Chapter 54
In fact, it took Asuka Kazuya three years to devise a way to escape from Meursault. Thanks to constantly instigating his neighbors to attempt prison breaks, Asuka Kazuya, as the only model prisoner who hadn’t caused any trouble in three years, finally hijacked a European tycoon’s private jet to Japan at the age of twenty-one.
“Coming to such an obvious place, what were you thinking?”
Under a parasol by the street, Yosano Akiko took off her sunglasses, looking at her companion in a Hawaiian shirt, who looked like he was on vacation.
The young man’s frame was slender, his exposed skin an unhealthy white from the lack of sunlight in Meursault.
But he looked much healthier than before. Under the instructions of the European Ability Organization, Meursault regularly monitored Asuka Kazuya’s physical data.
Yosano Akiko heard that he turned the place upside down, several criminals preferring to bang their heads against the wall than be his neighbor, only Asuka Kazuya himself went there to recuperate.
“Why didn’t you just accept their invitation to join the International Self-Defense Force?” Yosano Akiko raised an eyebrow. “Or did you make a bet with someone to see if they could really keep you locked up for fifty or sixty years?”
Asuka Kazuya refuted this.
He gave a nonsensical reply, blaming the other incomprehensible prisoners in Meursault, claiming that if it weren’t for their stupidity, his escape plan would have succeeded long ago.
Yosano Akiko chuckled, telling him not to think everyone was Dazai.
Asuka Kazuya: “Why do you sound so close to Dazai?”
Asuka Kazuya: “Is his mission related to you? —Wow, did that guy become famous?”
How should she answer this?
“Not really close,” Yosano Akiko propped her chin, replying casually. “You should have noticed, three years can change a lot of things, Yokohama isn’t the same as before after that video of yours, it’s not strange for ability users to know Dazai’s name.”
“After the Dragon’s Head Conflict, for fairness’ sake, ability users also participated in high-level management. The Port Mafia absorbed other organizations at a speed the government couldn’t detect. But just when everyone thought they would expand to the entire country at this rate, they suddenly quieted down.”
“Like a warning to the military police and the Special Abilities Division, the Port Mafia wasn’t afraid of war, they just didn’t have a reason to act…”
Yosano Akiko chuckled.
“Kazuya, you really picked up a formidable guy.”
“…”
Asuka Kazuya didn’t reply.
He thought for a moment, finally saying, “Although Chuuya is indeed formidable, it sounds strange coming from you.”
“Alright,”
Yosano Akiko chuckled, shooing him away like a puppy.
“Calling their Boss’s name so openly on Port Mafia territory, don’t get me arrested.”
Asuka Kazuya pondered, noticing a few men in suits looking at him.
He looked at the vacation package he’d robbed from the European tycoon, deciding to first remove the conspicuous Hawaiian lei, reflecting deeply on himself.
Unfortunately, before he could find the right answer, the vigilant men in suits had already surrounded him.
A man’s hand landed on his shoulder, a gun pressed against his back where the crowd couldn’t see.
“Military police?” the man in the suit asked. “Here to assassinate our Boss again? This method is even more boring than before.”
Asuka Kazuya glanced at his actions, muttering, “Being the Boss is so dangerous.”
Three years later, some mafia members were still so gullible.
Let them arrest him, that was fine too.
Asuka Kazuya thought silently as he got up.
If he asked Chuuya directly, Chuuya would just brush it off.
Asuka Kazuya wasn’t completely idle during his three years in Meursault. Like when the Vongola came to rescue their companion who was also captured, Asuka Kazuya met Sasagawa Ryohei, who had recovered.
He learned many things from Sasagawa Ryohei.
Like how, in the original timeline, he was eliminated by the Special Abilities Division and Mori Ougai working together.
And how Chuuya visited him every birthday, meeting Sawada Tsunayoshi, the Vongola Boss, for the first time at his grave, and making a deal with him without Mori Ougai’s knowledge.
So the Vongola’s words, [You’re still alive,] were indeed a reward for Yosano Akiko saving Sasagawa Ryohei’s life.
The Ten-Year Bazooka was used at the age of twenty-six, in exchange for Nakahara Chuuya, who had become a top executive of the Port Mafia.
He placed his hope of salvation in the hands of Dazai Osamu, whom he hated the most, squatting down and placing a bouquet of daisies at Asuka Kazuya’s grave with a chuckle.
This didn’t sound like the Nakahara Chuuya he knew. Or perhaps it was because Chuuya always avoided showing his mafia side in front of him, which was why Asuka Kazuya hadn’t told him about his escape.
This resulted in Tachihara’s shock upon seeing him in the interrogation room. The young man with the cleaver was speechless for a moment, then, under his subordinate’s expectant gaze, opened the door and tossed his weapon aside.
“What are you wearing?” Tachihara looked him up and down. “Even more avant-garde than the Public Relations Officer, is this Meursault’s prison uniform?”
“…I was about to ask what you’re holding.” Asuka Kazuya examined the interrogation tools Tachihara brought, asking puzzledly, “Why are you in Ozaki’s interrogation team?”
This was a good question.
Ignoring his subordinate’s questioning gaze, Tachihara put his arm around Asuka Kazuya’s neck: “Too many people want to kill the Boss, we’re short-handed.”
“When I first heard about a mole who wouldn’t talk, I thought I finally had a chance to shine—hey, want to help? There are still two we haven’t finished interrogating next door.”
