A/N:
JFC Alu is so much more chaotic in this and Im loving it.
Takes place AFTER BSD UNDERGROUND TAILS & Side story Fox & Storm/Fox&Dragon. However, it is 'in media res' so it's actually okay if you don't read all the previous 'Dark Era' content. It's in media res for a reason ;P to make it more mysterious. How is Alu fairing in the modern day now? What is going on? What happened in the past? Stick to this fic or the BSD UNDERGRONUD TAILS Vol. 7 first to find out what is going on with this modern Alu :D
*salutes*
Note, events not discussed/rehashed directly here are assumed to just go on as canon in the actual manga semi in the background. It's hard to explain. I pull from anime too but yeah mostly manga. So Alu just pops in and out of the story.
Also there is so much logic issue with the manga and Alu will HOARK loudly at it all. Enjoy.
Assignment 1
This Ship is going Down
The young girl, named Kyouka Izumi, had raven hair, empty eyes, wearing a kimono with flowers in her twin ponytails. She knelt. Near her were explosives.
The girl wordlessly set them up.
"My," a voice said without warning from near her.
Whirling with alarm, the girl's eyes widened with shock. Standing there, on a ship supposedly in the middle of the ocean, a ship that had been supposedly empty save for her and Akutagawa and the man-tiger—was a young woman?
She didn't look to be that old, though looks could be deceiving. She wore a casual red collared shirt, untucked into dark pants with a belt, a long dark grey coat that looked a bit big on her, and her hair was tied back into a braid that fell down her back. Her sidebangs were windswept.
She had honey eyes, tan skin, and dark hair.
Kyouka tensed. "Who are you?" She asked sharply. Was this person here to help Atsushi?
The woman gestured to the explosives. "I'm here to save him too," she said smiling. She held out her hand towards Kyouka. "However, children really shouldn't be handling explosives…it's my filial duty as an adult to take over that responsibility for you!" The woman said brightly.
Kyouka narrowed her eyes. She didn't trust this person. It could be a trap from Akutagawa. "…Are you really here to save him?"
"I am," The young woman smiled, and Kyouka's breath hitched. Though they were in a room with little natural light, her eyes shown with a light all of their own. There was an earnestness to her tone. "He deserves better than this."
Kyouka felt her heart twist. This was a complete stranger. But, though she didn't trust her, there was something about the way she just spoke that made one hang onto her words. That was dangerous. She pulled out her gun, pointing it at the woman, wordlessly.
The woman held her hands up, with a small chuckle, resigned. "Oh…hm. How about this," the young woman said brightly. "You let me finish setting up the explosives at least for you?"
She glared, defensive, stressed that the bombs were going to be disengaged but the young woman called to her. "Go to his side. It's okay. I'm with…the ADA. Though best not to announce me to your little angry boss," she added, matter-of-fact.
Fortunately Kyouka had no intention of giving away this possible leg up on Akutagawa.
Kyouka's eyes flickered. Ah. She was a member of that organization. It actually made sense. The odd eccentricism must be a thing in that agency. Kyouka still needed proof. "How do I know you're with the ADA?"
"I came here ahead of Kunikida," the woman laughed softly. It sounded bemused. "He's coming here soon. I'm scouting right now. I'd call him but knowing how easily flustered he gets he may actually drop his phone into the ocean trying to multitask right now," She smiled, bemused.
Kyouka still wasn't convinced. It wasn't hard to tell just from looking at Kunikida that he was easily a basket case at times. The young woman caught Kyouka just glaring and she sighed inwardly. "Okay hmm, what would convince you?" She asked, tilting her head, genuinely puzzled but patient.
Kyouka didn't sense anything actually bad about this person. But that didn't mean anything. "Tell me what you know about the members, then."
It was meant to be an interrogation, but Kyouka herself, inwardly, felt just a little, like she wanted to better understand the world that Atsushi came from. Because it was a world that seemingly held a door open when she thought she was only in a room with walls and there was only one way left to go.
Down. Down into a pit of despair. For once in the Mafia's clutches, rarely was anyone allowed to leave it—alive. Osamu Dazai was a mystery to Kyouka. Kyouka didn't know much about him but the mention of his name was enough to turn Akutagawa's face into a Buddhist dog statue. And that was saying something considering he always looked like he was chewing glass.
