Assignment 25:

Even after everything, Ango had trusted Dazai enough to get into a car alone with him. That alone expressed to Alu that to a certain degree, despite the dark era and the rift between himself and Dazai because of one certain red haired man, that Ango had tried to extend an olive branch.

And Dazai broke that branch.

Dazai was a lot like a child who didn't get reprimanded for misbehavior because there was honestly no one who knew how to object to his mere presence in the first place. He could fill a room with his ego and self confidence alone.

Another similar big man-child had green eyes, and was just another brunette that gave Alu a headache. Alu groaned. She knew she left things rigid with the ADA. "I really am diving into the deep end, huh?" she mumbled, expression tight. She had been angry at the time and fighting with Edogawa honestly wasn't something new.

But, she took a deep breath.

It was true. It wasn't like she'd been there to stop them from doing this to Ango. Maybe if she had been more involved she could have changed the outcome. But Alu was dancing a fine line here as it was in this world. She didn't want to make any major changes. Or rather, she just couldn't. This wasn't her story.

It was supposed to be the story of that tiger boy and the adventures of Osamu the Village Idiot.

Alu groaned.

She tried to be impartial to both sides and while she had originally agreed to the interesting blanket of protection that Ranpo had whipped up-he was impressive she had to admit bitterly, despite not wanting to make that ego any larger than it was already; she wondered if her outburst had turned the ADA off.

Probably.

Most definitely.

Alu sighed a mushroom cloud. Aw, man. This is why she tried to stay out of the way if she could. She could hear Juubi in her mind's eye, just lecturing her. Juubi. Of all people. Mister homicidal fox demon aficionado, was judging her for her poor social ineptitude.

'That's cuz you know I'm right. I mean, I'd be down for just smashing all the sides but you're the one dancing with targets placed on your back.'

Yeah, I know, I'm getting in too deep…again.

She began to pace in the small hospital room.

She didn't honestly know what The Guild was up to right now. She certainly hoped there weren't little red dots aimed through the window. Actually, maybe having him near a window wasn't the best idea. Alu sweated. She casually went over to the window where the blinds were drawn back and drew them forwards, casting the room into a dimmer setting.

Suddenly the door clicked.

Alu froze. She looked at the window.

Well, when the window of opportunity presents itself, best take advantage!

Into the room, stepped Dazai Osamu. He'd been checking on Ango's recovery every day. Today was no different. His reasons were his own. Could they be out of a sense of concern, however small and morally extinguishable as it could be? Or was he just making sure the ADA's ticket to the big brass didn't snuff out on them prematurely?

He blinked, looking around as he came closer to where Ango slept, unconscious still. His eyes were drawn to the window however. It was open. The breeze rustled into the room.

"Huh, I knew I heard voices," Dazai humorously noted.

While normally only secured personnel would have been allowed into a room of a top list government official like Ango Sakaguchi, Dazai Osamu had his own ways of slipping past those security measures.

That's right.

He just flirted his way all the way to his intended target. Apparently if you're hot enough, you can get away with anything. Apparently.

However, now he stood, gazing at Ango Sakaguchi. The nurses Dazai flirted with had informed him that a young woman had indeed been coming by to check on Sakaguchi the last few days. Was it really because he just happened to be a 'victim' in her mind to one of Dazai's plans? Dazai was a little irritated, to be honest.

She accused him rather blindly of not being capable of reading the consequences of his own decisions but that wasn't true at all. Dazai had analyzed thoroughly based on their current situation. If she had gotten involved perhaps the outcome could have been different. But she was the one who couldn't accept that things weren't meant to work out in a neat manner because life isn't neat.

Life is messy.

Dazai's expression was disgruntled.

If she'd just stop running away from him, maybe they could actually talk. For someone who touted communication to everyone else-even his own former boss, why was she avoiding Dazai so adamantly like he was carrying the plague?

Dazai huffed. "That person… just who is her connection to this city? I find it hard to believe it's Chuuya," he shuddered at the mere inclination.

