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chazukekani · 3 years

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Here comes the summary of Code:02 (chapter 2) of Stormbringer. Enjoy!

p.s. Please beware that it was just a summary so some part is skipped.

Recap: The flags were dead.

Adam was walking on the street. He was holding a big bag in front of his body. What's inside were chocolate, hard candy and gummy bear. Adam bought it all for Chuuya because he knew humans need sugar in order to live and to stay happier.

'Good morning!' Adam shouted. He was in a church with a hundred participants. Youth choir was singing hymns and attendants were all wearing black clothings.

It was a funeral, with five coffins placed in the center.

'Chuuya-san, I am here to pick you up,' Adam said.

'Quiet! The funeral is in progress!' Chuuya said impatiently.

'There is some new information about Verlaine,' Adam replied.

Hence, shortly after, Chuuya followed Adam to go somewhere else which was quite far away from the church. Adam asked for Chuuya's permission to override his own command authority. By command authority, Adam explained that this was something written into his system, where he had an order of priority of certain people that he could listen to their commands. The first priority was always following the command of the investigation authority, and the second is Dr. Wollstonecraft. However, Adam wanted Chuuya to be the first priority for now.

Chuuya agreed, and the priority was then alternated, which Adam now called Chuuya as Chuuya-sama. The teen was slightly embarrassed by the new title.

'Can you change the way of how you call me?' asked Chuuya.

'Yes I can. This is just my default,' Adam answered, 'But you will no longer be my first priority.'

'What? That's so annoying. Nevermind then. Don't you have something about Verlaine to tell me?' said Chuuya.

'Yes I do. But may I take a gum before I do that?' Adam said. The robot seemed to like gum very much.

Adam pointed out that Verlaine probably hired a third party to assist him entering Japan. There were only very few illegal smuggling services which were not under the control of the Port Mafia, so it was actually fairly easy to find out which organisation helped Verlaine. Adam said he hacked the database of the police authority, and found the exact personnel who was hired by Verlaine.

'I am glad to know that you can actually do something,' Chuuya mocked.

Apart from hiring people to provide assistance on smuggling, Adam pointed out that Verlaine also asked those people to order three things for him.' The first one is four branches of white birch. Adam explained that there was also a white birch founded in the billiards bar, so he believed that the birch was actually a signature of Verlaine after completing a murder. Hence, there were supposed to have three birches left. Meanwhile, the other two things were entry licences of a car factory and an old fashioned blue colour flip phone.

'I know where he is,' Chuuya acknowledged something, 'Let's go,'

'Where are we going?' Adam asked.

Chuuya didn't answer. He grabbed Adam's final piece of gum, and put it into the mouth. Chuuya blew a bubble from his mouth, and Adam was shocked.

Inside the car factory, there was a teen working. He was grabbed by his manager because he wanted to invite him to have a meal after work. However, the teen was then brought to the meeting room. The teen saw someone.

'Chuuya...' the teen spoke.

'Shirase.' said Chuuya

Chuuya explained himself to Shirase because he knew Shirase was Verlaine's next target. Shirase was the reason why Chuuya joined the Mafia (as recalled from 15 years old). If Shirase was killed, then Chuuya no longer had a reason for staying in the mafia, such that Chuuya could leave with Verlaine.

Chuuya asked Shirase to help him, but Shirase refused because he hated Chuuya, and he did not want to be a bait either. He escaped by riding a bike so Adam and Chuuya chased afterwards. While Shirase was escaping, he was stopped at a police checkpoint.

'Shirase Buichirou! I am going to arrest you for keeping weapons illegally!' A police officer, roughly around his 40s and wearing a dark green outfit, said. Chuuya ran forward because he knew this officer.

'Hey- How are you Chuuya? Did you eat properly?' said the officer, 'You can't grow if you don't eat well.' They chatted as if old friends.

'I suspect you may be the accomplice of Shirase, so please come to the police station with me as well.'

Chuuya suddenly realised that such an arrest was not a coincidence. It was the factory manager who had plotted them.

Adam, Chuuya and Shirase were all in the police station. Apart from Shirase being detained, the rest of two were staying in the investigation room inside the station.

'Chuuya-sama.'

'...'

'Chuuya-sama.'

'what...'

'It's your turn. Our game of '"Discovery of human's uniqueness".'

Chuuya didn't answer.

'Then it's my turn,' Adam said. 'Hmm, I think what's special with humans is, they will be embarrassed by sounds that were made apart from their voice, such as the groans of their stomach.'

'Huh?' Chuuya was confused.

' "Huh" right? Thanks for responding to me,' said Adam.

The game continues.

'Shall we ban gaming next time?' said Chuuya.

'Is this an order?'

'Yes.'

'Understood, I will no longer play the game of "Discovery of human's uniqueness".' Adam answered.

'Why you look super sad...' Chuuya noticed the disappointment on Adam's face.

Chuuya proceeded to ask whether it was possible for Adam to ask for help from his own organisation, but Adam denied this possibility because the EUROPOLE was bound by a regulation of 'non infringing country's sovereignty' when the organisation was founded in the post-war period, so this strategy didn't work.

[Change in perspective] Here was an abandoned area, a piece of land that was forgotten by everyone. Different kinds of garbage was thrown here, regardless of transportation container or corpses. In the middle of this area, was where Dazai lived. He's living in a container, with basic furniture such as a fridge, fan, table, chairs and bed equipped, together with a small light bulb.

Suddenly, someone opened the door of the container.

'You are really living in an interesting place, Dazai-kun,' that person greeted, 'My god, why are you living in this place? To avoid tax or something?'

'I am afraid of you, Verlaine-san,' Dazai replied without a single emotion.

'Lie,' said Verlaine, 'I was trying to kill you two days ago, and you didn't feel anything back then.' Verlaine touched some documents on the desk, and those were the top secret of the mafia.

'Two days ago, I didn't kill you because you promised to give me these documents. I don't think you handed me this because you wanted my spare you right?' said Verlaine.

'It's simple,' Dazai said, 'I just want to see the Mafia burns.'

'Why?'

'I'm fed up,' Dazai looked at Verlaine for a second, 'I found nothing after all,' Dazia then murmured to himself.

'I see, I understand what you mean,' Verlaine, 'thanks for your cooperation, Dazai-kun.'

Verlaine flicked a coin, and boom, it exploded. All the surroundings apart from Dazai's container were blown up and gone, and Verlaine was about to leave

'Where are you going?' Dazai asked.

'You should have known right? To the police station,' Verlaine answered.

Chuuya was called into an investigation room to be questioned by that police officer, his name was Murase. The officer proposed an idea which he could set Shirase free, but in return, Chuuya needed to expose some secrets about the Mafia.

'Are you telling me to betray the Mafia?' said Chuuya.

'Just tell me and I let you and your friend go home,' the police officer was writing his report.

'Give me your pen,' Chuuya said calmly, then wrote 'eat shit' on the signature spot of the report.

Adam was somewhere near Shirase's detention. He hacked into the database of the police authority, and acquired the detaining number of Shirase, and successfully deceived the guards. Adam found Shirase, and was about to bring him away from the police station, but Shirase didn't look happy at all. Adam told Shirase that there was actually no need for him and Chuuya to protect him, but Chuuya wanted to protect him. Adam explained what happened during one year ago and revealed the reason why Chuuya joined the mafia to Shirase because Chuuya wanted to protect him.

Suddenly, when Adam and Shirase were about to leave, the teen said something.

'You... where have your left leg gone?' said Shirase.

Adam realised that the part beneath his left knee was gone, and he immediately fell down.

'Robot investigator is surely a tough job isn't it?' said by a voice.

'Verlaine...'

Adam could not handle the attack from Verlaine because he was using gravity control which made Adam not able to move.

'Don't... don't come near me!' Shirase was horrified.

'Shirase-kun, I have done research on you. You have known Chuuya for the longest in this city. Shirase-kun, please tell me, how was Chuuya when he was a kid?'

'We are... the founding members of The Sheep... and we thought Chuuya was just an orphan. He was the one who spoke to us first: "What's that brick?" Chuuya said that.'

'It was bread, we answered,' Shirase continued, ' "Do you wanna eat that?" I asked, and he said yes. The moment he wanted to move, and fell down and fainted. He was very thin and almost dead by then. Despite there were some members who objected to my idea , I found some food and water for him and brought him back to The Sheep.'

'You are Chuuya's brother right?' Why do you want to kill me? There was no one apart from me saving your brother! Is this how you return your favour?' Shirase yelled at Verlaine, but he didn't say a word.

'I understood, there is no common sense in this world. I am killed because I saved someone. Now, hurry up and kill me,' said Shirase.

Verlaine stepped forward and walked closer to Shirase. Adam calculated, and deduced that there were 168 possibilities, and among all of them, Shirase would be killed either way. It was impossible that the 169th possibility would occur.

Yet, Chuuya was here and kicked Verlaine off horizontally, and that's the 169th possibility.

A fight broke out between the brothers. Chuuya hit Verlaine harshly and violently, which made Adam think it was probably his first time seeing how a person could beat the assassin king that severely. The wall and the surroundings were destroyed by the battle.

'It has been a while since I last saw my blood,' Verlaine's voice sounds dry.

Chuuya aimed for Verlaine's arm, and punched it. He hit the wall as if touching the water surface and broke through it. That was unbelievable, Adam thought. Outside the wall was the car park of the police station, and Chuuya was hit by a car that was coming for him, and there were more cars incoming. Chuuya finally stopped attacking.

'Chuuya! Are you alright!' someone shouted from the back of the car park, it was Murase officer.

'Officer-san...why are you here? Don't come!' Chuuya yelled.

'Finally you are here,' Verlaine whispered.

Verlaine came forward to Murase-officer and grabbed his neck.

'Stop it!' Chuuya shouted, but it was too late. Murase officer was dead. Adam came forward to the body, and found a cross that was made by white birch. Chuuya was holding the body of the officer, and he found something inside the pocket. It was an old-style blue colour flip phone. That was the exact model that Verlaine acquired before he came to Yokohama.

Chuuya realised, the target of Verlaine was always Murase officer, and never was Shirase.

But why?

Code:02 Ended

#bungo stray dogs #bungou stray dogs #bsd #bungo stray dogs storm bringer #bungou stray dogs storm bringer #bsd storm bringer #bsd nakahara chuuya #bsd paul verlaine #bsd dazai osamu #nakahara chuuya #paul verlaine #dazai osamu

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nikadoesanart · 3 years

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My predictions on BSD getting animated going forward

I’ll be taking a look at the novel page counts (Japanese and English) and comparing them to the screen time they’ve gotten so far and then using this to predict how long the remaining light novel adaptations will be (approximately). At the end will also be my rough prediction/hopes for the order of some of these being adapted. I say some because I have yet to read what there is so far of the gaiden novel translations, the main story manga has essentially still been on the DOA arc almost since where the anime left off, and I personally think that it’s currently too soon for Storm Bringer (aside from money purposes).

Note, most of this was written well before the anime 5th anniversary livestream but the announcements wound up not affecting it. I then of course made adjustments as needed account for the novel content we do have so far, both in Japanese and in English (officially).

Page to Episode Count

Not counting the afterward, ads, etc for the English/US copy, Japanese is including it

Also all eng page counts are using the Yen Press release and jp page counts are taken from the fandom wiki

*148 is purely counting the Untold Origins portion of the novel. If we also count the A Day at the Agency short story that’s included before it (56 pages), then we get the full 203

Also the English page count for BEAST was noted before the English release date but after page counts have been posted by affiliated retailers, so subtract a couple pages from the written count of 176 for the time being to account for the afterward and possible character sheets being included

Now that we have our page to episode counts (as of April 5th, 2021), let’s find the actual content run time of what we do have animated so far.

Seasons 1-3 and the OVA all have the same episode length/duration. Each episode is 23 minutes, and we can subtract 3 minutes on average from that to account for the OP and ED being played. This leaves us with an average of 20 minutes of BSD story content per episode. So on average, each of the first 3 seasons contain 240 minutes, or 4 hours, worth of story content.

Dead Apple’s total run time is 91 minutes, with the OP and ED making up 9 of those minutes. However, we do have a bit of the story content being played while the ED is playing (as sometimes happens in the anime as well). To keep the math simple, I’ll be approximating story content time at 82 minutes.

Apply these numbers to the novels that have been animated so far and this is (approximately) what we get:

Now let’s use these numbers to predict the screen time needed for the other novels

Note that we can’t really use Entrance Exam as a fair measure because of how much got cut out (just compare the run time of it to Dark Era and it speaks for itself). However, the numbers for Dark Era and Dead Apple are the best ones to use, as they both have minimal changes between anime and novel and both have official English translations currently available. Take out the approximate time taken up by OP/ED and and the numbers pretty much match up.

So with that being said, we can estimate Untold Origins (only) at approximately 3 eps/60 min and 55 Minutes at 1h 40-55min/100-115 min or 5-6 eps if it doesn’t get a movie. We can also estimate the A Day at the Detective Agency short story at the beginning of Untold Origins to take up about 1 ep, probably even a bit less.

1+ 3 + 5-6 = 9-10 episodes which isn’t enough for a full single cour season unless they all get put into one big OVA season, but also 10-11 eps (or less) seasons are a thing (ie. Fugou Keiji: Balance Unlimited, Blood Lad, Black Butler: Book of Circus, The Seven Deadly Sins: Signs of a Holy War, FLCL)

My personal predictions/hopes for the anime adaptation timeline going forward

This is considering the manga content, current “pausing/stopping points” what wouldn’t be too awkward, each of the novels relevancy/necessity to the main story manga, and assuming we continue with single cour (12-13 ep) seasons

Hopefully/ideally a 55 Minutes movie

S4: ch 54-70

Early S5 (preferably) or end of S4: Untold Origins or A Day at the Agency

S5: ch 71-88/around where we are now?

A Day at the Agency can, in my opinion at least, be chucked in at any point either as a single episode OVA or as the light novel content for s4 (maybe not even taking a full episode and then starting ch 54 in the last few minutes for example). Keep in mind that the current DOA arc is a long one and has plenty to it, so personally I think it may even be better to not include a novel adaptation in a future S4, as it would likely already be a right squeeze content wise. Remember, we also have a few XX.5 chapters that are continuations of the chapter directly before them.

I still need to read what’s currently available of the gaiden novel fan translations but it can probably be adapted at any point as well. I’m estimating approximately 5-6 eps as an OVA series. I don’t really think it would get a movie, partially because you can make it only so long, especially since it’s an anime movie and unlike Storm Bringer, it doesn’t have Chuuya to practically guarantee the profit.

BEAST also doesn’t directly impact the main story and can be adapted at virtually any point. However, seeing as we do have a live action confirmed for it and it’s page count lines up very closely with Dark Era, it can be either 4 eps or (more likely in my opinion) a movie, as it can be considered almost stand alone content.

Personally, I believe it is currently way too soon to animate Storm Bringer as it came out only a little over a month ago (as of writing this) and has minimal plot necessity as of ch 91, but I do believe it should be either split into 2 movies (a part 1 and part 2) or it would need 8 episodes, likely as an OVA season. If it were to get animated sooner than 55 Minutes or Untold Origins, which I believe to be very unlikely, I feel that it would almost certainly be driven by the financial gains of Chuuya being included, and his popularity alone. Reminder, SB is about Chuuya and not SKK. Dazai’s appearance in SB is proportionally a very small percentage and he’s not even mentioned in the official plot summary.

However, you can argue that SB is starting to have some relevance now, with the recent mention of the Order of the Clock Tower in ch 90 and the increased relevance of sealed ability weapons in ch 91. However, I really do believe that you can’t adapt Storm Bringer before 55 Minutes because of Standard Island and its treaty, it also talks about sealed ability weapons, knowing who Wells is, and 55 Minutes canonically takes place during the “downtime” portion of S3. In fact, here’s Asagiri’s words directly from the Afterward (translation by Yen Press):

“this volume didn’t take place in the past, but rather sometime after the tenth volume of the manga. In other words, it’s a tale about the ‘usual’ detective agency in novel format.” (55 minutes, p 237)

Untold Origins also should be adapted sooner rather than later (at least compared to SB in my opinion) because it’s about Ranpo and Fukuzawa’s shared past, which becomes increasingly relevant ch 70 onwards, as well as the need for the ADA being founded (which ties in with Yosano’s backstory in ch 65-66).

In regards to whether I think each of these would be better suited to a movie adaptation or as multiple regular length anime episodes, it’s mainly due to page count and partly due to the budget difference between the two, as well as how difficult I think it would be to animate each of these based on what needs to be drawn. The anime industry isn’t the fastest to switch to newer technology, hence why we see issues with 3D blending sometimes. I really do think that at the very least, 55 Minutes deserves the movie budget because of how detailed and complex the architecture of Standard Island is described as, as well all the mechanical parts needed for the final battle of the novel. Hate the lizard mouths introduced in Dead Apple all you want, but you can’t deny that the 3D cgi was blended very smoothly. For any of the other novels to be movies, it’s more so because gaiden and BEAST can be considered their own stand alone stories that don’t rely too heavily on the main story in terms of when they take place and get adapted. I feel that SB is more likely to get its own season or an OVA season more so due to its length, but multiple part anime movies have also been done before (ie. the Fate/Stay Night: Heaven’s Feel movies), so it’s not entirely impossible. Especially considering that merely having any Chuuya screen time means that you can expect the profit and popularity to really go up, especially with SKK being on screen together (regardless of whether you love or hate how the fandom tends to push a shipping POV on them).

These are all of course just my hopes and predictions and estimates based on information currently available, so take them with some salt. I’d love to hear opinions on how, when, and why each of the currently non animated novels should be adapted going forward. Also please stop begging the relevant BSD official Twitter pages for SB to be animated next and go read the other light novels you Chuuya simp

#bsd #bungou stray dogs #bsd analysis #bsd theories #bsd dead apple #bungo stray dogs #bsd manga #bsd storm bringer #bsd light novel #bsd anime #bsd 55 minutes #bsd beast #bsd gaiden #bsd untold origins

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spring-days-at-dusk · 3 years

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Beast Translation Update!

Hey! Me again. Something’s come up so my typesetter won’t be free until the 22nd of December. I’m sorry for the delay and would like to thank everyone for your patience. In the meantime, under the cut are chapter summaries I wrote for those that really want to find out what happened! Sorry they’re pretty long for summaries since I suck at being concise, hope you enjoy!

Beast Chapter 8 Summary [Title: The Beast Called Myself]

Oda asked Akutagawa to babysit the kids he looks after for three days while Oda is away on a business trip. Akutagawa is very upset at this, even more so when Oda refers to him as the eldest of the kids he looks after.

On the first day of babysitting, Akutagawa uses his ability to play with the kids. The second day, he visits Sakura’s class and helps motivate her to answer the teacher’s question.

On the third day, Kousuke cooks a meal for Akutagawa and asks him to give him combat training. Kousuke explains that he wants to get stronger to join the detective agency like Oda, who he says is like an older brother to him. He pulls out a gun that he bought himself and Akutagawa is surprised that a criminal would sell a gun to a child.

