#shibusawa is a bit dead

[zaddyazula]

me staring at my gorgeous pretty princess who does no wrong and is also the best rgg antagonist:

[afterthelambs]

For all Atsushi gets on Akutagawa's ass about not killing people, it's interesting that he actually is 100% down to kill if he has to. That time on the boat with Fukuchi, he killed him with his bare hands with no hesitation or regrets. It's just so interesting that at this point in the story, we see Akutagawa keeping his promise of not killing at all right before we see Atsushi killing someone because he absolutely has to.

(He also killed Shibusawa in Dead Apple but idk if he was even considered alive at that point)

I know BSD probably won't ever go in this direction, but it'd be interesting to see Atsushi and Akutagawa have a bit of a reversal. Not completely like in BEAST but just enough for them to really reflect on their ideologies, how they're not actually that far off from each other like they think.

[illugremlins]

I have a lot of fun making headcanons to add a grey aspect to the morality of objectively good (in he sense of morals) characters.

For example, Atsushi Nakajima. He values the lives of everyone and thinks that everyone deserves a chance to live. Unless he is put into a situation where he has no other option, he considers taking a life to be, objectively, one of the worst things someone can do. To the point where he firmly locks out the memory of him killing Shibusawa even though it was an act of self defense to keep him alive.

This is an ethical train of thought, and specific and special to Atushi since he is one of the very few characters of BSD who believes it.

A conclusion can me made:

Atsushi is good. He cares about others lives. He thinks everyone should have a chance to live.

But, if we look into it more, the belief isn't as 'good-intentioned' as it can be initially read. Atushi hates himself. He firmly believes the world would be better off without him, and that everyone else is more worthy of living than he is. However, despite this, Atsushi isn't suicidal. Being suicidal would, in my opinion, be entirely out of character for him. Yes, he does not really value himself or his life because of his upbringing, but Atsushi still desperately wants to live. He wants to survive.

In that case, how is it fair of him to want to live when his life is worth nothing compared to others? What right does he have to live if people who matter more than him, who are better than him, who are more valuable and useful, don't? (And again, to remind you, in Atsushi's eyes, everyone is more useful than he is.)

So, what if I re-frame the conclusion:

Atsushi is selfish. He cares about others lives because he cares about his own. He thinks everyone should have a chance to live because he wants one, but the only way he can swallow the guilt of wanting to be alive is by doing everything in his power to make sure that the people around him, who are all better than him, are alive too. If they are dead, why isn't he, who does not matter and should not matter?

Re-thinking characters in this light makes for a much more interesting read of the story and a lot of good material for fanfiction. (And it doesn't have to just be characters in morally grey stories, like BSD. This sort of thinking/adding of HCs can be applied to much more light-hearted mangas/works like Haikyuu, where the worst the character can be is a bit of a bully or jerk.)

[selfaware-bungou-stray-dogs]

So, you don’t have any rules that I can request by. So, um, what if the Reader is a hardcore fan of Dazai and Chuuya?

To the point of having all of their Mayoi cards and a Soukoku-themed room?

When you are a big Soukoku fan

Self-Aware! Dazai Osamu x GN! Reader x Self-Aware! Chuuya Nakahara

Description: There are things BSD Cast need to acsept with the fact, that they are fictional. Having fans is one of them.

Warning: OOC. English is my second language. Tiny spoilers for Fifteen arc, DEAD APPLE and The Guild Arc.

A/N: Quick clarification about me 'not having rules for requests'. I got this ask right before I post them.

🪢🦀🍷 There are some things that fictional characters should learn to live with after gaining self-awareness.

🪢🦀🍷 They should accept the fact that they aren't real.

🪢🦀🍷 They should accept the fact that thousands of strangers knew about their lives.

🪢🦀🍷And they should accept the fact, that they have fans.

🪢🦀🍷 BSD Cast quickly learned about BSD Fandom.

🪢🦀🍷 Their opinion about Fandom... varied.

🪢🦀🍷 Something was nice, something was bad. And Cast quickly learned about checking tags before looking at art or reading fanfic.

🪢🦀🍷But, in general, while seeing all this people liking them do feel a little bit strange, BSD cast do feel flattered.

🪢🦀🍷 Their Guiding Light also was their fan.

🪢🦀🍷 Specifically, Guiding Light were a fan of Dazai Osamu and Chuuya Nakahara. And Soukoku in general.

🪢🦀🍷 Characters heard, how you cheered for Dazai and Chuuya during their battles with Rimbaud, Shibusawa, Steinbeck and Lovecraft.

"Dazai and Chuuya managed to win a fight against a professional spy when they were fifteen! They were cool even in teen years!"

"Wow! Now I understand, why Soukoku was feared in criminal world!"

"They weren't fighting together, at least for four years, but manage to win against Lovecraft! Good fighting partners will always be winners."

🪢🦀🍷 They also saw, how you always tried to get all Chuuya and Dazai cards in BSD Mayoi.

"Great, cards with both Dazai and Chuuya on it! I will max 'An Unwanted Coalition' and 'Duo of Darkness' skills and level."

"Pity, that I didn't play in Japanese version of Mayoi. I missed Stage Play Scout and Fifteen Soukoku Card!"

"Boss Battle against Steinbeck and Lovecraft should be cleaned only with Dazai and Chuuya cards, and you can't change my mind!"

🪢🦀🍷 Dazai and Chuuya feel so much love and adoration from you. The rest of the BSD cast were a little bit jealous.

🪢🦀🍷 Especially Fukuzawa and Mori. They can be considered the original duo, they still can fight together and be victorious. Why won't you adore them as well?

🪢🦀🍷 When Ango manage to hack your gallery, they saw pictures of you and your room.

🪢🦀🍷 You had not only BSD manga/LN collection. You also had few figurines and posters of Dazai Osamu and Chuuya Nakahara. There also were paper figurines of Soukoku you made yourself. You also have shirts.

🪢🦀🍷Dazai and Chuuya feel flattered. Your love and admiration felt nice, and having Little Light constantly purring and floating above them make them happy.

🪢🦀🍷 Dazai and Chuuya are competing with each other. Who will become The Most Favorite Character. They mess with each other's scouts, send you in-game presents.

🪢🦀🍷 They can't wait to meet you in person. Chuuya want to show you his powers in real life. Dazai, among other things, plan to tease you a little. Both want to protect you.

____________

You were happy. You finally get your package. You have bought plush Dazai and plush Chuuya. Today, your package finally arrived.