Dazai had a pretty good idea who it actually was but even so, his mind refused to accept it as a possibility. "There's no way…" he muttered to himself. He ran a hand through his tousled oakbrown bangs. "Can there be…?"

He was not someone who gave hope a second glance.

Usually, he spared it even a first.

He looked around. He was alone. He shut the window.

He was not a man who prayed but he delicately laced his fingers together now, the most earnest gesture a manipulative man like him could physically muster. Dazai had a hunch her connection could have actually been Ango Sakaguchi—-either way he'd turn Ango into a ginger overnight if he had to. Between poisons, he'd rather drink that one of all options.

Back to the agent, facing the window, he uttered under his breath, in absolute despair, "Please, if there are celestial forces, let that 'mutual friend' be anyone but Chuuya."


*Me sitting here at my computer with my head on my desk and my starbucks just telling me I'm caffeinated enough by how much I've had today….


Alu sat on the grass.

She was on the bank of some canal. A bridge was nearby but still a bit of a walk on foot.

She often came here to think. It was quiet. There were no attacks at the moment. Coincidentally, things had been eerily calm on The Guild front. The Port Mafia was apparently leaving her alone because of her proposition for Mori. Actually, Alu was a bit bemused and genuinely surprised, not that she'd shown it at the time to Chuuya, the Mafia's Envoy at the time. She had thought Mori would just try to shoot her first and ask questions later.

War was about strategy, right? She was doing her best to flex herself as little as possible, as it wasn't her fight to fight for these groups. But still, trying to figure out how to be a mediator was even more tiring.

Especially since apparently the ADA didn't even trust the Division for Unusual Powers. Can the government really just be so easily bought? And doesn't the Division have other agents that Dazai could have had the ADA use? Fukuzawa was not a nobody. He could easily use his own connections to secure other agents from the Division for aid.

Alu honestly was finding more holes with this plot than she cared to poke at herself. She sighed again with a groan. "I know I have to be patient…things will work out…or whatever," she muttered to no one in particular.

Chuuya and Dazai's reactions to what she'd told them about herself definitely left some uneasiness in her mind and her heart. Dazai had been surprised like Chuuya but Alu sensed something else about his own initial reaction. He was not surprised in a way that was natural-in the way Chuuya displayed. Was it just because as a person he was wired differently than Chuuya or was it something else? Alu's money was bet that it was based on something else.

And she knew what that difference was. Because she had figured out what Fitzgerald was after in this city. But she wasn't the only one.

Drama with The Guild aside, Alu grimaced as she reflected on her own personal drama. How come a temporary ceasefire with the Port Mafia of all things had been ironically easier to achieve than an alliance with the ADA? Alu groaned, flopping onto her back, her arms above her head. She gazed up at the blue sky.

It was a pretty day today.

Too bad something would no doubt come along to ruin it, she thought wryly to herself. The real question was would it be Thing #1 or Thing #2 that would come along? Her stomach growled, the tell-tale sign that she was hungry. She was always hungry. Her stomach could be described as an infinity bag. She closed her eyes, just picturing delicious Japanese cuisine.

To think about something other than the irritating men in her life was nice even if it was brief. She still had to figure out what to do about Kyouka. Her eyes flickered and she opened them again because she felt her space encroached.

Cinnamon tinted brown eyes peered up into lime green ones.

Ah, Thing #1 it was then. Alu's eyes bugged. She immediately sat up so fast that Ranpo barely managed to dodge her head as it careened past his nose like a bullet. She stumbled to her feet, eyes wide. "W-what are you doing here?" she hissed at Ranpo, immediately incensed. "The Guild is still after you!"

"I came to get you, duh," Ranpo replied in an unamused tone.

"I never asked for you to go looking for me!" Alu retorted.

Ranpo straightened up, his hands in his pockets, and he pouted at her. "Hey! Hey! It wasn't easy finding you!" he complained. "I had to get the directions and that took more time than actually finding you!" He had a tendency to use his body language to help express his distress. He did so now, flapping his arms like a displeased peacock.