Asuka Kazuya: “I’m busy.”
Tachihara: “Busy vacationing in the interrogation room?”
Asuka Kazuya: “…”
“Hahaha,” Tachihara laughed, releasing his arm. “I know, you want to ask about Chuuya, right?”
“His information is classified now, after a year of being mocked by that Dazai, he was forced to grow up quickly.”
After the new ability regulations were fully implemented, Mori Ougai voluntarily stepped down a few months ago. He was still with the Port Mafia, but now also a teacher, enjoying teaching children with abilities, completely forgetting about the occasional documents the Port Mafia gave him.
As for Nakahara Chuuya, he undoubtedly became a qualified Boss, succeeding Mori Ougai.
Tachihara said his sympathy had been worn away two years ago. Back when he was still an executive, Nakahara Chuuya saved a child on the street who looked a lot like Asuka Kazuya, only to find out he was an assassin sent by another organization.
“And then?” Asuka Kazuya asked.
“Then I don’t know,” Tachihara said casually. “If he didn’t kill that child, his other ability-affected companions would die. Since the Black Lizard is still alive, Chuuya must have killed him.”
It was probably around that time that Public Security, led by Amuro Tooru, finally took down the organization, along with Interpol.
“I heard you sent Tanaka Airi a package two years ago?” Tachihara suddenly asked. “How did you do that? Send a package from prison?”
Tanaka Airi received the head of the Theos leader on Christmas Day. The woman laughed for a long time upon opening the package, her tears melting in the cold snow, as if all her strength had left her.
She had someone send Asuka Kazuya a “thank you,” then closed the door, calmly watching a children’s cartoon, and stabbed herself in the heart.
“Charisma?” Asuka Kazuya gave a vague answer, deliberately telling Tachihara, “I told you, I also have friends.”
Tachihara laughed loudly, patting his back, saying he would get a bottle of wine from his dorm and chat with him later.
The news of him chatting with the enemy military police quickly reached Nakahara Chuuya’s ears.
“He must have his reasons,”
Nakahara Chuuya signed a document, glancing at the time, asking Hirotsu Ryuro beside him,
“Still nothing from Meursault?”
“Yes,” Hirotsu Ryuro bowed respectfully. “No news of any escapes yet, but Yuan and the others are still monitoring.”
Nakahara Chuuya was silent, replying with an “understood” after a while.
How patient should one be?
Nakahara Chuuya pondered, glancing at the photo frame by his hand. The person in the photo once told him that he would definitely sneak out to celebrate his birthday with him in a year.
Nakahara Chuuya believed him.
Then came the first year.
Then the second year.
Nakahara Chuuya wasn’t interested in birthdays. After becoming the Boss, only the Flags would put ribbons on his head. The reason he sat properly in front of the cake was purely out of expectation for the arrival of a certain person who repeatedly broke his promises.
Now it was the third year.
Nakahara Chuuya lowered his eyes, walking through the corridor expressionlessly.
If he had known, he wouldn’t have believed his lies.
When he twisted the neck of that child who looked a bit like Asuka Kazuya, Nakahara Chuuya suddenly understood where his possessiveness for Asuka Kazuya came from.
They were too close.
Every future Nakahara Chuuya envisioned included Asuka Kazuya, so close that he hadn’t initially thought of separating family from lover.
But in fact, for Nakahara Chuuya, these two were the same person.
The current Boss of the Port Mafia was the type who would wear his wedding ring and take his lover home.
With this thought, Nakahara Chuuya missed the elevator, arriving at the basement level as if led by fate.
The closing door was forcefully opened with his ability upon hearing a familiar voice. He frowned, his footsteps light, deliberately concealing his presence.
Under the dim light, Asuka Kazuya was chatting with the interrogator. Like how one should use their aura to overpower the other party during interrogation, this trembling and stuttering was unacceptable.
The man in the suit thought it made sense, raising his voice: “Don’t think we’ll let you go just because you know Tachihara-sama! Tell us! What’s your purpose for approaching the Boss?!”
Asuka Kazuya: “I haven’t even approached him yet.”
The man in the suit: “But you didn’t deny being a mole before.”
Asuka Kazuya: “That’s true. But isn’t your questioning too crude?”
The man in the suit pondered for a moment, asking, “I was transferred from logistics, then how should I interrogate?”
“Like shining a bright light on me and not letting me sleep for three days and nights, then shooting my limbs, painful but not fatal, or something.”
The man in the suit suddenly realized: “Oh! You’re quite… quite… you little… Don’t try to scare me! I’ll really shoot!”
Asuka Kazuya was amused by his reaction.
He wanted to say something more, but Nakahara Chuuya’s face darkened, no longer having the patience to watch him chat with others.
A black trench coat was draped over him. Asuka Kazuya looked up, seeing Nakahara Chuuya’s face.
He looked more mature, but his aura was completely different.
Asuka Kazuya, recalling Tachihara’s words, belatedly realized that he seemed a bit angry.
He watched Nakahara Chuuya squat down and button his coat one by one, his gaze unable to help but fall on the stunned man in the suit in the distance.
“Aren’t you going to say hello?”
A gloved hand covered his. Nakahara Chuuya, still half-squatting, looked up, meeting Asuka Kazuya’s green eyes.
The young man smiled at him, just like in his dream.
“Chuuya, you should at least welcome me back.”