The combat training begins and Akutagawa is very clearly winning the fight. Akutagawa then puts a gun up to his own head but Rashomon blocks all the bullets. He says that he hates guns, explaining that they cause people to grow ignorant, which he says is the reason his friends were killed. He uses his ability to destroy the gun and tells Kousuke that if he ever steps foot in front of Akutagawa with a gun again, he’ll kill him.

Oda returns from his business trip and apologizes for ‘leaving the dirty work’ to Akutagawa (i.e. fighting Kosuke), since Oda says that if he were to fight Kosuke, it would only ‘fuel his admiration’. Akutagawa says that Kosuke isn’t cut out for fighting and would be better off becoming a chef. He says that Kosuke is too willing to sacrifice himself for his younger siblings to survive in a heartless world. Oda then gives Akutagawa some of his wisdom, telling him not to chase ‘the beast of yourself’.

Akutagawa asks if this was all set up just for Oda to try to convince him to control himself when fighting ‘the man in black’. Oda denies that though. Akutagawa finished the conversation by saying he was wrong about Kosuke. Oda responds with ‘I hope so’.

Back in the cafe under the ADA, Akutagawa calls Kunikida to try to get out of doing any paperwork when the door swings open and Atsushi enters.

Beast Chapter 9 Summary [Title: Encounter, Part 1]

Atsushi tells Akutagawa that he was asked to deliver a letter to the president of the ADA. However, he got lost on the way and it started raining so he had to take shelter in the cafe. To Atsushi’s relief, Akutagawa tells him that the ADA is on the fourth floor of the building they are in.

Atsushi puts three sugar cubes into his coffee and says that his coworkers always tell him it’s too much. He says he can’t help it due to the place he grew up. ‘An orphanage’ says Akutagawa. Atsushi asks how he knew that. Akutagawa explains that he grew up in a similar environment. Atsushi seems distraught as he says that the natural instinct to use a lot of sugar is probably something that he’ll have for the rest of his life. Much to Atsushi’s surprise, Akutagawa replies by saying he uses four cubes of sugar in his tea.

Atsushi asks if Akutagawa knows about how everyone was always fighting to get their hands on pencils and notebooks. Akutagawa says ‘of course’. He then asks if Atsushi knows about chocolate bars. Atsushi responds with “Of course, it’s a type of currency, isn’t it? There’s relatively a lot, but everyone always wants it, so its value remains constant. Therefore it naturally became used as currency.”

Akutagawa says that at one point, for a while he ate nothing but chocolate bars and then collapsed due to malnutrition. Atsushi bursts out laughing at this.

Atsushi tells him that this is the first time he talked about this. He then asks Akutagawa to deliver the letter for him and asks what his name is. They exchange names.

Akutagawa then asks who sent the letter and Atsushi says it’ll be clear who sent it when the letter is opened. Akutagawa says to be safe, he has to check what’s in the letter in case it’s something dangerous.

Inside the letter, Akutagawa finds a photo of Gin. He asks Atsushi if he knows the person in the photo, Atsushi says he does but is confused as to why the boss put a photo of her in the letter. Akutagawa’s rage is building as he asks Atsushi to tell him where Gin is. Atsushi says he can’t tell Akutagawa where she is, since there is a rule in his organization stating that if you ever find someone searching for Gin, you must kill them. Akutagawa then announces that Gin is his little sister. Atsushi doesn’t believe him, saying she doesn’t have any family. The two begin fighting. They’re pretty evenly matched and eventually Atsushi decides to leave. He says he has to report this to his boss and ask him why there was a photo of Gin in the letter.

Akutagawa tries to stop him from leaving but some mysterious attack renders him unconscious.

Beast Chapter 9.5 (Title: Encounter, Part 2)

Akutagawa thinks about his past, when Dazai told him that he would keep his sister until he figured out what his weakness is. The words of Oda also echo in his mind: “Don’t chase the beast of yourself.” He also tells Akutagawa that he ‘will surely be given a chance for redemption’.

Akutagawa then wakes up and notices his wound is gone. Yosano tells him to follow her and the two head to a room with some of the other ADA members and a projector.

A video is played on the projector of a meeting between Chief Taneda and Dazai Osamu. Kunikida says that Ranpo found out that this video was taken by the government and Tanizaki then says that Oda snuck in and got the video, saying the dangerous mission took Ranpo and Oda three days. Kunikida explains the science behind how the video was secretly obtained using luminous flux waves.

Kunikida then plays the video, in which Chief Taneda says that he heard that Dazai assassinated Mori, Dazai responds with “That’s quite the troublesome information network you have”.

Akutagawa says that he recognized Dazai to be ‘the man in black’. He asks Kunikida to tell him where Dazai is. Kunikida says that he’s on the top floor of the Port Mafia headquarters but explains to Akutagawa that getting to him is impossible. He tells Akutagawa that if he goes, he’ll die. Akutagawa says that it doesn’t matter. He tells Kunikida about the photo of Gin in the letter Atsushi gave him. He says that since Atsushi is reporting to Dazai that Akutagawa is looking for Gin, then Dazai will know he’s coming, causing him to reinforce security and disappear. Alternatively, Akutagawa thinks Dazai might threaten to kill Gin. Tanizaki tells Akutagawa to wait, saying if he goes alone he’ll be killed. Akutagawa shoves him and leaves anyway.

A group of armed men spot Akutagawa approaching and are ordered to kill him.

Beast Chapter 10 (Title: Scheme)

Akutagawa begins infiltrating the port mafia headquarters. He remembers his first meeting with Dazai, who called him ‘an unintelligent, dangerous animal’ and he thinks about his friends calling out to him for help. He demands to be told where Dazai is. Kyouka then makes an appearance. Akutagawa tells her to get out of the way and that even if she’s a little girl, he’ll kill her if needed. Kyouka says no matter what she’ll silence Akutagawa to protect ‘that person’ (Atsushi).

Dazai asks if Atsushi knows who the intruder is, he tells him about their encounter in the cafe. Atsushi requests permission to ask Dazai a question. He asks if it is true that Akutagawa is Gin’s older brother. Dazai says it is true. Atsushi then says “You wanted the Mafia headquarters to be attacked, didn’t you?”. Dazai says he did and then begins a monologue about how the smallest things can lead to large natural disasters, implying that this is all a part of a much larger picture.

Akutagawa and Kyouka continue fighting, Kyouka talks about a time when she tried to leave the port mafia, a person was sent after her to kill her and she says that person was much stronger than Akutagawa. Akutagawa remembers when Oda told him that “when it comes to physical combat, your body’s frailty comes to light” so Akutagawa decides to ‘turn this fight into a battle of abilities’. Akutagawa seems to think he’s about to win when Atsushi comes to kyouka’s rescue. Kyouka tells atsushi that she felt if she didn’t fight Akutagawa, he’d go up against Atsushi and one of them would die. Atsushi reassures her that he won’t die, that he’ll never let her be alone in the darkness. Akutagawa remarks that “there are kind hearted murderers

huddled together in this organization of darkness”. He says the thought could move him to tears, however he did research about Kyouka and Atsushi, calling them ‘the murderer of 35 people’ and ‘the white reaper of the port mafia’. He says that “ No matter how much you grasp onto each other with your bloodied hands, you will never be able to feel one another’s warmth”. Atsushi then responds by saying “That might be true. But even if that’s the case, then you and Gin san will never be able to feel one another’s warmth either”

Thank you for reading the summaries! Hope you like them <3 Sorry they’re so wordy and once again, thank you all so much for your patience.

#bsd #bsd translations #bsd translator #bsd beast #bsd beast au #bsd beast translation #bungou stray dogs #bungo stray dogs #bungou stay dogs translation #bsd beast spoilers #bsd beast manga

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popopretty · 4 years

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BSD Chapter 80

Kami wo kodosu - Part 3

It’s the continuation of the last chapter. We finally learnt who Kamui (or who we thought were Kamui) was and I’m not sure about everyone but it was a nice surprise to me.

Neither English nor Japanese is my native language so there will be some mistakes here and there. Please let me know if you spot any :)

The raw is released monthly in Young Ace magazine that has been digitalized and can be bought online so if anyone is interested in catching up with the chapter in real time, please let me know and I will be happy to help :)

SPOILERS AHEAD

- Dazai and Fyodor are playing number guessing in jail. The game becomes so easy it’s boring that Dazai suggests trying another thing. Fyodor then asks if he has time to play around like that, while the ADA is sinking like the sunset (which is only beautiful for a moment before disappearing). Dazai answers that he does have time because he has nothing to do other than watching over Fyodor in jail, so that a certain person can move freely. Dazai refers to that person is “one who surpasses all ability user, the strongest man of the ADA”.

- Back to Fukuzawa and the masked man on the rooftop. The masked man takes off his mask and he turns out to be Ranpo, Fukuzawa asks him if the other members are targetted also. Ranpo explains that since Kamui is acting so quickly, he has decided to go along with Kamui’s plan and rescued the other members on the way.

- Fukuzawa asks Ranpo why he has been disappearing ever since the beginning. Ranpo tells him the only reason he would ever be in crisis, is that he wants the enemy to think he is in crisis. He then explains to Fukuzawa how he was able to escape from the attack by jumping out of the window and disguising himself using the coat of the person he just knocked down when jumping (lol). After that, he has been doing the normal job of a great detective, and trying to solve the case. During the investigation, he discovered the plan to kill off the ADA members but he didn’t have enough time to save everyone at the same time. That’s why he decided to go along with the enemy’s plan and “rewrite” it. He stole the gun prepared to shoot Kunikida and destroy the electronic locks from outside of the building, and then rescued Kunikida after throwing the gas bomb. For Yosano, he replaced the engine of the car with an electric engine, that has almost no sounds. He also used a speaker to imitate the engine sound so that noone realized that the engine had been replaced. He then caused the explosion to trick the soldiers to get off the car while he himself approaches the car and drive it off quietly. Lastly, in order to save Katai, he made Katai read a novel written by Poe so that he is pulled into the novel world. The guy that goes with Ranpo from the last chapter also takes off his disguise and he turns out to be Poe. Poe wants to talk about how he also helped out a lot with the rescue process but Ranpo says to leave it later because he is busy lol. Ranpo then asks if Fukuzuwa has any order to him and instead of telling Ranpo to “solve the case”, Fukuzawa orders him to “destroy” it, because that’s already too much.

- In a venue where the a press conference is being prepared, a director and a journalist (or st of the sort) are talking to each other about how the ADA event has become the world-wide concern, and has caused a chaos that can rewrite the meaning of the word “terrorist”. The female journalist says that she has noticed something, that despite the amount of news that has come out, there is no information on the “motive” of the crime, the reason why the ADA did all of these things. And to find out that “motive” is their main purpose as journalists. In the middle of their conversation, all of the sudden Ranpo appears in the press room, freaking out everyone. The press is broadcast live so the people everywhere, including the police stations can also view it.

- The journalists in the room panic and try to escape but the doors are locked. They wonder if it’s yet another act of terror with them as the hostages. Ranpo tells them to ask serious questions if they are real journalist. So the female journalist a while ago stands up and asks why the ADA did all the terror acts. Ranpo then goes on and explains how the ADA was set up, to which the girl demands proofs. Ranpo tells her that there are various evidences he has collected and sent to all the police offices, including the fingerprints, hair samples at the scenes, the timetable of the hostages, the buying history of those chains, and many other proofs that show it is impossible for ADA to commit the act of terrors. Upon hearing that, office Minoura who is also watching the broadcast asks his people about those documents, only to find out they have been tossed into the trash bin, without noone even looking at them. Ranpo also explains how the “page” has made noone want to believe in the guiltlessness of the ADA, what the “page” is and its role in the incident.

- He is stopped there because the police force has arrived and stormed into the pressroom. Before being taken away, Ranpo tells everyone not to think with their position or their occupation, but think with their own souls, not about ADA’s righteousness, but about what Ranpo himself has done over the last 12 years, how he has solved countless cases that noone couldn’t, how many people who are capturing him were actually saved by him. And that if such great detective decides to become a terrorist, will he even make such stupid mistakes that turn him into a wanted criminal like now? His statement shocks everyone. He then is handcuffed and taken away, when the female journalist asks him to have one last statement, to which he said “It’s easy to become a great detective. Just see with your own eyes.” Minoura is seen rushing out of the office upon hearing those words.

That’s the end of this month’s chapter. Ranpo is so cool isn’t he? I like this chapter because it is actually proving what Dazai said to Fyodor a few chapters ago “Humans are not such boring existences”. Little by little, people are getting out of the control of the page and siding with ADA, against all odds.

Thank you for reading until here :) See you next month.

#bsd #bungou stray dogs #spoilers #summary #bsd spoilers #edogawa ranpo #dazai osamu #fyodor dostoevsky #edgar allan poe

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masked-buffoon · 3 years

Text

Chapter 13: Filled emptiness (Part 3)

Warnings: addiction, mentions of murder

Author notes: here is part 3...! It is a quieter part compared to the previous one, I hope you’ll like it!

We went back early enough for me to take a small shower and trade my shirt for a clean one. The doctor wanted to meet me in front of the dorms at half past seven, which also allowed me to have breakfast. While I was getting prepared, Dazai had gone to his bedroom to rest, but I was convinced he had most certainly fallen asleep. He rarely did sleep, even when he felt exhausted, so I hoped he could at least close his eyes without becoming an easy prey for his nightmares. I took a deep breath and exited his apartment to start my day, which would be the first of my therapy, too. I had not slept at all, yet I felt more energised than ever, and determined to finally turn a page of my life to start anew.

As expected Yosano-sensei was there, easily recognisable by the peculiar hairpin in the shape of a butterfly she wore everyday. I walked towards her, and greeted her with my brightest smile.

"Good morning sensei…!"

"Ogawa…! Just on time…! Today—"

She stopped, then grabbed my chin to take a closer look at my face. She narrowed her eyes, annoyance clearly changing her expression.

"... Are you kidding me, Ogawa…?"

"W-Well…"

"You didn't sleep, did you?" She clicked her tongue "I refuse to start your treatment today. You'll only feel pain, and it won't help at all."

"I see… I should have expected as much…"

"It doesn't matter." She patted my shoulder lightly "You surely had something important to do… I still have something to show you, though…!"

"And I'm impatient to see what it is…!"

She took a couple of keys out of her pocket, then led me towards the door to an apartment. I first thought it was her place, but that guess was pushed aside the moment I saw the room was empty. With a smile, she showed me around, and I quickly understood what was happening.

"Is that… My future home…?"

"You're wrong." She corrected me "It's not your "future" home, it's your home from now on. The former resident has just left, so you can use it."

"But… I don't have enough money to rent it… I thought that was why I was still living at Dazai's…"

"Money isn't an issue since the Agency pays for us. It was simply a matter of freeing some space for you. And, at last, it happened…!" She exclaimed, rather proudly "Do you like it?"

"Do I like it…? I love it…!" I answered, wholeheartedly "I finally have a home… Ever since I was born, no place had ever felt so warm… I'm so glad, thank you, Yosano-sensei…!"

"I'm happy for you, then." She smiled "You already have a futon, and a table. You can add other furniture when you have enough money to buy some."

"Yes…! I can already picture a bookshelf right here… It would be filled with books… And a pillow too, to create a cosy reading space…" I imagined.

"That's not a bad idea." She agreed "Oh, and… Look inside the wardrobe."

I was curious, so I did just as she said and opened it, only to find a set of new and colourful clothes. There were a few identical white shirts, as well as a navy blue suit composed of a jacket and a pair of pants. I looked at the doctor, astonished.

"Sensei, I… That's so much… I can't accept it…"

"It's a late welcome gift to the Agency." She said softly "Your clothes are… Well, I'm not sure you can call them clothes anymore… This is a new life, you need some changes."

"Even so, they are so beautiful…"

"You also have a new pair of shoes at the entrance, although you were too amazed by the place to notice them." She chuckled "I'd also like to do something for your hair… But let's wait for that addiction to go away first."

"I agree… I'll really be freed when morphine won't control my life anymore."

"That's right. For now, you should rest. Have some sleep, too. I'll see you tomorrow at the Agency for your treatment."

"Thank you again, sensei… Oh, and… I have a case, too… A request from a friend… I have to go to Hokkaido by the end of the week." I remembered.

"I see… Do you think you can handle this while following your therapy…? It might be too hard…"

"I want to be cured. And I can't go back on my word. Besides, it is rather urgent, since someone's life is at stake. I'll manage, somehow." I assured her.

"If you say so, I have no other choice but to trust you." She nodded "See you tomorrow at the Agency, we'll discuss the case and prepare for your departure."

"Yes, sensei…!" I smiled at her "See you tomorrow…!

As soon as I closed the door behind her, a feeling of relief and joy overwhelmed me. I had a new place… My own place, one I would call "home", where I would go back to, where I would hide from the world… Since I had been generously given a day off, I grabbed my keys, enjoying the light tinting sound they made between my fingers, and decided to head off. I at least needed to buy a teapot and a book to occupy my quiet day, before starting one of the toughest times of my life, my therapy. I had lived in the streets, killed people for the Port Mafia and had even merely escaped from death, yet separating myself from morphine seemed like an impossible challenge to overcome. The simple thought of not getting my injection anymore made me crave the sweet sensation provided by the product, and I immediately stopped in my tracks. After all, it would only start the next day… For the moment, I was still an addict and had the right to consume morphine. For the moment…

Once the drug was freely flowing in my vessels, I was ready to leave and go shopping. I also needed to fill my empty fridge, and Uemura-san's store seemed like the perfect place to spend my money. He knew me, and it would not be an issue to use the laundered money I had earned from the Port Mafia. From an illegal point of view, I was pretty rich, but it was money I could never use, except with a few rare people. The man welcomed me warmly, glad that I had finally settled down somewhere.

"And how is my disciple? I hope he takes good care of you." He said, scanning the price of my purchase.

"He does." I told him "He's too worried about me for my liking, but I suppose I can't help it… I'm touched, but…"

I sighed. I could not say it made me feel irrational when it came to Dazai…

"He can be pretty insistent." He shrugged "I think you remind him of his sister, that's why."

"His what…?" I frowned.

"He didn't tell you? Well… He had an older sister, back then… She was very kind, and lived absolutely unaware of her brother's activity. A nice girl, really…"

I took the bag he handed me.

"What happened to her?"

"She met a man. The wrong one. She went on a date with him and her body was discovered the next day. Her head, however… It was never found."

I felt a shiver running down my spine, then recalled the case. It was a famous one, I had heard about it, even in the Port Mafia. The culprit was a serial killer, and had never been arrested…

"He was only seventeen back then… A young teen with an incredible gift for his current activity… It left him with quite a trauma."