"Huh…okay, let's see~," the young woman said, waving a hand meekly. "As I said, Kunikida means well, and his heart is in the right place but I suppose his experience has made him a little jaded about the reality of being able to save everyone. Despite this, he does his best to help people and I truly believe that he hasn't given up all hope. I just hope he realizes someday that not being able to save someone doesn't mean you're the one at fault. It's the act of trying your damn best that counts. And, as long as you keep them in your heart, then they won't be forgotten. That is a courtesy one can give the dead, at least I believe…" the woman said, stroking her chin.
Kyouka blinked. She sure had a lot to say. It was like a paragraph—-literally.
"And the others?" She asked impatiently.
The woman sighed. "Let's see…Miss Yosano, is someone I admire. She sticks to her guns—or in this case, meat cleavers— and she doesn't back down from chauvinistic bullshit. I like that in a woman~" the woman giggled.
Kyouka thought this person was growing increasingly odd. And yet. She still didn't actually feel like she was in any danger. It was a strange feeling.
"Ah, and then there's Edogawa Ranpo. He's a big baby who stuffs his face with junk food all day, not much else to say," she shrugged dismissively.
Kyouka got the feeling that she didn't get along with Ranpo. At least she was honest. Kyouka was growing increasingly fascinated with this person, despite her best efforts to not be.
"Hmm, and then there's Fukuzawa," the woman continued. "I can't get his name right sometimes so I end up calling him 'Fukuku'… hehehe, though it's been a while since I did that," the girl giggled. But Kyouka could tell in that smile and light attitude, a touch of sadness had creeped into the edge of her voice. Kyouka didn't know why.
"Ah, I'd love to go on but unfortunately, we are really running out of time before your boss goes to torment that boy," the woman said, clasping her hands together apologetically.
Kyouka was silent for a moment. But, she had to confirm at least one thing from this person. She couldn't help but be a little curious. About another person. Someone who had managed to find a reason for Kyouka to have worth outside of killing.
It didn't feel real.
For Kyouka, it didn't feel possible.
And yet she had met those people. She had even been defended. By that boy. Kyouka had already lowered her gun by now, concealing it again in her kimono. "Tell me…about that person…" Kyouka's voice trembled, as she looked at the woman. "Tell me about Nakajima-kun!"
The woman blinked. "He's a good kid," she said with a smile. "Despite how cruel the world has been to him, he wants to try to be a good person, regardless. It takes a strong person to try. It's not cowardly to want to resolve conflict without fighting. He is someone who values life, no matter what side that life may be on. Only cowards take out their misfortune on others."
Kyouka pouted. "But…that person…" she trailed off. Kyouka's eyes were misting. "May die now because of me…"
The woman caught that and gasped. "Oh my, please don't cry. I don't like making cute girls cry," she flustered, coming over to Kyouka so as not to startle her and pulling out a handkerchief. It was white.
She held it out to Kyouka.
"I know reality can be cruel and unforgiving," the young woman smiled. She patted Kyouka's face with the handkerchief. Kyouka flinched, her assassin training kicking in and she gripped the woman's arm tightly.
But the woman didn't flinch. She just pushed the handkerchief into Kyouka's trembling free hand.
"That's why, I know, that place will take you under their wing. It's just not in their nature to stand by." She remarked, thoughtfully. "Well, maybe Ranpo's. And I wouldn't think Kunikida would be so quick to give up despite the odds…"
This person was strange. But Kyouka thought she reminded her just a little of that boy's unwavering optimism. Despite terrible circumstances, he had still reached out to save her despite there being no guarantee that either of them would make it out of that situation alive. As if to confirm this, the woman spoke again.
"To help another person isn't about keeping statistics or probability of success rates, because nothing in this life is guaranteed." She sighed a mushroom cloud. "Honestly, I'm glad Atsushi-kun is there. He will hopefully help remind Kunikida what it means…"
"Means…?"
"…to keep the faith," the woman giggled. "Faith isn't just for the religious you know. Faith is something born from a desire in one's heart to believe in the best of people, even when all seems futile and hopeless. When there is no light left, even in the dark, a person can still feel something."