Alu just groaned. "I'm trying to keep a low profile here!" she griped at the bone-head detective man-child. "I'd say 'get a clue' but even you seem to miss them from time to time!"

Ranpo looked absolutely flabbergasted that she would accuse him of not being able to gather clues of all things! He stamped his foot, his body language like that of an angry child on a playground whose favorite toy had just been taken and they were about to pop their lid. Alu could see the steam coming off the top of his hat.

"Be angry or whatever," Ranpo huffed with exasperation, "but I'm bringing you back!" he declared, pointing at her, pompously.

Alu's expression certainly expressed what she thought of that statement. Her mouth was drawn into a thin line that looked like it was sliding like molasses towards her lower part of her chin. She knew why Ranpo was here. She glanced around. "Are you alone?" she deadpanned.

Ranpo huffed. "No. Kunikida drove," he replied.

Alu had a feeling that getting directions hilariously would take longer with a perfectionist like Kunikida at the wheel. But she kept that to herself.

"Now come on! We don't need to add another car accident -courtesy of The Guild- to add to the list of problems we're dealing with!" Ranpo continued.

"I can't participate any further under your umbrella, it was a mistake to take it into consideration," Alu bluntly stated.

Ranpo looked like he swallowed moldy food. "You can't honestly think operating alone is the best way?"

"I know it's not the best way, but I mean, do you even want to work with me?" Alu levelled, glaring at veridian glinting irate impatient eyes.

"You're already a part of this, just as we are, in this Guild War," he declared, retorting. "Even if you decide not to be under our umbrella of protection, there will be others that will come after you! I know you don't have a great opinion of our organization but…" Ranpo clenched his fists, gazing fiercely at Alu with a frown. "We are different from other places because we want someone not for their ability but for who they are as a person!" Alu knew Ranpo was protective of the president and that's why he felt the need to defend the ADA and what it stood for. But what did it stand for exactly? In practice, Alu was finding quite a few holes with performance based logic.

"That's a nice rosy sentiment," Alu deadpanned. "So can you explain to me then why you opted to let one of your own agents become fodder for an American Tycoon overseas?" she was of course referring to when Atsushi had been captured and Ranpo had decided to pass on trying to find him.

Ranpo's face comically looked like he was chewing glass and sucking on a lemon at the same time. "Ah…that was…my own attitude…more than the president…" he began to sweat comically. He had no idea how she would have known about that. He sweated. He was tempted out of instinct to use 'Super Deduction' but found himself frozen to the spot instead, not wanting to make his brain fry like it had before. He was still technically recovering. He hadn't actually even finished processing just what he had deduced.

"I need more than your agency's participation, I need your ability to have your agency properly communicate with others," Alu countered. "Until you can show me that your agency does care about all life, regardless of whatever side that life falls, then we are not in an alliance."

She turned to walk away.

Ranpo grit his teeth.

He was not one that liked to lose in a battle of wills.

He could tell this was a test. Sure, he already knew the answers. But life's answers weren't always the same as the one projected from the heart. Still. He was not one to take 'no' for an answer. He knew they both had differing opinions but if she would stop being so short sighted and stubborn, Ranpo knew he could prove to her that the ADA was way better than the Port Mafia or the Division for Unusual Powers!

He knew words weren't enough. He didn't care to make them up either. No, he'd let his actions do the talking.

It showed when he grabbed her wrist. Alu blinked as Ranpo tugged her, stronger than he looked, towards the direction he would prefer her to start walking, instead. "Tch! Fine! Don't form an alliance! But I won't just leave you out here either where you have open targets on your back!" He bitterly complained. Ranpo's agitation was a sign that he didn't want something to happen to her, regardless of their squabbling. Alu would be touched if she wasn't so annoyed at the moment.

Alu's vein popped.

"I'm not a damsel! I don't need you saving me!" she said curtly, yanking her wrist free of Ranpo's grasp surprisingly easily.

Ranpo looked momentarily bewildered before he whirled on his heel, feeling irritated, himself. They were like a couple of cats, having a rather feral conversation. "I know that!" he said frustrated, voice raising. "But you keep blaming us for something that has already happened! You're crying over spilled milk and we need to look at the present, not the past!" he declared, pointing at her, consecutively irate and pompous.