"I see… That serial killer…"

I clenched my fist. I was not one to work for justice, nor to defend Yokohama, but, somehow, it angered me that such an awful man was still running free in the world. Besides, since the case of the Fox's sister, many other headless female bodies had been found in our city… It was strange that the Agency and Ranpo-san had not already arrested the criminal… Maybe he had not been requested to work on the case, after all…

"Well, now, you may understand his behaviour better. Don't tell him that I told you." He winked.

"I won't." I promised "Oh, and, thanks for your advice. About cooking, I mean."

"Don't worry about that…!" He chuckled "I can't let you eat junk food everyday after all. Besides, if you want to start a new life, you've got to start by eating better…!"

"Still, thank you." I smiled "I'm very grateful that you support me so much… I'm not sure if I deserve your kindness… But I'll try to be worth it."

"You sought my support, and I am glad to give it to you." He patted my shoulder "Do your best. You're a good person, Ogawa."

"Thank you, Uemura-san… Thank you…"

It felt comforting to have someone who believed in me and in the fact I was able to redeem myself, somehow. I had never been a good person, and it was a lie to say that the Port Mafia had turned an innocent girl into a monster, for that beast had always lied dormant within me. However, being given a chance to be a better human was something I would forever be grateful for. We all had the right to change, after all…

When I came back to the dormitory, I instinctively walked towards Dazai's door, before remembering the reason I had gone out was to slowly inhabit my own place. Delighted, I inserted my key into the lock to open my door, and immediately relished in the quiet atmosphere of the room. Slowly, I removed my shoes and went to my fridge, feeling oddly satisfied as I placed the diverse vegetables and goods I had bought for the first time. I had never gone grocery shopping before… The only shop I had ever visited was an old pharmacy to buy morphine with a forged prescription. Even so, the pharmacist had never taken a look at the said prescription, too eager to chase an addict away from his store quickly, which explained why I had never lacked pain relievers despite leaving the Mafia. Truly, it felt… Normal.

Delicately, I unpacked the kettle Uemura-san had given me to celebrate my new place. With it, boiling water would be so much easier, and making tea would only take a blink. Five months ago, when I had just become a detective, I had decided to stop drinking alcohol whenever I needed a distraction from the world. Yosano-sensei had strongly warned me about the state of my liver, and I had decided to listen to her. Following her advice, I had discovered tea, which had then slowly replaced sake and whisky, although I still drinked alcohol from time to time. Immediately, I prepared a cup of tea, ready to relax for the rest of the day, before realising that I had forgotten to stop by the bookstore to buy the first book I would read in my new home. It was important to me, and I needed time to choose… Thus, I prepared to leave again, but when I opened the door, a small package had been placed in front of it, accompanied by a note.

"Welcome, neighbour!"

I giggled as I recognised Dazai's handwriting, and unwrapped the gift. It was a book, of course… The mystery I had been reading just the previous evening, and which I had yet to solve. That one would be the first book of my home, and it was not a bad thing that it was one I would continue. Because I now had a home, it did not mean I had to start everything anew… With a slight smile, I went back inside. Finally, I was ready to spend a relaxing day off, the last one before a series of troubles. Even so, I knew that everything would be fine, eventually.

#bsd #bsd fanfic #bsd dazai #bungou stray dogs #bungo stray dogs #bungou stray dogs oc #dazai #Dazai Osamu #yosano akiko #bsd yosano

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rokutouxei · 3 years

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the wonder that’s keeping the stars apart

ikemen vampire: temptation through the dark theo van gogh / mc | T | [ ao3 link in bio ]

The challenge seemed pretty simple: to try to befriend the university bookshop’s most sour employee, Theo van Gogh. As a literature major with a boatload of book recommendations on her back, it ought to be a simple task indeed. But as she uncovers what lies between Theo’s pages, the more she finds it harder to become closer to him without having to put the feeling directly into words. What can she learn from Theo about what it means to stay—and how can she teach Theo about what it means to let go? | written for ikevamp big bang 2020!

[ masterpost for all chapters ]

CHAPTER 8 OF 22

And how impossible it still is: to train the heart to sit. - "The Kindest Thing She Almost Did", Blythe Baird

The College of Arts’ student council has rotating schedules on who gets to organize the university-famous Halloween party. This year, it was the Literature Department and the Film Department that paired up to choose a theme, decorate, and make sure the party is getting smoothly—and the very specific, not-required but entirely funny, theme this year was “Film or Book that you’d love to be turned spooky, but isn’t exactly spooky.”

This is why she thought of coming in as characters from the Night Circus. The black and white stripes matched with red really gives off a very Halloween vibe to begin with, but all the circus-y magic that goes on in the book itself also makes it very viable for the spooky vibes.

She’s now standing in front of the College of Arts’ event hall, where the event is set to happen. She tugs at the locks of hair dangling at the side of her face, the ones she couldn't get to obey her planned updo, even with all the bobby pins.

There's something about scavenging a costume on your own that is so nerve-wracking. There's something more when you're portraying a character from a book someone introduced to you. It feels like it's a duty to get it right. She couldn’t find any entirely matching dresses in the thrift stores she went to, so this was the best she could do: some sort of modern but 1890s-inspired fortune teller mash-up of a costume. The dress was fashioned out of this dizzying deep blue-black velvet fabric, with little speckles of silver glitter like stars across it; she wore a striped black and white petticoat underneath it to give it some volume since the dress ended around the knees. She’d re-sewn the sleeves and the neckline to be similar to that of the era, revealing a nice V along her back and a nice, wide boat collar. Then, she’s put on a small, decorative hat with some red flowers on the corner of her head, and then draped a sheer black scarf with little rosy red designs on the ends over her shoulders. Then she put on some knee-high lace-up boots to add a little grunge to the entire attire. Lastly, she had a few Rider-Waite tarot cards in her pocket (The Chariot and Temperance) just for the vibe of it.

(All this costume preparation was really to wind herself down after submitting her initial requirements to the scholarship selection committee earlier that week.)

Just as she begins to spiral in her thoughts, “Sorry I’m late,” she hears Theo’s familiar voice call out, and she looks up from staring at her shoes and gasps out loud.

Theo’s wearing his hair a little curlier than usual, a lightly-tinted pair of green contacts on his eyes and—as he’s promised—a well-tailored suit, in black and white and red, to suit the general aesthetic of the circus itself. She figured he would come in a suit, but—she wasn’t expecting him to take the extra effort with the hair and the eyes, either. She could even see the little silhouette of a journal peeking from underneath his jacket—he’s obviously prepared even to the smallest details! Maybe, maybe he does look like the Marco in her head. Just a little. Maybe if his hair was darker. She finds herself staring at him for a ridiculous amount of time, so much so that he has to cough to get her attention again.

"The green eyes look lovely on you," she comments softly, hand curling up to gently press his finger at his cheekbone near instinctively, allowing her to observe his eyes better. Theo feels himself flinch in surprise, but he does not pull back.

"Thank you, grey-green was a very specific color."

She nods. "I do prefer your usual blue though." Her hand falls back to her side. "Too bad I can't magic it back?"

"You see it blue all the time. Stop complaining when this was your idea," Theo says, but he offers his arm anyway.

"So sour," she pouts. "How unbecoming of you, Mister Alisdair," she says, as she slides her arm into his.

Theo only snorts; he does not hide the half-smirk. "Only to match you, Miss Martin."

The event hall is lavishly decorated in some sort of spooky, old vampire mansion vibes, with all the matching spiders and fake candles. It is a little silly to see the DJ on the far end of the hall, with his set-up on top of what seemed like a desk older from three centuries ago. The caterers set up the food on a buffet table—also beautifully decorated, how many fine arts majors did the production team get to bully into helping them out?—to get it ready before dinner at six.

But the bar—the bar is open.

“Do you drink?” she asks casually, already one foot towards the bar.

He takes a nervous gulp she pretends not to notice. “Not a lot,” he answers.

“Then a glass will be alright. I told Arthur we’d meet at the bar. Come on!”

Because her college stupidly attempts to seem puritan, official drink menus are not allowed to actually say out loud that they contain hard liquor, so instead have really creative names. This time, they are references to different, random books and films, with fine-print descriptions of what it is. She orders a glass of Pride and Prejudice and Theo gets a serving of Kafka on the Shore. Both of them had just received their drinks when her phone begins to ring, and with a short excuse me she heads to a quieter part of the room and answers the call.

“Dazai?”

“Hello, Toshiko-san. I’m waiting outside the hall, but you’ve entirely forgotten that I haven’t actually met who I’m bringing in.”

Oh! “Well, I told him to wait on a stone bench there… Dark blue-ish hair, blue eyes, a mole on the side of his lip? He responds to ‘Arthur’.”

“‘Responds?’ Are your bookstore friends all a bunch of dogs?”

“Well, this drools at the sight of meat,” you say, unapologetically. “I didn’t see him there yet when I was still out, but—”

She hears a shuffle from the other side of the line, and Arthur’s familiar voice through the phone, a small “Hello, could you be Dazai?” and her friend’s very, very meaningful pause—she can almost see Dazai looking Arthur up and down—before he answers, “Yes, and you must be Arthur.”

The phone call ends and she grins for only a half a moment before realizing what she’d done.

She walks ever so slowly back to the bar, letting it sink in. But once she’s got her glass in her hand, she downs it in one go, surprising both the bartender and Theo. She shakes her head and then sits back down on the stool, half-laughing.

“Something happen?” Theo asks.

She groans. “I may have made a mistake with Arthur.”

Theo takes a sip of his drink, just the littlest bit smug. “Everything is a mistake if Arthur is involved.”

“I didn’t think he’d—”

“Hello, lovebirds,” says the devil, Arthur coming up behind them with—

With Dazai glued to his hip.

She’s known Dazai for a few years at this point, and because they’ve known each other for so long, there are little things she knows Dazai does that may not seem obvious to the onlooker.

First: Dazai is not fond of touching, but he is rather great at tolerating it. It usually takes a few months before Dazai is fine with being touched by someone. Even she took around half a year before Dazai would allow her to hug him freely. When he’s being touched by someone he does not particularly like, he clenches his hands and fits them into his pockets, so it’s not as noticeable.

Observer’s note: Arthur’s got his hand around Dazai’s waist. Dazai’s hands are wide open, resting at his hip.

Second: Dazai is also good at having his practiced smile. He says he practices it in the mirror, did it every day for a year until it became natural to him; it looks genuine and otherwise believable, that is, if you haven’t seen his actual smile. And even if you have, sometimes it’s still hard to tell. His actual, genuine smile, that goes up to his eyes, crinkling the sides of it, and he flushes sometimes too; it’s so wide it reveals the little dimple on his cheek.

Observer’s note: Dazai’s dimple is very, very visible right now.

Third: Dazai has this thing where the longer he considers a person, the less he becomes attracted to them, for some reason, even if the extended thinking time only makes him feel like they’re a better match by the second. Dazai is only genuinely, passionately, instantly attracted to people he knows will pose him some sort of danger and excitement.

Observer’s note: Dazai met Arthur today.

She bites back the groan that’s bubbling out her throat and grins. “Hello, Arthur, Dazai. Having fun?”

“Where’d you been hiding this cutie all this time?” Arthur teases, squeezing Dazai closer to him. “Much fun now that he’s here. I see you’ve started drinking ahead of us.”

“Just a little,” she says. “Shall we find a table?”

The four of them choose a table in the middle of the chaos—Arthur’s suggestion—somewhere midway the bar and buffet. The tables are for six, and the number makes her remember.

“I couldn’t get Isaac to come.”

Dazai shakes his head. “I told you he said he wasn’t interested. Must be working overtime like he usually does.” He nods towards her direction. “Good attempt, though.”

She frowns. “He should really let loose sometimes… I know he’s good at what he does, but a little, one-night-a-year party isn’t going to hurt him is it?”

“Ohoho, what’s this, have another cute friend I have to know?” Arthur interrupts.

Dazai taps Arthur’s nose gently and she wants to vomit. What has she done. “Isaac Newton, a Ph.D. student from the physics department. Too serious for his own good.”

Surprise fills Arthur’s face. “My, isn’t that Newt? Teaches classes sometimes?” She and Dazai nod. “Small world!”

“Next year we’re really finding a way to drag him in,” she says.

To which Dazai laughs, “you won’t be here next year, Toshiko-san.”

There’s a small sliver of silence that settles in between them, just long enough to be felt but not for the conversation to come to an abrupt halt. It makes Theo flinch a little.

“Then it’s up to you guys, isn’t it?” she takes her second glass of literary cocktail—she doesn’t even know what’s in this one, just pointed at the menu, it was titled Wolf Totem—and downs half of it in one go.

“Maybe if a girl came around to bring him, he’d be more persuadable,” Arthur teases, “Look at my chap Theo over here.”

“So you’re Theo, huh?” Dazai purrs. She throws a glare at him that goes ignored. “Nice to finally meet you, I’ve heard a lot about you.”

Theo only nods as a response and she takes the chance to get the conversation back in a direction that makes her a little safer from their teasing. “But no, really, Isaac? Coming for a girl? You don’t know him at all, Arthur.”

“Oh, even the toughest guys fall back to romance, don’t they, Theo?”

Theo throws a glare towards Arthur; it is shrugged off as the newly-formed suddenly-a-couple laughs in unison.

Despite the ruckus, the four of them still have some good fun at the party. Arthur Arthur’s non-stop insisting that they play the party games has them rewarded with many things: a stupid award here or there, minuscule amounts of cash that could be used in the future for dine-outs, and even a nice bottle of high-end “water”—it was definitely vodka, the organizers just couldn’t announce it out loud. She and Dazai had to stand up a couple of times to go meet their college-mates in their department, but the four of them stayed mostly together until past dinner—that is until the dance music started to rev up, getting ready for the long night ahead.

“Excuse the two of us, we’re going to do some actual dancing, like people do at parties to have fun,” Arthur says, but his face is already littered in glitter from the poppers and his face is dusted pink from all the alcohol. Obviously, dancing isn’t required to have fun at all. Taking Dazai’s hand like a gentleman, sliding his arm around the other man’s waist, Arthur makes a comical bow to which she makes a face. The two disappear into the crowd of people dancing on the dance floor, and the sight of them so obsessed with each other makes her lean back on her chair to take a sip on her—fifth? Sixth? Ah, who is counting?—nth glass of alcohol.

Wary of being the killjoy, Theo gently asks, “Don’t you want to dance?”

“I mean… you don’t want to, do you?” she asks, facing him properly, glass still in hand. “I just felt like it’d be great to hang out with you here and if you’re not up for dancing…”

“If you want to we should go.”

“I’m not going if you’re forcing yourself to.”

“No, I’m not, so—”

“Theo, sit down!” she says, laughing. The alcohol’s given her skin a beautiful pink flush, and her smiles have turned wider, more relaxed. “It’s okay, I promise. Just sit here and drink your—drink. It’s just nice to have company.”

He nods as she turns back to watching the crowd. A smile still settles on her face as she watches the mass of people dancing and shouting to the music. Theo asks, “Do you always go here with someone?”

She shrugs, taking another sip from her glass. “I came alone the first time, and then the next I went with Dazai. He’s pretty popular—when he’s alone, without anyone slung on him, you know? Lots of people dance with him.”

“And you?”

“Me?” she asks, forehead wrinkling. “I’m normal. I sit and drink until my liver begs me to stop. And then dance until my legs beg me to stop when I’m drunk enough.”

He scoffs, but only in that friendly way of defeated acceptance. “Sounds like fun.”

“So much more fun with you around though,” she asserts, tilting her glass to him. “Cheers?”

“For what?”

And she’s quiet for a moment, before she raises her glass again, saying, “To friendship and literature, of course.”

Theo thinks that’s good enough. They clink their glasses gently and then drink.

For the slightest of moments, Theo considers asking the one question that had been on his mind since she invited him to the party. Preparing the clothes to wear to the event only made his curiosity even stronger, but at the same time, he didn’t feel like he had the right to ask. Theo feels content sitting in his uncertainty, the mystery of it hanging in the air.

But the alcohol has made him a little more courageous.

“Can I ask you a question?”

“Shoot!”

“Why didn’t you go as Celia?”

It’s common for a pair of people to attend a costume party in matching outfits with characters that are paired as well. Celia is Marco’s natural pair in the book. Isobel is not. Why didn’t she go as Celia? Theo would not have minded if she did. Celia was fiery and romantic and could see through Marco’s every disguise.

And Isobel longed and longed and never got what she wanted.

“I kind of felt for Isobel, you know?” she answers, in that hesitant way that makes the asker wonder if it’s because of the embarrassment or because of the half-lie. “She was running away, after all. Didn’t you say that was what I was so fixated on?”

And Isobel is only the circus because she was the way for Marco to get to who he loved. Even before he knew who he loved.

“Wouldn’t have expected that from you,” Theo remarks, taking out his little Marco-journal to dust it away idly. “You seem like the type who always feels extensively for the protagonists.”

It takes a moment for the words to sink in, but then, suddenly, her eyes widen brightly. She puts down her glass and quickly swipes the journal Theo kept with him before pulling him up by the wrist. “C’mon, let’s do the photo booth?”

“What?” Theo staggers up. Why so suddenly? “Who’ll watch over the table?”

She places her little hat on the table. “That’ll save it, let’s go.”

Theo can feel his pulse thrumming under his wrist where she’s holding on to him. Theo does not have the will to argue as she drags him to the makeshift studio on the far end of the hall. Instead, he focuses on her—the way her hair’s held up in an intricate braided bun on her head, the fall of her dress over her shoulders, the feeling of his hand around his arm.

She’s such a weird girl, he thinks.

When they get to the end of the line—a short one, bless the universe—she takes out the two tarot cards in her pocket and hands them to him.

“Switch props for the photo,” she explains.

When they get to the photo booth, they opt for two photos; one for her to keep, and another for Theo. They don't even bother with the poses, both half-drunk, holding up their character props as the cameraman fixes the shot. She settles, standing by his side, arms twined, head leaning toward him as the camera flashes once. And Theo can’t help himself when he turns to face her because of that, and before he knows it—the camera flashes once more.

She’s too far into her drinks to have time to think why Theo’s so concerned about seeing the photos first and choosing which one he wants to keep for himself.

It is just a little past midnight when she, Theo, Arthur, and Dazai hop out of the hall. She insisted that it would be better to wait until the end of the night before leaving—making most of the ticket, or something—and the most that they had gotten out of that was a free coupon to a fast-food chain.

That, and this:

She’s half-slung over Theo when she yells at Arthur and Dazai, who are very obviously becoming a little too comfortable with each other, handsy as they huddle together. She shouts: “Jesus, guys, get off each other!”

“Hmm? Right now? Sure, we’d love to, if you don’t mind—”

“NO! NO NOT LIKE THAT!” she yells, pushing away from Theo to nudge Arthur away from Dazai. The new lovebirds just laugh mildly at each other as she huffs and frowns, falling back into step next to Theo. “Oh god, I’ve made the worst mistake of my life.”

“Best mistake of my life,” Dazai says with a slurred laugh, leaning against Arthur. She makes a gagging motion, to which Theo snorts.

