I made sure to make this as close to you as possible! Look, it's even the same height as you! 159 cm!”

“I’M 160 CM!!!”

“So Chuuya’s finally admitting that he’s short?”

"SHUT THE HELL UP AND GIVE ME THAT!"

“Ahn~! Chuuya! So bold!”

"GIVE THAT TO ME, YOU SHITTY MACKEREL!!”

“Are we going back to names calling again, slug?”

“YOU’RE DEAD!”

[One Floor Below]

Men and women dressed in black suits sat in front of their computer, working diligently as their fingers flew across their keyboards. There was no idle chatting. The only sound in the air was the clattering sounds of their keyboards and the ringing sound of phones.

And then, a crashing sound of glass was suddenly heard.

All of them jumped up at once, guns pulled free from their holsters as they pointed their weapons towards the window and saw…

A…a body pillow?

It was a body pillow…and imprinted on that body pillow was a face every single Port Mafia members were made to memorize. Many even idolized and looked up to that person as their role model.

They stared blankly at the window. The body pillow was already long gone, dragged by gravity as it continued its fall downward.

All at once, a single thought flashed through all of their minds as blood drained from their faces.

They were going to die.

“FUCK!” A loud yell came from the outside…or to be more specific, from one floor higher than them. With the window (reinforced windows made with special materials) now broken, the soundproof room above was no longer soundproof, allowing them to hear everything from the outside.

The voices were muffled thanks to the glass, but it was still pretty easy for them to hear the voice of a certain Executive.

“GET OFF ME YOU BASTARD!”

There was the sound of crashing, followed by some muffled voices speaking something they couldn’t quite make out.

And then…

“TO HELL WITH YOUR DOUBLE SUICIDE! IF ANYONE SAW THAT I SWEAR I’LL—!”

It was at this moment that they finally came to their senses and fled as if their lives depended on it.

In less than a minute, the entire floor has been evacuated.

[Thirteen Floors Below]

The air was quiet as two figures slowly walked down the red carpet of the hallway. The youth walking at the front suddenly came to an abrupt stop. Golden eyes blinked as they gazed out the window that completely made up one side of the hallway.

Then as if sensing something, the boy and the girl behind him jumped back from the window. The boy’s black cloak fluttered around him as he held his leather-gloved hand out, ready to strike out at any given moment. The girl unsheathed her dagger and positioned it in front of her as well as the boy in a protective manner.

And then, as if moving in slow motion, a 159 cm body pillow suddenly dropped into both of their sights, carrying a face they were all too familiar with.

Golden eyes widened as they shifted along with the body pillow, watching as it went down, down and down until it was out of their sights.

After a long moment, the boy’s frame trembled slightly, as if he had finally broke out of the invisible force holding him in place.

…Or perhaps he was simply shaking off the Goosebumps that had covered the surface of his skin at some point.

“Just now…was that…?”

[Forty-five Floors Below]

“Last night, three more organizations have made a move." A blond-haired woman reported as she walked down the hallway with papers in her hands. "That makes this a total of thirteen organizations. Their spies have also been circling us and other territories for the past five days. We've also received reports of them gathering a large number of firearms."

She looked up at the black-cloaked boy walking in front of her.

“Will we be heading out tonight, senpai?”

“Naturally.” Was the curt response, before the raven-haired boy brought his pale hands to his lips and coughed lightly.

Then all of a sudden, the man whirled around, his eyes sharp and black cloak fluttered, seeming to be coming alive while the woman swiftly pulled out her gun. Both of them turned towards the window as a body pillow suddenly appeared into their views for a split second before disappearing again.

The woman’s jaw dropped as the papers slowly slipped out of her hand and scattered over the floor…

[Ground Floor]

It had been just like any other day as black-suited men guarded the entrance to the Port Mafia headquarters. When a sleek black car pulled up to the entrance, they all knew who had arrived and stepped forward to greet her when that descended from the sky.

Everything happened too fast.

The car doors flew open as the driver and the passenger leaped out of the car while the guards stationed around whipped out their weapons. Five of them instantly jumped in front of the red-haired woman, acting as her shield with fingers already pulling at the triggers of their guns—ready to fire at the first sign of threat.

It was at that very moment that a human sized object slammed onto the top of the black car. It wasn’t an enemy, nor was the object heavy enough to crush the vehicle. It didn’t explode upon impact either. When they took a closer look, they all realized what that thing was and more importantly—what was on it.

Their faces became white as chalk with cold sweat bleeding out of their pores.

They were dead.

It was too late for them to pretend not to have seen anything when they clearly saw it. They became witnesses to something none of them should ever see, and they’ll be silenced for it. After all, only the dead can keep secrets.

That has always been the Port Mafia’s way.

Large beads of sweat rolled down their faces as the woman they were guarding moved. A small step was all it took for the guards to quickly part ways for her. All of their heads were hung low, none of them daring to look at the woman in the eyes.