"Your agency's morals are more ambiguous than the Port Mafia and the Division of Unusual Powers combined, and that's saying something!" Alu retorted. "Do you even regret putting that government agent in harm's way to further your own agenda?"

"Hey!" Ranpo snapped back, vexed. "You're awfully protective of that agent! Do you have a personal tie to him or something because you're clearly biased for someone who claims they don't take sides!" He put his hands on his hips.

Alu's expression twitched at Ranpo.

She still didn't know to what extent his mind had been able to deduce things.

"You're the one with the Super Deduction ability, what exactly have you deduced about me?" she countered, putting her hands on her own hips, mirroring his pompous demeanor. They could hilariously pass for fraternal twins if they really wanted. Not that he particularly wanted to.

They certainly bickered like an old married couple.

That was the observation of the man with dark hair, known as Lovecraft. He remained a silent observer, peering up at them from the canal's riverbed. He just thought this to himself, as he just observed them, having yet to announce his presence.

"You turned my brain to jelly!" Ranpo complained. "I know only what Dazai already told you!" he flapped his arms again. "Now come on! Before that weird guy in the canal decides to attack us!" Ranpo hilariously pointed at the canal.

Alu glanced too.

Her eyes narrowed.

She grabbed Ranpo by the arm and smiled at him all sparkly. "On second thought, you're absolutely right. I should go with you!"

Ranpo was whipped by this sudden mood swing. Girls were terrifying. They always had been. It didn't matter how logical a man was. A woman practically existed to knock all sense onto its ass. As it should be, have a good day, Alu would acknowledge in response.

"Just give me a moment," Alu let go of Ranpo's arm. She wordlessly went to the edge of the canal where Lovecraft lurked in the water.

Ranpo's eyes shifted however.

He knew what she was doing.

But he made no move to stop it.

"Hey, can you get this to your leader?" Alu asked brightly, holding out a letter in a sealed ziplock bag from her coat. Why the ziplock bag? Well, Alu was used to things going unpredictably and she had been correct to assume Lovecraft would be the one they sent to stalk her.

Lovecraft quietly slid out a tentacle from the water, taking the letter delicately. "I can see you too do not want to fight against me," he remarked.

"I get you guys are paid by that guy or whatever to hunt me and those guys, but if you could hold off for a bit from beating us up, that'd be awesome," Alu brightly said.

Lovecraft nodded.

Alu pat his tentacle with a grin. "By the way, you're too cool for The Guild's leader," she gave Lovecraft a thumbs up.

Lovecraft blinked, comically bewildered. "You…do not find me revolting?"

"Dude, I have seen plenty of creepy stuff in my time. You're like…tame by comparison," Alu giggled, grinning at Lovecraft. "Hey when all this drama is resolved, you and I should hang out sometime!"

Lovecraft had no words for this chipper person. But she spoke like she was not just putting up a facade. Lovecraft came out of the water, his tentacles turning into the legs of a man. "I will consider it. My contract is almost up." He spoke slowly and thoughtfully. Alu patted him on the shoulder. "Great! Us Cool Kids gotta stick together!"

With a salute, she took off.

Lovecraft furrowed his brow, contemplative. "Implying that she too…. possesses something beyond a mere skill…"

Kunikida was in the car but he scratched his shoulder, waiting for them, frowning and looking around nervously. They were trying to lay low since it had already been a week with no real Guild activity. Ranpo managed to track down this woman though and seemed adamant about keeping her in their sights. Fukuzawa was also keen on this course of action since he didn't want to give Mori Ougai any reason to take the girl out from under their noses.

Ranpo and Alu arrived just then.

Kunikida was hilariously more concerned that they hadn't managed to have the Guild on their tail like last time more than anything. Not going to look a gift horse in the mouth, Kunikida let them clamber in.

Alu called out loudly. "I call shotgun!"

