The Agency was gathered in front of a tall storage building situated in the middle of the Yokohama slums. Both the address the Foundation had given them as well as the address of the servers which Dazai had hacked pointed to this building as being the right place. The only people they were waiting for to show up were the Port Mafia.
"I've given the Port Mafia a basic outline of our plan," Dazai said to Atsushi. "They shouldn't interfere too much with our objectives. Their main goal is to rescue Gin and get out, leaving us to do most of the heavy work."
"Is Akutagawa coming?"
"Of course. You expect him to sit by idly while his sister's a hostage?"
"Do you know when he'll arrive?"
With a smile, Dazai patted Atsushi on the head. "You're really concerned about Akutagawa, aren't you? Don't worry about him. He can take care of himself."
Atsushi blushed.
"Okay...but Group One's objective rests on us two being the only ones to confront Liu. If anyone from the Port Mafia comes–"
"If anyone from the Port Mafia comes, they will join with Group Two to inflict as much havoc on the Foundation as possible until they are able to find Gin. In the worst case, Gin and Q are with Liu, which is why we need to isolate him as quickly as possible. Given that Liu doesn't have any heavy offensive capabilities, this shouldn't be too difficult."
Atsushi nodded, but a feeling in his gut told him that something was about to go wrong.
He had fought Liu and Asimov before. Both ability users had seemed far too confident in their abilities to worry about the Agency being a threat. And why would they capture Gin if that meant they were only going to have to take on both the Port Mafia and the Agency at once? It felt like they were all being lured into one big trap.
Liu's third ability – what could it be?
"They might have their minions waiting for us when we enter," Atsushi said.
"Then we take all of them out."
"But while we're fighting their minions, they could attack us by surprise and separate all of us from each other with that teleportation ability."
"Stay by my side, Atsushi. I'll keep watch over the entire battle so I'll know if anything happens." Dazai smiled. "They won't be able to get in an ambush on us."
"I hope you're right."
"Ready, Atsushi?" Kenji said, placing an arm on his shoulder. His smile was sun-bright. "No matter who's waiting for us in there, we're ready to take them on. So long as I'm full, that is."
"Thanks, Kenji."
"Yeah, don't worry about it!" Tanizaki said. "You just charge ahead with Dazai and we'll support you with our attacks."
"That's right. With us at your back, you can concentrate on the mission ahead," Kunikida said in his cheesy voice.
Only Fukuzawa remained quiet.
"Thanks, all of you," Atsushi said, blushing a little.
He couldn't believe himself. Every member of the Agency was ready for the mission, and here he was, being a downer despite how important his role was on the front lines.
It was all because of Akutagawa.
More than anything, he wanted Akutagawa to be here, fighting at his side.
As long as they were together, they could take on any opponent. With Akutagawa beside him, he wouldn't mind fighting the entire Foundation.
"Let's go in," Dazai said suddenly. He gave a hand signal that Group One was moving out.
Atsushi gulped.
He let go of the feelings in his heart.
"Okay."
Atsushi and Dazai rushed into the building. They found themselves standing inside an empty hall with only one door at the other end that led to a flight of stairs. With Group Two behind them, they gingerly made their way towards the stairs.
"Be careful," Dazai said. "Empty rooms are never a good sign."
"I'll watch for signs of movement."
"Don't slow down."
To his surprise, two minutes later, they made it to the other end of the room without being attacked. He didn't even see a single moving shadow.
"Are you sure this is the place?" Atsushi asked.
Dazai nodded slowly.
"But we just went across that whole room without being att-"
"Focus."
"Sorry."
With the utmost caution, they began climbing the steps. Atsushi's heart thumped in his chest. He had a bad feeling about what awaited them.
His feelings were correct: he was in no way prepared to see what was at the top of the stairs.
Rows of young children sat along the walls of the hall, each drinking from big bowls of soup. They wore tattered clothing and were covered in dirt, much like the orphans Atsushi had seen in the slums when Akutagawa took him that night. The children turned their heads to face them in a scripted manner, angry expressions on their faces. Before Atsushi could say anything, they started shouting.
"Down with the Agency!"
"All ability users are murderers!"
"You never cared about us!"
"Ability users are scum!"
"We had no food while you ate like kings!"
"The city was almost destroyed because of you!"
"Ability users must die!"
