Authors note: Hi guys. Sorry for the wait for this chapter, didn't mean to leave it this long! Hope you enjoy!
Emotions were spilling over the crudely made container they had been thrown into. It isn't possible. He died. He died. But I saw him. He was there. He was there... I know he was, I saw him. But he died.
These thoughts keep repeating in Dazais mind, over and over and over again. Nothing made sense to him anymore. He distantly realised that he had somehow made it back to his apartment, likely with help from Atsushi and Kunikida. And that he had left Odasaku behind. Well, it was more like Oda had left him. That part, aside from how Oda was actually alive, was what Dazai was most confused about. If it really was his friend Oda, wouldn't he have stayed with Dazai? Didn't he want to see him?
He could have gone on for years thinking things over, questioning everything he saw. But that's not how Dazai worked. Although this revelation had shaken him to his core, he was still able to find a part of himself that was ready to figure out what had actually happened. Rather than sit in his apartment and go over everything that had happened in detail.
So he made the decision to get off his ass, and go to the one place where he knew he would be able to find information. The Port Mafia.
The sun was setting behind the trees in the small park that had been chosen to be their meeting place. Kunikida, Atsushi and Ranpo all walked into the park and looked around to try and find the Mafia agent they were meant to be meeting here.
They were all on guard as there was no way of knowing whether this was going to be a trap, even though they had had Chuuyas' word. But honestly, how could they trust the word of a Mafia executive? For all they know, he could be pulling the wool over their eyes, acting as if he cared about Dazai just to get them to come out into the open. But for now at least, they had to trust him. He was the only way they were ever going to get information regarding Dazais past life in the Mafia. Especially as Dazai was certainly never going to tell them himself.
Kunikida looked around for their resident Mafia consultant, but couldn't see him in the area at all. Although, just as he thought that, a man wearing a rather strange hat with a black coat began walking towards them.
"Chuuya" Kunikida greeted, though not exactly politely.
At his arrival, Atsushi almost instinctively turned his hands into the claws of the tigers and followed all of Chuuyas' movements with his keen eyes. He knew that in a fight Chuuya would likely win. Due to his powerful ability and his much larger amount of experience when compared to himself. But that didn't mean that Atsushi would be ready to go down without a fight. But Chuuya had made no threatening movements thus far, as he continued to walk towards them.
Ranpo studied Chuuyas behaviours and expressions under the guise of not being interested. As much as it looked as though Ranpo was not paying attention to things, he was in fact constantly analysing everything around him. No detail missed his eye, nothing was unsolvable to him. That was, until he met Dazai. Dazai had shown him that no one was perfect, including himself. There were things that he still didn't catch when looking at Dazai. He had a good guess as to what was under those bandages, but with Dazai how would anyone know. The man was a walking enigma, and that annoyed Ranpo to no end. Of course Ranpo didn't dislike Dazai, he actually found him rather fun to hang out with. When he wasnt constantly talking about suicide. Dazai was one of if not the only person Ranpo could ever find himself competing with, though he would never admit it to anyone, Dazais intelligence rivalled his own. So when he saw that Dazai was suffering, he wanted to do what he could to help. So he made sure to pay extra attention to everything Chuuya said and did, to find out the truth behind all of this.
"Dazai's new partner." Came Chuuyas sarcastic reply. Chuuya didn't exactly like the Detective Agency, he made that no secret, and a part of him held a special resentment to the man that he had been replaced with. What did this man have that he didn't that made Dazai think he was worthy of being his new partner? The thought of Dazai working with this man made his blood boil. But he was getting off topic, he was not here to start a fight with the agency, as much as he would like to.
Kunikida grumbled under his breath. He shared the same resentment to the Mafia agent that he had towards him. This was likely not going to be an easy interaction, they just needed to get the information that would help Dazai, and then get out of here.