Everything after that happened so fast that no one could even react. All they saw was a flicker of the infamous Golden Demon materializing behind their Executive before the car went up in flames.

Black smoke rose to the sky as bright orange flames fed on the remains of the car (sliced into four equal pieces) and along with the body pillow lying at the center like some sort of offering to God.

The body pillow was consumed by the fire in an instant. It only took half a minute for it to be reduced into ashes.

“A bomb had been planted under my car. The perpetrator has been captured and dealt with.” Kouyou spoke in a silvery voice that sent chills down all of their backs. She turned and began to walk towards the front door to their headquarter.

“However, there may be accomplices yet to be found," Kouyou said, stopping right at the automatic doors as she looked over her shoulder. One of the men—who were either brave or just plain stupid—took a chance and peeked up. He immediately regretted his action when he saw those blood-red eyes glaring towards him with the promise of a very slow and painful death. “Do keep an eye out for them.”

The message was very clear: Speak of this incident and you will be dealt with.

Anyone smart enough would know what to do in this situation, and there are no idiots within the Port Mafia. Those idiots all died on their first day within the Port Mafia—especially idiots with loose tongues.

"Yes, ma'am!" They bowed even lower to the woman as she walked through the doors and vanished from their sights.  

◤◢◣◥◤◢◣◥◤◢◣◥◤◢◣◥

It had been a whole fifteen minutes yet the kids were unable to stop their excited chatters. None of them could stop discussing the case or how powerful Ranpo’s Ability was. Ranpo was walking at the very front and in a very good mood. He was more than happy to have the kids singing his praises.

“Ranpo-san!”

“Yes?” Ranpo looked over to the green-haired boy with freckles. His eyes opened up, revealing those green eyes for a split second before they closed into a mischief arch again. It happened so fast that no one paid any attention to it.

“Back then, the police officer reacted strongly when they mentioned Suzuki-san marrying the actor from Japan. Why is that?”

The other students quiet down, curious about that as well.

“You know the differences between us and the outsiders," Ranpo said. It wasn’t a question, but a statement. “Many Yokohama citizens go to the outside world to work, but none of them would make a home there. If anything happened to them, they can’t go to a hospital. The construction of our DNA is completely different than yours. Even if the hospital didn’t freak out over how one of their patients is discovered to be not human, how should they cure them? Blood transfusion or anything else is impossible with us, and even something as simple as a shot might be fatal to us due to the differences in our genetics.”

“So if an Old Human gets injured outside, it’s over?!” Hagakure gasped in horror.

“Of course not! Yokohama has private clinics set up all around Japan. Yokohama citizens are provided with the addresses of these clinics whenever they go out.”

“Seriously?! There are those kinds of places?!” Ashido exclaimed and began to wonder if she had ever come across one.

“Then wouldn’t it be alright if someone decides to live outside and marry?” Midoriya pushed on.

“Temporarily staying outside and permanently living there are two different things, especially when your own spouse is from the outside," Ranpo stated with his hands tucked in his pockets. “It’s taboo for us to reveal our origin or any information about Yokohama to the outside world. Do you think it’s possible to keep that from your spouse?”

“Well…I mean…if you don’t talk about it, they wouldn’t know?” Kaminari mumbled unsurely.

“Then let me ask you this!” Ranpo pointed a finger right in the lightening boy’s face. “What is one of the main issues when an Old Human and a human from the outside marry?”

“E-eh? Uh—”

“You won’t have kids of course!” Ranpo answered without even waiting for the kid’s response. “It’s impossible for two different species to reproduce! That’s all fine and well if both parties have no interest in having children, but that actor, Harada Azuma has a love for kids and is always looking forward to having children of his own. What do you think will happen if nothing comes out? Won’t he request both of them to get their bodies checked? If that happens, then the hospital will find out Suzuki Yui’s genes not matching their human standard?”

“How do you know about that?” Jirou gapped. “Is that part of your Ability?”

“Nope, I just read it!” Ranpo pulled out a magazine that was rolled up in his pocket and tossed it to the girl. Jirou caught the magazine, looking down to see Suzuki Yui and Harada Azuma on the cover. Both celebrities were wearing sunglasses to hide their faces, but it was clear that it’s them.

“This magazine…isn’t this from the outside?” Yaoyorozu spluttered when she saw the magazine.

“You can get them from any convenient stores.” Ranpo pointed to a random convenient store they were passing by. “We get a lot of magazines from Japan. There are also magazines and newspapers from countries like America. We have our own Yokohama magazines, but you won’t be able to bring those with you to the outside.”

The kids looked like they got more questions, but when they rounded a corner, all questions died on their tongues.

Across the street, they could see the red building of the Armed Detective Agency. Standinbg right in front of that building—at the intersection—was a skeletal looking man with straw blond hair.  

