Vol. 1

Ch. 3

Chuuya stood, completely devoid of any processing capacity—in other words— utterly perplexed. He just stared in absolute disbelief at this European robot secret agent out of some cheesy spy film —who had suddenly lowered himself to this extreme obedience, before Chuuya's feet.

"This machine is the first autonomous high-speed computer created by ability technician Professor Wollstonecraft— Adam Frankenstein. The goal of this machine is to arrest the assassin targeting you…the name of Verlaine. Paul Verlaine." The robot continued to expound.

Meanwhile Alu began to seriously sweat outside. Wait, an assassin was after Chuuya? Shit, she shouldn't have just blindly followed this damn robot! Agh! Alu internally screamed, like where the hell is my brain at right now? Why didn't I foresee following a suspicious robot was probably not the best course of action! Even if he did make a useful blow dryer—lol.

"Verlaine?" Chuuya repeats this, going paler than he normally did. His current shade would make ivory blush with shame. "Why do you know that name?"

Meanwhile, all of his comrades, momentarily ceasing their current assault on this person, began instead to fire their questions at Chuuya.

"You know him, Chuuya?"

"An assassinator?"

"Wait, did he just say computer?"

The group buzzes in confusion.

Adam stands up and speaks with serious eyes set solely on Chuuya. It's unsettling. Chuuya wished he would actually blink. It wasn't as unsettling as a certain bandaged idiot's stare though. This was tolerable, if barely.

"Chuuya-san." The man continued, voice deep and serious, "You cannot confront Verlaine by yourself. I was dispatched for that reason. He is not simply an assassinator. He is an assassin king. Assassin king Paul Verlaine. —-Your older brother."

Alu's jaw dropped outside. Wait? Chuuya had an older brother? Damn! Was he hot? Alu hoped he was hot. Wait no, priorities, he was clearly an assassin after all! But maybe he slayed hearts in romance the same way he slayed people. Alu had to shake her head, wondering what this mysterious older brother even looked like. Dammit, her sense of self preservation should be a priority but…Chuuya had an older brother! Alu was inwardly hopeful that this meant Chuuya wasn't alone after all—although the brother being out to kidnap Chuuya was a bit alarming. Then again, considering Chuuya didn't have a normal backstory to begin with, Alu figured it honestly fit.

Meanwhile, Adam had decided to try to alleviate some of the tension in regards to this new information unfolded for the flags and Chuuya.

At that moment, he made colorful balls dance in the air, before all the members.

Red, orange, pine green, yellow, blue, it was all just an assortment of vivid colors. All of these were pleasant to the eye. Each ball gracefully drew an arc of different height as though by an invisible protractor— before descending back down.

"Wow…" Albatross replied, gazing with wide eyes like an awestruck kid at the circus. Honestly, he looked like he was mentally still a child.

Adam continued juggling the billiard balls. All 9 orbs danced, flying in the air drawing complex circles.

"Indeed, this isn't something an ordinary entertainer can do." Someone said, just watching.

"By the way," Adam said with a solemn face, despite his juggling of the balls, "The two highest balls are never coprime to each other; meaning, they are situated as to never have a common prime factor." He was enjoying the attention, since it meant that they were no longer fighting. He was glad that any more trouble was being avoided and wondered if perhaps he should have started the conversation with this instead. It was funny what actually made humans decide to want to stop being violent sometimes. It could sometimes be something so silly. They really were primitive, he mused to himself in his advanced A.I. head.

Pianoman, folded his arms across his chest, just glaring at the balls. "Hm. 5 and 8, then 4 and 9… That is true." He sounded thoughtful. Apparently he was actually someone who liked to talk about math.

"Wha? Coprime… what?" Albatross whined, irritated, scratching his head.

"Albatross, please get a little better at mathematics. You need numbers to get to higher places." Pianoman rolled his eyes, stating with an exasperated face.

Alu wanted to retort and say that she was doing just fine with basic math and she sympathized for a moment with Albatross's plight. Honestly, anything math related bored her to tears but you know, to each their own.