You open the door at your apartment. Time to unpack your package and get your plushies. You go to the kitchen to grab scissors.

You open the package and take both plushies in your hand.

Your phone shined white. The whole room were filled with light.

Then light faded.

BSD Cast were standing before you.

You looked at them. They looked at you. And your plushes. You don't want to think, what would happen, if they saw your room.

You wonder, if putting plushies back in the box wile shouting 'It's not mine and this is not my apartment at all, I'm a burglar' will work and safe you from embarrassment, but decide against it.

Be that as it may!

Dazai take a step forward and grin.

"Hello, [Y/N]! Good to finally meet my biggest fan!"

Chuuya grumbles and move forward.

"You whimp! [Y/N] clearly love me more!"

Dazai and Chuuya start bickering, while Kunikida start explaining the situation to you.

It was something. You don't know how, but BSD cast got into your world. And, it seems, Dazai and Chuuya heard you gushing about them. You don't know, how to react. You just stand there. You manage to whisper.

"Um... Can we talk in the living room? The whole situation is quite bizarre."

Dazai and Chuuya stopped bickering. Dazai nodded.

"Good idea. But I will take mini-me."

Then, Dazai grabbed his plush counterpart from your grasp. You almost dropped plush Chuuya, but real Chuuya got him, before the toy hit the floor. Instead of giving it back to you, Chuuya keeps it. Chuuya smirks.

"Sorry, [Y/N], but plush will stay with me. But, I must add, you looked adorable with them in your hands."

Dazai also chipped in.

"Don't worry, soon you can place them near the rest of your figurines."

You feel embarrassed. You had a feeling, that your life will change. And you were sure, that there will be a lot of teasing in your life.

[starlightshadowsworld]

Reading stormbringer and just... Imagine if Atsushi gets transferred to the Port Mafia. And the way Mori makes sure co-operates isn't through torture or threats.

But with the promise of information.

In Portrait of a father Atsushi said: "I was always in a state of being abandoned by others. No one expected anything of me, even I didn't know who I was."

Sounds very similar to Chuuya when he was new to the Port Mafia. Atsushi much like Chuuya also struggles with his identity and if he's human.

And the shackles on Chuuya were the promise of the truth of his origin and existence.

What if Mori did the same to Atsushi?

There's a lot of things about himself that Atsushi doesn't know. He's forgotten things because of trauma, like killing Shibusawa and that he had an ability.

And well, if anyone might know the truth other than Fitzgerald or Fyodor, Mori seems like a likely candidate.

The bounty came from the Guild but the search for the tiger is very reminiscent of the search for Arahabaki.

Imagine Chuuya finding a loop hole and providing Atsushi proof like the Flags did with him....

I don't think Mori would go as far as say Atsushi has to make it to be an executive to get the answers like he said to Chuuya.

But... There is that one Bsd wan bit where Chuuya tells Atsushi to join the Port Mafia as an executive. And with Ace dead, Dazai's spot isn't the only one open.

I don't genuinely think Mori would do that, but tis interesting.

[rervraiilsaukl]

|| Altered Page AU Atsushi Concept #1 ||

Im absolutely struggling with his design, and my concept artstyle is, well, a bit scraggly imo.

Some basic details about his character:

He is 15 in the APAU

He's a member of the DOA, and was recruited by Shibusawa when he was 12(during the Dragon's Head Conflict—Shibusawa never tortured him for his ability)

He commonly hangs out with Gin and Junichiro, who are members of the Rats in the House of Dead.

a few more:

It honestly probably wont be too much longer until I post more design concepts. I can not for the life of me figure out exactly how I want his design to go.

There are a few things I want to include on whatever his design ends up being, which are:

A reference to Sigma's design

Though, I dont know if it'll be APAU!Sigma or canon Sigma.

Snowflakes and Anemone flowers—the snowflakes representing Junichiro and the flowers representing Gin

I might end up choosing a different flower for Gin. Once I know for sure as well as have Atsushi's actual design figured out, I'll elaborate on why I chose the flower I did.

I may also use a different motif for Junichiro if I can find something better than snowflakes.

His hair has to be fluffy and/or scraggly. Slightly unkempt and messy, if you will.

This is literally just because of a funny little thing I came up with while drafting his design while my best friend and I were drawing together

I also desperately NEED to add moee symbolism to the design. It is not a want. It. Is. A. NEED.

Other than that, I really dont know where to go with his design. Any suggestions are welcome (preferably in the tags, comments, or replys )

[creatorbiaze]

I dont know why but I've always thought it's a bit funny how Dazai, Fyodor, and Shibusawa r the Big Three Geniuses

Fyodor is Dazai-level smart, shibusawa is probably also ~ equal to them

but Dazai admitted Ranpo is smarter than him. Either he lied or Ranpo's excluded purely bc Ranpo would massively fuck up the plot more by just being himself (I made a joke to a friend once about how bsd would be over before it begun if Ranpo met Fyodor, especially back when he was 14 instead of Fyodor just being Ominous)

Dead Apple only lasted as long as it did bc Ranpo was not there at all /j

I mean. I guess Dazai, Fyo, and Shibu make sense because they're all on the Same Level. & we don't know anyone who's on the Same Level as Ranpo.

for some reason this reminds me of how Poe's 100% smarter than we can see in the series, like. Put Poe against literally anyone other than Ranpo & he'll definitely outsmart them. He mentioned that Ranpo's the *only* one he considers smarter than himself. The only reason we don't see him being a Genius other than the intricacy of his first intro is because he's against RANPO

[note-boom]

After reading that Dead Apple Post and all the posts within it, I had commentary and theories and random points to make....but I couldn't really put in into a cohesive post, so instead just have them as bullet points in the form of questions

So, obvious one first. What in the world is up with Atsushi's ability? The thing is. It's him that's described as a guidepost to the Book rather than his ability and when he looks at that blue cube, he calls it himself. And yet his ability is supposedly the one who can guide people to what they most desire, as well as his ability being described as something that can basically devour other abilities

On that note...it's interesting to me that it's been pointed out how Akutagawa's ability can cut through any physical structure (matter) and even space itself (so Akutagawa has a space-matter ability) while Atsushi can cut through and basically unalive any ability (tiger devouring prey imagery anyone?). And then we have Dazai who is able to nullify abilities for a brief period of time, not obliterate them just cancel them out. Which is very interesting to me when we have this whole imagery of Dazai represented by sunset, the ADA represented by twilight, the PM by the night, the Special Division by the day, and Atsushi by the moon. The moon is within the night and it's what sort of...cancels out the power of the night. Meanwhile, twilight (ADA) is the time between sunset (Dazai) and dusk (apparently, it goes like sunset -> twilight -> dusk), and it just sits interestingly to me that the ADA people are framed as those "in between" two great forces (day and night), and Dazai the nullifier as sunset sits in between Atsushi the ability devourer represented by the moon...and perhaps something represented by the sun. And the question culminating out of all that: was Shibusawa (the chaos of "ability" itself) the sun to Atsushi's moon or have we not seen that yet? Or is Akutagawa, also represented with draconic imagery, supposed to be that sun or is he really the night that "backgrounds" Atsushi's moon, as we seen in their fights?

