Vol. 4
Chapter 13
Pressure
Alu panted, back on shore of some city. She realized that Fyodor had been docked outside the city of Osaka after she got some bearings of her surroundings. She didn't know how to heal Chuuya but she laid him out on the riverbank edge of where she'd finally managed to stop. She couldn't bring him to a hospital-he worked for the Port Mafia! If he got arrested, well, she'd feel bad. She groaned.
Usually her healing capabilities were used only in extreme circumstances on others other than herself like before in the warehouse when Kunikida and Ranpo had been hurt. Of course, at the time she and Juubi had been in synchronization. Right now they were like oil and water. Alu had to put her pride aside for the sake of saving this boy.
Juubi, we need to heal him!
Hmm, and why should I care? I don't feel like healing him, Juubi disgruntledly replied.
I know you don't care! But we have to do something! If we don't...he'll die...Alu bit her lower lip, her breathing labored. She couldn't even medically patch him up since unlike the time with Dazai, she didn't have any medical equipment even readily available! Dammit!
Yokohama was still too far and Alu was drained as it was. She knew she could use the phone she found on Chuuya to call Elise and Mori but she knew that he needed to be healed now and the time it would take for them to get to her wouldn't be enough time. Juubi was quiet but finally he sighed dramatically in her mind. I may be able to do something...but there's a catch.
What is it?
I need to be the one to come out to do it.
Alu paused. She knew what a handful Juubi could be. She didn't really let him out because of this. The few times she had before he had gone off and well… he was a troublemaker, she was going to leave it at that. But it was true that when he'd been out of her body while she was unconscious he hadn't done anything too terrible-he just beat up a street gang and threatened Dazai but hey, it could have been way worse...right? Alu grimaced. She wasn't in any critical condition so she figured she could at least get some reign in on him if he did try something. The longer Juubi stalled her, the less time they would have to save Chuuya. She couldn't risk it, the arguing just wouldn't be worth it time wise. "Fine!" she said, finally.
What really? You'll let me out for this rando? Juubi sounded irked and thoughtful.
Juubi, I'm letting you out to heal him because he happens to work for The freakin' PORT MAFIA. And no, I don't advise you to start slicing random people on the street for a chance to come out-that will have the opposite effect on my decision just so we're clear! Alu replied, scolding him, exasperated.
Not wanting to waste any more time, Alu closed her eyes, and just hoped she wouldn't regret letting Juubi once again have autonomy-even temporarily. Juubi smirked internally, pleased because this finally meant he got to come out again! Alu's form shifted back to a young man's, and her body grew a few inches, now making her more around Dazai's current height, if not an inch or so taller though that may have been Juubi just wanting to beat Dazai for some unexplained reason.
Juubi opened his eyes. He had control. He flexed his fingers. He shared a body with this girl as she was his host, but it did feel good to get out and flex sometimes. Alu didn't often let him out-and usually only in emergencies. He pouted a bit. He hated humans sure, but he wasn't going to go off and murder every last one of them! He just didn't see a point to building any meaningful connections to them. Humans exist to selfishly serve themselves, after all.
Alu was different though. She was annoying. Especially so. More annoying than any human he'd encountered. She kept going on about helping people. Ugh. He definitely didn't have time to think about her smile. Actually, he wanted to punch this carrot-top guy for making her upset. Yeah, he would put that on his to-do list.
Hmph. He had other things to dwell on than her at the moment. She was counting on him to heal this brat, after all! Juubi sensed Alu was conscious and watching. That was fine. They had this ability between them where whoever was in charge could 'screen-share' as it were to the one inside at the moment. Juubi was looking forward to healing this brat so he could punch him for the expression he made Alu make earlier. Juubi was outwardly protective of her because she was his host. The only person allowed to push her buttons was him! He hated seeing her upset because it was just annoying and made him feel unnecessary things inside.
Juubi put his hands on Chuuya's wound and his fingertips glowed green and blue. In a matter of moments, the wound was healed. Juubi breathed. Thanks Juubi, Alu said, relieved. Juubi was quiet. Chuuya stirred.
"Ugh," Chuuya groaned.
Juubi, I'm taking over again.
Hmmm, no, I think I want to take control for a little while~
What? Juubi! No! I trusted you- Alu was alarmed and a bit hurt. She knew on some level Juubi would try to buy himself time using her form if he could but she had still allowed him to do this because she had no other options to save Chuuya-and this was the consequence it would seem. It wasn't that Alu didn't want Juubi to have some freedom-but he was volatile and she just didn't know what would happen-especially with him running around with her body!
Juubi flexed his own power over Alu, and he enjoyed the power rush he felt in this form. He pushed away any foreign feeling that gnawed in his gut as he felt Alu fall unconscious in his mind. No, this was good. Sometimes he felt like Alu forgot he was a powerful demon sometimes, and treated him like a-ugh-'friend'.