Now that the immediate hostilities had died down, The wolves all surrounded Adam, seating themselves on billiard tables. All the seated were merely appreciating Adam's tricks. Inwardly, they were no doubt relieved that they didn't have to fight, after all, considering that this match had started to go in the direction of what felt like honestly, any direction.

"So this is your signature trick." Someone commented, bemused.

"It's simple physics," Adam stated expressionlessly. "Gravity acceleration, air resistance, momentum, Coriolis force. I simulate the standard physical forces on these materials, and predict the movement of the balls. Physical calculations of this kind are much more efficient in a calculator than by a human brain."

Alu didn't care how 'expressionless' Adam sounded—he sounded like he was a little smug to be so damn smart throwing out those big terms. Ugh. Alu's head hurt. She felt like she was back in that hell called 5th Period Math from a lifetime ago. Her eyes flickered. No, she had to stop thinking about the past. The present was all that mattered! She told herself, peering into the window still.

Ah, and Chuuya had a ponytail. Alu smiled to herself, daydreaming. If she did die, at least she saw something nice.

"Wo~ow, that's amazing." Albatross sighs. His tone stated what Alu was feeling about the whole entire explanation. "I don't get anything you're saying…. Do you?" He glanced to Iceman, hoping that this guy was in the same boat so he would feel less—isolated. Yes it was a pun, and he thought it was a damn good one. He was about to bring out that joke when—

"Yes." Iceman nods.

He did understand? What the actual hell. Oh well. Not one to be discouraged easily, Albatross turned instead his attention to his other member.

"Lippmann, what about you?" He called out.

"You're the only one who doesn't understand, you know," Lippmann says, still looking forward.

Albatross wanted to punch him.

"Last one." Adam throws each ball over his shoulder to a billiard table behind him.

Each ball fell precisely into a pocket. All nine, consecutively.

And then, immediately, an awkward silence.

"Ta-da!" Adam suddenly yells at the top of his lungs, spreading his arms. Everyone else is startled. The sudden enthusiasm was to say the least—unexpected considering it was coming from a clearly grown man. Adam inspects the members, then the billiard table to which he threw the balls, then cocks his head. "Oh? There's no applause. This is different from the information in my external memory storage."

"Mm. He really doesn't seem to be human." Iceman says expressionlessly.

Dude, he's been talking literal robot lingo this whole time, how thick are you, Alu's jaw dropped in actual disbelief. Are you thick as an iceberg?

"Fufu… European ability technicians do exceed their reputations…" Doc merely smiled darkly. "The techniques for those living parts, I would indeed love to incorporate in my patients' treatment…Fufufu…."

Oh yeah, he was definitely a creep. Alu would have to avoid him the most. Unlike Mori, he looked like someone that would gleefully poison you while you were still dying from some other absurd injury.

With the tension properly dissipated for the time being, Adam decided to try to politely re-introduce himself. "Umm, please let me introduce myself." Adam bowed towards the group. "I am a machine named Adam. It is an artificial investigator. I like acorns and wild berries. I dislike metal detectors at airport security checks. My dream is to successfully establish a criminal investigation performed entirely by artificial investigators, and to utilize the efficient performance of a machine to protect humans."

"Criminal investigation only by artificial investigators? Why?" Someone asked.

"That is because humans are, of course, incomplete and illogical, and that we artificial machines are much more efficient." Adam replied serious and without missing a beat.

Alu wanted to punch him. And his creator. Especially his fricken irritating creator. She'd never met the person but she could only assume it was a self-absorbed moron. She wondered if those guys felt the same. It was hard to tell in all honesty, although they didn't exactly seem thrilled at the idea the dumb robot was proposing.

"You started saying some pretty scary things…" one of them sighed, with a frown.

"Well, let's believe you are really a machine." Pianoman interjected.

Alu wanted to smash this guy into the robot. How were they still not getting it? Honestly, was the Mafia full of really strong ability users that have no actual brains? Sure felt like it, lol.