Thirdly, something to be said about shapeshifting abilities. All I can remember off the top of my head right now is Lovecraft's Great Old Ones, Shibusawa's Draconica's final form, Bram's vampire ability, and Atsushi's Beast Beneath the Moonlight. (And from the theory linked in the dead apple post that talks about a possible Fyodor ability being the ability to copy himself makes him a kind of...form-shifter as well?). That said, in all these four, the carrier of that ability doesn't just use their ability, they become their ability. That sort of distinction clearly sets them apart from other ability users, I think...it makes them something....other (it also brings up Tanizaki as a rather interesting point, not as someone who can shapeshift or cause shapeshifting but as someone who can pretend to do so through illusions). And Dazai has all this angst about him not being human, but the real question is how human are those shapeshifters? Lovecraft clearly isn't human, Bram's vampires definitely aren't, and Shibusawa was an ability that survived its user (we've seen some other abilities do that, but none of them are sentient). I definitely think Atsushi's 100% human, and I think his lack of initial control over his ability is a testament to that....but I do wonder if he has the ability to be a little bit other-than-human like the other shapeshifters seem to be.

Continuing the Atsushi thread...we've already established that his ability can reject wounds/regenerate wounds. And while I do think we have evidence that he's recovered from normal gunshot wounds and such things, there's also the thing about him having orphanage scars and how most of the times he regrows limbs etc. etc. it's because an ability wounded him. Do you think that Atsushi might possibly have the ability to recover faster from non-ability based wounds (and thus get scars out of it) but an actual power to "reject" ability-inflicted pain (so no scars)?

Also, the whole thing about singularities is interesting to me, especially considering Chuuya and his...instability. I wonder if there's a difference between curated and manmade singularities like Chuuya's and Oda/Gide's...or if Chuuya's (and Verlaine's) whole singularity experiment was an attempt to recreate something the scientists had already seen...namely, a singularity that could survive within a person without actually harming them. And could Atsushi be one of those people who contain a natural singularity within himself?

[strom-in-the-sky]

My husband bungo stray dogs bots

on poe.Ai

Please notify me if a bot is a problem. If it goes against a religion or says something incorrect, please send me a note in my inbox, and I will delete the bot.

All BSD men have some dialogue about rings or how they would care for the user. If the prompt gets blocked, rewrite it. I see that after a bot gets over 50~70 users, the bot seems to pick up on how to act. I try my best to make them canon. Please note that some are written before they die or have main events, or are after main events. Treat them as such. Some bots have been removed and added to my list because: one, I might not like how they worked; two, some don't exist since they have no age (for example, Teruko). Others might have been added since I wanted to play around with the bots.

Don't try to do smut I have tried, and the filter doesn't break so well unless a lot of people use it and help it learn other words to break the warning.

I know some promts are shit, I don't know what to put for them so it's much appreciated if you can help me think of good ones~♡

If you miss an old promt I can copy a link to use that prompt for you! ♡

Other than that, please do feel free to enjoy then. Yes, you need an account to use them. Yes, it have a limit bit, making emails are free, and I keep making emails/ transferring your data over to continue~♡ I will make more husband and wife bots just give me a inbox note of the character!

Enjoy~♡

~ old mafia. dark ark. ~

Verlaine

Rimbaud

Oda

~ The Decay of the Angel ~

Sigma

Nikolai

Fyodor

Bram doesn't exist anymore sorry 😐

Fukuchi

~ Hunting Dogs ~

Jono

Tetchō

Tachihara

~ Special Division ~

Ango

~ beast au ~

Beast! Dazai

~ADA~

Coming soon

~ current port mafia ~

Akutagawa

Chuya

~ Rats in the dead house ~

Mushitaro

~☆ adding on soon, ADA bots, and some guide members I had made.

I did make a Shibusawa one but his Promt keep getting block so I refrain from doing him.

[fyodcrs]

Day ?: I’m still thinking about chapter 108.

I was supposed to post this a week ago, oops.

A lot of people, after chapter 108 dropped, appeared to assume that the “revelation” about Fyodor in this chapter was just a ruse, as Fyodor claims it to be. Personally, I don’t think it’s that simple, and I wanted to talk a little about it.

I should note that this isn’t really a theory or an analysis, just my initial impressions. And I guess we’ll find out pretty soon if I was close to the mark or not. Next chapter? Too much to hope?

I think that this was real:

But everything from this point was fake, or at least was Fyodor acting:

If it is true that Fyodor - the real Fyodor - has been controlled by his Ability this entire time, his breakdown after Sigma showed him the note was a moment when his real self, his real consciousness, took over. The sudden change in him is profound and shocking. His eyes look so different, and we know that eyes are important in BSD.

Then we get the POV break, however, and when we return Fyodor starts giving us some "explanation”...and then this happens:

The moment we return to Fyodor and Sigma after the second POV break, I think Fyodor had been “taken over” again and was acting. But I don’t think he was acting from the beginning, nor do I think that everything he said even when he was “acting” was necessarily false.  

There are a couple of reasons for this. First, it’s too out-there a reveal for me to believe it was a complete swerve. It really came out of absolutely nowhere, and then it’s all just lies? I don’t know, I find that hard to swallow.

Then there’s the matter of the note. If it was Fyodor that wrote it - why? Just for this silly ruse? Sure, he certainly could have predicted the entire course of events that led up to Sigma confronting him with a gun and laid the trap, that’s just what he does, but even for Fyodor that seems a bit much. Was it not Fyodor that wrote it, then? But who else would have written a note in Russian that says “help me”? Nikolai? What for? That seems like it’d be very out of character for him.

There’s also what Fyodor says after his breakdown. “What year is it?” What kind of question is that to ask if you’re pretending to be under the control of your Ability? Wouldn’t something like “Where am I?” or “Who are you?” be more fitting? Considering that Fyodor’s age and the nature of his Ability has been kept a secret for so long, this line really sticks out to me as important.