Ranpo pouted but got into the back seat. Kunikida glanced at the woman from the side of his rimmed glasses. "Get us back now," Ranpo said curtly.

Kunikida nodded.

He wondered how Ranpo had convinced this person to cooperate with them despite her recent disapproval of their choices.

The reason Lovecraft didn't go after them despite Fitzgerald's order to keep tabs on them was a simple one.

He just didn't care.

Lol.

Besides, he would not return empty handed.


They were back at the temporary HQ for the ADA. Alu looked at the agitated blonde, scratching his neck. Her brow furrowed. "Hey Kunikida…You keep scratching your neck," she pointed out.

"Oh? It's just itchy," Kunikida said dismissively, shutting his driver's side. He didn't have the energy to correct her in how she addressed him.

Alu entered the building with both Kunikida and Ranpo. As they headed past the infirmary where Yosano was stationed, Alu beamed suddenly at Kunikida. "Kunikida, I'd suggest getting yourself checked out by Miss Yosano," she said brightly.

"Hm?" His eye twitched. "I'll be fine…"

Alu got into his face just then and Kunikida's ponytail zigzagged comically from the alarm. Alu saluted Ranpo. "Be a good boy and go fetch Dazai!" she said cheerfully, as she comically dragged Kunikida into Yosano's make-shift nurse's office. "Meanwhile Kunikida…"

Ranpo made a funny noise too of dissent. "I'm not your dog!" he spluttered.

"True, you're more like a kitten," Alu countered with a smirk. She just comically pulled Kunikida into the nurse's office, leaving Ranpo on the other side of the door with his mouth in a clenched pout.

Kunikida let out a funny noise.

The nurse's door was shut and Alu just smiled at him with the air of someone that was no nonsense but also making no sense. "Please strip!"

Kunikida's face hysterically broke the top ten Dazai moments he'd had to deal with in the past as she barrelled into first place. "H-Huh!?"

"Oh, not for me," she added humorously as Yosano clacked over in her heels, to see what was going on. "This is for Dazai!"

That made it so much worse in Kunikida's mind, haha.

Dazai entered the room a few minutes later with Ranpo in tow.

Kunikida had wordlessly undone the collar of his shirt, taking off his ribbon. Dazai wanted to quip but his eyes fell on the hand-shaped mark now bruising Kunikida's neck. Dazai's eyes widened with alarm.

"That mark!" he said immediately, seriously.


"It hurts…" A young boy dressed like a lolita groaned in pain, his eyes manic swirls, only registering his own pain and hatred for everything in existence.

He cried out in agony as tiny vines slithered through his flesh like he was a paper-mache doll.

"Eh, if you wanna blame someone, blame our officer, or your own stupidity for going up against Lovecraft with no backup plan," a bored voice said with a disengaged tone.

The young boy, known as Q in the Port Mafia, grit his teeth. He was roughed up besides the tree he was strapped to. "I'll kill you, I'll just kill you all!"

The man who had helped in his abduction and detainment merely smiled. He stepped on a root, casually, and once more the boy's scream of agony echoed.

The boy let out ragged gasps.

No one had come to save him yet.

But surely someone would. He was still useful to his Boss, Mori Ougai. Although he was only cooperating because Mori promised him his freedom from imprisonment if he was good. After all, he'd been trapped for years because of Dazai Osamu. He had never been killed. Or rather, those that had tried would succumb to his ability before touching him. But many years ago, Dazai had sealed him far away from society because he was considered a menace. Sides didn't matter to Q. Why would they? All sides were the same.

That's just how it had always been.

Mori Ougai was someone Q had to obey. Despite everything, Q didn't want to die. Q wanted to live. But what was someone like him, so chaotic and self-destructive even living for? For himself, was the answer.

That's why, he'd kill whoever was trying to hurt him, first! His ability, Dogra Magra, allowed those who tried to harm him to see terrible mind hallucinations if his doll was ripped open. However, that doll was currently on board with the ringleader of The Guild.