"So, are you going to tell us about who Odasaku is?" Kunikida was the one who was going to be doing all the talking. The President had specifically chosen them based on each of their own individual skills. Kunikida would act as the communicator, he was the most mature and would be the best one to hold up a conversation while getting all the necessary information, and trying to not piss off their informant. Atsushi was there as the brawn, despite his lack of experience, he was a fierce fighter and was ready to defend if needed. And Ranpo was there to analyse everything that they were being told, to make sure that it was the truth, and that it would be something that would help them.
"Yeah yeah, I'll get there." Chuuya's patience had clearly not improved one bit. "But first... I need to know if Dazai is ok."
The agency members looked at one another confused. They knew that Dazai and Chuuya had been old partners, but how much did they actually care about each other? Kunikida decided to answer the question honestly, Chuuya was here because they had asked him for help, the least they could do is reassure him that his partner was alright. Well, as alright as he could be.
"He's fine, mostly. He's in his apartment, we have people with him now."
"That's good." Again, to everyone's surprise, Chuuya sounded genuinely relieved to hear that Dazai was ok.
"Alright, it's kinda a long story. So I'll try and shorten it down to what you really need to know." Chuuya was now standing directly in front of Kunikida, with Atsushi and Ranpo on either side of Kunikida respectively.
"First off, Sakunosuke Oda is dead. There is no getting around that."
"Well Dazai clearly saw him." Atsushi spoke up. He knew that Dazai would not have mistaken a random person for one of his friends, Dazai was better than that.
"Look alright, I'm not saying that Dazai didn't see Oda, I have no doubt that he did. But what I am saying is that Oda died about four years ago now. So maybe you can explain to me how he is still alive?" Chuuyas' voice dripped with sarcasm, he knew that he had the information they needed and was not above stirring the tension a little, as long as he didn't get too carried away with it.
"Are you sure that Oda did actually die?" Kunikida wouldn't put it past the Mafia to fake Oda's death to use it against Dazai in the future.
"Well he died in Dazais arms…"
At this the agency members tensed at the thought of their friend going through that.
"...so unless you think Dazai is lying. Then yeah, Oda definitely died."
"So who was Oda exactly?" Kunikida was tired of beating around the bush. They still didn't even know who this Oda person was. Clearly it was someone Dazai had close connections to, if his reaction had been anything to go by, but they didn't know the first thing about him. They had tried searching for him, but they hadn't found much. Which should have been expected had he been a part of the Mafia, it is likely they would keep all information about their lackeys private.
"He was part of the Mafia, but was really low down in the ranks. He was given the work that no one else wanted to do. But, he was still incredibly skilled, probably would have easily worked his way up the ranks…"
"So why didn't he?" Asked Atsushi.
"Because of one principal he always followed. To never kill. Had he been willing to get his hands dirty, with his ability, he would have easily gained everyone's respect and probably even made it to exec."
"What exactly was his ability?" Kunikida wanted to find out everything about this man, and the role he played in Dazai's life.
"His ability was called 'Flawless'. Basically, it allowed him to predict about five to six seconds into the future. It meant that he could never be caught off guard by anything, and knew when he was about to be in danger. It was one hell of an ability, the Boss always wanted Oda to achieve more, but the guy just refused to kill anyone."
"Then why was he a part of the Mafia?" Atsushi asked. It didn't make any sense to him. If this man was so against killing that he would defy his Boss, why was he a part of the Mafia to begin with.
"Beats me. I didn't know the guy. I think Dazai mentioned once that he was helping out a couple of orphans, but you never know with what Dazai says."
"So then, what happened to him?" Kunikida, despite wanting as much information as would be useful, was dying to know what had caused this man's death, as that would be the best way for them to begin helping Dazai.
"There was a group called Mimic. They began causing real trouble for the Mafia. So the Boss looked for a way to get rid of them. Their leader, André Gide, was an absolute lunatic, rivalling Dazai levels of crazy." Despite the annoyance with the way he spoke the words, you could tell that there was a sense of affection as Chuuya made fun of Dazai's suicidal and crazy tendencies.
"The guy wanted to find the right man to kill him, and long story short, that man was Oda. They both had the same ability, and eventually ended in a one vs one, where they both shot each other at the same time."