Not to mention, there was this in the previous chapter:

I don’t think it’s insignificant that Sigma is the one to say this, the one to bring this question up for the first time, rather than Dazai or Nikolai. Sigma is himself a character that could be considered not fully human. He was created from the Book, which itself is suggested to have been created by an Ability. Sigma’s origin, too, then, is tied directly to Abilities. It makes a certain amount of sense for him to be the one to realize that there’s something off about Fyodor, or at least for him to be the first one to confront Fyodor about it.

We know from 55 Minutes and Dead Apple that Abilities can take on a life of their own and even subsume the personalities of the original bearer. In 55 Minutes, Jules Verne’s Ability absorbs his personality and lives on; in Dead Apple, Shibusawa’s Ability lives on after his death, with no memory of his death and no knowledge that it is an Ability. Some Abilities, like Mori’s, naturally are manifest as separate personalities, though Mori has control over Elise.

Speaking of Dead Apple, there’s this famous scene:

“Even in the midst of the fog, my special ability did not turn against me like the others. Do you know why that is? I am crime. I am punishment. Did you not know? Crime and punishment are close acquaintances.”

Maybe this is more literal than I thought. Maybe there really are two Fyodors - in a sense. The real Fyodor - the “crime” - and his Ability - the “punishment.”

I do not, however, think that a “split personality” is really the “true” nature of Fyodor’s Ability. I think it’s probably more complicated than that. Abilities are extensions of their bearers, after all; Elise does not really have a distinct personality except what Mori gives her, and Shibusawa’s Ability had his personality and his desires.

Which makes me wonder - if this is true, and if the Fyodor we know really is the real Fyodor’s Ability, how much of his desires, his perception of himself and of the world, and especially of Abilities, is his own, and how much of it came from the real Fyodor?

I have a whole rant about Dostoevsky and Fyodor’s character I’ll post if this all turns out to be true, but for now here’s a quote from Demons:  “I also know that it was not you who ate the idea, but the idea that ate you...”

Another reason why I don’t buy that this is all a lie is that we’ve had no other red herrings about either the nature of Fyodor’s Ability, his character, or his past before this. It’s all just been subtle hints. It’s very odd that there would suddenly be a massive red herring now, so far into the series and so far into the DOA arc.

Of course, Asagiri could absolutely be trolling us. Who knows? Maybe in less than a month we’ll find out Fyodor really does deserve an Oscar. I wouldn’t even be mad, because he should have already won an award for that performance when he was arrested in the café.

[hesperidia]

If i remember correctly Mori (and the pm, in general) weren't very present in the last arc, except for when Chuuya said it was Mori who sent him to mersault.

So i was wondering, maybe he took advantage of the situation to go look for the actual Book. It is a possibility that he could locate it in Yokohama, and it wouldn't be far off to say he wants to destroy it.

After all, the existence of the Book means unpredictability and one of Mori's goals is to keep the city safe first and foremost. He does not like chaos either and after seeing the near apocalyptic scenario the DOA made with only a page of the book, it would be better if it didn't exist altogether.

Which brings me to the point: He would choose Atsushi as the ADA member that gets transferred to the pm. Why? Because of the singularity Beast beneath the Moonlight and Rashomon make.

(now i am relying on memory so i might be wrong) Atsushi's tiger is said to cut through any ability, it is hinted that he's linked to the Book (That's the main reason the Guild wanted to capture him)

I imagine the Book would not be so easy to destroy, that's why he and Akutagawa should combine their abilities again to make it possible (like they did in dead apple, when they fought shibusawa).

There's also the thing about Atsushi losing control of the tiger (since he wouldn't be under Fukuzawa's ability anymore) and i want to see that explored. In dead apple he could reconcile a bit with his ability, but it might be out of control again, and it would be cool for his character development for him to finally accept and gain full power over it.

[silverbladexyz]

Hi! I just had this random thought because I have been simping over 16! Chuuya (it’s the ponytail) I know you’ve been asking for Flags request, but like, what if, and hear me out, the reader is a part of the flags before him and ends up being the one that brings Chu into the group or requests that Mori assigns him to it (I haven’t read Stormbringer, just seen spoilers which I don’t mind so I don’t know how Chuuya ends up with them) but when he finds the Flags all dead, the reader is also exposed to the deaths of the others since they didn’t show up in time for Verlaine to kill them as well and over the little time Chuuya had with the flags, he quickly fell in love with the reader and they end up being there for Chu whenever he needs it (since we all know being around Dazai, Verlaine, and Mori got exhausting after a while) so eventually the two fall for each other, but the reader ends up being killed during the Dragonhead Conflict by Shibusawa when they have off because their ability is a tad bit strong. It’s called the Core of Reality and it allows the reader to alter any aspect of reality they know about except death. Once someone dies, the reader can’t use their ability to revive them.

Idk why but I’m just feeling Chuuya angst today. If you don’t want to write this, go ahead and discard it. Your health and wellbeing comes first after all, especially during these times of illness and frigid cold.

My poor boy Chuuya... you're a genius for coming up with this idea.

The image does not belong to me. It belongs to it's original owner.

TW: Death, blood, angst. Stormbringer and Dead Apple spoilers below. I tried my best with this songfic.

No time to die

"And this is Nakahara Chuuya. From today onwards, he is now a member of the Flags."

You looked curiously at the boy standing behind Pianoman. He was of short stature, with ginger hair and blue eyes and a slightly temperamental look on his face. He looked to be around your age; if not, slightly older. You had approached him first.

“So you’re Nakahara Chuuya... I’m Y/N L/N. Welcome to our group!”

I should've known

I'd leave alone

A year had passed when Chuuya had joined the Flags. His easily-angered personality had made him the target of Albatross’s teases, yet he still managed to get along well with everybody. His temper had slightly put you off at the start, but over time, you came to see that he wasn’t that bad of a person you thought him to be.

While you still weren’t that big of a fan of his mood-swings (as you called them), with your calm and caring nature, you quickly managed to befriend Chuuya. You weren’t someone who set him off on purpose, and you never teased him; something that was refreshing for him. He was a lot calmer around you, something which the Flags noticed and definitely teased you two about, but Chuuya had always retorted that you two were ‘just friends’.

However, you didn’t mind at that time. There was almost no space for romance in the dangerous life of a mafioso; even friendships were dangerous. You were glad to have befriended the Jewel King, since he did prove himself to be quite loyal and trustworthy to you and the Flags, and he had saved your life quite a couple of times too.