John Steinbeck had time to kill so he had no problem exposition dumping the plans to his trussed up foe. Even if it was a kid, apparently, it wasn't his problem how morally terrible The Guild was behaving as long as he got a paycheck to send home to the family back in America. Stellar standards, young man. You should stick to grapes… I mean, you could grow your own wine and make a fortune if you actually thought about it, lol. You otherwise only know how to pick bad apples.

"With my ability, I combine my grapes which can channel the senses between trees to your ability to inflict pain on those who attempt to cause you harm throughout all the trees in Yokohama," he explained casually.

Q bit back with his own determination to kill this oppressor. The veins on his own body from pain showed on his skin. "I'll curse you, I'll kill you!" he choked out.

"Oh, that's good!" Steinbeck cheerfully admitted, though his tone was empty. "So, here's a pop quiz~"


"Can you explain it?" Alu asked, gazing at Dazai with a frown.

Dazai lips were drawn into a thin line. He had the feeling Alu had not seen this ability in action yet. Good, he could try to build up rapport, get on her good side, or something. "I can… It was left by someone who is incredibly dangerous. That mark is a sign that the ability is in effect and will cause one to lose their very mind," he continued to explain and Kunikida smartly sat in the chair provided for him. "We'll need to strap him down more than this," Dazai said solemnly.

"Got it, more bondage, coming up," Alu said with a salute, as she and Yosano grabbed some heavy chains to strap Kunikida into the chair. Kunikida's expression was priceless.

"C-Can we keep this somewhat appropriate?" he barked at Alu, agitated and flustered.

Alu just smirked, amused by Kunikida's hot pink cheeks. "So, what's the situation, Dazai?" She asked, turning her attention to the brunette.

Dazai nodded. She was chipper today. He figured he'd not ruin her oddly bubbly mood she was projecting at him-yet. "This person's ability is something Atsushi and I faced a while ago. It belongs to the ability user, Q, someone who is an absolute last resort-and one even I wouldn't recommend," he darkly stated. "The kid doesn't discern good from evil. He is someone who is ruthless and only cares to 'have fun'..."

"Hm, he sounds like a piece of work," Yosano huffed.

"I don't feel any different," Kunikida confessed.

"That's because the ability hasn't been fully activated yet, the stage…is still being set," Dazai coldly replied, but his eyebrows were knitted together. It was like he was showing some actual concern for how things were playing out. "It's a good thing Kunikida came back when he did…once that curse mark takes effect, not even I can stop it. Either the individual has to be strong enough to break free with their own mental willpower or I would have to negate the source," he explained gravely.

Alu knew if Dazai was taking this seriously then this was definitely something to be concerned about. She put a finger to her lips, thinking about how handmarks were being spread so easily without the physical presence of that boy. Her eyes wandered to Kunikida's neck.

Ranpo furrowed his brow. "I'm going to inform the president," he said curtly before he left the room. No one had any objections.

After Kunikida was tied up, Alu moved over to Kunikida's side. Kunikida was a bit startled. "I just want to take a look," she said, gazing at the weird curse mark on his neck. Kunikida wasn't used to a woman being this close to him in this manner-except Yosano and that was strictly as a patient. Wordlessly, he allowed it only because both Yosano and Dazai seemed to want to see where she was going with this. When she touched Kunikida, it felt like she was hearing voices. But they weren't Kunikida's. Or her own. Alu felt dizzy without warning.

"So goes our emergency plan, 'The Incineration of Yokohama,'" somberly lamented a man's voice in Alu's mind. She couldn't see what was going on, not clearly. She felt like she was in heavy water. A sea of emotions, but whose?

A boy sniffled, his sobs soft.

The other man continued, compassionless and desynthesized. "Your city is doomed, and it's all your fault."

"Why?" the boy's voice quivered. It wasn't Atsushi. Alu knew without a doubt that this boy never wanted to hurt anyone, from the bottom of his heart. Steinbeck's cold insensitive dismissal of what he was even saying to the boy made Alu actually a little angry. She didn't need an ability to deduce that this boy was being taunted and bullied with harsh language that no doubt he'd been conditioned to tolerate up until now. He materialized in front of her. No, it was like she was connected to him, somehow? She was wherever he was currently, but in ghostly form.