The members of the Agency tensed, they felt as though they knew where this was going. Ranpo felt as though he had already figured out what had happened, but refrained from making any smart remarks or trying to prove his intellect.
"Dazai and Oda were close, like really close, so when Dazai heard that Oda had gone to fight the leader of Mimic, he had wanted to go and stop him. But…" Chuuya hesitated. He really wasn't meant to be giving away this information so freely. It was bad enough that he was meeting with members of the detective agency, now he was giving them information that was no doubt secret. If Mori found out about this, Chuuya had no doubt that he would be given the treatment that all traitors face, all traitors except Dazai apparently.
"But what?" Now Kunikida was getting really impatient. They were so close to finding out what happened, Chuuya couldn't back out now.
Chuuya sighed, he'd already come too far, he might as well finish the story, if he ever wanted them to have any chance of helping Dazai. Of course he would much rather drag Dazai back to the Mafia, give him an earful about ditching him, and then go back to how things had been. But that wasn't likely, so this was the most he could do for now.
"But the Boss wouldn't let him leave that easily. Like I had said, Mimic had been causing real issues for us, so it was worth losing one man if it meant the leader of the organisation was killed. But obviously Dazai didn't quite see it that way."
Atsushi could already see where this was going, and he didn't like it. It wasn't right to abandon one of your allies, but this was the Mafia, so what was he really expecting?
"The Boss had forced Dazai to stay with him in his office with guards inside, meaning Dazai wasn't able to leave until the Boss said so. By the time Dazai made it to the warehouse, it was too late. I never got much information from Dazai about what actually happened, cause just a week later he went underground, and I never heard from him again until he resurfaced in your little agency. But I know that he had spoken to Oda before he died."
After Chuuya finished his story, they all fell into silence. Ranpo, despite having predicted what happened, was still feeling rather pale at having his theory confirmed.
"There you go. That's all I know, like I said, you wanna find out more, you gotta ask Dazai, and as for how Oda got revived. I have no idea. We executives haven't been told anything, and I really doubt the Mafia has any part of it. We may have a mutual enemy on our hands, one that seems to have it out for Dazai... until next time." And with that, Chuuya turned and left the same way he came with his coat flying behind him in the wind. Leaving the three agency members to wallow in the prevailing silence that had overtaken them.
It was dark by the time they had made it back to the agency. They had barely spoken a word on the way back. Each of them processing the new information they had been given. As they entered the door they were assaulted with questions from every side of the room.
The President had to intervene in order for everyone to quieten down.
"Are you guys ok? Did the meeting go alright?" Kenji asked worriedly.
"No need to worry, everything went fine." Atsushi was quick to comfort everyone, assuring them that things had gone smoothly. Well, as smooth as they could when dealing with the Port Mafia.
"Were you able to find out any valuable information?" The President's voice was quick to make the entire room silent. His voice gave him a high level of authority, making people inclined to listen to him, which in this scenario was very helpful.
"Yes we were." Kunikida responded, as he was always one to follow the rules, as it said in his ideals.
"Well go on then," came the impatient voice of Yosano, "What did he tell you?"
"He said that Oda was a previous partner of Dazai's, and confirmed that he definitely died four years ago." Kunikida reported, mostly to the President, but also to the other occupants in the room who seemed to be hanging onto his every word.
"But somehow he is alive again. Which must be someones doing." Kunikida stopped and placed a hand on his chin, going into thought.
"I have never heard of an ability that can bring people back from the dead. If such a thing existed then surely we would have heard about it somewhere." Yosano being the expert with medical knowledge, found it hard to believe that there was an ability that could resurrect people. It just didn't seem possible.
"Well, there must be some kind of explanation!" Atsushi was becoming desperate. He wanted to help Dazai but it seemed that every time they found out something new, it just made the situation more complicated.
"Speaking of that suicidal maniak." Ranpo started, almost as if he had been having a separate thought train to everyone else, which he likely had. "Where exactly is he?"