"Wake up sleeping beauty," Juubi hummed, crouched on his haunches like a gargoyle, just watching Chuuya startle himself awake.
Chuuya sat up, with a gasp. "Who the hell are you?" he snarled, instantly on edge, trying to stumble to his feet. Chuuya noted however the clothes that Juubi wore. They looked like the clothes that girl had been wearing? In fact, they were a bit comically too small.
"Ya know, I did just save your life," Juubi hummed, shrugging up at Chuuya. "Some gratitude would be in order I would think," he hummed, bemused, getting to his own feet.
"Tch," Chuuya's eyes flashed as he remembered being attacked from behind before falling unconscious on Fyodor's ship. "Where's the girl!"
"Oh, you mean Alu?" Juubi asked, bemused, tilting his head. "You don't look as stupid as you sound, I think you already know," he hummed.
Chuuya wanted to beat his face in but he realized with a sinking feeling that this guy must be the one that his boss was talking about-the fox demon that shared a body with the girl, Alu! He grit his teeth. Dammit, the only thing saving this guy from being beat up is the fact that if he were to punch him, he'd risk hurting Alu as well! His eyes narrowed, and he forced his temper to a calm sort of quiet rage. "So, you're Juubi?" he said, coldly.
"Yes," Juubi bowed. "A pleasure to meet you, Carrot-Top~" he hummed, teasing Chuuya since Chuuya had orange-brown hair that made him honestly think of carrots.
"Don't call me that, bastard! Ugh," Chuuya knew he had to calm down, for his own sake. "Thanks, I guess," Chuuya scowled, turning away, irritated. He gasped, feeling the top of his head. His hat was gone! "Shit! My hat!"
"Why the hell are you hyped up about an accessory? Especially one as ugly as that one?" Juubi asked, with raised eyebrows.
"Tch," Chuuya gritted his teeth. "I don't care to tell you," he snapped at him. That hat had value to him because it belonged to a man, Rimbaud, who finally helped him get closure on his identity 3 years ago back when he was a younger teenager just wandering in Yokohama. He groaned, running a hand through his hair. "I'll have to find a way to get it back...that's all."
"Hmmm," Juubi hummed, and he knew exactly what was going on in this brat's mind. "I did see that hat on the ship… is it really that important that you'd run back to that mad-man just to get it?"
"Mind your own business," Chuuya snapped at him with a growl.
Juubi smiled at him. The next thing Chuuya knew, a punch he couldn't avoid connected with the side of his face. Chuuya found himself flying into the dirt, and he groaned, his face swelling and stinging. Okay, now he was pissed. He held the side of his face, and he stumbled to his feet, snarling. "You're really picking a fight, huh?"
"Nope, not at all," Juubi cheerfully quipped, holding up his hands innocently. "But I owed you one for making my host cry," he hummed.
Chuuya's eyes flickered. That's right, he'd made Alu make such a pained expression earlier. Had this demon fox been tapping into the visual feed at the time? That would make sense, according to his boss, this fox and that girl did share a unique set of abilities. Chuuya had never met someone with more than one ability, and this girl had a whole unique set thanks to this jerk. Chuuya grimaced. He hated it, but he had to give this guy a pass. At least he made this pass count. Chuuya spit out some blood. "Tch, fine, I'll give you a pass this time," he growled, turning away.
Juubi was quiet. He knew that Alu wanted to know more about Chuuya. Especially the moment she learned he was a clone used in experimentation. Juubi grimaced. There was no way his host wasn't going to find some way back into this brat's path one way or another. Juubi thought about the hat that Chuuya wanted back so badly. He sighed. "Hey, let's make a deal," he said, brightly.
Chuuya frowned, looking at him. "What?"
Juubi held out a hand for a shake. "If I get your hat back...you owe me!"
Chuuya's eye twitched. He hated owing favors. And this guy was giving off serious chaotic Dazai vibes. Even worse than the girl. Chuuya felt like making a deal with this guy was like making a deal with the literal devil-which meant Dazai was worse than the devil and that was saying something. "I have my own methods of getting back what I want," he said, stiffly.
"True, but you're just one person and my skill set may prove more useful in a swift recovery of your hat," Juubi beamed.
Chuuya was so irritated. That wasn't wrong-he didn't exactly have a great plan and it wasn't a plan he'd run by Mori first mostly because this was a personal thing he had to take care of and involving Mori's support would just be time-consuming. But, he didn't know what would happen to his hat and this would give him an excuse to observe Alu's 'fox ability' in action. At least it would make for a more interesting report back to the boss. Chuuya groaned inwardly. Personally, he didn't want to work with this guy or even be around him or breathe the same air-but in terms of his orders from Mori, he had to protect this girl and if he didn't keep an eye on Juubi then Juubi may try to go off and get his hat himself. "Fine," he said finally, absolutely bitingly.