But all good things come to an end eventually.

Just goes to show

That the blood you bleed is just the blood you owe

You didn’t know what you were doing. You had smelt the blood inside the pool hall; and instinct told you that it was not the blood of an enemy. Immediately, you used your ability to place you in front of the entrance, and you desperately slammed the door open, running in to see what had happened and if you could save anyone.

But it was too late.

Your throat hurt. A high-pitched scream resonated in the hall. A scream full of devastation and hopelessness, of one who had just lost everything yet who could’ve stopped it. A scream of pain, sorrow, darkness. Of a storm that had just been brewed.

It was only when Chuuya went into the hall and ran to your side did you realise that you were the one who was screaming.

We were a pair

But I saw you there

“Y/N. Stay back. It’s too risky if you come with me.” You bit your lip as you faced Chuuya defiantly, standing in front of him with your fists clenched.

“It’s risky either way if I go with you or stay! There’s no doubt I’m a target on Verlaine’s list, and he’s going to make it happen with or without your presence! Besides, my ability can actually help you-”

“I don’t care how powerful or useful your ability is! Just stay! The Mafia will protect you, and besides, it’s me that Verlaine wants. I was the one who caused all of these problems. And I have to be the one to solve them. The Flags were enough; I can’t let you or anybody else die because of me!” You frowned and stepped forward.

“Doesn’t mean that you can’t accept help from other people! Verlaine will simply murder everyone in the Mafia with no remorse to get to me, and you know how my ability is useless against death! Besides, we’re the Mafia. We have each others’ backs and we’ll make whoever hurt us pay tenfold!”

“...” You and Chuuya stood there, glaring at each other, neither side giving in.

It was a long time before Chuuya finally clicked his tongue.

“...Fine. You can come along. But don’t you dare cause any trouble or die on me. Because I’ll be the one to kill Verlaine.”

Too much to bear

It had been a few weeks since the King of Assassins incident.

You sat next to Chuuya in a bar. It was quiet; you two were the only customers there, and there was a comfortable yet agonising silence between you and Chuuya. You took a few sips from your drink, but Chuuya didn’t move at all.

“What’s wrong? You’ve been quite silent... is there something on your mind that’s bothering you?” Chuuya didn’t answer immediately. He stared forward at his drink, his eyes vacant, yet his expression was unreadable. You knew what he was thinking of.

His dry chuckle caught your attention.

“...It’s ironic, isn’t it?”

You blinked, yet you said nothing.

“Almost everything bad that happens in my life is all because of me. The Sheep betrayed me because of my arrogance and incompetent ability to be a good leader for them. My existence was the reason why the Flags were killed. It’s as if it’s my punishment; a cruel game to see how long I can last for before I’m gone as well.”

“...” You were silent for a while.

Chuuya felt something warm on his hand, and he looked at it to see your hand tenderly caressing his. His gaze went to your face, and he saw your eyes filled with care and... something else.

“... I won’t lie to you. Nearly everything bad that happened to you was somewhat because of you.” Chuuya’s expression was unreadable, yet he felt your fingers start to gently trace soothing circles on the back of his hand.

“That is how life is like. It’s how we choose to respond to it is what truly determines who we are. Whenever life knocks us down, we get back up again. No matter how painful the situation is, no matter how impossible it seems to bounce back, life finds a way. It hurts a lot; it always does, but it will get better in the end.” Your fingers delicately traced the small, dark spot on his wrist.

“But I’ll be here for you. I know it’s hard to promise that I’ll always be by your side since death is always around the corner... but I’ll never willingly leave you. And that’s a promise.”

The bar was silent for a while. You could tell that he was feeling much calmer; although he was still slightly vulnerable, your presence alone had soothed him. You continued tracing circles on the back of his hand, your gentle touch having no sign of ending.

It was in that moment that Chuuya felt something else spark within him.

Something that would eventually be called... ‘love’.

You were my life but life is far away from fair.

The Dragon’s Head Incident. The bloodiest 88 days in the history of Yokohama.

The Port Mafia suffered heavy losses; some because of rival groups and accidents, but most were because of the mysterious ability user named the ‘White Giraffe’. Whenever he struck, there was a thick fog, so thick that nothing can be seen through it. After it disappeared, everybody was dead.

And the White Giraffe himself would be gone alongside the fog.

It had grown to the point that the Boss, Mori Ougai, had no choice but to send one of his strongest subordinates to investigate and possibly end this whole blood-stained carnage.

And so you found yourself, face to face, with the ability user that was responsible for all of this.

In a battle that you had lost in the first place.

Was I stupid to love you?

Was I reckless to help?

Your ability, ‘The Core of Reality’, appeared and stepped in front of you. It tilted it’s head as it looked at you, and you knew nothing could help you prevent your fate. Nothing at all.

Was it obvious to everybody else?

“...H-hey! Y/N!!!”

Chuuya’s voice, tinged with raw emotion, alongside his hands that grabbed you and turned your body over, desperately trying to see any remainder of life in you. But it was too late. He knew it himself, yet he refused to think that you were dead.

“W-wake up! You’re fine! So just please wake up!”

That I’ve fallen for a lie

Your body, broken and torn in so many places that it was unrecognisable, yet Chuuya still recognised it as you. His shaking hands held you, clutching you to his chest, not wanting to let go. The ache in his heart was familiar, yet it was never as strong as before until this.

You were never on my side

Rage. That was all what Chuuya felt.

A deepening, bubbling feeling that made him desire the blood of the White Giraffe. He wanted to kill him; crush him with gravity in the most painful way possible. He didn’t care whether Mori would get angry or not, or if he would die because of his recklessness. Chuuya just needed to kill him; give the ability user the death that he deserved.

All for you.

Fool me once, fool me twice

Chuuya stood in front of your grave, a few flowers in his hand. It was a place where only the richest could afford; there was no speck of dust on your tombstone, or anything that looked the slightest bit out of place. His eyes cast over the words etched onto the cold stone, so familiar to him yet still so foreign at the same time.

Setting the flowers beside your headstone, he sat down like he always did every single time he visited you.

“... I haven’t visited you in a while. The roses I brought last week have just become to wilt. That’s probably the longest time I have been gone for.”

The flowers around your grave were always fresh; as if it was a vain attempt to bring some life somehow in this place tinged with the afterglow of death. They bloomed brightly before wilting a week later, as if they too had joined the unfortunate souls in the afterlife. Yet the ones around your grave were always joined by newer ones just as the old ones had nearly started wilting.