Relative to everyone else’s lodging in the university, the van Goghs’ apartment is the one closest to the hall, so the four of them make their way to it, drunk feet stumbling on uneven pavements all the way there. Arthur and Dazai are walking ahead of them—Theo doesn’t know how Arthur knows where he lives, not when he’s never brought him there; that’s a question for a more sober time—and she and Theo walk side-by-side a few feet behind.

She’s not entirely drunk, no, but she’s a little closer to drunk than tipsy, and it shows when she speaks. “Did you have fun today, Theo?” she asks, ignoring the little misstep her conversation has cost her.

Theo has his hands in his pockets, but they’re only seconds away from grabbing her by the arm to steady her. Any minute now. “It was okay.”

She grins. “Great! That’s all I want.” She looks back up in front of them, and Arthur throws one glance upon hearing their conversation, but then quickly looks away. “It’s kinda, uuuuh,” she squints, the words lost. “Different, to hang out with you with ‘thur and ‘zai around.”

See, this is exactly why Theo capped himself off at three drinks. Look—he’s long accepted his less than average tolerance, but to have to babysit a group of drunk college kids… “Bad different?”

“Nuh-uh,” she says. “Jus’ different. Used to only us. ‘t’s nice being alone with ya.”

I don’t want to take care of a drunk you on my own, she hears in her head, and she isn’t quite sure if Theo had actually said it or if it was just a figment of her imagination.

Soon enough, the four of them stumble onto the van Gogh’s front porch, Theo just not-drunk enough to get the key in through the hole. With a click, the four of them are greeted by the bright light of the living room. Arthur must have been the one that hissed. They stagger in, Dazai slamming onto the sofa, Arthur right after him, and she, heading to the refrigerator for some water.

Theo disappears for a moment to check on Vincent in the studio and to tell him that he’s brought his unfortunate group of friends to sober up, and it’s a good thing the drunkards aren’t around with him because the brightness of Vincent’s smile would have knocked them right out.

“I’ll go take a shower,” Theo announces to no one in particular, shouting down the hall as he disappears into his shared bedroom with Vincent. She tries not to think of what that would look like, blaming her wandering thoughts on the alcohol. She’s about on her second glass of water when she spots Vincent headed to the kitchen.

She beams. “Vin-ny~” she reaches out to him and Vincent catches her before she falls.

“Did you have fun at the party?” Vincent asks, half-laughing, as he helps her to sit on the counter—which was what she was trying to do. “How much did you drink?”

She raises her hands up to her face and tries to count, fully knowing she stopped counting after the second glass. “Enough to make me happy,” she answers instead, smiling dumbly at the older van Gogh. “Theo was so grumpy.”

“He was so excited to go, though,” Vincent says, standing next to her. Of course he has no qualms ratting on his younger brother like that. “You should have seen him, preparing for his costume. Did he look just as you imagined?”

“…And better,” she admits, before taking a sip of the water again to sober up a little more. The ice in the glass is helping her brain to chill. “I’m not sure if he had fun, though. I feel kind of bad.”

Vincent hums. “He looks like he had fun. He wouldn’t have brought you guys here otherwise.”

“You think so?” she asks, eyes wide. The blond man laughs.

“I know so.”

By the time Theo comes out of the shower, he’s a little more dressed down, in jeans and a button-up shirt. He looks at Arthur and Dazai, both already long out like a light on the couch, and sighs.

“I suppose you’re sleeping here too,” he asks, looking toward her. She shoots him an awkward grin.

“She can sleep on my bed,” Vincent offers, but Theo shakes his head.

“She can sleep on mine. You sleep on your bed tonight, Vincent. I can sleep in the studio. I’ll just pass by the drugstore a few blocks down for some…” he frowns at Arthur and Dazai, “…Ibuprofen, for tomorrow.”

“Take care on your way out,” Vincent answers, taking a scan at Theo up and down to see if he’s sober enough to go out. Theo really didn’t drink a lot—purposefully, he knew this was going to happen—so he’s standing pretty straight. He nods and makes his way out, the door closing with a gentle click.

After that, she slouches next to Vincent, like she was just holding herself up to seem a little put together for Theo. Vincent pats her on the head gently, like a little child.

“Is something wrong?” he asks.

She sniffles a little, looking down at her shoes. “I was just thinking h’much I’ll miss this.”

“Are you going away?”

“Maybe,” she says, idly. “I want to. Don’t want to. Want to.”

Vincent smiles, the kind of disappointed-but-not-surprised, non-judgmental, gentle smile of an older brother one would give to a younger sibling. Carefully, he hooks her arm around his shoulders, saying, “C’mon, let’s get you to bed,” as he leads her to his shared room with Theo. She is pliant in his arms, legs wobbling but still planted with a balance onto the floor.

The costume she’s in doesn’t look entirely too comfortable to sleep in, so he offers her a loose shirt and some sweatpants to change into. It takes her two minutes too long to fumble into them, but right before he begins to get worried that she’s gotten stuck in the fabric, she knocks at the door to tell Vincent she’s done. He walks in with a glass of water.

“One last before you sleep,” he says, assisting her in drinking. “I hope you don’t have a headache tomorrow.”

But she’s intoxicated, and her brain doesn’t follow along with Vincent, so as she’s drinking the water her eyes are wandering the walls, where various canvases are hung. All of them are Vincent’s, and most of them are unframed, and perhaps have never been seen by anyone besides Vincent and Theo. Once the glass is empty, she turns to Vincent with a glazed look in her eye.

“Do you think there’s going to be something greater for us outside of this place?”

He blinks, taken off guard. She has officially transitioned from clingy, whiny drunk, to having an existential crisis, philosophical drunk. He only laughs lightly, placing the glass on the bedside table as he coaxes her into bed, tucking her under the blanket.

“I sure do hope so.”

#the wonder that’s keeping the stars apart #ikemen vampire #ikevamp theo

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yellowcanna · 4 years

Text

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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◅ PREV MAIN NEXT ▻

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CHAPTER 17

ANOTHER DETECTIVE (DAY 4: WEDNESDAY)

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

Aizawa glanced out the window of his and Toshinori’s shared dormitory, observing his students gathered outside in the empty lot. While he couldn’t hear what they were talking about, it was obvious from how they gathered around Midoriya, Hagakure and Shouji that it was about what happened tonight.

Hearing the sound of the door opening, Aizawa turned to see Toshinori walking in.

“I’m surprised,” Toshinori commented at the sight of Aizawa sitting there. “I thought you would go lecture them.”

“I think they’ve learnt their lessons.” The Erasure Hero glanced back out the window. “Now we know how the Port Mafia plans on keeping their promise, it’s a good opportunity.”

Toshinori couldn’t agree more. It wasn’t every day that they would get access to a power capable of completely recovering their bodies in a second without any side effects. With such a powerful healer on their side, the children can afford to be reckless without suffering any losses and learn lessons on the way.

“What do you think about that question, Aizawa-kun?”

“What is there to think?” Aizawa snorted. “The only way is to capture the mastermind.”

“Yes…but that was apparently the wrong answer,” Toshinori recalled the way those Agency members looked when they got the response.

Even if the example had been real and Toshinori was infected with that Ability along with Shigaraki, he couldn’t imagine killing the other to save himself—regardless of whether or not Shigaraki was his master’s grandson.

As Heroes, it was simply not their way.

There were forty-eight hours. Time was certainly tight, but it wasn’t impossible for them to find the criminal behind it. People can’t vanish without a trace. With technology and every Hero on the lookout, the chances of them finding the mastermind was high.

“There are too many things we don’t know,” Aizawa sighed. If it were that simple, then the Armed Detective Agency members wouldn’t have reacted in such ways. “We have too little information, but I doubt anything would change my answer.”

“If such power existed in our world, I can’t imagine what chaos it would bring…” Toshinori muttered. Droplets of sweat trickled down his skin just from thinking about it. In many ways, this sort of power was more destructive than anything else, because it was a power that could divide people’s hearts.

“What will you do?”

“Hm?”

“Tomorrow,” Aizawa gestured to the business card the blond was still holding in his hand.

“I will go take a look,” the blond responded. If there really was someone who was acquainted with him, then he needed to go meet them. “Will you be going with the kids tomorrow?”

“Yeah, to be safe,” Aizawa answered. Although he no longer needed to worry about the children’s lives, that didn’t mean he would fully trust the Armed Detective Agency. Those detectives made it clear that they were going to listen to whatever the Port Mafia wanted them to do.

“About Midoriya...” The raven-haired man looked back out the window and his eyes easily found the boy within the group. “He’s showing early signs of PTSD.”

“I know,” Toshinori ran a hand through his dry blond hair. “There may be some trauma from the events of tonight, but I believe that young Midoriya will overcome it. I will talk to him in a bit.”

“…Then I will talk to the other three.” Aizawa closed his eyes and rubbed his dry eyeballs through his eyelids. As the homeroom teacher of these kids, he understood how much Midoriya idolized and was close to the former No.1 Hero. If Toshinori talks to him, then there shouldn’t be many issues.

Despite how he looked, that boy was a strong one. Toshinori was right that the boy will overcome it. He simply needed time.

“Just remember that we have to arrive at the Agency by seven tomorrow.” With that, Aizawa grabbed a cup with his toothbrush inside and headed for the public bathroom.

Left alone in the room, Toshinori waited quietly.

After another fifteen minutes or so, the kids seemed to have finished their talk and scattered—all of them heading for their own rooms.

Once all of them were back inside, Toshinori headed to the room Midoriya and Todoroki shared. He knocked on the door gently, not wanting to disturb the other kids considering how small the living spaces here were. It didn’t take long before Toshinori heard footsteps on the other side.

“All Might!” Midoriya looked up in surprise when he opened the door and saw his teacher/idol standing out there.

“Do you mind if we have a talk, young Midoriya?” Toshinori asked.

That was how the two found themselves sitting on one of the large pipes in the empty lot by the dormitory. They were both wearing their pajamas and slippers under the peaceful night.

“How are you feeling, young Midoriya?” Toshinori asked after a while of stargazing, turning his eyes down to the boy beside him.

“…Not so good,” Midoirya admitted. That was a good sign. “I…it was different. Seeing someone being alive seconds ago compared to when they were already dead…I didn’t know it could be this different.”

“Yes,” Toshinori sighed. “But unfortunately, we as Heroes will encounter many more deaths from here on out. Be it your allies, ordinary civilians, or Villains, there will always be times where you can’t save anyone.”

“I know.” Midoriya’s hands curled into fists on his lap. “I’ll get used to it.”

“I’m not saying you need to get used to it.” Toshinori raised his hand and gently ruffled the boy’s head, causing the boy to panic with a flush on his face. “If anything, death is something you should never get used to, young Midoriya. Once you become accustomed to death, you will cease to see the value in living, and that is very dangerous. Our job isn’t to get used to death. Our job is to save lives and prevent deaths, remember that, young Midoriya.”

Midoriya stared at Toshinori with wide eyes before he smiled and nodded.

“Yes!”

They spoke for another hour before Toshinori let the boy go. Midoriya looked like he was going to fall asleep at any moment and that was exactly what the adult wanted. With the boy so exhausted, he wouldn’t have time to think of other things. Hopefully, he could also have a dreamless sleep, though Toshinori knew the chances of that would be slim. No matter how tired the boy may be, the moment he was alone, he will involuntarily remember some unpleasant things.

When Toshinori walked Midoriya back to his dorm, the door opened before either of them could, revealing a tired Todoroki who also looked like he could fall asleep at any moment.

“Midoriya, you’re back.”

“Todoroki-kun! I thought you went to sleep already.”

“I was waiting for you to come back,” Todoroki replied, letting out a small yawn as he did so.

Seeing this, Toshinori smiled. It seemed that his worry was unnecessary. These children were growing and maturing faster than anyone else.

He has no doubt that all of them will become great Heroes.

“I will be going back. Good night you two,” he said before covering his mouth and let out a couple of light coughs. He was turning to leave when Midoriya called out to him.

“All Might!”

“Hm?”

“I…” Midoriya had a complicated look on his face before he smiled and shook his head. “It’s nothing. Thank you, All Might!”

Toshinori nodded and with a wave, he left.

Midoriya watched his mentor leave while Todoroki had already retreated into their room. He couldn’t help but stare after the fragile back of the man that was once the strongest Hero of all. The memory of Yosano’s power and how she healed Jirou flickered through his mind.

What if...

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The next morning, the students were woken at the first peak of dawn. They gathered in the field outside, all of them half asleep with Aizawa and Toshinori checking out names to make sure they were all there.

“Sensei,” Todoroki greeted the two teachers when he joined the group. The two teachers immediately noticed his missing roommate.

“Young Todoroki, where’s young Midoriya?” Toshinori asked with worry laced in his voice.

“Midoriya said he will head out first and meet us at the Uzumaki Café,” Todoroki replied.

“I see…” Toshinori wondered if Midoriya was still affected by what happened last night and couldn’t sleep.

Understanding this, neither of the two teachers questioned it and let it go. When the rest of the students arrived, they set forth towards Uzumaki Café.

Like Todoroki had said, Midoriya was already at the café waiting for them. The boy greeted them with a smile, but Toshinori could keenly tell that the smile was strained. Toshinori wanted to go up and ask the boy what was wrong, but he couldn’t do that with all the other students around, so he decided to find some time later.

Once they finished their breakfast, they headed upstairs to the Armed Detective Agency office.

When they opened the door, they were greeted by the sight of three people seeming to be in a heated argument.

There was Kunikida whose back was facing the group, yelling at Tanizaki and a raven-haired girl in sailor uniform.

“—didn’t I tell you to stay home for the rest of the week?!” Kunikida sounded extremely stressed.

“But I missed my brother!” The girl whined, latching tighter onto Tanizaki’s arm with the other stiffening even further. “You only said for the first three days!”

“There was a change in the situation.” Kunikida gritted out in irritation. “Either way, just hurry and leave before—”

“Oh!” The girl leaned out from behind Kunikida so she could get a good look at the guests by the doorway. “You guys must be the Heroes!”

Kunikida jolted at this. Very stiffly and robotically, he turned to see the U.A students and teachers all standing there, staring at them.

“Um, hello?” Toshinori greeted the girl who seemed to be a high schooler.

“Hello, I’m Tanizaki Naomi, a part-time worker at the office!” The girl greeted them cheerfully, tugging the older Tanizaki along and walked over to them

“Tanizaki? Then you are—”

“That’s right!” Naomi beamed, not even waiting for Yaoyorozu to finish. Then—in front of all of them—the girl pressed her body against Tanizaki’s side with the hand that wasn’t wrapped around the boy’s arm sliding underneath his shirt.

“I’m his s-i-s-t-e-r~”

The group only felt a gust of wind before the two Tanizakis were gone, thrown into a storage room at the far back of the office before Kunikida slammed the door shut.

Class 1-A were dumbfounded.

Toshinori was dumbfounded.

Aizawa’s eyelids were twitching.

Mineta was at the back of the room, mumbling incest over and over with heavy pants and drools trickling down his chin.

“Ahem!” Kunikida coughed loudly into his hand. “The President is waiting for you in his office, come with me.”

Pretending as if nothing had happened, Kunikida led the group out of the office and down the hallway. It turned out that the President’s office was in another room on the other side of the hall.

“President, I’ve brought the U.A students and teachers.” Kunikida informed the man inside with a small bow.

When they walked into the President’s office, they saw Fukuzawa sitting behind his desk with Haruno standing next to him.

“Thank you.” Fukuzawa set down the cup of tea he had been drinking to look up to the group.

With another light bow, Kunikida walked away, gently closing the door behind him when he left.

“I trust that you remembered our conversation from the previous night,” Fukuzawa said, sharp eyes trailing to the children, then to the teachers. He reached into his drawer, pulling out a white envelope and placed it onto his desk. “For today’s assignment, your students will not be observing us. They are to go to another detective firm to study under the detective there.”

“Another detective firm?” Iida gasped in bewilderment. How many detective firms were there in Yokohama?!

“Another detective firm?” Aizawa swiftly caught onto what the man was implying. “So you’re saying today’s plan is given by the Port Mafia.”

That made all the kids stiffened and eyed the man sitting in front of them with cautiousness.

“This was given to me prior to your arrival,” Fukuzawa explained, and everyone instantly understood the meaning of his words.

Before, the Armed Detective Agency President had no plans of keeping them around, so he didn’t give them the letter. Now that the Agency decided to let them stay, they will not only be following the Armed Detective Agency’s agenda, but also the Port Mafia’s.

“Where is this other detective firm?” Toshinori questioned.

“Tanizaki-kun will take you there. Once you give this letter to the other detective, they will accept you.”

“You mean they don’t know we’ll be coming?” Sero asked, but Fukuzawa didn’t respond and turned to the teachers.

Aizawa stepped forward and picked up the white envelope. He stared at the blank front that didn’t state any addresses or name. He turned the envelope around and saw nothing written on the back either. The only thing on the envelope was that familiar scarlet wax seal Aizawa had seen before.

“There will be no issue if I accompany them, will there?” the raven-haired man questioned.

“That will be up to the other detective,” Fukuzawa replied.

“Who is this other detective? Is he an Ability user?”

“You will find that out once you arrive.”

Knowing they won’t get any more information from the man, the U.A group left the President’s office. When they came back out into the hallway, Tanizaki was already there waiting for them. His sister was nowhere to be seen, much to the relief of many and the disappointment of one.

As if agreed upon beforehand, none of them commented on what happened back in the office.

“I’ll take you to your destination,” Tanizaki told them. For someone who was seen getting touched by his own sister, he didn’t seem awkward in the slightest bit.

“Take care, all of you.” Toshinori looked to the group, giving a last glance to Midoriya before he headed back into the Armed Detective Agency office while Tanizaki led the students and Aizawa away.

Back in the office, Kunikida was already back on his desk working away with some other secretaries helping him out. Strangely, none of the other staff were around.

“Kunikida-san, is Yosano-san around?” Toshinori hesitantly called out to the busy looking man.

“I’m here,” a voice answered before Kunikida could open his mouth to speak.

Toshinori looked up to see Yosano walking out from a room.

“Come in,” she told him and walked back in without looking back. Toshinori followed after her and found that this room was the infirmary.

Yosano sat down by her desk that was filled with papers. She seemed to be looking through them before calling Toshinori over.

When the blond walked close enough, he found that all these papers were information of his students.

“These were given to us by the Port Mafia. It seemed that your school’s principal was the one who provided them.” Yosano explained when she noticed where his gaze was lingering. “Now that you’re staying, I will need to perform my job.”

“I see…” Toshinori took a seat onto the extra chair. He stared at the files on the doctor’s table, then to the doctor herself. “Yosano-san, were you once part of the Port Mafia?”

Yosano’s eyes shifted to the blond.

“Fourteen years ago, you were the one that healed me, weren’t you?” Although it was a question, Toshinori was already certain of this. From his short time here, he could already tell that the Armed Detective Agency has a high position within Yokohama. The story about the cannibalizing Ability yesterday proved as much with the enemy trying to pit them and the Port Mafia against one another.

