Chapter 49
That being said, even if he didn’t get up, Chuuya wouldn’t kill him, right?
Asuka Kazuya, after assessing the situation, decided to assert his dominance here.
“I heard many ability users in Yokohama have been attacked recently?”
Nakahara Chuuya frowned, not denying it: “How did you know?”
Not just the Port Mafia, ability users from all organizations in Yokohama had been attacked to varying degrees. Nakahara Chuuya initially thought it was inter-organizational conflict, until yesterday, when a Takase-kai executive died, his body dismembered without dignity—
This couldn’t be the work of any organization he knew. Nakahara Chuuya remembered that executive, unable to imagine anyone besides Verlaine being able to kill him so silently.
“A secret,”
Asuka Kazuya said, not exposing Tanaka Airi.
“…” Nakahara Chuuya was silent, feeling uncomfortable all over.
He hadn’t been this close to anyone since Asuka Kazuya disappeared when they were young. Especially after joining the mafia, to maintain the strict hierarchy, his subordinates often kept a distance of one meter, only the pianist and the others would recklessly put their arms around his neck.
What was this guy trying to do?
Asuka Kazuya rambled on, but Nakahara Chuuya barely heard a word.
He watched his lips move, not even knowing what he wanted to do himself.
“Did you go to Yokohama?” Nakahara Chuuya asked.
Asuka Kazuya was stunned, retorting: “Would you not know if I went to Yokohama?”
Usually, no.
But Nakahara Chuuya thought for a moment, if that bastard Dazai Osamu helped him hide it, it wasn’t impossible.
The Boss asked him to watch Sakaguchi Ango, and Dazai Osamu seemed to be getting along well with him. Nakahara Chuuya heard he recently befriended someone from the logistics department, not understanding what was going on in his head.
“Then it must have been the police who told you,” Nakahara Chuuya concluded, half-right. “Yokohama has been shrouded in a strange white fog recently, ordinary people have disappeared, only ability users have been attacked.”
To prevent the situation from escalating, the government only announced that there was an important meeting being held in Yokohama, so it was closed off, traffic strictly controlled, only open for a while during the day when the fog cleared.
“Oh,” Asuka Kazuya thought for a moment. “Dazai told me he thinks those ability users were killed by their own abilities.”
Nakahara Chuuya was shocked, subconsciously retorting, “Impossible.”
“Didn’t Verlaine also say before that the military’s experiment to extract abilities from ability users failed because abilities can only be controlled by the human soul, and the limit is determined by the human spirit?” Synthesizing the information he had, Asuka Kazuya slowly analyzed, “So it should have nothing to do with the military’s experiment, there might be an ability user in this world who can separate abilities.”
After reaching this conclusion, Asuka Kazuya had also asked Tanaka Airi about its connection to the Special Abilities Division.
The woman smiled, her answer being, “Their method of quelling conflict, as a member of the Special Abilities Division, don’t you know?”
Shibusawa Tatsuhiko, ability [Dragon’s Head Conflict], was deployed by the Special Abilities Division to quell the conflict between mafia groups over the 500 billion. Unfortunately, things didn’t go as planned. Blood stained Yokohama’s soil, and the corpses only fueled greater hatred between the mafia groups.
The Special Abilities Division always did this kind of thing.
They hid a bunch of uncontrollable secret weapons, clearing their names for murder to gain an advantage in future international ability conflicts.
“I want to see your Boss,” thinking of this, Asuka Kazuya made his request. “It has nothing to do with you, I’ll sneak in myself.”
Nakahara Chuuya narrowed his eyes, saying “no” without thinking.
“The security around the Boss is the tightest, do you want to be beaten up by Kouyou-neesan?”
Asuka Kazuya was shocked: “Why do you assume I’ll lose? I’ve wanted to say this for a long time, do you think I’m that useless?”
“…No,” Nakahara Chuuya said, his head aching. “Once you fight, you’ll attract the guards’ attention. Even I can’t escape unscathed surrounded by so many ability users.”