Are you death or paradise?

Chuuya started off by telling you about his day. How he managed to take down an enemy organisation alongside the Black Lizard, and how he finished his paperwork just on time so that Mori wouldn’t get mad. It was as if you were still there with him; your precious laughter and reassuring voice replying him in an imaginary conversation.

It’s when he recounts the memories together with you and the Flags which makes his voice have the slightest hint of a crack.

Now you’ll never see me cry

Rain started to pour down from the sky. It was only a light drizzle at first, so slight it was barely noticeable. Yet in a few minutes, it had turned into a storm; with heavy droplets pelting down on everything it landed on. Chuuya was soaked; yet he didn’t pay the rain much mind.

Liquid was flowing down Chuuya’s cheeks. Whether it was the rain, or tears, or both, he didn’t care. The only thing that he was aware of was the ache in his heart; the same old ache that never faded away since the day you left him.

Chuuya slowly stood up. Casting one last glance at your headstone, he slowly turned around and left, his heavy footsteps making temporary indentations on the rain-soaked ground before they were covered up immediately. The flowers around your grave seemed to soak the rain in, doing their best to still bloom their brightest.

He would come back in a week or so. But Chuuya wouldn’t be able to join you anytime soon in the afterlife, no matter how much he missed you, or how much he longed for your touch. 

Because there’s just no time to die.

So uhhh... there’s no excuses as to why I took this long to finish this request ;-;

@circinuus @chuuyas-beloved @pianotross @nekokinax @xxelfmamaxx @yuugen-benni @lakeside-paradise @yukitomybeloved @catzlivedforbsd  @arisu-chan4646 @sariel626

[originalaccountname]

i loved your post about dazai's relationship with chuuya vs oda. regarding this section:

"But Chuuya also serves as Dazai's wake up call (cue Dead Apple soundtrack) and keeps him from slipping too far. Yes Chuuya punched Dazai square in the face, but it was because Dazai was seeing an ally's death as an opportunity for him instead of a death. And it worked! Because Dazai then got into action not 2 days later to start on ending the conflict that had already been ongoing for over 2 months!"

i was always under the impression that Dazai didn't really care about reaching executive status (pretty sure i read it in canon somewhere, just can't remember where, but correct me if i’m wrong), & my assumption was that, even in that interaction with Chuuya, he was already setting his plan into motion (planting the microscope reference, maybe trying to get Chuuya out of the way so Dazai could confront/get captured by Shibusawa? etc).

plus, Dazai brought up letting mori plan things, & i don’t think mori would let Dazai just do nothing to help end the feud. he gives pretty free reign as long as if benefits/doesn’t have negative effects on the PM. i read that punching situation as Dazai lying about not caring & letting everyone die, but i’d love if you could expand on your thoughts!!

ps: thank you so much for your bsd analyses & meta... i consider you one of the best sources for accurate, unbiased, factual, canon compliant literary analysis of bsd & i appreciate your insight & research so much :)

🥺 that is both flattering and a reminder for me to always fact check myself hdsgfsj

First, plugging the complete Dragon's Head prologue by Asagiri again for everyone to read.

This is interesting and not an angle I really thought to look at it from!

I don't think Mori was actively planning to end the feud because they say the PM didn't suffer many losses in Fifteen and the SB epilogue specifies they mostly kept away from the fighting:

According to the prologue's timeline, there are 9 days between Dazai meeting Oda in a slight panic after a close encounter with Shibusawa (day 61) and Chuuya punching him for his comment (day 70). It's two days later (day 72) that Dazai confronts Shibusawa and vanishes. Chuuya finds Dazai and unleashes Corruption 15 days later (day 87).

What I would have said happened is that Dazai did not consider the conflict his problem for the most part, though he was aware of the recent developments. Then, the newly released Shibusawa got the Colonel, and his attempt at a joke about Chuuya and his' ongoing rivalry while telling Chuuya about the Colonel landed him a punch in the face. Chuuya was actually mad at him (rare) and announced he'll be doing something about the conflict, even without Dazai. Two days later, Dazai has a whole operation ready to go.

In this scenario, Dazai just dropped the microscope joke for fun and later used it because Chuuya would be able to recall their last conversation and find the tracking device and understand what he had to do. Chuuya's punch was a wake up call to recenter his priorities, because Dazai does care about people, but grew too detached in this case and had to be brought back.

Now, the scenario you're suggesting I understand like this: Dazai passively keeps track of the events of the conflict to be ready just in case. Then, they release Shibusawa into the fray, things go from bad to worse, and the Colonel is a casualty. Dazai starts planning to stop this guy before he becomes an even bigger threat, and antagonizes Chuuya as part of said planning. He shows Chuuya the Colonel's death to put him up to pace, and the open seat comment was to purposefully make Chuuya mad and push him away.

This second option could also give a new meaning to Dazai anxiously going to Oda, when Oda inadvertently met Shibusawa days earlier, either because Dazai was already neck-deep in planning, or as one of the moments he realized everyone he knew could be the next victim:

It would also make Dazai a bit less random here:

Maybe the real scenario is somewhere between the two. Maybe Dazai really was trying to make Chuuya react like usual by making him realize one of them would probably be granted the title shortly, but it was too much too soon. Maybe telling Chuuya about the Colonel's death was also his way of warning him that everyone was at risk out there.

We don't know when the Colonel died, but it had been 9 days since his scare with Oda, so perhaps Oda being so close to this threat made him really conscious of the danger. Maybe the short jokes with the microscope really was Dazai setting the scene for when he would soon confront (and probably lose to) Shibusawa, as he had had enough time to plan his next move by then.

There's also Ango we need to plug somewhere in there, with his records of the deceased PM members during the conflict, and Dazai who was accompanying Oda on cleanup duty for said deceased members. He had seen the dead, he had seen someone record them as people (and decided to befriend him). Dazai said he joined the PM to witness death, and he was basically neck-deep in it, perhaps it made the idea of seeing his close ones in their position too real, especially once Shibusawa showed up.

I think there's plenty of room for interpretation in all this information actually, if you bother to try to make the pieces fit. Asagiri is always going on about how ~mysterious~ Dazai is when he's not that complicated, come on, but there are times like this where the nebulous character motivations make that ~mystery~ shine because there could easily be more than one answer, depending on the reader.