If the Port Mafia had such a healer, they wouldn’t have used the favour the Armed Detective Agency owed them for outsiders like them. This could only mean that Yosano’s Ability was one of a kind even in this city of Ability users.

Yosano smirked and tossed the paper in her hand aside. “Yes, I was the one who healed you. But,” her smile dropped to a frown, “I was never part of the Port Mafia.”

There was an edge to her voice when she said that last part. Toshinori didn’t know what this woman’s relationship was to the criminal organization, but he knew it wasn’t his place to ask. He dipped his head low and expressed his gratitude.

“Thank you for saving me.”

“You shouldn’t thank me. The only reason they blasted you into bits was because I could heal you. Otherwise, they might have used a gentler method.”

“Even so, you’ve saved my life.”

“I suppose.” Yosano leaned back into her seat and crossed her right leg over her left. “Is that all you came here to tell me?”

“Yes?” Toshinori stared at her, wondering what else he was supposed to talk about.

Seeing his confusion, Yosano chuckled. “Your student dropped by today. That one you gave your power to.”

“You heard from Ranpo?” Toshinori asked. After all, Ranpo was the only one who knew about his power.

“No,” Yosano tapped her fingers over the files of his students. “A Quirkless boy who suddenly gained a Quirk and arrived at U.A High School the same time as you…I don’t need deduction power to piece such simple facts together.”

“You could tell just from that?” Toshinori’s eyes rounded in astonishment.

“Your powers are the same, I’d be blind if I couldn’t tell.” The way the woman so easily pointed this out made All Might a bit uncomfortable. Was it that obvious? “That student of yours dropped by in the Agency early in the morning and sat outside the door. He was lucky I had to come in early today, or he would have waited another half an hour for Kunikida.”

Yosano said while pulling out Midoriya’s file.

“The boy asked me to heal you.”

“Young Midoriya?” Toshinori’s eyes widened in surprise.

Yosano took in his shocked expression before her eyes fell to the boy’s picture stapled on the top of his file.

“Yosano-san,” Midoriya stood in front of the woman nervously. He tried to calm his rapidly beating heart and steeled himself. “I want to ask…your power…is there a limit?”

“I’ve told all of you last night,” the doctor continued to sort out the papers on her desk and separate them into different files. “My Ability is capable of healing anyone a hundred percent.”

“Then…can you please help All Might?”

Yosano looked at the nervous boy for a long moment before she fully turned around in her chair to face him.

“Did he ask you to come ask me?”

“Eh? No! He didn’t!” Midoriya quickly replied. “I came on my own accord.”

“In that case, what makes you think I would agree?” Yosano leaned back against her chair and crossed her arms over her chest. “The person who needed healing didn’t come to me, why should I listen to your request?”

“That’s…!” Midoriya was completely taken back by the woman’s response. He may have expected many things, but it certainly wasn’t this. “I…because I know that All Might would never ask you to heal him.”

“All the more reason I can’t agree to it then.”

“But All Might’s—!” Midoriya’ gritted his teeth upon remembering how All Might no longer have One for All. “All Might may not last much longer…please, I’m begging you!”

The teen bowed his head low.

The doctor stared at the top of the boy’s messy green hair before heaving out a small sigh.

“In your world, I’m sure my power would be considered a miracle.” She said softly, yet her gaze was unwavering, locking together with Midoriya’s. “If so, then you should treat it as a miracle and understand that miracles do not occur to everyone.”

Midoriya knew it was a clear rejection, but he couldn't understand why. The doctor in front of him was fully capable of saving All Might, so why? Why couldn’t she heal him? He didn’t want to give up. He couldn’t—not when the solution was right in front of his eyes.

“Nothing you say will change my mind,” Yosano stated when the boy tried to open his mouth again. She turned back to her work and resumed sorting out the files. “If you can’t understand, then you should use your head and think a little.”

“I can’t heal you,” Yosano told Toshinori while staring directly into his eyes. “You know why, don’t you?”

“Of course.” Toshinori nodded slowly.

Of course he understood.

The reason was simple—because this was Yokohama, not their world.

If he, someone who was always in the eyes of the world, suddenly made a full recovery, many people would question it. Once they do, they will try to find the source behind his recovery. The Japanese government will be the first to find out that they have gone to Yokohama—proving there was a power within Yokohama that can fully recover a person regardless of how deadly their condition was.

In Yosano’s case, the worse condition her patient was in, the better.

This would become a revolutionary discovery in the medical field.

Countries, Villains, and even Heroes would find ways to get into Yokohama. Anyone with a dying loved one will try and find ways to venture into Yokohama in hopes of finding a miracle.

It wouldn’t be a stretch to say that an all-out war could happen between Yokohama and the world—all for the sake of one person’s power.

“You and Aizawa Shouta are the only ones I cannot heal,” Yosano told the blond sternly. “The two of you have been in the Hero career for a long time, it’s natural for your body to accumulate injuries and scars. If any of these were to suddenly disappear, it would cause suspicion. The Port Mafia has guaranteed that your students wouldn’t be harmed. Surely you understand where I’m getting at.”

Toshinori’s hands that were laced together on his knees tightened.

In other words, he and Aizawa were the only ones the Port Mafia wouldn’t protect. They won’t purposely endanger them, but the Port Mafia also wouldn’t help them if they got involved in anything dangerous. They only guaranteed the children’s protection, not the two Pro Heroes.

“Thank you very much, Yosano-san.”

“If there’s nothing else, I have work to finish up.” Yosano waved him off and Toshinori left.

As he sat in the office with nothing to do but stared at the view outside the window, he reached into his pocket and pulled out that white business card.

He looked up to the clock on the wall.

7:32 am

There was still plenty of time.

◤◢◣◥◤◢◣◥◤◢◣◥◤◢◣◥

The students looked around, eyes filled with curiosity as they waited by the platform in the subway for the train to come. Unfortunately due to the fact that it was a workday and they were right on time for rush hour, the place was packed.

Thankfully, the Port Mafia had taken such a situation into consideration and organized a private compartment on the very end of the train specifically for them.

The teens either stood or sat in the train, looking around but soon became bored and found the silence a little awkward. It was only a matter of time before one of them spoke up, and Uraraka decided to take the lead.

“Tanizaki-san.”

Tanizaki looked up from where he was sitting and fiddling on his phone.

“What is the other detective firm like? Is it as big as the Armed Detective Agency?”

“No, that place is only run by one person,” Tanizaki replied.

“What is he like?” Ashido asked curiously.

“He’s—” Tanizaki paused, suddenly looked as though he was going to throw up.

“Are you alright?” Kirishima reached into his bag to hand the older boy a water bottle.

“I’m fine, thanks.” Tanizaki politely rejected the redhead’s offer. “It’s just…some stuff happened when I first met him.”

“What did he do?” Kaminari asked, unable to hide his curiosity.

“Ugh...I rather not say,” Tanizaki muttered, face turning green just remembering it. Seeing this, they all dropped the topic, knowing better than to keep prying.

“Since you guys will be staying with us...you should know that from now on you’ll be following the Port Mafia’s plans. You’ll get into more dangerous situations like yesterday.”

“But we’ll be healed right?” Sato pointed out.

“With Yosano-san’s power, we’ll have no problem!” Hagakure cheered.

“...You guys are very optimistic,” Tanizaki noted with mild surprise. He looked around the teenagers and shrunk back a little when he met Aizawa’s sharp gaze. “Well…I suppose that’s a good thing.”

“Tanizaki-san,” Midoriya spoke up, grabbing the older boy’s attention. “When the Armed Detective Agency President was hit by the cannibalizing power…why did you choose to go after the Port Mafia Executive?”

That caught the rest of the students’ attention. They still had lots of questions about that.

“They told you about that?” Tanizaki frowned. “What else were we to do?”

“But wouldn’t that be playing into the enemy’s hand?” Kirishima pointed out.

“You think we don’t know that?” Tanizaki narrowed his eyes towards the other redhead, looking very annoyed by his comment. “Then let me ask you. How in the world do you plan on finding the guy without knowing what he looked like or where he is?”

“But there’s plenty of time, isn’t there?” Yaoyorozu asked. “With Yokohama enclosed, you could easily—”

“Easily?” Tanizaki stared at Iida in disbelieve before he dropped his head into his right hand. His palm spread out across his face, completely hiding his current emotion displayed there. “Aaah, I see…so this is why…”

Everyone stared at Tanizaki, unsure of whether or not they should say anything.

“Do you really think it would be easy to find someone within forty-eight hours?”

“Yes,” Iida replied firmly. “If you try—”

“Try?” Tanizaki pulled his head out of his hand and looked towards the students. “The life of our President was on the line, trying isn’t good enough! Having brute force alone might work in your world, but things like power don’t mean everything in Yokohama!”

“What are you trying to say?!” Bakugou snarled. He wasn’t going to stay quiet if the older boy was going to start insulting them.

Instead of backing down, Tanizaki stood up and met Bakugou’s glare with his own.

And in terms of who was winning by being the scariest in this glaring contest, Tanizaki was way ahead of Bakugou. Right now, he looked nothing like the meek person from before.

If Midoriya had to find a way to describe the feeling Tanizaki was giving off right now, it was similar to Yosano when she got out of the car last night.

“You don’t know anything! Don’t talk as if it’s something that easy! You think we don’t know we’re being set up? What other choice do we have?! I don't care who I have to kill as long as it means saving the President!”

That last statement took all of them back. They stared at the boy with rounded eyes, unable to believe what they had heard. Even Aizawa, who had been quiet the entire time, frowned.

After a moment of silence and seeing how none of the children planned on speaking up, Tanizaki sat back in his seat and pulled out his phone.

No one talked for the rest of the ride.

Their journey took about an hour. When they got out of the subway, Tanizaki didn’t look angry anymore. But even so, none of them speak up. His last words still rang clearly inside their heads, causing them to maintain a distance between them and the older boy.

“From here on out, none of you speak.” Tanizaki suddenly said, turning to the group. “And walk closer behind me.”

“Why?” Tokoyami asked, feeling the tension spilling from the detective.

“I will activate my Ability to make all of us invisible.”

“What’s going on?” Aizawa frowned. It almost sounded like the boy was suggesting they sneak into the other detective firm.

“If we get noticed, we’ll be sniped by snipers.”

“Snipers?!” Aoyama shrieked.

“Ability…”

“Wait—!”

“Light snow!”

The students looked around as familiar green light surrounded them with gentle light particles floating down from the sky.

“Are we…invisible now?” Uraraka looked down at her hands and body, then to her classmates. There didn’t seem to be any differences.

“Yeah…stick close to me. Careful not to run into any people on your way, since none of them will be able to see you.”

With that, Tanizaki walked off with Class 1-A and their homeroom teacher close behind him. Fortunately, the street in this area was less crowded than the streets near the Armed Detective Agency. The further they walked, the less people there were.

While following Tanizaki, the kids spent most of their time looking around, trying to find these snipers the other warned them of. As much as they wanted to ask more questions, Tanizaki had told them not to speak so they could only keep their mouths shut.

“We’re here,” Tanizaki spoke quietly under his breath.

They looked up and were all shocked by the building this other detective firm was supposedly in.

Rundown was an understatement of the century to describe this building.

If Tanizaki didn’t bring them here, they would have all thought it was some empty building waiting to be demolished. The walls looked extremely worned out and some of the windows were even cracked.

Tanizaki grabbed the handle of the front door and pulled it open. The moment the door swung open, everyone saw an overlapping image of two identical doors—one being opened by Tanizaki, the other remaining close and blocking their path. In a flicker of green light, the door that was still closed vanished.

“Come on!” Tanizaki waved his hand, gesturing for them to get in.

The students did as told, but Aizawa remained still. Although he didn’t show it on his face, he was still in shock from what he had seen. The boy had created a fake image of the door showing that it was closed while the real one already opened.

To anyone walking by, Aizawa was certain that all they’ll see was an ordinary building without anything happening. From the fact that they had to avoid being seen going into this building meant that these snipers the boy mentioned were watching over this building.

Aizawa already knew how powerful this boy’s illusion power was—or so he thought.

This...everything that is happening before his eyes completely overthrew the definition of powerful. It wasn’t something that could be described with simple words anymore. If there were snipers surrounding this building and watching it, then the front door would definitely be something they would keep their eyes on.

To completely replicate the image of the door down to the finest detail so that even the people staring at it wouldn’t even have noticed that the door was a fake...it wasn’t a simple matter of illusion anymore.

Aizawa walked forward when he saw the last of his students going inside.

Gigantic dragon that took over an entire city.

Gravity that could lift an entire skyscraper,

Illusions where experts can’t tell apart reality and perception.

Healer that can provide instant recovery without any drawbacks.

Exactly how many of these monsters were living in Yokohama?

If these people were to become their enemies...would Japan stand a chance?

After they walked through the door, Tanizaki led them up a short flight of stairs to the back of the building and stopped in front of a pair of wooden doors with a sign on the side that said, Ayatsuji Detective Agency.

“Ugh…” Tanizaki froze in front of the doors. Anyone could tell that he was sweating and deciding on whether or not to open it.

“What are you chickening out for?” Bakugou snorted, but Tanizaki either didn’t hear him or just decided to ignore him.

Taking a deep breath, Tanizaki pressed his hands upon the pair of doors and pushed. Like before, they all saw an image of another set of closed doors appearing and disappearing a split second later.

They nervously stared at the doors, watching the gap between the doors grow bigger and bigger with light pouring out.

When Tanizaki fully opened the doors, the students were welcomed by the sight of a finely decorated office that looked nothing like the rundown exterior. Compared to the Armed Detective Agency that looked like a standard office, this detective firm was extremely well decorated with a vintage feel to it. The office space was huge with the floor covered in red carpet and large windows allowing the morning sunlight to bring warmth into the room.

When they peered inside, the first thing all of their eyes landed on was a blond man sitting behind the mahogany desk.

The man looked very young—around late twenties—wearing a black cap and a pair of lightly shaded glasses. He was holding a newspaper in his right hand while his left hand held a pipe with smoke rising out of it.

He blew out a breath of smoke and tapped his pipe against a glass ashtray.

“Come in.” He suddenly said, causing everyone to jump—Tanizaki included.

“H-he can see us?” Ashido whispered.

“But Tanizaki-san’s power is still active.” Asui pointed out, gesturing to the green light still shrouding them.

“Come on, go inside.” Tanizaki hurriedly ushered them in. Once the door closed behind them, Tanizaki dropped his Ability and revealed them to the blond.

The man simply raised an eye to look at them before setting his pipe down. “Ah, Tanizaki-kun. It has certainly been a while. I was wondering when you’d come back so we may continue where we left off.”

“Urk…!” Tanizaki hastily took a couple of steps back and hid behind the tallest kid in the class which was Shouji.

“Just joking,” the man said, his tone apathetic and unchanging. It was hard for anyone to tell whether he was joking or not.

“How did you know we’re here?” Tanizaki asked cautiously.

“Because there’s only half an hour left before the guard dog arrives. If you were to come, then it would be this time.” He folded the newspaper, his eyes lazily sweeping over the children before landing on Aizawa. Without saying a word, he held out a hand, as if waiting for something to be handed to him.

Seeing this, Aizawa walked forward while taking out the letter Fukuzawa had given them. “I’m Aizawa Shouta, the homeroom teacher of U.A High School Class 1-A. We were told to come to your office and give you this letter.”

“I know who you are,” the blond said, taking the letter offered to him. He flipped the letter around, taking one look at the wax seal before he ripped the letter right down the middle.

“W-what are you doing?!” Iida shouted, but the man didn’t seem to hear and proceeded to further rip the letter into smaller pieces.

“Is it alright not to read it?” Yaoyorozu asked worriedly.

“What’s there to read?” The man questioned back, voice still devoid of any emotions. He dumped the remains of the letter onto his desk. “It’s a blank letter.”

“What?” Midoriya stared at the letter in surprise. He took a closer look at the paper shreds and realized that there wasn’t a single word on it.

It was all white.

A blank letter, but why?

Aizawa turned to look at Tanizaki who was frantically shaking his head.

“I don’t know anything!” He spluttered.

“There’s no point in looking at him, Hero.” The blond man flicked the last piece of paper onto the pile he created. “The sender of this letter knew I’d know what they want me to do when I see you and know that I will follow through with their plans. In that case, is there a point in writing out anything?”

“Wait, so you knew we were coming and who we are?” Kirishima asked, unable to wrap his head around what the man had said.

“It’s not hard to guess.” The man picked up his pipe. “With the Selection War starting, it’s only natural that you would come into Yokohama.”

“What are you talking about?” Aizawa asked, eyes narrowing.

“Do you really think it’s a coincidence that you would come into Yokohama at a time like this?” The man looked calmly towards them. “The fall of the No.1 Hero and All for One. The League of Villains. The Selection War. Your arrival to this city was planned a long time ago.”

The man’s gaze shifted and Midoriya froze when their eyes met. “Welcome to Yokohama, ninth generation.”

Midoriya felt all the blood drained from his body. While his classmates had no idea what the man was talking about, he alone understood the meaning behind those two words.

Ninth generation.

There was no mistake…this man knew about his power! Not just him, but also All Might!

But how?

How did someone in Yokohama know about One for All?!

“But...I thought principal Nedzu planned this trip for us. What does all that have to do with anything?” Kirishima asked.

“I’m sure your principal also believed that he planned this, not the other way around,” the blond said almost sarcastically. “And the only way your world would feel safe letting you into a city filled with criminals would be the Port Mafia guaranteeing the safety of the young future Heroes. However, if they made such promises without a condition, it would raise suspicion. ” He looked over to the kids, ignoring the teacher’s darkening glaze.

“Therefore, your agreement must be this: as long as you don’t use your Quirks within Yokohama, your safety will be guaranteed.”

If the children were surprised before, what the blond said made them all calm back down. The reason was simple. There was no way anyone could make such an accurate guess, or can predict the future like the blond had done.

This could only mean one thing...

“You heard all of these from the Port Mafia, didn’t you?” Hagakure said with full certainty.

“That’s right! Don’t scare us like that!” Aoyama announced while making a pose.

The other students joined in, all of them agreeing that this was all staged. The Port Mafia must have told this man everything about them. The only other way this man could have known was if he had the power to see into the future which they were certain he didn’t. If he had such power, why didn’t he just say it instead of pretending to guess everything?

The fact that the letter they delivered was blank proved that the Port Mafia planned all of this. As for why the Port Mafia would do something so pointless, no one bothered thinking about it because they couldn’t think of any better reasoning.

Midoriya thought so as well, guessing that the Port Mafia must have been the one to tell this detective about One for All. If they weren’t on an assignment, he would have ran all the way back to the Armed Detective Agency to inform his mentor about this.

How did the Port Mafia know about One for All?

Did it have anything to do with All for One?

No one saw how Midoriya had hid his mouth behind his hand and began a string of incoherent mutterings.