Asuka Kazuya hummed, still not planning to tell him about Rimbaud and Verlaine.
“I’m going anyway,”
Asuka Kazuya was persistent, a “whatever you say, you can’t control me” arrogance about him.
“I’m only telling you because I’m afraid you’ll be angry later, unless you’re going to report me to him—although I’ll still go even if you do.”
…Would he not be angry if he was told in advance?
Nakahara Chuuya was furious. He looked at Asuka Kazuya, able to think of a hundred ways to send him flying in their current position.
This guy was living too comfortably.
Did he really think he wouldn’t act?
Nakahara Chuuya sneered, first attacking with a kick, then grabbing the back of his collar as Asuka Kazuya dodged in surprise, pulling him away.
“Did Dazai give you this idea again?”
“I thought of it myself, why do you always blame Dazai?”
“You can’t do it even if you thought of it yourself.”
“Really? Then wouldn’t it be fine if I beat you?”
Asuka Kazuya’s words were shocking. He straightened his sleeves under Nakahara Chuuya’s “what did you learn during your trip” gaze.
“Come on, otouto, let you experience Oniisan’s power.”
“So you lost?”
Yokohama, Port Mafia headquarters. Dazai Osamu couldn’t help but laugh upon seeing the disheveled Nakahara Chuuya return.
Nakahara Chuuya scowled, clicking his tongue irritably, replying: “How could I actually fight him?”
“Then reflect on yourself.” Dazai Osamu shrugged nonchalantly. “Kazuya-kun would actually attack, if there was an ability user who could transform into Kazuya-kun in the future, would you still not fight back?”
“…There’s no such ability user,” Nakahara Chuuya said, glancing at the increasingly dense fog outside the window. “Besides, Kazuya is Kazuya, I’m not so blind that I can’t even tell the difference.”
Dazai Osamu wasn’t surprised by this answer. He calmly turned a page in his book, changing the subject without warning: “Actually, before meeting Kazuya-kun for the first time, I met Lambo-kun from the Vongola.”
“That Bovino Family?” Nakahara Chuuya’s attention was piqued, turning to look at Dazai Osamu under the dim light. “What did he want from you?”
“I was on a mission,” Dazai Osamu replied casually. “Lambo-kun was probably also on a mission, but after being hit on the head, he started crying, yelling about enduring or something, while throwing their family’s specialty at me.”
The Ten-Year Bazooka.
In a brief five minutes, Dazai Osamu saw the future ten years later.
The Three-Way Deadlock.
After the Dragon’s Head Conflict, the Port Mafia controlled most of Yokohama’s underworld. But Dazai Osamu had already left the organization by then. He lowered his eyes, realizing that a minute ago, his ten-years-later self was spacing out in front of a grave belonging to someone named “Oda Sakunosuke.”
[“Are you the only one in pain?”]
Sakaguchi Ango, ten years later, had a gun pressed against his head, his tone frighteningly calm, having come to visit the grave next to Oda Sakunosuke’s.
[“Dazai, I also lost a friend.”]
Dazai Osamu could also be rebellious sometimes.
He didn’t really care where he was, or who was the Boss, but knowing someone was scheming against him was different.
“Isn’t it good for Kazuya-kun to see Mori-san?” Dazai Osamu chuckled, not telling Nakahara Chuuya what he saw. “He has his own thoughts, maybe it’s even to protect you.”
Nakahara Chuuya: “Protect me?”
“Do you think Mori-san didn’t notice anything?” Dazai Osamu stood up, stating the facts in a chilling tone. “Colonel-san was confirmed dead three days ago, the reason he hasn’t told you is because he’s worried you’ll rebel.”
Of the Port Mafia’s five executives, only Ozaki Kouyou was a useful combatant.
Nakahara Chuuya froze, never expecting Colonel to die.
“I didn’t think…”
“Even if you were to fight Colonel-san, you wouldn’t have killed him, right?” Dazai Osamu smiled, his tone betraying no sadness. “There are many things beyond Mori-san’s expectations, like Verlaine-kun, Mori-san originally intended to make him an executive.”