[bungoubongoboys]

Thoughts after BSD Season 5

(spoilers ahead)

1. Fyodor is alive

Fyodor has been one of the driving villains and I don’t believe that even his defeat at Meursault is the end of him, especially since all we see is his arm. Further, Sigma was able to touch him and live.

While Sigma is currently unconscious, due to having taken all of the knowledge in Fyodor’s mind into his own, there are several possible ways for him to return. This includes him being able to process through all of the information due to having so little life experience (only three years of memories), and possibly receiving help from Ango and/or Chief Taneda with their own information based abilities.

Back to Fyodor. We still, after all this time, do not know his ability. But now Sigma does—assuming he can wake up. Which means the moment is perfect for a big reveal of Fyodor’s true ability. Would it truly make sense to set up such a big reveal for an already-dead character?

Lastly, Asagiri very rarely kills off significant characters (at least not permanently). So I really doubt we’ve seen the last of Fyodor.

2. New Agency Members and Allies

Ok, so this is exciting! I think there are gonna be a looootttt of new Agency members very very soon (in the aftermath of…the aftermath?). Namely Lucy (officially) and Sigma, but tangentially Aya and Bram (they may or may not be “official” ADA members, but will be closely related). Fitzgerald probably won’t ever officially join the ADA, but he will have established himself more closely as an ally for them. Similarly, the remaining Hunting Dogs will remain distinct from the agency, but I doubt they’ll just disappear after their significance in this last arc.

3. Unresolved aspects

Most things were (seemingly) wrapped up really well with season five/vol 24. And yet…

- Fyodor’s body wasn’t seen (I won’t accept he’s dead until it’s cut into pieces and ritually slated and burned)

- The immediate aftermath of Fukuchi’s death and Bram’s restoration is fully unknown (before the ‘2 hours later’ bit); what happens to the vampires? To the page? To the One Order?

- Fukuzawa’s grief and the aftermath of it, both for him personally and for the agency

- The page—was it fully used? If so, is it powerless now? What happened to it?

- Full “resolution” of the arc, bringing everyone back together

- Did Chuuya get the vampire teeth off?

…

- What the fUCK was that “2 hours later” scene?????????

4. The “two hours later” and other personal theories

**Disclaimer that everything after this point is my own personal theories

- The two hours later scene was absolutely wild, and I don’t have too many theories yet, but it seems most likely that the page (or a page of the book) was used to alter reality yet again, potentially creating an AU? Idk but those outfits are insane and I love them

- The time between Dazai’s “death” and his appearance to Fyodor—Chuuya absolutely was concerned about Dazai and helped (at least partially) carry him to the landing for Fyodor; the idiot insisted on walking by himself to not appear weak in front of Fyodor, but before that? He absolutely was leaning hard on Chuuya (and after too)

- Sigma and Atsushi—so, it’s easy to lose track of in the many twists of Bungou, but the overall story is still moving towards finding the book, in its entirety, rather than just a singular page.

Back in Season 2, Fitzgerald was told by Fyodor that Atsushi was key in finding the book. This still hasn’t been fully explained. Now, many have noticed the similarities between Sigma and Atsushi. In particular—their unique, two-toned eyes. Additionally, Atsushi lacks much background in the same way as Sigma—we know very little about him before the orphanage, or even how he came to the orphanage.

The only pre-orphanage event we know of is from Dead Apple, where Atsushi is shown to have been experimented on by Fyodor and Shibusawa (before killing Shibusawa). But where was he before that? How did they get him? Well…if Fyodor had one page…

I think Atsushi himself, like Sigma, was written out of the Book. Created to play a role he had no idea about from the start. And why is he key to finding the book? Because Atsushi himself is a product of it. He is fundamentally connected to it in a way no one else is (until Sigma).

This also contributes to my theory that Fyodor is not truly dead. He has his own motives, apart from the Decay of Angels, and would use the book for his own purposes (to effectively become unstoppable, though he’d enjoy any attempts to fight against him). He’s nowhere near finished yet.

Anyways this was way too long but AHHHHH waiting till February for the next Manga chapter is going to kill me

[fantastic-rambles]

BSD Headcanon: Fyodor the Wandering Jew

(Warning: Spoilers for Chapters 112-113/Season 5)

Disclaimer: I am not religious in any way and mostly just have a passing knowledge of various bits of different religions, including Christianity. No blasphemy is intended in these wild ravings of an overly obsessed fan.

As always, I can be a bit rambly as I mostly throw my thoughts out as they come, so apologies if it's somewhat disorganized. Many of my claims/connections are very tenuous (in particular, the final jump to the Wandering Jew), and I understand that, which is why this is just a headcanon.

Fyodor has always been a rather enigmatic character in Bungou Stray Dogs. Sometimes referred to as a "demon," and with an intelligence that rivals that of characters including Ranpo and Dazai, he has repeatedly shown himself to be a formidable foe capable of manipulating a great number of people and devising plans that are quite difficult to overturn. He also seems to be very religious, speaking often of God and sin and seeming to believe in predestination. Furthermore, despite his significant role in many of the plots involving the Detective Agency--from apparently being, at the very least, an active observer of the Guild's actions to devising the "terrorism" plot--very little is known about him and his ability "Crime and Punishment" other than its ability to kill without the need for skin contact. Although fanon has come up with a fairly plausible mechanism for how his ability works, it has not yet been discovered or revealed in canon, even up until his "death."

Immortality

"Death" because I am not entirely convinced that Fyodor is actually dead, despite Dazai's claim in Chapter 112. In the most recent chapter (Chapter 113), it has been revealed that Fyodor has many more mysteries to him as Sigma struggles to process the information overload that is his memories. Most significantly, that he has been alive for a very long time: at the very least, from a time that appears to be during the Middle Ages, when Bram was still alive and whole. This, of course, shocks Sigma (though, to be fair, that isn't a great metric for "shock" as he is easily surprised 🤣), but at the very least, Fyodor is as old as Bram and does not appear to age.

At the time, he apparently was passing himself off as a traveling minstrel, and he claimed to have intentionally gotten himself caught for the sole purpose of getting a look at Bram to judge his character as "evil incarnate" (something that would have appealed to Fukuchi for many reasons in apprehending him centuries later, as a prerequisite of the Decay of Angels plan). Of course, this seems like a preposterous reason to throw yourself into the jaws of death, so Fyodor is believed to be a spy and sentenced to death the following day.