Standing at the very front, Aizawa more or less shared the same idea with his students. This could only be another one of the Port Mafia’s plans. The question was, what were they trying to achieve by doing this?

What did the fall of All Might and All for One, along with the League of Villains, have to do with anything?

The longer he stayed in this city, the more questions he had, but Aizawa didn’t voice them out loud. He highly doubted this man would tell them anything. Aizawa didn’t know whether or not this man was part of the Port Mafia, but as of right now, this man was working for them much like the Armed Detective Agency.

The man didn’t respond to them right away. He took a long sip of his pipe and slowly breathed out a trail of smoke.

After a whole minute, he finally spoke. “Good grief, your brains are like casu marzu.”

“Casu...marzu?” Uraraka echoed in confusion. The teenagers looked at each other, none of them having any idea what the man was talking about.

At the back of the group, Tanizaki pulled out his smartphone. He typed in the words and showed the result to the kids.

Half of their faces turned green when they saw what casu marzu was and what it looked like.

“WHAT THE HELL?! ISN’T IT CRAWLING WITH MAGGOTS?!” Bakugou exploded with steam bursting from his burning face. “ARE YOU SAYING OUR BRAINS ARE FILLED WITHS MAGGOTS?!”

“I can’t believe how this is possible. Even my maid is more adequate than you.” The blond clicked his tongue and tapped his pipe sharply against the ashtray. “Perhaps I should give her some credits for not being utterly hopeless like you lot.”

“Um...I think he’s saying that your brains are rotten.” Tanizaki supplied helpfully, checking the definition on his phone. “Casu marzu means rotten cheese.”

“ROTTEN?!”

“Thank you, Tanizaki-kun.” The blond nodded towards the other detective who didn’t feel like he was thanked at all. Tanizaki had a feeling that the man included him in some of those insults. “How the outside world hasn’t been taken over yet is beyond a miracle. The only thing I can say is that your Villains must have milbenkase for brains.”

All at once, the students and their teacher glanced at Tanizaki expectantly.

Slumping his shoulders, the Armed Detective Agency member typed in the word and turned his phone around to show them.

“Isn’t this the same damn thing?” Bakugou huffed upon seeing another disgusting image of cheese swarming with bugs. “So what, you’re saying that all of our brains are rotten? Is that it?!”

“If that’s how you perceived it, then yours doesn’t have anything left inside to rot. Congratulations.”

“DIE!”

“Bakugou!” Kirishima and Sato hurriedly restrained their class’s No.1 before he did anything they would regret later.

“...I think he’s saying your Villains’ brains are infested with mites. Milbenkase means mite cheese.” Tanizaki once more translated for the poor children.

Completely disregarding Bakugou’s death threats, the detective stood up and walked around his desk.

“Lead the way, Tanizaki-kun.”

“Huh?” Tanizaki gaped. “I have to come along?”

“Where are we going?” Aizawa question. Then he remembered the snipers surrounding this building. “And the snipers outside, what is going on?”

“Why else do you think you were sent here?” The blond deadpanned, ignoring the teacher and kept his eyes focused on Tanizaki.

“Is it alright to do this...?” Despite asking that, the redhead was already activating his Ability.

The moment Light Snow was activated, the blond was already pushing the door open and strolling out with Tanizaki frantically running after him and the rest of the class following.

Without anyone realizing, the detective within the heavily guarded building vanished without a trace.

Half an hour after their departure, a sleek black car drove up to the building and out walked an elegant woman with turquoise coloured hair.

She pulled off the sunglasses from her face, revealing a pair of sharp and determined eyes. She folded the glasses carefully, tucking it into her pocket and walked towards the building. Behind her, the black car let out a sharp beep, signaling that it had been locked.

The woman walked with her chin held up high in confidence. To ordinary civilians, she would just be a mysterious woman passing by. Only few knew of her true identity within the mysterious city known as Yokohama.

Tsujimura Mizuki—a special agent that worked within Yokohama’s Special Ability Department. She was one of the few elites handpicked by her superiors, and the only one trusted with such an important task.

“Calling support troops, affiliation code 4048,” she spoke to the Bluetooth on her right ear.

“This is snipper support squad one.” A voice responded from the earpiece.

“This is Agent Code 4048 Tsujimura Mizuki. I will begin internal monitoring."

“Understood. We’ll switch to position B3 and continue monitoring the target from the outside.”

After finishing the daily confirmation, Tsujiumura walked into the building and stood before the closed door of the Ayatsuji Detective Agency.

She tugged on her gloves and fixed her suit.

Perfect.

She was right on time.

Not a second too late, not a second too early.

And now, as part of her special agent duty, she will begin to monitor Ayatsuji Yukito—the highest-ranked extremely dangerous Ability user within Yokohama.

“Good morning, Ayatsuji-sensei!” She announced her presence and pushed open the door.

She walked into the room with wide strides, only to stop at the empty chair in front of her. Usually, the man would already be sitting behind his desk by this time with insults readied to throw at her.

“Ayatsuji-sensei?” She called, looking around.

Receiving no answer and her eyes fell to the only place the man could be.

The basement.

When she was about to head down to check, something on the desk caught her eyes.

She walked over, eyes scanning over the things on the desk.

A folded newspaper.

A finished cup of coffee.

An ashtray with ashes.

A pile of shredded paper.

There was nothing out of the ordinary other than the pile of shredded paper.

“What’s this?” Tsujimura picked up some pieces of the paper. They were all blank with nothing on it. When she took a closer look, she saw something at the bottom of the paper pile. It was another piece of paper, though this paper wasn’t completely white so it stood out from the paper shreds.

She pinched her fingers around the corner of the paper and pulled it out. When she saw the finely printed words on the note, her entire body stiffened so much that one could mistake her for a statue from afar.

[I’m heading out first. Do your best to catch up, Tsujimura-kun.]

There was nothing else on this simple piece of note, but the more she read, the more Tsujimura felt like she was going to have a heart attack.

Her target had walked out from under their noses.

Her mind blanked out for a long time before another realization slapped her back to reality.

Her superior was going to kill her.

“AYATSUJI-SENSEI!!!”

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#soukoku #bnha fanfic #bsd fanfic #bsd crossover #mha crossover #bsd #bnha

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kyouka-supremacy · 2 years

Text

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#The new chapter!!!!!!! Okay I just spent one hour talking about it with the girl next door so like. that was nice™#(talking with my friend not the chapter)#She was destroyed not because she likes Chuuya or anything but because she loves Dazai and somehow she felt terrible for him??#She's so cute ahah #Anyways anyhow about the chapter... Okay when I finished reading it it left me. Perplexed? Happy birthday Chuuya #I was upset #But now that I've cooled down tbh I think chances are low that either Dostoyevsky or Chuuya are dead and it was just for shock effect #For a few reasons actually?#First it would be kinda anticlimatic to end the arc like this. Dostoyevsky barely made any resistance like c'mon-#when you think about it it's impossible to believe after this chapter Dazai is just gonna get out of prison and return in Japan and get-#everything fixed pfffftt it's impossible simply from a narrative point of view #Then again Dostoyevsky was strangely silent the entire chapter? He looked so unimpressed I'm positive the next chapter he's gonna pull a #“I had predicted you would have predicted I would have predicted ×∞”#Also like. Chuuya is too popular to let go... Probably #But anywayssssssss to the relevant stuff: Sigma keeps being the best character of this franchise I love him so much 💕💕💕 Beloved #And now we have a canon age for him right???? N i c e #Does this mean the book was written on three years before the current timeline? That's interesting #Also... Genuinely cheering for Dostoyevsky like OF COURSE I'm not rooting for the terrorists but also like.#He's literally called Fyodor Dostoyevsky c'mon 😭😭😭 When Dazai said his plan was to kill him I screamed he can't die #That's it for today goodnight everyone ❤️❤️❤️ Please skk shippers don't cry too hard have a cup of tea or smth /////#bsd #bungou stray dogs #bsd ch 101 #random rambles #mine

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musicprincess655 · 4 years

Link

For a place with such advanced security that even the firewall around their data is almost impossible to break through, the Correctional Facility is boring as fuck.

Dazai stares up at the ceiling from the top bunk he hasn’t managed to escape from yet. He’s been laying here with his thoughts for hours, and it’s not a fun position to be in. He almost wishes they’d throw him into an experiment, just for some variety.

It’s a thought Chuuya would beat him up for if he voiced it.

Maybe he should say it.

In spite of everything, Chuuya is the most interesting thing about this place. He’s not much to look at until he lifts his eyes, blueish grey like distant storm clouds breaking over a calm sky. He’s easy to bait, but he’s also intelligent, not nearly as much as Dazai but enough that he’s not boring.

Dazai sighs and discards another half-hearted escape plan. Pretty much all of them start with getting Chuuya out of his chains. Several of them involve taking the chains with them, because seriously, what are those things made of? Chuuya barely has any slack and he can throw Dazai as easily as Dazai used to throw balls of paper at Yosano. Dazai’s seen him accidentally put dents in the metal frame of their bunk beds. What material doesn’t even budge no matter how hard Chuuya pulls at it?

Not that it matters. Some of the escape plans are viable, but Dazai isn’t going to use any of them. He’s probably going to die here in the Correctional Facility, but he’s not going to do anything about it just yet. He won’t desire escape. If life has taught him anything, it’s that as soon as he truly wants something, he’s going to lose it.

“Oi.” Dazai turns his head to see a plate of food being slid under the door. “You better not try anything again.”

“Oh, you didn’t like my gift last time?” Dazai asks, fixing a smile on his face he knows pisses people off. “I worked so hard on it too.”

“Next time you try something like that, I’ll make you clean it with your tongue.”

“No one appreciates art,” Dazai sighs.

How was he supposed to resist the fact that whatever mush they tried to pass off as food is so easy to fling with a spoon? Really, they were just asking for it. Dazai thinks the guard’s face was much improved when the Unidentifiable Sludge was dripping off it.

“They’ll kill you soon, and good riddance,” the guard growls. “Useless piece of shit.”

“See you later!” Dazai calls after him.

Chuuya is gone, or he’d probably bitch at Dazai about being annoying. He leaves for most of the day, either for the experiments they’re conducting or to eat. They let Chuuya eat in a common cafeteria with the rest of the experiments and staff. They don’t allow the same of Dazai.

Even here, they’re trying to keep him hidden. It speaks to how much deference they have to his parents. He always knew his parents were high-ranking officials, but this is the first time he’s bothered to consider how far-reaching the consequences of that are. Even the slight chance that someone here will recognize him, will spread the word, that it will reflect badly on them, is dealt with.

So it begs the question, really. Are they actually going to kill him? It’s a solid possibility, probably the most likely outcome. But what if they don’t? What if they can’t? Try as he might, Dazai can’t actually come up with a viable alternative. If they can’t kill him, they certainly can’t let the scientists use him for their experiments. So what else can they do? House him here for the rest of his life? Some other option he doesn’t have the creativity to come up with?

Dazai has always had the unfortunate habit of picking at things he should really leave alone. His curiosity about the world is one of the only things left that makes life worth living. Even though it would be smarter to escape now, circumvent whatever they’re planning, he can’t help but wonder what they’re going to do. He can’t help waiting around to see what happens.

The door opening draws Dazai out of his spiraling thoughts. Chuuya is back, casting a mutinous glare over his shoulder at the guard escorting him. He looks none the worse for wear, so he probably was just eating, not going through some new test.

If Dazai looks close enough, he can see faint scars around Chuuya’s neck. Burn scars from the shock collar, maybe? They might be burns, but they’re faded so faintly against his skin that Dazai can’t tell for sure.

“What do you want?” Chuuya demands. “You’re looking at me funny.”

“I’m allowed to look,” Dazai says. “Maybe I see something I like.”

“Don’t be gross,” Chuuya complains. “We both know you’re not attracted to me.”

Dazai shrugs, because it’s true. It’s only fair. Chuuya isn’t interested in him, either. There might not be two people less attracted to each other in the world than the two of them.

“Aren’t you going to eat that?” Chuuya asks, pointing to Dazai’s tray of Unidentifiable Sludge.

“Chuuya, if you want something, you should just ask,” Dazai says, already sliding the tray towards Chuuya.

“That’s not what I meant, you dick,” Chuuya snaps. “You have to eat something. You’ll get sick if you don’t eat.”

“Are you worried about me?” Dazai asks. He makes his tone mocking, but he sees that, in his way, Chuuya is worried.

“Maybe I just don’t want to be stuck in here with your body for days!” Chuuya snarls. “Anyway, you really want to starve to death? That’ll take forever. At least kill yourself quickly if you’re gonna kill yourself.”

“I thought you didn’t want to be stuck in here with my body?”

“I also don’t want to sit here and listen to you bitch the whole time it takes you to starve!” Chuuya gripes. “All you ever do is complain, you’re so fucking annoying!”

“Don’t worry,” Dazai says. “In a few days, I’ll either be dead or gone, so it doesn’t really matter if I eat this shit or not.”

Chuuya gives him a strange look.

“That doesn’t bother you?” he asks. “That they’re probably gonna kill you?”

“They might as well,” Dazai says, nonchalant. Just because he thinks there’s a chance there’s something else interesting in the works doesn’t mean he doesn’t know the most likely way this ends is in his death. “It’s not like my life is worth much to me, anyway.”

“But you could get out, right?” Chuuya presses. “You said you’re in here because you were hacking their data, so you could hack the security system, right? If you do, I can do the rest. We could both get out of here.”

“Mmm. Too much work,” Dazai says. “Why go through the effort when they’ll just kill me if I stay put?”

“You think they’ll be nice about it?” Chuuya asks. “You think they’ll just put you to sleep and you’ll never wake up? You’re some kind of traitor to No. 6. They’ll make sure you go painfully. They’ll probably even enjoy it. Maybe they’ll take notes on whatever new torture they’ve tested out on you.”

“So?” Dazai scoffs. The thought does turn his stomach, though. He has no doubt they have several new deadly torture methods they can try on him.

“You hate pain,” Chuuya says. “You bitch about every little thing that hurts. You want to go like that?”

“I guess not,” Dazai says. “I’d rather have a clean suicide, with no pain and no burden to anyone else. But who says, if I do decide to run, that I’ll take you with me?”

“You think you could get out on your own?” Chuuya snorts. “Please. You’d go down the first time someone threw a punch at you, rich boy.”

“I think you’re underestimating me because you’ve only seen me against you,” Dazai says. “Maybe I could talk my way out of everything.”

“I would actively love to see you talk your way out of an automated machine gun.”

The argument is interrupted by the door opening yet again. Dazai and Chuuya whirl from where they’d been slowly getting in each other’s faces.

This is a new person, not one Dazai recognizes, but he has to be important with the deference everyone else in the room shows him.

“Dazai Osamu,” the man says. “Your parents have been informed of your position.”

Dazai’s shoulders relax. Moment of truth. Will this be some new adventure, something else to hold his interest, or will he just die?

“And?” he asks, voice carefully bland, as if he really couldn’t care either way what happens.

“They were given the option to rescue you from this facility, at the cost of significant demotions for both of them to take them away from the public eye,” the man continues. “They chose to keep their careers. You will be executed tomorrow.”

Dazai blinks. He can’t quite make his mind process the words. In all his plans, he’d never considered that his parents might get a choice to save him. He assumed they’d hear about his fate from one of their sources, and either rescue him or leave him. But they’d been offered him, and they chose their careers over him?

There’s a part of him, tiny but lingering, naïve, that for all these years drove him to needle at the things his parents controlled, childishly driving forward for their attention. That part of him really believed they would save him. It believed that, as long as they knew of his fate, they’d come for him.

Deep inside him, that tiny part silently, irrevocably, shatters.

How freeing it is, to feel nothing! No attachment, no emotion. The tears Dazai should be shedding at his fated death, at the abandonment of his parents, never come. He doesn’t even feel the urge to cry. He feels nothing.

“We will come for you at dawn,” the man continues, oblivious to the cataclysmic change that just went on inside Dazai. “You have that long to make your peace.”

And with that, he leaves.

“Dazai…” Chuuya says softly. Dazai turns to see his hands outstretched as far as his chains will allow, an aborted offer of comfort, for all that Chuuya is not built for it.

Dazai reaches into his pocket. They didn’t search him thoroughly when he arrived, mistaking his age for idiocy, and because Dazai thought quickly enough on the way over here, he was able to save a few things he had on him. The first is some money, which he subtly shoved down his pants while the officers who drove him here weren’t looking. The second, which he’d much more carefully tucked into his hair, is a set of lockpicks.

See, the trickiest part of getting Chuuya out of his chains is the lock. It would be impossible to open them just by stealing a key. They have both a lock with a conventional key and an electromagnetic lock. Even if Chuuya managed to knock down a guard and steal a key, he’d still be stuck. Trying to find both keys would slow him down enough to stop him.

But Dazai’s lockpicks aren’t just for conventional locks. They have a little knob at the end that functions as an electromagnetic field disrupter. They can be used on both conventional locks and higher tech ones. They weren’t easy to get ahold of, but he was always happy to spend his parents’ money.

He wishes he’d spent more of it before he got cut off from it.

But at least he can make sure he doesn’t die to their benefit. They can continue to live with his existence as a thorn in their sides.

“Hey, Chuuya,” Dazai says, drawling on Chuuya’s name and holding up the lockpicks. “Wanna get out of here?”

#soukoku #skk #bungou stray dogs #bsd #my writing #spectres #no. 6 au

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aspoonofsugar · 4 years

Note

I don't know why, but I find the character connections between Fyodor and Q (hatred of abilities, religious theming, etc) really interesting. Do you have any thoughts on that?

Hello!

Sorry for the wait!

I think that since we still lack information on Fyodor’s past and his ability and we have just met Q once it is difficult to say for sure, so take my words with a grain of salt.

That said, some comparisons can be made. For example, let’s compare these two scenes:

In both there is an adult hurting a child. It is interesting that in both situations the adult is shown not to hate the child and to actually sympathize with him. As a matter of fact Steinbeck’s behaviour suggests that he is not actually enjoying hurting Q and that he actually finds the idea of torturing a child loathsome.

Fyodor too probably sympathizes with Karma and the whole scene is framed in a way which is horrifying, but that also shows that Fyodor thinks that he is actually helping Karma since he is “freeing” him:

After all, these two scenes appear as clearly linked. In the first one Karma says that he doesn’t believe that a “bad person” like him can be really saved, while in the second one he says that he has finally understood who can save an evil person. This suggests that Karma (whose name is clearly symbolic) has basically accepted Fyodor’s ideology by the time he dies.

In short, we have two adults hurting a child and passing down a specific ideology to their victim. These different ideologies are well expressed thanks to these two phrases on God:

Both Steinbeck and Fyodor blame God/use God as an excuse to justify their actions. However, they use this idea in almost opposite ways.