“All Might!” The kids shouted as they ran pass Ranpo and towards their hero.

Ever since Kunikida returned to the office and informed him that the kids had taken off, Toshinori had been extremely anxious.

He couldn’t stop fidgeting in his seat whenever he sat down.

When he stood up, he couldn’t stop walking around in circles as his mind wandered to the kids.

Although no one in the office said anything, Toshinori knew he must be bothering them. Knowing that standing around wasn’t going to get him anywhere; he went downstairs and had a delicious breakfast at the Uzumaki café. He sat there for a good hour sipping on coffee before standing outside to wait for his students’ return.

When he caught sight of the kids and the gleeful looks on their faces, Toshinori knew he had been panicking over nothing. They crowded around him and began to eagerly tell him about their experiences.

Toshinori had a smile on his face as he listened. He stopped when he saw a person walking up to them. It was then that he realized how he had forgotten about the Agency member the kids were observing for the day.

“My apologies!” Toshinori hurriedly walked up to greet the man and extended his hand for a friendly shake. “Thank you for looking after my students! I am—”

He wasn't able to complete his self-introduction as his voice died off halfway. His sky blue eyes widened, pupils shakily trying to focus on the person standing in front of him.

The raven haired-man smiled, tipping his hat back to reveal his face as those slanted eyes opened up, revealing those brilliant, forest green eyes that Toshinori could never forget.

“I told you that I’ll see you later, mister.”

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[chuuyaaf]

Living to Die - Parts 1 & 2

Oh god this is long! This is actually parts 1 and 2 (which takes place back when you and Dazai first meet), I wanted to post both since I didn’t feel that either one could really stand all too well alone. 

Also, sorry for the late post, I had to spend the day traveling back to campus and I’m officially back in hell. 

Anyway, I hope you guys enjoy! 

~Admin Kat

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No matter how hard you tried, you could not overcome the darkness within you. 

When you first arrived at Yokohama, blending into the city was impossible. You had never experienced what most people would describe as a “normal” life. You were conditioned to defend. You were like an attack dog. You trusted no one. And you took down everyone that got in your way.

You couldn't stand crowds. Too many witnesses if anything were to happen. And so, whenever you traveled, you took the hidden alleys in between buildings. 

However, this made your paths seem predictable, which made enemy ambushes all too easy. 

You were walking in an alleyway, far away from the hum of the cars moving in the streets. You were always on edge, expecting danger despite trying to live a “normal” life. But something tonight was wrong and your overstimulated senses warned you to run.

You froze. 

Fuckin'...I just want one peaceful day without having to do something dubious...

There was a cold, metal barrel pressed against your back.

I've been in this city for literally two days, who the fuck would want to kill me already?

"We've been looking for you..." a quiet, but alluring voice spoke from behind you.

Your cheeks flushed slightly at the sound of it. And then you got mad.

Suddenly, you turned towards your attacker and knocked the gun out of his hand. 

“Ability: Spiral of Life,” you whispered.

You stood back and built up compressed air against your palm and slammed it against his chest. With a smirk, you released the air pockets and...

Nothing happened.

What?!

When you made skin contact with your attacker, all of your sensory abilities disappeared.

"Tch." You immediately jumped back, getting a chance to finally take in your attacker.

He was slender and tall, with messy, espresso brown hair, with his eyes matching the color. He had bandages wrapped over his right eye and a medical patch on his left cheek. He was attractive, but none of that mattered to you.

 "...There are ability users here, too?" you snarled at him.

But that shouldn't be possible...They’ve always said that no one was able to create ability users outside of our town...

"Who are you?" you asked. "Who sent you?!"

"..."

No response.

Suddenly, you felt the overwhelming sense of being surrounded. Men in suits came all around you with guns pointing at you. 

"You're making a big mistake," you growled quietly.

The man turned around and immediately, the gunmen pulled their triggers.

But guns were never a problem for you. In fact, all the bullets simply got redirected away from you before they reached you.

That caught the attention of the brown-haired man.

A smirk donned your face and you chuckled as you held out your hand and the men around you suddenly yelled out in pain. They began moving against their own will, pointing the guns at each other. 

You snapped your fingers and all the men shot at each other, falling dead right after. You used magnetism to summon one of their handguns and pointed it right at the brunette.

But before you could pull the trigger, you saw something in his eyes. A hint of plea, well hidden behind the darkness. It was like you were looking into your own. It was an expression you saw every time you looked into the mirror. It was...

You didn't even have a chance to decide to not pull the trigger. For something attacked you from behind.

A black and red spear poked out through your chest and you began to feel your abilities fade. You recognized this sensation.

This numbing feeling...

You grabbed onto the spear and shakily turned. 

The man wielding the ability had dark hair that were grey at the tips. He withdrew the spear and you fell to the ground, completely at the mercy of this mysterious organization.