"But even so, the problem isn't resolved. Regardless of whether you're a machine or not, we Mafia don't get along with the 'human' police. Although only a little, we also did show you our abilities. How can you get us to trust that you won't report these to the offices?"

The other men glanced at each other. Pianoman was on the spot as usual with directness. They looked at Adam now, for his answer. Depending on what he said next, they knew the fight could easily resume. Disappointing, since they actually didn't terribly mind this weird fellow.

"In regards to that, please do not worry." Adam stated, his programming encouraging him to try to soothe them with an innocent smile. "This machine's mission is, ultimately, the arrest of Verlaine. Matters beside this, for example, the Mafia's secrets, this mission has no obligation for. To be concise, I cannot report them. It's the way the program is encoded."

"Why?"

Excellent question, Alu thought, trying to wrap her mind around all of this super secret robot agent bullshit that apparently was being pulled by the British government on Japanese soil. But, if it was Britain, then perhaps that meant the Order of the Clocktower was somehow involved. Alu couldn't shake the feeling that she may actually have more luck this time around than she'd thought in gathering information and trying to find a path to saving Odasaku from Gide after all. Of course, she knew she should probably leave Chuuya alone but he wasn't her actual only concern. Nope, now that the stupid robot had literally landed in her life, she now felt some sense of responsibility for his dumb puppy ass. Ugh, this was going to be a bad day, she thought resentfully. Hopefully it wouldn't get any worse.

Oh shit, she facepalmed. She hoped she hadn't just made her luck worse.

"I will explain later." Adam continued to smile, and while as a robot he couldn't feel human emotions, he did compute in his data base that the closest thing he was feeling at this moment to all the positive feedback was indeed 'hope' to continue to kindle this positive interaction further.

"He's lying." Chuuya growled, firmly.

Everyone stared at Chuuya.

"What?" Chuuya glares at the other members. "I don't care whether this toy bastard keeps our secrets or not. I'm saying he lied about something else. Verlaine, an assassin king? Older brother? Is he just going with the flow? First of all, there's no way Paul Verlaine would be targeting me."

"Really?" Pianoman stares at Chuuya.

"Yeah. Verlaine is already—-" Chuuya's eyes get a glossy coat to them, as though he's been tugged into a bitter memory. "—Dead."

That declaration hung heavy in the air. You could hear a pin drop.

"What?" Someone finally said.

Chuuya then began to explain hesitantly. He didn't know how much he should expound but honestly, he wanted to trust these people as legitimate friends. He had a feeling they wouldn't go around spilling his secrets. For once, Chuuya felt like he was actually allowed to belong somewhere genuine. He didn't want to be rude either after all they'd done for his anniversary. Dammit, he was a man but he wasn't a complete asshole.

Chuuya gave them the cliff notes. About the "Arahabaki Incident" that had happened just around a year ago. The truth of that being, that someone within the Port Mafia itself had created a god. An incident declared as treacherous.

The beginning of it all had really started 9 years ago, towards the end of the Great War, back to when Chuuya first broke free from the facility where he had been experimented on, since he was 7. The Department of Defense had been studying an artificial ability life form, "Arahabaki". As a result, certain greedy and paranoid European powers decided to steal this power for themselves. These powers acted by sending in two skilled agents being— Arthur Rimbaud, and Paul Verlaine, top class ability users, who had one job. Arahabaki was, against all odds, stolen. The two did successfully escape the military base where Chuuya had been confined.

But the problem occurred after the escape.

Paul Verlaine had betrayed Rimbaud. Rimbaud wanted to kill Chuuya as per the request of the original mission. But, Rimbaud revealed Paul wished for Chuuya to live a normal life… something that Rimbaud had not seen eye to eye on. This resulted in their fight. And the destruction that ensued.

Arahabaki's seal was broken.

It was a black flamed beast of calamity that was meant purely for destruction. Rimbaud broke the seal only, leaving Chuuya now with untapped power that even he was concerned with exploiting to this day. It was that day that Chuuya unleashed his power, and from that point on wandered the streets until he found a net with the Sheep.