Nakahara Chuuya’s feelings were complicated: “Why are you telling me this?”
Dazai Osamu would never be this kind. Nakahara Chuuya frowned, assessing the young man’s every move.
Why?
Dazai Osamu followed his train of thought.
Beside another grave were several opened letters. Sakaguchi Ango refused to tell him the truth, so Dazai Osamu glimpsed someone’s life through those letters.
Almost every letter ended with “please write back,” filled with happy accounts of Matsuda teaching him to swim, Bourbon giving him gifts, until one day, the cheerful words disappeared, and Asuka Kazuya wrote [they were all killed by Verlaine].
Asuka Kazuya blamed himself, rarely writing to Sakaguchi Ango again.
The last letter was when he discovered the truth.
The neat paper only had the words [I’m sorry]. The ink was slightly smudged, as if the writer had been crying.
Sakaguchi Ango, ten years later, lowered his eyes, saying it was a disaster for the Special Abilities Division.
That’s why, back in the present, Dazai Osamu asked that question—
[“What if one day, you discover your life is a lie?”]
[“Kazuya-kun, will you break down like those soldiers?”]
The answer was yes.
In that world where all his friends were killed, Asuka Kazuya chose to take revenge on the Special Abilities Division. After the Special Abilities Division, it was the Port Mafia. He hadn’t reunited with Nakahara Chuuya yet, and by the time he returned, Asuka Kazuya had already died in the siege by the Port Mafia and the Special Abilities Division.
Nakahara Chuuya silently collected his body.
Dazai Osamu didn’t feel much at first. He only thought this person was truly tragic. If he had such an easily exploitable ability, he might as well have jumped off a building from the start.
Unfortunately, Asuka Kazuya was quite dense.
He would chat with Dazai Osamu in jail whenever he was free, making the latter feel utterly hopeless, deciding to give him a little reminder.
[“Don’t give me food.”]
[“I’m taking care of the weak.”]
[“Don’t let my appearance fool you, Kazuya-kun, killing you is easy.”]
[“Hey, Dazai.”]
In the dead of night, Asuka Kazuya poked the half-dead Dazai Osamu on the ground through the bars.
He propped his chin, his cheeks puffing slightly, Dazai Osamu’s reflection in his clear eyes.
[“Why do you sympathize with me?”]
Dazai Osamu remembered replying, “Where did you get the idea that I sympathize with you?” Asuka Kazuya rolled his eyes, saying “intuition.”
[“You’re bored, I’m bored, although we’re both lonely, we’re not lonely together.”]
Dazai Osamu was silent, thinking about the letters.
Eighteen years old, minus the five blank years at birth, a mere thirteen years, this was Asuka Kazuya’s life, constantly claiming “not lonely.”
“I don’t know why either…”
Dazai Osamu lowered his eyelashes, his index finger tracing the signature on the book’s title page.
It was Colonel’s name, a relic of the deceased executive.
“Although it would be fun to see you cry your heart out ten years later, I’m a bit angry too.”
Nakahara Chuuya was puzzled, not understanding at all: “What riddles are you talking about, bastard Dazai, why would I be crying ten years later?”
“Haha,”
Dazai Osamu smiled brightly.
“Because you’re an idiot, maybe Kazuya-kun will be taken away by some police officer, and even send you a wedding invitation.”
Bang.
Nakahara Chuuya, expressionless, silenced the alarm about the attack on the Boss’s office.
Yokohama’s night was shrouded in a veil of moonlight. Nakahara Chuuya’s thoughts were surprisingly in sync with Dazai Osamu’s. He grabbed his collar, slowly walking towards the Port Mafia’s top floor under his subordinate’s horrified gaze.
“That’s impossible, I don’t have time for your nonsense.”
“Dazai, explain clearly.” Nakahara Chuuya’s eyes were cold. “What happened to Kazuya ten years later?”