Kyouka could tell, this person did know those people. Something about her words made Kyouka feel inwardly reflective. "Alright…what's your name?"
"So many questions," the young woman giggled. "But you're cute, so I'll answer them anyway… my name…is 'Noname'," she said. "Nora Noname…"*
"Nora Noname?" Kyouka tilted her head. That was the oddest Japanese or foreign name she'd ever heard. But she didn't care to judge.
"You can call me Nora if you want," the woman said brightly. Kyouka didn't know what to call this person that randomly was hiding out in the weapons room with no prior indication of how they even got in here in the first place. Still, the ADA had some talented ability users, Kyouka had to hand that to them at least. She suddenly felt like the tide could be turned with this person on their side.
She wasn't one to trust easily but there was something someone had once told her back when she'd first started to train as an assassin. A certain blonde haired man with stormy eyes.
'Trust your instincts. Don't rely on others… you can only rely on yourself'
—
*A/N: She is pronouncing it (Noh-Nah-Meh)
—
Kyouka for the first time, disagreed with that person's sentiment.
"Go, he needs you," The person called Noname said with a dismissive hand gesture.
"Alright."
Kyouka thought that the boy tiger sure had some odd friends at that agency but she felt more confident now.
Atsushi Nakajima could be considered an unfortunate soul.
Kicked out of the orphanage when he turned 18 not even a month ago, topped with all kinds of abuse when at the orphanage; it was a miracle he hadn't just eaten everyone honestly. Of course, that was a morbid thought and one he was grateful never came to pass.
Despite all the pain and suffering he endured. He never once wished for his abusers to die.
He was an odd boy.
But he was determined to try to be a good person.
If he lived that long.
Atsushi groaned.
It seemed he was inconveniencing everyone with his existence. The ADA had taken him in after a rather eccentric suicide afficionado, Osamu Dazai, had taken him under his mentorship. Though you could hardly call it that as he spent most of his time shirking work or disappearing for days at a time much to his own partner, Doppo Kunikida's chagrin.
Thinking about it now, though, as Atsushi's eyes slowly opened, blurry and unfocused, he did have to wonder if that violent person, Akutagawa maybe had a point. It felt bitter to replay in his mind what he had said.
But, was there some truth after all to it?
He was just repeating what Atsushi already knew after all. What he'd always known. The director of the orphanage was no different.
And now with a 7 billion yen bounty on his head, he wondered what was to become of him.
The young girl he'd formally met on a mafia plot to blow up a train, opened the door just then. This young girl, Atsushi, had tried to be nice to her, not wanting to hand her over so easily to the police at the time.
She had killed 35 people in the 6 months since she was first used in the Port Mafia for assassinations but Atsushi had noted that her ability was controlled by Akutagawa through a cellphone the girl carried. Kyouka Izumi was her name. Still Atsushi just couldn't do it. He couldn't stand the thought of her dying for crimes she never wanted to commit in the first place.
Where was the justice?
What could he even do? Kunikida had stated so at the time…
"Atsushi," Kunikida said sharply.
Atsushi flinched.
"I'm not telling you to ignore the plights of the unfortunate, but in the world we live in, such misfortune is prevalent," Kunikida said. His baritone was still sharp but there was a touch of sadness. "Consider yourself on a one man boat," Kunikida continued, turning on his heel to walk away.
"If you try to save someone you cannot, it will sink both of you…"
But Atsushi honestly couldn't agree with Kunikida's point of view. If that logic was true, then why had Dazai-San reached out and saved him? He had nothing to give Dazai. He had no worth.
But Dazai had helped him anyway.
He had in his own way, expressed it was okay for Atsushi to go on living.
Did Dazai help him because he didn't think the boat would sink if he pulled onboard someone who had been drowning like Atsushi? Or did someone like Dazai simply not care about the consequences as long as he could use his own power to save him, regardless of whether they both tanked? Dazai was someone who rocked the boat, compared to Kunikida-San.
Hilariously enough, the thought of Dazai pulling a double suicide with Atsushi didn't seem like the reason why he would do something like that. Atsushi honestly didn't have a clear answer. But the answer he could speculate was preferred to Kunikida's own defeatist outlook.