She was in a room, a cellar, perhaps? A young boy was strapped to a tree. The man who did such a senseless crime, was currently sitting on a chair, just casually stirring the pot of this boy's already existing self hatred and wrath for the world. Alu felt the weight of the boy's pain. It was unlike anyone she'd encountered…even stronger than Akutagawa's own pain and suffering.

Was she falling? She hit the floor, collapsing. The sound of muffled voices surrounded her. Was it Dazai calling her name? Miss Yosano? Both? Alu's eyes remained shut, and she found herself instead, back at that place.

Yosano's eyes flashed. "Dazai, look!" she sharply pulled up Alu's sleeve. On Alu's wrist, was a hand-print identically to the one on Kunikida. It was glowing strangely though. Unlike Kunikida's own that was formed, this one was oddly faintly glowing, pulsating like a heart, in a light petal pink glow.

Dazai's expression was hard to discern, though genuine concern flitted even as far as reaching his otherwise calculating eyes.

"I just wanted to have fun with my life…" The boy continued. His raw emotion was evident on his young bruised face. His eyes held no evil. They were those of a child only able to mirror what the world reflected back at himself. They only held pain, betrayal, loneliness. It made Alu's very soul wrench.

"I've never once ever wanted to have this power! So why is it always like this? Why do all these horrible things happen to me?" The boy sobbed.

Alu clutched a hand fisting her shirt over her heart. This boy had so much pain. No one had ever bothered to address it simply because no one had cared. This was who Dazai had referred to as a ruthless killer who cared not what side those caught up in his ability were on? Why were people sometimes so shallow they were blind to what was right in front of them this whole time? She wanted to shake Dazai like a maraca. Then again, not like he had great role models growing up. Mori's 'affection' for others came more from a 'What To Do Wrong When Raising Children' manual than a proper parental one, ironically enough. But still. It was clear this kid knew Dazai. Alu could sense the stream of memories from the boy.

He felt hurt, lost, and most of all, abandoned.

By anyone and everyone.

His own family rejected him.

Dazai had sealed him away when he couldn't control him.

She moved closer to the boy, ghostly and transparent. A light pink glow outlined her body. She couldn't be seen by either party.

She knew what this was. This was an astral projection. But it was tied entirely to emotions. When she had touched Kunikida's hand-print she must have triggered it. Alu took a deep breath. Good, this was the outcome she had intended when she had connected to the curse mark. One of Juubi's powers as a demon fox was the ability to connect to the human soul. She knew well enough that this wasn't anything she was doing…this was Juubi's power that she shared with him. Without Juubi, Alu knew she wouldn't be able to connect in the first place.

Steinbeck seemed to contemplate something. "Some people have Money and Power… Some people sob in pain under the ground, and some people are ordered to torture little children…" he sounded woeful. Maybe even reflective and apologetic. Alu grit her teeth, hoping maybe he was seeing the irrationality of The Guild's ways.

"But 'that's how it is'. That's the dirty logic Adults use."

Those words held weight and were empty at the same time.

Alu felt her heart thud deep and twist the same as the boy's whose emotional pain and trauma she was currently connected to. Or was this a memory? Was she here? Had this already happened? Time actually seemed misplaced in this suffocating space. But she couldn't take her eyes off the boy.

He had dual-toned hair, odd pupils, with one being a star in his right eye anda circle in his left, but the expression of someone who just wanted to be heard and only being silenced. Again. Like all the times before when he cried.

"You want to know, 'why you'?" Steinbeck continued calmly. "Let me tell you. You're in pain because You were born as yourself."

Alu's eyes widened.

Then they darkened.

For the first time, she wasn't simply vexed like when she'd learned about Dazai's plan to corner the Division for Unusual Powers into helping aid in Kyouka's retrieval. She was furious.

—#—
a/n:

(STATUS UPDATE: I MOVED CONTINUATION OF THIS SERIES TO AO3 under pen name Scribbler22)