"Good boy!" Juubi cooed.
Chuuya's vein twitched in his forehead. He really wanted to punch this guy. Juubi just continued to smile, and he turned away. Chuuya mentally steeled himself from beating this guy up. No—not a guy—he had to remember. This "guy" was actually a fox demon according to his boss. The normal rules don't apply to him and Chuuya knew if he wasn't able to keep his temper in check, it'd cause not just problems for himself but The Port Mafia, itself.
That's right…this guy wasn't human. Chuuya gazed at the small of his back, lost in thought. He himself wasn't completely human, but it was weird meeting someone that was in a similar vein to himself. Chuuya grimaced. He wanted to get answers from that snide Russian about how he knew about his history with Arahabaki. He grit his teeth. That Russian man unsettled him. Just how much about him did that bastard even know?
"Are you going to stand there scowling or are you coming?" Juubi's bored voice called out to Chuuya, jolting Chuuya from his rage-filled thoughts.
"Do you even have a plan?" Chuuya snapped at him.
"I do," Juubi replied with a smirk.
"Well, what—"
THWUMP.
Huh?
Odd.
Chuuya felt his knees buckle. The man in front of him remained smiling. Why was Chuuya falling? Chuuya felt the corners of his vision go black. Wait, the fox was closer than before…when?
Chuuya crumpled to the ground, unconscious and lay there, unmoving. Juubi tutted, bending down to pick up Chuuya like a sack of potatoes. He hummed and walked off with Chuuya's unconscious figure, whistling a little.
"Are you sure you're alright?" Fukuzawa's tone was stressed despite knowing the answer he would be given, once again.
"Yes," Yosano said, sitting on a recovery hospital bed in her own ward. "I already ran some tests, and I'm going to be perfectly fine."
Fukuzawa was relieved, but still not convinced. He didn't see himself as having a parental gene in his body but after raising two teenagers for years and especially right now, he felt like this was the closest thing. "Ranpo said you broke two ribs… you still shouldn't be moving around too much," he said, frowning at her.
It was now late in the day, and Yosano had needed medical attention earlier. Ranpo had called in a favor from a doctor the agency knew, and he had patched Yosano up earlier. The rest however, Ranpo had declared would best be handled by Yosano herself. Considering the nature of their work, having Yosano spend time in an actual hospital would just stress her out. Yosano herself had reaffirmed this when given the option earlier to at least stay overnight at the hospital nearby. Ranpo himself sat in one of the visitor chairs near the window, just gazing out of it, his eyes closed, quiet.
"I'll be alright," Yosano said, once more, stressing this to the harried Fukuzawa. She put a hand on his arm, gently, and smiled at him reassuringly. "Really, I was just taken by surprise."
"I shouldn't have… If I had known I would have intervened," Fukuzawa found himself talking in circles.
"President," Ranpo spoke up finally, "The outcome wouldn't have been different. Or are you saying you could have stopped her, yourself?"
His tone was oddly serious and lacked warmth. Both Yosano and Fukuzawa quieted, a bit surprised and taken aback. Was Ranpo…angry? "I would have tried, yes," Fukuzawa admitted. "She was upset, but I should have handled it better."
"There's no "better" way to handle it, that girl has made her decision," Ranpo's tone was monotonous. Yosano and Fukuzawa gazed at him. But they both thought the same thing: Ranpo was definitely angry with that girl.
"I'm not going to deny it, I am frustrated with her as well," Yosano sighed, leaning back in the bed. "But, I know she didn't mean to hurt me."
"That doesn't matter," Ranpo stood up, frustrated.
The other two quieted from his outburst. It was honestly normal for Ranpo to get angry at things but it was rare to see him so worked up over another person. As he got older, Ranpo actually cooled his lid quite a bit. But this girl was making him revert to what felt like his early teen years. It would have been a bit funny were the situation itself not so serious.
"We may already be too late," Yosano said softly, looking at Ranpo, pained. She knew why he was upset. They all felt powerless. They wanted to help that girl but she kept running to the Port Mafia of all places. Not only that, but she was being so easily manipulated by Mori Ogai and his ability. Alu was a bit of an oddity in terms of personality. Ranpo had put it as she was both wise beyond her years and yet still wet behind the ears in a lot of ways.
On top of that, this girl had a 'fox demon' living inside of her that could manipulate her body and give her extraordinary powers beyond those of even the normal ability user range. If anything, her mere existence was something completely out of this world—at least it felt like to them.
"I don't want to think it's too late," Ranpo said, curtly, and he crossed his arms, looking at both Fukuzawa and Yosano. "I realize the way I've been going about it is wrong…I need to start operating from a different angle…we all do, if we're going to reach her."