"Come with me," Kyouka said, her tone monotone.
Atsushi felt confused. Had she come to save him? Wasn't Akutagawa nearby? As thought to confirm Atsushi's suspicion, he saw the tendrils of red and black 'tape' wrap around his body. He found himself slammed painfully into the side of a cargo crate. He was still injured from Akutagawa's last merciless assault and though his ability, 'beast in the moonlight' did allow him to heal on some level, he still felt winded, regardless.
"Agh!" Atsushi cried out in pain.
"Hm, I'd intended to just stab you to death but it seems your tiger regenerative ability is annoyingly in the way of that plan," Akutagawa tutted.
Atsushi gasped out, and for the first time he smelled sea salt? What? "Am I…on a ship?" He managed to gasp out.
"Yes, a smuggling ship, we usually do goods and weapons but today, you're the cargo," Akutagawa said, curt and direct. He wasn't one for small talk. "It won't be long before your transfer…so enjoy your final cruise, I suppose, man-tiger," Akutagawa's dismissive tone and intention to step on Atsushi and grind him underfoot honestly made Atsushi irate.
Atsushi did not appreciate being stepped on by another man.
"I'll pass," Atsushi managed, cheekily, despite gritting his teeth and gripping Akutagawa's shoe in his own gloved fingers.
"Gah!"
"Ngh!"
Atsushi's pain was not veiled in any way. Akutagawa ground his foot into Atsushi's wound, pinning Atsushi's left hand now with his ability.
"Your wishes do not matter to me," Akutagawa said coldly.
Clearly not, Atsushi inwardly thought, frustrated. But Atsushi was starting to sense something else. This was more than just 'mafia' attitude he was getting. There was something else. Something more foreboding. It was like Akutagawa was fixated on him—angry with him?
"The weak have no right to decide their paths," Akutagawa continued.
Atsushi knew with his current lack of fighting skills that he didn't stand a chance against Akutagawa. He had to figure out instead, an opening to escape. Somehow! He just had to last long enough until help could arrive. Atsushi knew, without a doubt, that the ADA was most likely working their butts off to get to him. He just had to make their job even slightly easier.
He was already such a burden as it was.
He could at least do this much for them.
He just had to try. He had to think.
"The weak must perish."
Atsushi felt a jolt go down his spine that wasn't from the pressure Akutagawa had been applying to his chest from his shoe.
"Die, and open up the path for others," Akutagawa continued, the animosity coming out in full now. It was like Akutagawa was changing.
His eyes didn't look even human anymore.
Atsushi felt his breath catch in his throat from alarm. What was this? Why did it feel so familiar—-wait…this feeling… it…
Was hatred.
Atsushi knew it well from the headmaster of the orphanage.
He desperately tried not to think about that person.
Akutagawa was emotionally taxing enough.
Click.
Atsushi and Akutagawa paused.
Akutagawa slowly turned his sights to Kyouka, who was standing now, before them, brandishing a gun in her small hands. "Did you bring that out from the weapons room?" It was a rare moment of Akutagawa asking a genuinely puzzled question.
Don't let looks deceive you kids, she's a killer!
Her defiant glare and commanding tone honestly made Atsushi feel inspired.
"Let him go," she said fiercely.
"Did the outside world change your heart?" Akutagawa asked with a smile.
His tone was saccharine and mocking.
Atsushi honestly couldn't picture 'sweet' and Akutagawa in the same hemisphere, much less the same universe.
Rashomon, Akutagawa's ability, sliced through Kyouka's gun like it was nothing.
"Do you know what Rock Bottom means?" Akutagawa casually asked, as he gripped Kyouka by her throat now. He had moved like he was a phantom. Light on his feet but hard as an unmovable boulder. "It means the darkest abyss, one where not even light can touch. What lies there is mud, a rotten stench and…self-pity."
Akutagawa continued his lament, and then turned his head, to gaze at Atsushi. "Man-tiger, tell her from your own experience, to never be of use or trusted, like an insect in the mud, just trembling…"
Atsushi's eyes widened.
"For one to live that way, tell her how that feels."
The young woman remained hidden but silent. She closed her eyes. It looked like she was dozing off.