"The Agency are criminals!"
Atsushi was too stunned by their outburst to react. He could hear Group Two coming up the stairs behind him, and he didn't want them to be subjected to the same sight. Especially not Kyouka. A welcoming like this would be too cruel for her.
The Foundation had gathered all the starving children of the slums and brought them here, where they were given food and a script to enact when the Agency would arrive.
A hand tugged on Atsushi's arm, snapping him out of his reverie.
"We have to go," Dazai said. "Ignore them."
"But, D-Dazai–"
"Remember our mission."
Atsushi swallowed, trying to hold back his emotions. "Okay."
For the first time in his life, Atsushi shut out all his feelings.
One by one, his feelings of happiness, his sadness, his anger, his fear, the friends whom he loved, his loneliness, Akutagawa – they all disappeared. His heart became empty. Only an empty heart could bear the sight and sounds of this hall.
He ran and ran, guided by Dazai, ignoring all the insults the children threw at him, ignoring his feelings of pity for them, ignoring the overwhelming injustice that lingered over this hall – an injustice that he knew they, the Agency, had partly been responsible for.
The rows of hungry children screaming at them seemed to go on forever.
At last, he saw the last child, sitting at the end of the hall. She threw her spoon at them. It sailed by Atsushi's head, barely missing his ear. He didn't look at her.
Past the hall was the next flight of stairs. Behind him, he could hear the startled expressions of Kunikida and the rest of the Agency.
"I'm glad you were able to go through that hall," Dazai said as they climbed the stairs. "When the Port Mafia comes, they probably won't spare the children any mercy–"
"I don't even want to think about that," Atsushi said through his teeth.
Dazai turned away. "The world is cruel. We have to bring an end to its cruelty."
Atsushi thought about how Akutagawa would feel when he would walk through that hall. He didn't want Akutagawa to see that. Resolve filled in him to defeat Liu and rescue Q and Gin before the Port Mafia arrived.
There was another hall at the top of the stairs that opened into a much larger chamber. Standing in this chamber were the two men of the Foundation, Asimov and Liu.
"Wait," Dazai said, motioning for Atsushi to stop. "If you walk in with me, Liu will have three people to use his ability on. I'll go in first by myself."
"Okay."
Dazai walked into the room and was greeted by having two guns pointed at him.
"We predicted your arrival as well as your entire plan," Asimov said. "Give up, Dazai. You cannot defeat us."
"Hold your guns. You gave us such a rude welcome," Dazai responded. "But did you really think that was going to work?"
"No. We merely wanted to show you the Foundation's good intentions for the city. Once we've established ourselves here, we intend to clean the city slums. We'll make our headquarters a home for all the orphans that have been cast away by your greedy, wasteful society. Any child who does not have parents or a home is welcome."
"Wait. What do you mean, 'establish yourselves' here?"
Asimov dropped his gun and laughed. "Dazai. I thought you would be smart enough to figure out what our real intentions would be."
"We told Atsushi that we were going to eradicate the Agency because we predicted that would make all of you come here," Liu said. "And our predictions were correct."
"It's true that our ultimate intention is the elimination of all ability users in the city, followed by the world," Asimov continued. "However, this is not a practical goal. For now, all we aim to do is to establish ourselves as a third faction of ability users in the city. Do you see why this is?"
Dazai suddenly stiffened. "Triangular diplomacy."
"Precisely. Currently, the Agency and the Port Mafia are the reigning ability user factions in Yokohama. This is not stable, because if any one faction were to overpower the other, they would become the dominant faction in the city. However, if there were three factions in Yokohama, then if one of the factions were to grow too powerful, the other two could join together to take them down. This was what happened when the Guild came to the city. And it's the equilibrium we intend to create so that ability users will never abuse their power to hurt innocents."
"You got one thing wrong," Dazai said. "The Guild failed, and they are no longer a force in Yokohama anymore."
"That's because they were too short-sighted, and offered no benefits to the city's inhabitants. We have already saved the city's children. Do you really think you are doing the right thing by kicking us out?"
Dazai placed a finger on his chin. "The Agency and the Port Mafia are already a stable equilibrium because we know what all of our abilities are. Right now, you are creating instability because we don't know as much as we could about your abilities."
"We intend to keep it that way," Liu said. "Compared to the Port Mafia and the Agency, we are few in number, so we have to hide our abilities in order to maintain an advantage."