When it comes to Steinbeck, I have said what he means here:

What Steinbeck says here perfectly shows the problem. He is in front of a child who is crying and screaming and who is asking why they have to suffer and all Steinbeck has to offer as a reply is that it is because it has been decided this way. This is a very fatalistic outlook which fits with this character who says to hate capitalism, but accepts to work for a capitalist and takes on the renmants of said capitalist’s organization. Steinbeck might dislike some parts of society, but rather than trying to change them he has accepted them as unavoidable and has tried to modify his social standing to be on the side of those who use others rather than on the one of those who get used.

In other words Steinbeck is saying that the order of society cannot be changed and that society is a result of God’s will. In short, he is really fatalistic and has accepted the current state of affairs.

What Fyodor says is the opposite. He claims that there is no God because there is no order and the world is full of injustice. That is why he has to become God and to change the world by making it better:

As it is clear they have two opposite positions. Steinbeck thinks that there is God and that his will is impossible to fight and unfair, while Fyodor thinks there is no God and this is why there must be one to transform the world.

These two opposite stances can be highlighted also thanks to a small detail:

At the end of the Cannibalism arc, Fyodor is finally arrested thanks to Fitzgerald and the “eyes of God”. The fact that he is caught because of a technology with such a name is interesting. As a matter of fact even if Fyodor presents himself as God he is often called a “demon” by other characters. There are several reasons for this and I invite you to read this meta by @hamliet on this topic. Here, I would like to highlight a maybe simplicistic one which still fits. Fyodor is a demon because he is currently fighting God aka the way society works and wants to change it. This is why it might be symbolic that he is stopped thanks to Fitzgerald aka a character who represents both social inequality, but also the chances society can offer. Fitzgerald is also the person who in Steinbeck’s mind clearly represents the way the world is run.

Of course both Fyodor and Steinbeck’s answers are wrong and the answer the series endorses is clearly the one Dazai gives here:

Society is unfair, but, despite this, people can still fight to change it. The struggle is not harmonic nor easy and doesn’t necessarily bring more order, but there is still beauty in it.

However, both Fyodor and Steinbeck fail to realize it. The latter accepts things as they are, while the former wants to refuse everything. They are both too extreme and too rigid.

As far as Q is concerned, it is interesting that their reaction is basically the opposite of Karma’s. Karma fully accepts Fyodor’s ideals, while Q strongly refuses Steinbeck’s words. Q curses the world because the world is not kind enough to them. Because of this refusal, we can say that Q is a child who could grow up to be like Fyodor. They are told to accept their destiny, but Q still fights back and this is what Fyodor is doing as well in his own wrong way.

Another similarity between the two is, as you point out, the fact that the root of their unhappiness probably lies in the fact that they were both born with an unwanted ability. Q has been sealed away and left alone because of their ability ater all. As far as Fyodor is concerned, we have yet to discover his ability, but @hamliet came out with an interesting theory. All in all, what is important is that it is clearly a very dangerous ability and that this power coupled with Dostoyevsky’s intelligence ended up isolating him.

Even if we can’t really compare Q and Fyodor in terms of powers as for now, we can still highlight that both characters are linked to the concept of showing people what they repress.

Q does so thanks to their ability:

Their power is called by Dazai mind-control, but what it does is actually to let every person face the things they refuse to accept about themselves. This is perfectly shown when Atsushi is cursed.

Fyodor does so thanks to his intelligence since his strategies put people in situations which challenge them. This is clearly shown when he tricks Rampo and Kunikida:

As shown above Fyodor has the ability to confuse even characters like Rampo who are usually never tricked.

The same can be said about Q who manages to shock Dazai:

In other words, both Fyodor and Q are feared by other characters because they force them to face their most frail and unwanted parts.

I would like to explore this point more in regard to Fyodor and in order to do so I will use chapter 42.

This chapter shows again a recurring motif I particularly like i.e. the problem of escaping a locked room.

Fyodor’s fake ability after all is said to be the power of trapping people in his own mind and once Ace finds himself locked in a room he has the problem of escaping. However, the twist is that the room Ace needs to escape is not really Fyodor’s mind, but his own:

After all, we were warned at the beginning of the chapter:

The point of Fyodor is not that he traps peope in his own mind, but that he traps them in their own.

All in all Ace loses because he can’t leave his own mind. As a matter of fact he can’t let go of the way he perceives things. He doesn’t stop to verify the information he is given and thinks that he is the one with the advantage when he is not. In short, the room he has trapped Fyodor in is symbolic of his own mind and of his own short-comings and this is why he, like Lucy, is the only one having the key of such a room. However, Ace, like Lucy, fails to properly use the key and he is manipulated by Fyodor to leave the room in another way:

Fyodor “frees” Ace just like Atsushi frees Lucy and like Rampo frees both himself and Mushitarou. However, Fyodor does so in a completely different way:

As a matter of fact Fyodor equals freedom with death:

Fyodor thinks that the only way to escape one’s own mind is not to create connections and to learn other viewpoints on things, but it is to simply leave everything behind. This extreme belief is probably born by Fyodor’s difficulty to develop relationships with others:

He has stated that it is difficult for him to talk with people because he is much smarter than others and so he can’t see them as equals. Because of this, it makes sense that Fyodor himself can’t probably really escape his own mind.

Fyodor’s belief that he is somehow different from others is explored through his parallelism with Ace.

All in all Ace is a person who feels superior to others and treats others like objects:

His ability highlights two things.

1) It shows that he sees people like tools.

2) It underlines his convinction that he can give value to other lives even if these lives are not really precious by themselves.

Fyodor shares these two flaws. He uses people as tools and manipulates them and he thinks that he can actually free them and so help them by killing them.

However, Ace is proven wrong and he dies precisely because he is not that better than others as he thinks he is. His tragedy is that he never really gives up on this convinction and dies without realizing his own weaknesses and inferiority.

Now, Fyodor is trying to become God when he is just a human, so it would make sense for him to fail for the same reason Ace did aka because he understimates other people. This is basically what Dazai tells him after all:

Dazai recognizes that humans are foolish, but also states that this foolishness can be good. Fyodor doesn’t see that and this is why he is gonna fail. Let’s just hope that he, differently from Ace is able to see his mistake before the end.

In conclusion, Fyodor uses people’s darkest sides in an attempt to show them how pathetic they are, so that they can accept his idea of liberation. Despite this, it is possible that deep down the reason why Fyodor acts as he does is the same as Q’s. Q is simply lashing out and they are tormenting people because they treat them like a crazy monster, so they want to show others that they too are monsters and that they too are crazy. Dostoyevsky has created an elaborated ideology to justify what he does, but it is possible that he too is just trying to prove that he is right and that others are in the wrong.

These are my thoughts up until now! I hope they were useful!

Thank you for the ask!

#bsd #bsd meta #bungou stray dogs #fyodor dostoevsky #fyodor dostoyevsky bsd #bsd q #yumeno kyusaku #john steinbeck #bsd steinbeck #asksfullofsugar #justanothermultifan

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gunmaestro · 4 years

Text

The (Subjectively) Bad Writing of the Current Arc in Bungou Stray Dogs

I respect Asagiri as a writer, and I love what he’s given us in terms of content and characters. However, with the translation of the newest chapter out I think there are a few of my opinions about this arc I would like to put out there for people to see and consider, regardless of whether or not they agree. To define this arc, I will be talking about all chapters AFTER “The Perfect Murder and Murderer, Part 3″, as I consider the three chapters with focus on Mushitaro to be chapters that link the two consecutive arcs together rather than belonging to either. This post is also being written at a point where the most recent chapter is 77, so keep that in mind if later chapters have been posted that contradict what I’m writing here.

First, let’s start with something not so terrible: the new characters we’ve been introduced to in this arc.

If you know me, you know I’m a fan of the Hunting Dogs. I like them very much and I wish for other people to see that they’re good characters. However, I will do my best not to let this impact what I say in this post. From what we’ve seen of them so far, the Dogs have been very interesting and well-rounded characters. I think up until this most recent chapter (that being 77, at the time I’m writing this), the Dogs have been developed excellently; more on why I believe this chapter set them back completely as characters later in this post.

I’ll give a part of this to Tachihara, because although he isn’t new, we’re seeing a side of him that we’ve never actually seen before, and he feels like a completely new character to me. I may be one of the few people in the fandom who liked the initial twist of him being the fifth hunting dog. And, despite me saying I hate chapter 77, I like the direction they’re taking his character with making him out to be more mafia than hunting dog. I don’t, however, enjoy the way in which they are choosing to show this; again, I will go more into that later.

Gogol and Sigma.. have been interesting. I like what we’ve seen of Gogol so far and I am very happy that they’ve brought him back. I want to know what they have in store for his character! Sigma.. eh. I liked Sigma when he first was introduced, but the plotline that he is a creation of the book diminished my interest in him by a lot. It just didn’t seem to fit with the rest of the things in BSD. The same applies in general to the casino.

Now that I’ve gotten that out of the way, here are some general thoughts about the arc.

I think Asagiri is cramming way too much into one arc. Actually, I would be fine with most of the things I have a problem with if they were more spread out. My problem started with the introduction of the Sky Casino and the ongoing chess game between Fyodor and Dazai. I think the arc should have been about the ADA, the Mafia, and the Dogs. I think they should have gotten the page back by now and Sigma and the Sky Casino should have had absolutely nothing to do with the book or the page, instead being introduced later as a completely separate thing.

I also think that upping the stakes as much as this arc has in such a short amount of time was a big mistake. The tone of the current arc has absolutely no resemblance to the tone of the first few arcs.

Thirdly, and this is a personal issue because I frankly do not enjoy Dazai or Fyodor, there has been WAY too much focus on their chess game. In fact, their chess game is detrimental to EVERY OTHER CHARACTER in the series. Though it advances both of them, I am a firm believer in the fact that the development of one character should not have to rely on setting every single other character back by miles. Not only is the chess game annoying, but it devalues literally every other character as.. independent characters, instead either painting them out to be reliant on Dazai or reliant on Fyodor. At least Fyodor’s comrades are all in on his plans, though. Dazai literally is using the Dogs as chess pieces WITHOUT THEIR KNOWLEDGE.

Fourth and finally, I think the exclusion of several major characters from the majority of the arc and focusing mostly on the newer characters is subtracting from the general quality of the arc, and this is coming from someone who ADORES Gogol and the Dogs. This arc should have included Ranpo, Kunikida, Chuuya, and Akutagawa more than it did, and it should have put less focus on the Decay of Angels. They should have entered the spotlight in the next arc or at least towards the end of it, in my opinion.

Now, the real dealbreaker of the arc: Chapter 77.

I am willing to deal with the Sky Casino, even if it is out of place for the series. I’m also willing to deal with Sigma being a creation of the book, and the Decay of Angels being able to bring people back from the dead. HOWEVER, there has been one thing introduced in 77 that has left a bitter taste in my mouth.

The decision to make it IMPOSSIBLE for any person in authority to believe that the detective agency is innocent is, suffice to say, a terrible choice for the plot and for the characters. This decision was made seemingly to raise the stakes and to further Tachihara’s development. I like the fact that Tachihara is getting development in this direction, but I don’t like that the stakes are being raised EVEN MORE, and that the choice to develop Tachihara using this method sets several other characters way back in terms of ever having the hope of being three dimensional, fully realized characters.

I’ve mentioned that I think the development of one character should not have to hinder any other character’s development, and that holds true here especially. By introducing this plot point---by FORBIDDING certain characters to come to realizations that might otherwise have come to---Asagiri is severely limiting the potential of the Hunting Dogs, and the police characters such as Minoura.

Tetcho and Ochi are two characters who were shown as being kind to the Agency and trying to help them, and from this readers were meant to get the impression that they might start believing in the agency. With the knowledge that they could not possibly come to that realization on their own and that the only hope of them coming to it at all is MAYBE Tachihara, we now know that none of the Hunting Dogs are capable of getting their own arc in the near future. NONE of them will be able to develop as characters enough to have their own thoughts on the matter, unless the unlikely scenario arises that they split from the law.

To conclude:

I’m tired of this arc.

#bungou stray dogs #bsd #controversy #bsd spoilers

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dazailover69 · 5 years

Text

Eternal Agony- Leap Of Faith (Dazai x Reader)

WARNING: Suicidal Themes

(Y/N P.O.V)

Darkness.

Its all I see, Its all I feel, Its all I know.

I feel empty. Gone. Lost.

Am I Dead?

No. That would be impossible. Especially because my ability is always active. Its such a strong ability, but it's negative effects are what drive me to do insane things.

Blood. I feel blood, dripping down my wrists.

Oh.

I'm having an attack.

My, my, my, well yes you are~.

Every bone in my body chilled at it's voice. Goosebumps formed all over my skin, causing the hairs to rise.

"Please. Please. Not again. Not again," I weeped and begged, "I can't. I can't do this again." My voice quietened with the fear of whats about to come.

Y/N, Y/M/N, Y/L/N~. Now why would I hurt you~?

I grew still. My E/C dulled, as I come to the realisation I won't be able to escape this time.

I begged one last time, in hopes of a miracle, "Please. I need rest. Please, please, please just leave me alone."

Its laughter echoed within my mind.

But I'm your guardian angel, Y/N, It's voice darkened, leaving a burnt imprint in my head of the cold harshness of Its voice, I would never hurt you~

A miracle was all I needed.

I forgot miracles,

hope,

love,

dreams...

don't exist.

Ango gave me hope, he gave me a light that I might be free, but I guess its a lie. It always is.

I succumbed to the voices of It, letting It destroy all the little hope, love and happiness, be burnt by the brutal strength of its words. It will take control of me. When I awake from this nightmare, I know what I'll see.

My blood will scatter the entire room, coating every bit of wall with crimson colour of my blood. It doesn't matter though.

Why?

Cause no one will know. No one will see the pain It forces me to feel, No one will touch the blood that laces my room, and No one will hear my screams for help.

My ability causes me unbearable pain. But what makes it worse is that no one will believe or see or hear the true pain it causes me, because my pain is always healed by it.

Life,

I have an endless life.

But all I want is to die.

(Dazai's P.O.V)

Sunlight glimmered and burned my eyes. I was stuck walking in next to the simpleton in the world, while I we head to our next objective.

Y/N. We were looking for her. After what I told Mori, he wanted to meet her and find out her intentions.

So now I'm strolling towards my mission, in the heat of the streets of Yokohama. I guess it was a beautiful day, for an ordinary person but for me I knew it was awful. The constant nagging of my orange haired counterpart, only made death more desirable. If I wanted, I could possibly die from dehydration going hand in hand with hyperthermia, although it might take around 2 days.

I sighed, "Too slow."

Chuuya screeched, "HEY! SOCIAL MISFIT! WHAT DO YOU MEAN TOO SLOW?!"

"Sorry, would mind not talking to me? I'm busy breathing right now." I replied coolly.

Angrily replying Chuuya said, "I'm going to rip your head off, you suicidal maniac"

I turned around to face him. "Somewhere out there a tree is working tirelessly, producing oxygen for you. You should apologise to it" annoyance clearly evident in my tone.

"AYE, SHITRA-!" Chuuya's screaming got cut off by the sound of something making contact with the ground.

Keyaki Dori Avenue. We were on that street, right next to Yokohama Landmark tower. Someone must've jumped. It's the only logical reason. Screams of the crowd reached my ears, causing a multitude of people to surround what fell. Faintly, I remembered the soft brokenness of Y/N's words.

Because mine won't let me die.

It's her. It has to be her.

I managed to weave through the crowd, pushing pass;

every parent covering their children's eyes,

every teenager looking away crying,

every person cradling their loved ones

and finally pushing pass every person running towards the body.

I ignored every scream and curse of Chuuya telling me to come back.

I was right.

. . . . .

It was her.

Y/N.

She lied on the dark grey concrete, lifeless. Lifeless. Her H/C was scattered in multiple places, with new gushing blood, flooding from her skull. Crimson. Y/N's blood was dark crimson red. Her E/C eye were wide open, but her iris held the same broken sadness, she felt the last time we met. Her clothes, a pure white dress-shirt with dark black pants, were bloody. She's gone. She's dead.

While do I feel a slight pain in my chest? Why am I hurting? I don't understand.

I turned around, letting my gaze fall to the floor. My head swarmed with so many thoughts that I couldn't control. It was like an endless swarm of thoughts that not even a Tsunami could compare. I wasn't thinking right. I don't like this. Why am I hurting? Make it stop. Make it stop please!

"DAZAI!" Chuuya's voice broke my internal conflict.

Sweat beads were falling down my face. I sat hugging my knees on the concrete, rocking slowly back and forth.

How did I get here?

Oh.

I had an attack.

I stood back up, Chuuya holding my arm incase I fell again. "What the hell, Dazai" Chuuya calmly asked, "What the fuck just happened?" My gaze fell onto Y/N body. Why did she give me an attack? She makes me feel things I never wanted to feel. But I don't know what that is.

Although, something brought my attention back to reality.

Her body, eyes, blood-

A white glowing cult like circle surrounded her body, similar to what my ability looks like when activated. Every drop of blood slowly returned back into her body, while all the open wounds healed. She slightly levitated off the ground, before her ability deactivated causing her to drop to her feet. Her eyes opened, letting the dull E/C attach immediately to my dark brown eyes.

Y/N's soft sorrow-filled voice caught me off guard, "Do you believe me, now Dazai? Or do I have to jump off another building?"

My voice went dark and hoarse, I was sick of what she was doing to me. "Not until you answer my question. Who the fuck are you?"

Her gaze turned sour and slightly annoyed. With a soldier-like tone, she replied, "Y/N, Y/L/N. I am an ability user. I have the power to live through even the cruelest of deaths, at the expense of something invaluable.

My ability is called...

Angels Of Death "

____________________________________________________________

Authors Note:

hello~ i've been busy lately but im going to try to post here every sunday 6pm PST time. also i decided to give this chapter earlier than what was intended. enjoy this chapter~

cya~

(Word Count: 1172)

#dazai #dazaiosamu #osamudazai #bsd #bungoustraydogs #bungostraydogs #bungostraydogsdazai #bungoustraydogsdazai #xreader #x reader #dazai osamu #osamu dazai #chuuya #chuuya nakahara #wattpad #anime

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popopretty · 5 years

Text

BSD Chapter 75

I have not done a summary for a while becuz I was pretty busy but this is our long-awaited chapter after the break so a lot of things happened! I feel terribly sorry for Sigma after reading the chapter and I hope he will find happiness somehow ;;

Neither English nor Japanese is my native language so you may find some mistakes here and there. Please don’t hesitate to let me know if you spot any.

SPOILERS AHEAD

- Tachihara and Teruko are running from the guests, who are trying to hunt them down to get the prizes Sigma promised. Tachihara finds the situation really bad because they can’t fight the normal people and yet there might be armed guards taking advantage of the situation to attack them while hiding themselves in the crowd.

- Teruko look scary, saying that Sigma is bold to think that they won’t be able to hurt those insolent guests. (TN: Honestly at this page I was convinced that she was going to kick everyone’s asses xD) But then she tells Tachihara that it is exactly like that, they as police won’t ever hurt the citizens in under any circumstances. But they will still get their job done.