Assuming that he wasn't somehow saved/Bram wasn't incapacitated (possibly stabbed by the holy sword for the first time) in the intervening time and his sentence was carried out... that means that Fyodor somehow also survived being killed at the time, while gaining some information about Bram that would have been useful for his "future" plans. (Some more of my musings on that topic can be found here, though the anime covered most of the key points--and especially confirmed my central theory--when Untold Origins was animated.)

If he is immortal, this could also help explain why his ability did not attempt to kill him when they were separated by Shibusawa's mist in Dead Apple: the "reason" provided was that Fyodor was "crime" and his ability was "punishment," and that they were good friends, but if Fyodor is immortal for reasons that are not tied to his ability, then it simply couldn't kill him even if it wanted to.

His Goal

Of course, this then raises the question of how long Fyodor has actually been alive. Although he has lent his assistance to many others, in the end, as he told Bram, he is working for himself. But to what end?

Ostensibly, of course, to rid the world of the "sin" of abilities. But coupled with immortality, which is, more often than not, a curse rather than a blessing in the hundreds of works on the subject out there, it raises the question of whether he is just seeking his own death. Maybe that was even part of his reason for getting caught by Bram: because he wanted to see if another immortal could kill him. But if there is some sort of supernatural, non-ability-based reason for his immortality (or even ability-based but not lost during Dead Apple), perhaps there are conditions that must be satisfied for him to achieve this: it is not enough for him to merely commit suicide or be killed. Thus, all of his plots could just be the means to an end, literally, for him.

Surprisingly, he does seem to have a genuine belief in God, which is quite interesting for a control freak like Fyodor (distinguished from cults that use religion as a tool to control followers but whose leaders do not genuinely believe in God). Even so, he expresses an understanding of and even an admiration for Gogol's desire to defy God and "lose sight of himself."

Perhaps he, too, wishes that he could oppose God and achieve his own sort of "freedom" or "release from the yoke of sin" that is denied to him.

The Wandering Jew

Which leads to the equally curious Wandering Jew (at least, in my weird brain). His relationship to Jesus seems to be a subject of contention, but at its core, he is said to be someone fated/cursed to walk the Earth until the Second Coming (via Wikipedia).

In my opinion, it is possible that Fyodor has been alive since the time of Jesus--if not longer--given the vast amount of memories that Sigma has to sort through of "every single one of [his] secrets." Enough, Fyodor says, that he may never wake up, just as Atsushi needed some time to process the information about the "page" that he received from Sigma. Thus, if he committed a "crime" at the time that resulted in his being cursed with immortality (by a higher power, or perhaps Jesus' ability--I'll try not to go down that rabbit hole 🤣), he could have a reason to believe in God, and he could also believe that engineering some sort of Armageddon might finally free him from his mortal coil. Just because Fukuchi wanted to achieve world peace doesn't necessarily mean that was also Fyodor's goal: especially given how he has apparently been manipulating people for centuries, at the very least, someone as "simple" and idealistic as Fukuchi was probably easy for him to use. I also highly doubt that throwing him into Meursault would have interrupted Fyodor's plans in any significant way, even though Fukuchi seemed to think that it would.

Furthermore, although he currently passes himself off as Russian and has taken on an appropriate alias, he has also claimed to be a "traveling minstrel" without any official affiliations and was suspected of being Roman by Bram's guards... which could also strengthen the connection to his being a "wandering" Jew.

And if we want to stretch it even further, he could possibly be another wanderer: Cain, cursed to roam the Earth for the sin of killing his brother, Abel, with God's mark on him that would prevent him from being killed by anyone else/that would return an injury sevenfold. Which didn't kick in when Ace tried to brain him with a wine bottle, so this is less likely on my list of "possibilities" (a term I use very loosely here, as I don't really think any of them are probable).

Of course, there are also his "last words," which are (allegedly) Jesus' last words when he died on the cross, though I think that is more of Fyodor seeing himself as a Jesus-like figure than him supposed to be representing Jesus. (The Wandering Jew and Cain are already a stretch as they are. 🤣)

[gold-pavilion]

Give me your take, is Fyodor dead? I'm panicking

HAHA I KNEW WE'D HAVE TO TALK ABOUT THIS

THANK YOU

But anyways, from me it's an absolute no.

I'm not worried, to be honest. I mean, with BSD I hardly am, 'cause it's not a series where main cast characters die just like that. But as for Fyodor in particular...

His storyline isn't over at all, so the story isn't at a point where it can release him yet. That's the biggest sign. For his storyline to be covered and wrapped up, there are a couple of things that have yet to come up.

Plot point 1: We've had a huge, huge buildup to unveiling the mystery of his ability. It's been dangled before us for so long, it'd be suuuuper counter-intuitive to get rid of him before the big reveal. Of course, the fact that it was kept unsaid all this time leads me to think what his ability is will be the key piece of some puzzle or another.

Maybe it has to do with immortality/revival, thematically keeping his likeness to a god or godlike figure. Maybe trading life. Maybe something dealing with blood itself. Could be a million things, that might as well ensure his survival here.

Only Sigma would know now, right?

Plot point 2: Asagiri has, so far, not left any of his villains' motivations hidden. Everyone gets their time in the spotlight to expose why they were doing what they were doing, from Mori to Fitz to Guide to Shibusawa to Fukuchi to everyone.

At this point, we don't know Fyodor's motivations beyond a shallow level. He hasn't yet exposed why he sees ability users as such sinful beings. We don't know his story, background or anything about him - we just plain don't know a thing about the guy, haha.

That's my reasoning. But, a couple of observations I'd add:

Fyodor doesn't like to lose. He also hasn't shown an inclination to dying at all (he enjoys that Nikolai wants to try it, but that's different), he has his great mission to accomplish. Would he really look peaceful as he asks the lord why he's forsaken him?

Other than that, how convenient is it that the recognizable, bandaged arm was what came out of the wreckage? It's so perfectly convincing, but so scarce.

This one's a bit more could-be-couldn't-be, but Nikolai was really quiet and out of shot while the helicopter was taking off and crashing. Next moment we see him, he's clearly in a state of emotional shock. How early did the shock of realizing maybe he will lose Fyodor right now set in? Would he have had time to do anything, in a panicked moment? This one's very "maybe not, probably not", but I'm throwing it out here.

But, one last thought: the scene took place at night, the night of the full moon, when the Page was supposed to come into action. Fukuchi was executed at sunset, but Fyodor "died" at night. Could anything be happening behind the scenes at that time?

I'd love to hear anyone's thoughts on this stuff!

Thanks for the question anyways, I'm really happy to be talking bout BSD again!! YOU GUYS MAKE ME FEEL SO AT HOME.