"And that's precisely why we're here." Dazai angled his body to look behind at Atsushi. "To collect information on all your abilities."
Without warning, Dazai charged towards Asimov and Liu.
A flurry of bullets struck Dazai, and he crumpled to the ground. Atsushi gasped.
Dazai shattered, Tanizaki's illusion fading.
At once, the entire Agency charged into the room – and Atsushi sprinted in alongside Dazai to get to Liu as quickly as possible.
"Three Body."
Kenji, Tanizaki, and Fukuzawa disappeared.
Atsushi pounced on Liu, grabbing his body with his claws and throwing him out of the chamber into the room beyond, which was a smaller storage facility. Behind him, he heard Kyouka, Kunikida, and Yosano striking at Asimov. Gunfire and explosions raged across the room.
Together, Atsushi and Dazai charged into the room they had thrown Liu into and immediately shut the door behind them.
Liu had crashed into a stack of crates, and his pistol lay out of reach by the wall. Atsushi quickly crushed the pistol.
"We knew this was your plan, and yet we still fell for it," Liu said, getting to his feet. He was still smiling. "But do you really believe you can defeat me?"
Atsushi tensed.
"I'll let you revisit your hell, Atsushi," Liu said, pointing a finger at him. "Dark Forest."
Everything around Atsushi turned black.
He expected Dazai to come at any moment to save him.
The room remained dark.
Panic rose up into Atsushi's chest. He could feel the sensation of death gurgling up out of his throat. Why wasn't Dazai saving him?
"Dazai! Where are you?"
Atsushi began running.
He didn't want to die in this lonely darkness.
Not again.
He ran as fast as his tiger could carry him.
"Liu!"
"Kunikida?"
"Tanizaki?"
"Yosano?"
"Kenji?"
"Kyouka?"
"...Akutagawa?"
Atsushi stopped running. He wasn't getting anywhere.
He fell onto his knees. All he wanted to do was scream.
In the distance, something transparent and spherical was hurling across the sky, searching for him. A hunter in the dark forest. And he was its prey.
The darkness was too much for him to bear.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"
Atsushi looked at the sky again, and the sphere came hurtling down.
So, this was it.
It was his time to die.
He closed his eyes, hoping that the impact would end it quickly. Hoping that he wouldn't die in miserable pain and suffering.
His life was over.
"Atsushi!"
Atsushi's eyes shot open.
"Atsushi! Where are you?"
It was Akutagawa's voice.
"Akutagawa?"
"Atsushi! You're there, aren't you? Snap out of it!"
The sphere hurtled down towards him, so fast that he knew he'd have no time to save himself even if he tried.
"Rashomon!"
Black tentacles flew in front of the sphere and wrapped around it, stopping its descent.
A hand touched Atsushi's shoulder, and light flooded the dark forest.
He looked up to find Akutagawa and Dazai standing by his side.
"I'm sorry, Atsushi," Dazai said. "As soon as you got hit by Liu's ability, Liu charged at me with a knife. I was distracted by him for a while, which was why I couldn't help you – plus, you started running around the room, screaming everyone's names, so it was hard for me to catch you. Then Akutagawa came and stopped Liu."
Atsushi looked up into Akutagawa's concerned eyes. "Thank you."
"Can you get up?" Akutagawa asked.
"Yeah. I'm fine, really – I wasn't hit or anything." Atsushi took Akutagawa's hand and rose to his feet. He turned and saw Liu lying against the wall, pinned by Rashomon.
"Wait," Atsushi said. "There's three of us here."
Akutagawa raised an eye.
"He should be able to use Three Body on us," Atsushi said. "Me, you, and himself. Only Dazai is immune to it."
Liu gazed up at them. Blood was seeping out of his chest from where Rashomon had pierced through him.
A vicious smile came over his face.
"My final ability," he said, touching his wound and smearing his hand with blood.
Dazai walked towards Liu, knife in hand.
"I'll kill you before you can use it," Dazai said.
Liu turned his eyes towards Dazai, and his smile grew wider.
"Where are you keeping Gin?!"
Hundreds of threads of Rashomon rose out of Akutagawa's coat.
Atsushi held his breath, ready to spring. Blue lightning encircled him, catalyzing his transformation.
Dazai raised his knife.