- They runs into a room and when the guests catch up, there is only an old lady inside the room. The window is broken and we can see ropes ties to the balcony. Thinking that they have escaped to the lower floor, the guests leave the room.

- The old lady took her cart and went out to the lower floor where she is stopped by two guards. Here it is turned out that she is Teruko in disguise and Tachihara is turned into a baby hiding inside her cart. She tells the guard her ability allows her to manipulate the age of everyone she touches. She uses her ability to torture the guard and make him tell her how to take control of the communication terminal. The frightened guard told her that it can only be done through a key that only Sigma has.

- Teruko then turns Tachihara back to his form and orders him to take care of the other guards, while she herself heads to Sigma’s place.

- Back to Dazai and Fyodor in jail, they are talking about what Fyodor said before, that “Sigma doesn’t have any memories so he is strong.” Dazai thinks it is nonsense, and that if it is true, the old lady in the coffee shop might be the strongest cuz she never remembers his order. He says that no matter how determined Sigma might be, the Hound Dogs are on another “class” and going against them head-on is suicidal.

- Fyodor smiles and says that if they are talking about “class” then the Hound Dogs have the lower hands. And not only the Hound Dogs, nothing in this world can match him. He explains that the reason that Sigma is so attached to the casino is because he is lonely. He is the ultimate stranger to this world, so the casino is the one and only thing he has. That is when Dazai realizes that Sigma is just a human-being created 3 years ago by the book. He is shocked and wonder if u can even call Sigma “human”.

- We get a flashback into Sigma’s past when he was first “born”. The first thing he saw in this world was a train ticket, to a station that doesn’t exit. He found himself in the middle of the desert, having no ideas about anything. He wondered in the desert for a few days and got caught by the slave trafficker. Knowing he has ability, they used him to commit a lot of crimes. He escaped later but no matter where he went, people always ended up using him for crimes, even the people who seemed sincere at first. He lost faith in everyone, until he met Fyodor, the last person that used him, also the terrorist that turns the world around. Fyodor offered to give him a “home”, which he believes was out of his reach. So he decided that this was going to be the last stop, and put everything into protecting his newly found “home” and “family”.

- Back to present time, Sigma meets with Teruko. He confirms that the explosion signals can only be stopped by taking control of the system. He throws the key towards Teruko, which surprises her. Meanwhile, he is thinking to himself that if he is to be honest, he will want to cry and run away right at that moment. But it is impossible because if he doesn’t stop the Hound Dogs, the casino will be destroyed. He knows that he is going against the strongest troop of the government, and wonder what is so wrong about an ordinary man trying to protect what is dear to him. He summons 2 machine guns and aims at Teruko.

- Atsushi and Kyouka hears the gun shots from the lower floor and knows the Hound Dogs have already reached the communication room. Atsu is worried that if they can’t get there in time, Dazai’s plan will be ruined. Kyouka uses Demon Snow to cut a hole in the wall and tells Atsushi to go ahead while she takes care of the rest.

- Back to Sigma and Teruko, Sigma is sure that the bullets can kill Teruko right away (because it is a 7.62mm with a muzzle velocity of 2700kph, that can destroy even a tank and turn a human to ash before they can even feel pain). But in fact, Teruko blocks it by bare hands and quickly destroys the gun. When Sigma is trying to activate a new barrel, Teruko approaches and seizes his hand. She tells him he doesn’t stand a chance from the beginning. And he agrees, knowing that he, being a lonely man in this world, doesn’t have the power to protect his “home”. But even if it is like that, his body cannot stop.

- Teruko asks Sigma if he has anything left to say and he answers that he has one. And that is “Everything till now went exactly as planned.”, while taking out something that looks like a gun from this pocket.

And that is the end of this month’s chapter. Thank you for reading till here ^^

#bsd #bungou stray dogs #chapter 75 #spoilers #bsd spoilers #sigma #dazai osamu #fyodor dostoevsky #ookura teruko #tachihara michizou #nakajima atsusih #kyouka izumi #summary

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joeys-piano · 5 years

Text

Header created by @ao3commentoftheday, where creators may share sneak peeks their wip and readers can leave comments/motivation on unfinished works to let writers know that they can’t wait to see the final product~

In this segment of Work of Progress Wednesday, I’ll be sharing a preview and outline of the opening chapter to my current project, Survive Said The Prophet. Now keep in mind I wrote this chapter outline last night and that the outline will go through a few revisions before I deem it’s set and ready to start working on it. Originally, this opening chapter was from Dazai’s point-of-view when he was sent on a mission to quell discord in the West at the age of 18. However, I thought it would’ve been more interesting and more insightful if the chapter was told from Fyodor’s (22) point of view.

Not only does it setup the story and its conflicts in a rather unique way because it’s told from the perspective of the antagonist, this is one of those few moments where you get to read what’s going through Fyodor’s mind and understand why he does what he commits to. Additionally, this is one of the very few moments where he’s honest in his intentions and you have a clearer idea of what's going on behind-the-scenes in his mind.

If you do get a chance to read this, let me know what your thoughts are on this chapter outline/sneak preview~ It’s been a long time since I’ve written/outlined the first chapter for any story, so critiques are welcomed in regards to direction, conveyance, characters, and so forth.

Chapter Outline Disclaimers: The following content below the [read more] contains social commentary in regards to human rights and dignity, prejudice, and gun violence. Although the violence portrayed in this chapter outline is not vividly described, reader discretion is advised.

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Outline of Chapter One - No One Dares To Tell A Lie

The arc — and subsequently, the story — begins with a philosophical argument that overlays the opening scene of a female politician rising from her seat behind a crowd of men and former colleagues before stepping forward to face her audience, both local and international for this is being broadcast across all major networks, to apologize and promise to right what the government had done wrong. The philosophical argument that shrouds the atmosphere and gives a gray tinge to the surroundings is thus: Freedom vs. Justice. It’s been forty-three years since the manifestation of supernatural abilities, it’s been forty-three years since many innocents and families have been torn from their communities and from their loved ones due to discriminatory provisions and bounty hunts that have taken more than what was believed to be good, and it has only been six years since the nations of the world have asked themselves if what they’ve been doing has been wrong.

The female politician elaborates on the politics surrounding ability-users and the ability-community, of the culture and the paradigm of a society torn apart where brothers have turned on each other, and the efforts of organizations such as the International Gifted Alliance and the World’s Gifted Organization that have fought for and have provided the freedoms and dignity that ability-users were robbed of at the moment when differences between neighbors turned to prejudice and hate speech against people that were once friends and colleagues but now, strangers because of their manifestation of an ability. As the female politician speaks, in the midst of this public conference and rally in the country of Uruk (one of many countries who’re going through an internal reform to ‘right what had been wrong’), the philosophical battle between Freedom vs. Justice is illustrated on the wings of a bird, flying overhead as a feather slips from its body and momentarily blocks Fyodor’s line of sight as he steadies his sniper rifle. Interesting enough, he’s sprawled across the roof of one of Uruk’s courthouses. Fyodor speaks into his earpiece and affirms that he’s clear. He has the female politician in his sight. Asking where he currently is and how the other half of the mission is going, one could hear a smile in Nikolai’s response as he mentions he fits in so well that not even the political guards can’t tell that one of their own is missing.

The plan is not for Fyodor to shoot and kill the female politician. No, Fyodor’s mission is to incite a distraction and ensue chaos over the fact that a live shooter is active on the premise. In the disarray, Nikolai (disguised as a guard) was to escort the female politician to safety before shooting her in a predestined location, behind society’s eyes, before vanishing from the scene with the use of his ability, The Overcoat. Both men had been rented out by their Bratva and were hired by an opposition group to take down the female politician and her message of change. Who was anyone kidding? Uruk was merely one out of dozens of countries, across Europe and the world, drowning in political discord at the very thought that ability-users were reclaiming their dignity and were being seen as more than the “monsters or mere tools” that they have been viewed as for over forty years. Wasn’t it ironic, knowing that the two men for this job were also ability-users? But for now, the best way to put it was that Fyodor and Nikolai were merely stray dogs, quite aware of how far their leash could extend for each and every time they pulled against their restraints. Simply, they were merely carrying out the job that was expected for people like them.

Ability-users were more like tools for an ideology or a means to a cause. Whatever power residing inside of them had one purpose in the minds of conventional, old-school train of thought: these abilities were merely weapons and thus, it was required to leash and remind an ability-user of what they were to prevent them from doing anymore harm. In the old-school train of thought, it seemed absurd to let “untamed weapons” run amok and coexist with those of normal society. Without rules and a stubborn leash, it only bred disarray and discord for ability-users could manipulate their powers and upset the balance or status quo that had been maintained by normal society for centuries now. To bear in mind, ability-users were a relatively recent phenomenon and the opposition believed that these individuals needed to be treated as lesser in order for society to balance itself. The world was never meant for ability-users or at least, that was what those of conventional thought held dear to their hearts. To maintain the status quo and to not be usurped by a growing population of individuals that they couldn't quite understand, the opposition to Uruk’s changing stance on ability-user sought for Fyodor and Nikolai. Both men were formidable in their work and their abilities possessed unique properties that made assassinating a politician as easy as could be. Because Crime and Punishment and The Overcoat hardly left any traces behind, and both abilities never failed to get the job done. However, in a moment of pause as guilt settled in, Nikolai’s morality caught up with him and he expressed his concerns if this was the right thing to do. This wasn’t the first time Nikolai expressed such thoughts. His morality often had a habit of resurfacing before a job needed to be done, and it was merely Fyodor’s job as his partner to dissuade those intrusive thoughts and realign Nikolai’s objective to the current one at stake. Fyodor asked if Nikolai had seriously considered what the politician had said in her speech. It was fundamentally impossible for people like them to coexist in a world that was never meant for them. In that response, Fyodor wasn’t parroting the opposition that had hired him and Nikolai. He was speaking from his own experience, speaking from a past event that made it very clear that a person like him could never live normally after he had been outed as a monster by his own ability. Behind his sniper rifle, Fyodor inadvertently tensed up when a voice from his past, a voice he could never escape from, taunted him at his ear. “Your crime is your ability, your death will be your punishment.” Nikolai turned Fyodor’s response on its side and replied if that was the case, then humans were never meant for this world and that the only reason why people remain on this earth today was because of a benevolent promise bestowed on a certain family. For as it was written, this family believed that there was good, even in the places and the people where one wouldn’t expect it from. Even when it seemed that the other of their society were criminals and debauched, this family believed that good people did exist in the burrows of sin and sorrow and wanted to protect those people.

Nikolai compared that biblical story to the present, to the efforts of global organizations and leaders and people that were doing something to protect and aid those who didn’t do anything wrong from unjust punishment. Despite what their client may believe, Nikolai’s morality and his conscience were in favor that ability-users weren’t the real monsters of this conflict. The real monsters were the people and groups that refused to view those different from them as anything more than just those differences and did everything in their power to suppress, harass, belittle, and harm just because they were afraid of what they couldn’t understand. Fyodor could feel his ability twitch inside as Nikolai’s choice of words, and he decides to give Nikolai something to think about to suppress that morality Nikolai had worn at his sleeve. And, at the same time, perhaps these words were for Fyodor as well to suppress that change of heart that nearly consumed him. Fyodor has gone too far to turn back on who he has become, and it was his fear of the unknown that keeps him grounded in a set of beliefs that made him exist as a walking contradiction. “It ought to be something that Lady Justice judges blind but occasionally, when her scales tip to another’s favor, she’ll peek from under her blindfold and make her swift judgment then.” Through Fyodor, Lady Justice will enact the true verdict to an issue that she could no longer ignore. As long as there were ability-users in this world and if people came to accept them for who they were, they were only opening a threshold for demons and Fyodor’s wings had yet to be clipped. Fundamentally, as long as they were ability-users in this world, they would only stir the greed, hate, and jealousy residing in humanity’s nature and unravel the nuances of the Devil and of sin. Because of ability-users, the work of the Devil had firmly integrated itself into society and that was why Fyodor was so against acceptance for people of his kind. He believed in the opposition and believed that things could’ve been taken one step further. If there was a way to rid the world of ability-users, only an act like that would truly restore the world and cleanse it from its sins. With his mind steadied and quelled, Fyodor waited for his opportunity to shoot. His client had specific orders, telling him to shoot at the moment he got the all-clear from them. The opposition had planned and prepared a joint-argument that they were to make in the midst of the chaos, inciting that change would only harm and kill more lives than it would save. Truly ironic, coming from a group that hired one man to stage himself as a live shooter while they hired another to kill the vocal piece of Uruk’s changing stance on ability-users. However, a job was a job. When Fyodor received a visual all-clear from the crowd below, Fyodor pulled the trigger. The bullet passed the female politician and pierced the podium, embedding splinters and wood into her skin as chaos tore the scene apart. Right on cue, Nikolai moved from where he was stationed and escorted the female politician to safety while the other guards escorted the rest of the political officials and colleagues. Fyodor prepared to move out and meet Nikolai again at their rendezvous point. Pulling out from the scene and slipping away into the network of alleys and cobbled streets behind the courthouse, Fyodor passed his weapon to one of the men from the opposition and promptly killed them with Crime and Punishment when they grasped him roughly and demanded for respect after Fyodor slammed the rifle case into their chest. After his ability had done its work and Fyodor inspected that not a drop of blood had gotten onto himself, he turned to look at the mutilated, pulp of a body left behind and bid his respect that the “dear gentleman” had covered things up for him. The rendezvous point that Fyodor was supposed to meet Nikolai at was near a local bakery, blocks away from the chaos down in central, and it was quiet and quaint enough where they could enjoy a bit of leisure before leaving this country and returning to St. Petersburg. Fyodor purchased a bagel that he knew Nikolai would enjoy and grew increasingly concerned when Nikolai didn’t return. Fyodor spoke through the earpiece and learned through Nikolai that their client, the entirety of the opposition group that had hired them, were all dead. Someone knew what they were doing and had taken them out. It was quite possible that whoever did it were on to them, and Nikolai warned Fyodor that he needed to leave.

Fyodor asked where Nikolai was and did he finish the job. Nikolai didn’t answer if he accomplished the job, but said they weren’t the only ones on a job today. Someone from another organization, someone from the East, had been contracted and Nikolai believed that today’s kill was done by the same person that had been taking down opposing riot groups who’ve attempted to silence the peace talks and changes for ability-users all over Europe. Nikolai concluded this when he was the aftermath of what happened to the men that had hired him and Fyodor and saw the distinct, kill-signature that had been left behind. Nikolai and Fyodor agreed to go their separate paths and to meet again at sunset in another location. Afterwards, Fyodor boarded a public bus to blend into the crowd and make up some ground. Cautious and wary, Fyodor pulled his hands from his pockets as he walked through the crowded bus to find a place to stand. Along the way, his hand lightly brushed against people and he could see into their moral judgment and the most recent crime or sin they had done. It was a preemptive way for him to learn about the people around him and to find out who the contractor from the East was if they had boarded the bus with him. Through his connections and the information gathered from his employment with the Bratva of Spades, the only information in regards to this contractor was that they weren’t an ability-user, they went by the name of Vino, and that their signature kill-style involved shattering one’s jaw after either emptying bullets into the body or stabbing the major and most vulnerable parts of the body. Obviously, this Vino character knew the human anatomy quite well and was proficient at the job. While on the bus, Fyodor didn’t notice anyone strange until he was about to leave. Someone reached out and clasped their fingers around his hand. An odd sensation overcame Fyodor, as if a part of him had died, and he turned around. There was a young man with shaggy hair holding his hand, with a black cap over his head and obscuring his eyes. He spoke with a lilt in his accent when he said that Fyodor had dropped something. It was the bagel bag. Fyodor accepted it, unable to shake off the feeling that his ability had been suppressed at this young man’s touch. Fyodor had heard about something similar to this before, back in Yokohama during the Dragon Head Rush Incident a few years ago. When he unearthed information about the research facility that exploded offshore and how the wild beast that rampaged through the city suddenly disappeared without a trace. There was a brief mention in the records he gathered that a Nullification drug in development on the offshore research facility, but whatever came of it was never known. Presumed that it was destroyed but now, Fyodor couldn't shake off the feeling that he had just encountered someone with that fabled property at their touch. The feeling remained with Fyodor, even after he and Nikolai finally reunited and Nikolai confessed that he didn’t kill the politician. Not after what he saw and found of their client. Even with the Bratva of Spades, one of the best organizations when it came to intel in the underground world, there was hardly any information about Vino. Nikolai speculated that Vino may’ve been hired by Strain, but Fyodor doubted it because it wasn’t in Strain’s best interest to take a hit on the people that made up their clientele base. Just as both men were about to leave and transport back to St. Petersburg through Nikolai’s ability, Fyodor was about to duck his head and enter Nikolai’s coat when his partner suddenly pushed him out of the way. A bullet casing from a sniper pierced through Nikolai’s eye when he took what would’ve been a fatal hit for Fyodor. Both mind and body were thrown into overdrive at the mere sign that Vino was within the vicinity. Without a gun of his own, Fyodor pried the one from Nikolai and defended him and his partner as he hurried them to safety. If Vino was going to take them out from the high-ground, Fyodor and Nikolai ducked behind a series of narrow and obscured streets until they found salvation in a place that was relatively hidden from the rest of the world. Once there, before doing anything to soothe the agony Nikolai was going through, Fyodor asked if Nikolai got a good look of who Vino was.

Between anguish and his muffled screams when Fyodor covered his mouth and tried to ground Nikolai back to reality, Nikolai blurted something along the lines that Vino wanted to go home. When he took the bullet for Fyodor and saw who Vino was, he was able to see what Vino desired most from the world, and all the assassin wanted was to go home. If Vino accomplished this mission, he could return and be with the person that he held dear in his heart. Slipping in and out of consciousness, Nikolai urged Fyodor to leave him behind. Vino would get them both if Fyodor stayed here. He had to go. Fyodor couldn’t leave Nikolai. Not only was Nikolai’s ability one of the only full-proof methods where they could disappear from this country without a trace, Fyodor had made a promise to his partner and damn it, leaving Nikolai to die wasn’t part of the solution-plan Fyodor had in mind. Before another word could be exchanged, Vino found and cornered the duo. How he found them? Fyodor’s mind had yet to process that when he heard the pin of a gun behind him and turned around. Stepping out from the shadows and into the sunlight was the familiar, black cap-wearing young man Fyodor had encountered on the bus earlier that day. From the low, crouching position that Fyodor was in, he could see that the most striking feature on the young man was the dead stare in his eyes. As if he had forsaken good and evil for behaviorism, to do as he was told in an attempt to reunite with someone that he could never return to. The only thing separating Vino from his desire was the fact that Nikolai and Fyodor were still breathing in front of him.

Tags → work in progress, wip, writing, wip wednesday, writing critique, survive said the prophet

#work in progress #wip #writing #wip wednesday #writing critique #survive said the prophet #fyodor dostoyevsky #nikolai gogol #dazai osamu

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