Atsushi could feel it difficult to breathe. His own terrible upbringing made his teeth clench. He was powerless to help her. Hopelessly just watching her get strangled. He felt worthless.
"Make yourself useful to the Mafia, otherwise worthless humans don't have a right to breathe and should just die!" Akutagawa continued, glaring at her, his eyes manic and murky.
The young woman opened her eyes, contemplative. But, she made no move to intervene.
Kyouka's voice trembled, and she still found her voice. Somehow. Because there was someone who showed her kindness despite knowing the things she had done. She wanted to protect the boy who had saved her. Even if nothing was guaranteed.
Failure didn't only mean she lost.
Failure also cemented the fact that she at least gave it her damn best.
Just like that woman had said.
She didn't know where that weird woman was now. But that conversation had moved Kyouka just a little. The ADA was someplace she wanted to learn more about. If someone like Dazai Osamu could escape his past, then why couldn't she as well?
She wanted someplace to belong. When she thought she was in a world that didn't care where she ended up, she'd met that boy. But, Kyouka wanted to put all of her feelings in that moment onto that boy's belief in her ability to change her circumstances.
She wanted to believe and…have a little faith.
The woman's encouraging smile came to mind.
But the face that glowed brightest, with the most radiant smile, was the boy's own. From when they had crepes together. From how he won a toy for her. From the simple time they spent together. He had made her feel like she was human. He had helped her feel something again.
"Maybe so…but that crepe was delicious!" She mustered. She didn't want to feel nothing anymore.
Atsushi felt his heart skip a beat.
The woman smiled to herself. Light that had been bounced around in her eyes glittered like a shined gem.
Just then, Atsushi sensed someone coming. And he looked with wide eyes, towards what looked to be a motorboat headed right for them.
The woman remained in hiding but curious to see how this unfolded. Kyouka naturally blew stuff up. Ah kids~ solving their problems by trying to blow them up. They were growing up so fast.
Kunikida shouted at Atsushi to leave the girl behind and literally 'abandon ship'. Kunikida yelled, "I used to think I could save everyone. But that's not the case. The reality is harsh but it's the way things are! There are no such things as superheros! Things won't go the way you want them to just because you wish for things to be different!"
The young woman closed her eyes again. Her expression was unreadable.
"Perhaps not," Atsushi said, voice shaking. "But…she said that crepe she ate with me…was delicious."
The woman's eyes widened.
Her eyes weren't the only pair to do so.
Kunikida yelled.
But this time, it was something different. It was encouragement. "Run Atsushi!"Not a command to run away but a desire to support the boy.
The young woman watched as the fight unfolded. Akutagawa's bloodlust however was strong.
Atsushi was seriously expelling blood faster than a chocolate fountain…yet somehow he was managing to keep up thanks to his regenerative capability.
"Why did it have to be you!" He screamed at Atsushi. "That agency gives you a false sense of security. You think hiding behind them makes you somehow strong? What a joke!"
Atsushi growled, not backing down anymore. He was done running from this person.
The woman grimaced, feeling her head suddenly pound. She shut her eyes. All of Akutagawa's rage and hurt—she could see it in her own mind's eye. Along with something else. Someone else.
The root cause of it all.
'Your ability is no more than a glass cannon. Decorative and powerful but otherwise completely disposable like trash. You leave yourself wide open and your tactics have no forethought. You're a pathetic excuse for a protege.'
A man in a coat that was too big for him, over his shoulders. Bandages covering his right eye. Dark empty eyes that held no light or warmth. This person was the one who Akutagawa desired approval from most in the world.
And this person at that time would rather see Akutagawa die.
The young woman breathed hard, clutching her chest. She grit her teeth, feeling the beads of sweat now. This wasn't her fight to get involved in, and she wanted to give this boy, Atsushi, a chance to prove himself capable. Why? Because this person had been watching over Atsushi for a long time.
That's why, she knew, instinctively, that if anyone could get through to this hopelessly pessimistic kid, it was another one who was just as hopeless…for the opposite reason.
'Okay, boys! That will suffice!'
A man appeared in her mind's eyes. He had brown hair, gleaming dark sienna eyes, wore a trench coat, dark vest, striped top, a turquoise cerulean glinting broach, and smiled like he didn't have a care in the world.
