There was a knock on Chuuya's hospital room. Looking up from his gloved black hand— which contrasted greatly with the light blue hospital gown he had been given— he eyed the room's white-washed door without much emotion. He has no mood for visitors at the moment, and so said nothing.
After a moment, just as Chuuya was going to resume staring at his hands and thinking through the tangle of his emotions, the door slowly cracked open, silently, revealing a person dressed in black.
"Ya, long time no see, Akutagawa." Despite his earlier reluctance to receive a visitor, Chuuya greeted the younger mafioso with a mild delight. Akutagawa wasn't in his work outfit— that would not likely be allowed in a hospital, but instead sports a black jacket over dark red shirt, and wearing glasses as Chuuya doesn't often see.
"How have you been doing, Chuuya-san?" The younger man asked politely. It seems like the normal conversations occurring thousands of times in this hospital, but the way Akutagawa is looking at him though, sitting still in bed, his hands clad in black gloves despite the lightness of everything else in the room, Chuuya knows what was actually being asked. Still, facades must always be kept in their line of work.
"It's been a bit rough lately, what with the business trip and all. I… haven't been expecting to be hospitalized when I came back. Seems like I've overworked a little this time." Chuuya said with a light chuckle and a wry smile. Hospitals aren't hard to bug, after all, there might even be a recording camera in here somewhere.
"Thank you for your hard work, Chuuya-san. It has been invaluable to the company. The Boss also sends his thanks, though he might not be able to visit until the current project is finished."
"Ah, that's common, I totally understand. A company can't spare its head at such busy times. I wish I could be of some help…?"
"Your prompt recovery is the best help we can ask for right now, Chuuya-san. Please, be sure to take care and rest as much as possible." An expected answer in most social circumstances, yet Chuuya felt a pang of… something as Akutagawa said it.
"Although…. I can understand your feelings." Akutagawa reached his pale fingers into a bag Chuuya hadn't noticed he was carrying, and pulled out a collection of papers.
"You must be bored, staying at the hospital for such a long time, so I brought you some magazines to pass the time. Here, please."
"Ah, how considerate of you. Thanks." Chuuya said, accepting the magazines from the black-clad man, who said right after, "I'm afraid I can't stay long. I've got a meeting with a client quite soon."
"Busy as ever, I see. Alright. Thanks for the gifts."
"If you need something— or even just to talk, please contact me anytime, Chuuya-san."
"Yeah, will do. Good luck with your work."
"Well then," Akutagawa bowed his head just a little, before leaving. The boy has always been a little more respectful of Chuuya, despite him being such a headstrong mentee to Dazai. Chuuya was a little curious about that.
He doesn't know what all of the conversation might have or haven't meant, Akutagawa has probably got a mission right afterwards as he had implied, or maybe it was just a social cue to take leave. But the magazines— Chuuya knows what this means.
He leafs through a couple of them, good wine collections and motorcycle catalogues, quite a good selection. And finally he came to a thin sheaf of paper hidden between the pages. Biography information about the target, ability analysis, incident reports, and most importantly, hideout location.
Chuuya hadn't contacted Akutagawa before this. As much as he dislikes it, recovering would indeed benefit the Port Mafia most at this moment. He was reasonable, at least when the anger and hurt of Dazai's betrayal— was it a betrayal?— subsided. He hadn't met Dazai after their fight in the plane. Being a mafia helped in threatening the flight attendant to let him stay out of his seat during landing, and as soon as the plane hits the ground he had managed to sneak out and came here out of his own accord.
This decision isn't concerned with Dazai. So it's easy, and uncomplicated. It was the best course of action for the Port Mafia. That was just it for Chuuya.
The whole night he had been staying here, however, was spent trying not to think of any of the rest of the things going on right now, which are all related to Dazai and are so complicated and that leave him mentally tired every time he tries to think about them. It was what he was doing as he stared at the gloved hand, occasionally flexing it to feel the aching muscles inside.
So, directing his thought back to the secret report, Chuuya scanned it casually and memorized as much as he could before continuing to flip through the rest of the magazines. Akutagawa had indeed understood his feelings. For the first time since leaving his subordinates behind for the secret mission, the Port Mafia executive felt pride and a fierce sense of loyalty surging inside him— And know that he had missed it, so much.
The standing decision right now might be to stay in this drab hospital room for the moment, but now Chuuya had another choice, now he knows that if anything happened, he could go to the right places. He was in control again.
This gave Chuuya such a strong sense of solace that for once, he could put everything aside, laid down on the soft hospital bed, and finally fell into the first deep and restful sleep since the plane-crash incident.