"My organization doesn't force people to join," Fukuzawa pointed out.
"This isn't even about getting her to join," Ranpo said, seriously. The others gazed at him, quiet and concerned. "She is more naive than I thought, thinking she can join all organizations under the sun and there won't be irreparable consequences… I know the only reason she is even considering the Port Mafia is only because of that ability…that goes around calling itself, 'Elise-chan'. The only way we can get her to see reason is to force her to see the truth about that ability."
"How do you propose that?" Fukuzawa grimaced. He hated Mori Ogai and he definitely wanted to avoid breathing the same air as him whenever possible. That guy was just so creepy and gross.
"She came to this city because of Oda Sakunosuke's orphans, right?" Ranpo said, gazing at the other two.
"Yes?" Yosano replied, frowning, not quite sure where Ranpo was going with this.
"That was her reason for coming here… our job is to give her a reason to stay." Ranpo declared, putting his hands on his hips, bossily.
"Yes but, Ranpo, if you don't mind me asking, why such a vested interest in that girl? I get she has a powerful demon fox but…." Fukuzawa trailed off.
Ranpo's eyes opened, glinting their normal jade shade of green. "I don't care about the fox demon," he replied curtly. Yosano gazed at him. She smiled smally though. She understood what Ranpo was saying. "That girl… is fighting a war within herself. But she needs to realize she can rely on others a little bit sometimes. She is someone who I believe is worth extending a hand towards," he said fiercely.
Ranpo himself couldn't shake the way Alu often looked at him. She and him were like oil and water when it came to personalities but their hearts were both in the right place. He knew she wanted to believe in that child, Ryou, but he also knew that she wouldn't be able to see the truth of what that child was capable of… without experiencing it first hand. It was a harsh way to accept reality but one Ranpo felt she needed to come to terms with in her own time. Only then could he help save her from the web of lies that Mori Ogai and Elise had trapped her in.
Ranpo wasn't good at connecting with people. He never had been. But he wanted that girl to at least know that she had people that cared about her in this city. He cared about her. She was an oddball and he couldn't figure her out. Perhaps his continued interest was just him stroking his ego trying to figure out how to prove he was right and his way of thinking was correct but regardless, he knew she would continue to be in danger at the rate she was going.
More than that…she was struggling, truly with a war within herself. A constant battle that had no name. She was trying so hard to care about others but it frustrated Ranpo that she didn't seem to have any regard for herself. She had brought up something in an earlier conversation regarding his parents again and the concern had moved even Ranpo into realizing that a door he'd kept tightly shut and locked—had been lockpicked easily by her simple questioning nature. That girl was truly different from anyone he'd ever met. She was a handful, and emotional, and yet at the same time … Ranpo knew that the only way to figure out this strange feeling inside whenever he was with her, was to find her again.
To be clear, this wasn't a romantic feeling. But being around her made Ranpo feel out of sorts and he wanted to figure out this foreign feeling more clearly. He had a hunch already what it was, but only seeing her more could confirm this. Though, he had a feeling frustration was a much more natural reaction when he crossed dialogue with her. That girl really could be frustrating…
Fukuzawa smiled smally.
"Agreed," Yosano said, smiling softly at him.
"Then…that's it then," Fukuzawa said, with a small head nod, gazing at Ranpo.
"Right," Ranpo grinned, adjusting his hat. "Yosano-San, heal yourself tonight and get rest… I don't know where that girl is right now, but I have a good feeling that tomorrow, we'll reunite with her." Ranpo had an idea of how to track her down but he wasn't going to share it with the others. This was something he felt he had to do.
"You think so?" Fukuzawa blinked, gazing at Ranpo, in awe as ever at his powers of deduction.
Ranpo knew what he had to do. He'd find her and bring her back, himself. He wouldn't bother Fukuzawa or Yosano with this. This was something he'd need to do. "I know so," Ranpo grinned, confidently.
Fyodor hummed, gazing at the hat in his possession as he sat in his captain's quarters on board the ship. He had found the hat on the floor in the aftermath and found it intriguing. It belonged to that angry redhead after all and he had a feeling that it was something important worth hanging on to.
He had much to think about. That girl for one was a constant thought on his mind that actually made him feel like enjoying what life threw at him rather than feeling bored with the usual monotony he dealt with. Those children were still under his control and waiting for his next set of orders though he hadn't made any moves as of yet. No, he had a feeling if he was patient, that girl would seek him out… and he'd be waiting.
Just then as he was listening to classical music on a gramophone and sipping tea in a saucer like a dainty little prick, the door swung off the hinges that were for his room. He looked over his tea cup to see a tall unfamiliar figure—dressed like the girl from earlier—illuminated by the evening glow of moonlight.
"Knock, Knock," Juubi leered at him with a sneer in his smirk, "bitch."