"He should still be in his apartment. We haven't heard from him for a while actually." Jun'ichirō answered. Now that he mentioned it, they had gone to check on Dazai quite a few hours ago, but he was pretty unresponsive. It was like he didn't register that they were in the room there with him, so they had decided to leave him on his own for a bit to try and let him calm down without feeling too overwhelmed.
At Jun'ichirō's response, Kunikida ran towards Dazai's apartment, hoping his hunch was wrong and begging for his friend to still be in there. But when he opened the unlocked door, he was greeted with an empty room.
"Dazai! Dazai, where are you?! Come on, this isn't funny!" Kunikida was now walking around the apartment complex, while his colleagues had now followed him and were beginning to realise that Dazai was no longer there.
"Wait, don't tell me…" Atsushi didn't want to believe it. He wanted nothing more than to open that door to see the smiling face of Dazai there, but no luck. He ran around the small unfurnished apartment, but Dazai was nowhere to be seen.
"Uhh... guys" Atsushi pointed towards an open window, the wind coming from it blowing the curtains around it.
"Don't tell me…" Kunikida couldn't believe it. What trouble had that idiot managed to get himself into now?
"He's going to the Port Mafia."
All eyes turned to Ranpo, who had been strangely quiet throughout this whole ordeal, but had now decided to partake in their conversations.
"What did you say?" Kunikida asked, scarily calm.
"I said that Dazai has gone to the Port Mafia. What part of that is so difficult to understand?" Ranpo responded in his usual childish tone.
All occupants in the area stared at Ranpo with disbelieving eyes. Kunikida looked angry, though it was unclear who or what that anger was directed at. Atsushi looked terrified as well as ashamed, he was unable to stop Dazai from going away. Maybe if he had stayed behind with him instead of going out and leaving Dazai behind…
"Are you sure about this?" The President never really questioned Ranpos' judgement, but he wanted to be sure that Ranpo was certain of what he said before they took any further actions. If Ranpo was right, then Dazai could be in big trouble, and they would need to work quickly in order to get him back.
"One hundred percent, he has clearly left to go talk to his previous Boss about his friend miraculously coming back from the dead. That I have no doubt about."
At this, most of the people's faces in the room paled considerably, with the thought of Dazai going back to that place. Especially Kyōka's, unpleasant memories of the mafia flooded her mind, she had to shake her head to be rid of them and remind herself that she was no longer there. She was with her friends, and now one of her friends needed her help.
"So what do we do?" Atsushi asked nervously.
"The only thing we can do, go over there and drag Dazai's sorry ass back here until we can figure this thing out." Kunikida said with a strong resolve. However that would mean infiltrating the Port Mafia, not an easy thing to do. But they were prepared to do whatever it takes to help their friend.
He may have not been here for a while, but that didn't mean that his reputation no longer held its worth. If anything, he was even more feared now, being one of the only people to betray the Mafia and live. No one dared stand in his path as he confidently walked through the hallways. Some guards had come forward to stop him, and a few even dared to attack him. But they were dealt with quickly and without struggle. Despite the fact that he was no longer an executive in the Mafia. It was hard to forget who he was before the betrayal.
Dazai, the Demon Prodigy of the Mafia.
Despite not having walked these hallways for years, he still knew exactly where he was going. The pathways were engraved in his brain, and he made it to his destination in no time.
The guards in front of the door, despite having strict orders to not allow anyone to enter, were frozen with fear at the sight of Dazai. Allowing him to walk right into the room through the overly large doors.
The individual inside looked up from whatever work they had been doing to see who had interrupted them. Their eyes widened slightly as they saw who it was that had entered their office without invitation.
Dazai walked through the room silently, his coat flying behind him as he walked past the windows that were letting in the last remaining bits of light that were reflected by the dying sunset.
Dazai stopped in front of the desk, looking down at the person sitting there. They looked up at him, with a questioning smile on their face. Finally, Dazai broke the silence between them.
"Hello Mori!"
Hope you enjoyed this chapter! Don't worry, we will see more of Odasaku in the next chapter. Again, sorry for the long wait, the next chapter is already half written so I will upload it in the next couple of days. Plz review and let me know what you think and if you have any suggestions with the story.