Why does it have to be this weretiger? I am the one who deserves praise for everything I've done for you…
Akutagawa's pained thoughts were apparent and the young woman took a deep breath, though shaky. The root of all his pain. The childlike confusion of being left behind. Abandoned.
Then, another more recent memory. The same brown haired man, in chains in some dark dwelling, smiling despite the injuries to his face, at Akutagawa. Speaking with words deliberate and meant to inflict only pain.
'My new boy is far better than you ever were'
"You're such a fool… Osamu," the young woman uttered, under her breath. Her expression was pained and angry.
The pain that Akutagawa was feeling was justified. But nothing she could say at this time to the boy would change anything. If anything the direction of his aggression would merely be redirected and he'd just go on a killing spree. Not that he wasn't already on one…
As she listened to Akutagawa and Atsushi's exchange, her eyes glinted almost sadly. She smiled wryly to herself.
The ship was going down soon.
"I'll never let him speak that way to me ever again!" Akutagawa roared.
He attacked using a double headed attack of Rashomon on Atsushi. The woman winced. Ooh, that looked like a real doozy, best to definitely not get involved, she grimaced. However, she had a feeling the weretiger had more up his sleeve.
Sure enough, he groaned, but wasn't down for the count. Akutagawa looked at him with a genuine stupefied expression. "How…?'
"You are strong…why did you use that girl?" Atsushi asked, struggling to get up.
"Her strength is useful. I gave her a sense of purpose. Her purpose is to kill. Otherwise, she has no reason for living," Akutagawa replied. "I'm not using her…I gave her a reason to live."
The young woman felt something else now, besides Akutagawa's rage. Something she hadn't felt before. She honestly could have laughed if she didn't want to get sliced six ways to Sunday. "So…that's how it is…" she softly said, her anger replaced with something else.
"It's not up to you…to decide who's worth living," Atsushi declared, pointing at Akutagawa.
He lunged.
Akutagawa countered.
"Why couldn't you have communicated with her in some other way?" Atsushi snapped.
"…!"
"People can't live…unless someone tells them that it's okay to keep going! Why can't you understand something as simple as that?" He grabbed Rashomon, using the ability to physically get closer to Akutagawa.
But, as she watched Atsushi passionately fighting against Akutagawa, she could understand why that person had taken a liking to him. A person who didn't like unnecessary attachments, had somehow picked up this furball of philosophy. Supposedly, saving the boy but perhaps the boy would be the one to do the saving one day.
When it seemed like Rashomon had won, a tiger tail comically wrapped around Akutagawa's slender frilly waist. The girl wondered if this was a terrible time to start shipping them considering the physical ship was sinking.
The ship rumbled and shook as the fight concluded.
It wouldn't be long now before the ship sank. She sensed Atsushi leaving with Kunikida and Kyouka.
She heard Kunikida shout at Atsushi. "You absolute dimwit! That was…an incredible job!" His baritone held something lighter in it—a glint of faith restored. His expression showed it though Atsushi couldn't see it being unconscious in Kyouka's arms.
Things had turned out alright. Because of that boy's reckless and yet well-serving purpose. The girl smiled to herself.
Atsushi Nakajima. A boy by day, and a giant white tiger under the moonlight. He was someone who would bring change to the lives of those around him. Maybe…even to that person as well. "Atsushi-kun…I wonder…will you be able to accomplish what I failed to do?" She said softly.
The ship finally fell apart, groaning into the water like a screaming banshee.
She scanned the wreckage now, for Akutagawa. She found him floating face-down in the water, completely unconscious. "Ah…I know it's not sanitary to touch mostly dead things…but the Good Samaritan in me is saying I should get him somewhere safe…" She picked up the boy in her arms. It was gentle, like a prince carrying his princess. Except the roles were switched.
"You know, hitting rock bottom is less lonely than still falling," she said softly but her tone was sad.
Her sharp hearing detected boats already headed her way to no doubt retrieve Akutagawa. He was badly injured. The woman sighed inwardly. She spotted some floating debris.
"Akutagawa-senpai!" A young woman with blonde hair, in a suit, from the mafia, cried out, finding his body floating in the water on a plank.
Akutagawa was unaccompanied by anyone else by the time he was found.