When you awoke, the first thing you noticed was your lack of abilities.

It was the familiar numbness that accompanied her when she was attacked with certain abilities. The scientists had called it a singularity. Certain abilities that clash cause strange phenomena. Usually when this type of ability clashed with yours, you found yourself completely paralyzed and unable to use any of your powers. But strangely, this time you could still move.

Well, barely move, considering that you were currently against a wall with chains holding your arms up. There were bandages wrapped around your chest due to the wound inflicted on you earlier.

"I know you're awake," a familiar voice spoke.

Slowly, you looked up at the source of the voice with an ice-cold glare. It was that same brunette that started the attack against you. You didn't speak.

"We've been trying to deduce what exactly your ability is. So far you've exhibited signs of aerokineticism, biokineticism, and magnetokineticism...I have a feeling that it doesn't end there."

"And your ability is to cancel other people's ability," you responded. "And I'm guessing from the way you talk about abilities...you’re not the only one with powers.”

“Interesting...Well, given your background information, you were held in a facility since you were very young. This facility specialized in creating artificial ability users, although usually with dire consequences. You were ranked as one of the strongest ones that didn’t immediately die upon using your powers, but you escaped.”

Artificial ability users? He’s talking as if people having supernatural powers was a naturally occurring thing...

“Given your status and from what I’ve seen, there’s a reason why the facility was so desperate to have you back.” He walked closer. "What's your ability?"

You sneered at him as he walked close enough that you could feel his breath on you. "Why do you want to know?"

He frowned down at you before a hand shot up and grabbed you by the chin roughly, pounding your head against the wall behind you. "I'm the one asking the questions."

As soon as he touched you, the numbing feeling went away. 

You struggled against his grip, but something told you that he was far more experienced than you were in interrogations with difficult prisoners. "I'm..a N-Nature Hand..."

With your answer, he let go of you and took a step back. "A what?"

You sighed, leaning against your restraints. You took a moment to notice that the numbing feeling had not returned with your captor's release of you. Your powers had returned. Slowly, you began to heal the wound on your chest. "That’s what they called it. I can control things that come from the Natural Earth. I can heal wounds, manipulate natural objects such as air or water...Even control electricity and magnetism...Although I can’t use things that have been processed too much...for example..."

A smirk came over your face.

Suddenly, you broke out of your restraints by using magnetism to warp the metal within them and grabbed ahold of them, ripping them out of the wall and whipping them at your captor.

However...

As soon as the metal hit your captor, it disintegrated.

“...” 

You quickly scanned the room around you. There was only one way out and that was behind your captor. He hadn't moved, barely affected by your escape attempt.

"That's a useful ability," he said. "But it won't work on me."

You frowned.

 I can't fight through this with force...

"Why am I still alive?" you asked.

"Why did you hesitate?" responded the man almost immediately.

"What are you-?"

"Right before Akutagawa-kun struck you, you had a split second to shoot me and end my life. But you didn't."

Your hostile body posture softened up slightly. You shook your wrists and the remaining restraints on you fell off. You rubbed your wrists, which were slightly pink. "Looks like we both have questions, then."

"I'll answer yours if you can answer mine first."

"..." You didn't say anything. Your answer could be easily seen as a lie and any chance you'd have of escaping would be taken away. Or it could save you. "I saw the darkness in your eyes."

He scoffed. "Anyone with working senses can detect that-"

"But that's not all there was."

You could tell that the man in front of you wasn't used to getting caught off guard. But he just was. 

"..."

"There's a hidden light behind it. It reminded me of myself."

He stayed silent.

"You don't want this life, do you?" you asked, your voice small. "Like me, you've probably committed more sins that you can care to remember. But unlike most, you're not proud of it. Instead, you regret it. But you're too far gone to ever try to find redemption. So you just accept it and continue-"

"Enough." He spoke with a hint of annoyance.

You knew that you were right. It was clear in his discomfort with hearing the words coming out of your mouth. You knew his type of tragedy all too well for it paralleled your own. "I upheld my part of the deal."

He looked up at you. "I brought you in alive because I saw potential in you and your abilities."

"Potential?"

"Our original orders were to kill you, but after witnessing your defense against my subordinates and confirming it just now when you broke free, I made the decision that you'd be more useful to us alive."

"Useful how...?" You had a bad feeling.

"I want to recruit you to join us. Join the Port Mafia."

You scoffed. "And how do you know that I won't just leave as soon as I convince you I'm game?"

"Because you won't want to leave. Give me a week and I assure you, I will convince you to stay."

You were silent in thought.

It's tempting...The darkness in this city is different from that facility. There are no signs of inhumane experiments. And besides, this might be the perfect chance to get back at those assholes...

"One week. But first..."

"?"

"What's your name?"

The man in front of you smirked. "Dazai Osamu."