Rimbaud meanwhile, had barely survived after killing his partner. The Mafia had taken him in while he was wandering. He stayed with Mori over the course of eight years. And to complete his broken memory, he had attempted to smoke out Chuuya with manipulation and deceptive methods since he learned Chuuya was the real Arahabaki- in order to try and absorb his power. That was the Arahabaki Incident that happened one year ago when Chuuya and Dazai were both still freshly fifteen.

"Wha…?" Albatross let out a strange voice. "Wait, wait, wait a minute. That's the 'Fake Predecessor Incident', right? I heard that the mastermind for that was Randou's brother. Then, Randou's brother—–?"

"Yeah." Chuuya sighed, continuing to explain, though it felt terrible in his mouth to revisit this matter. "He was a European intelligence agent. Former. The whole thing was a scheme to lure out Arahabaki."

"I see." Iceman nods. "I always thought it was strange. Why Randou would betray us. Who would've thought there was so much behind it."

"I'm the one who killed Randou." Chuuya looked at his own fist, as if remembering. It wasn't that Chuuya was remorseful. He had to kill the bastard before he was killed himself. But that didn't mean Chuuya enjoyed taking life. And the way Rimbaud talked about Paul in his final moments? It was clear he had died with regret lingering. There was no way, in Chuuya's mind that Rimbaud would lie about Paul Verlaine's demise. The cost of taking his own partner's life was a burden that Randou had carried up until his final breath— maybe even after. "Moments before he died, he confessed about his partner. There's no way Randou would lie in that situation. Verlaine is dead. —-No matter what you say." He looked at Adam, still uneasy, not sure what this person's end game was by trying to alarm him with this news.

"No." Adam shook his head with no trace of emotion. "He's alive." He reiterated.

Alu was impressed that Chuuya hadn't punched the robot in the face already for his inability to read a room.

"How do you prove that?" Pianoman leaned forwards cheerfully.

"It is possible. However, to speak of it would violate the confidentiality policy of this mission." Adam spoke seriously, gazing at the other members. "The only one who has the right to know is Chuuya-san, as he is strongly involved in this incident."

Chuuya looked at the group. His group. "They're already involved." His voice was gruff and cool but none-the-less, the declaration did surprise the others.

"Don't mind us." Pianoman shrugs. "This has to do with you. You should listen."

For a while, Chuuya stood, tapping his forefinger on his lip, as if thinking. "Alright", Chuuya headed to the open door of the bar. Without leaving the bar, he closed the door behind himself.

The group looked surprised.

Alu hid like a bat out of hell, on the other side of the building.

"He is my problem." Chuuya said in front of the closed door, still on the bar side. "But, if any of these guys were in the same situation, I wouldn't stay put. I would definitely stick my head in it. They're probably thinking the same. —-I'm not moving from here. So say everything now, in front of them. Otherwise, I'm not cooperating with you."

Everyone stares at Chuuya, astounded.

"Hey, did you hear that?" Pianoman says.

"Yeah." Iceman nods.

"Shame that I forgot to start the recorder." Lippmann smiles softly.

"Ah, you know what, I take that back. You guys don't get to listen." Chuuya huffed his cheeks inexplicably pink, because of those damn teasing bastards.

Alu could hear, and if she discreetly craned her neck, she could see his slightly pink face. God, this was totally worth the price of admission… Alu thought to herself, still keeping herself as hidden as possible in case things went south. And considering Adam's intelligence, it was likely.

"Hey, no takesies backsies! You can't do that~ Chuuya won't leave us behind!" Albatross, who had been walking towards him, pressed the door behind Chuuya.

"Chuuya-San," the robot looked at Chuuya with a concerned frown. "Does this mean that you are alright with anyone that knows you personally —becoming engaged in this matter?"

"I already said they're involved," Chuuya reiterated, scowling. "At this point, there's no point in excluding any of them!"

"Oh, then by that logic, is it alright if I speak on this matter in front of the girl who knows you, as well?" The robot brightly asked, looking to Chuuya for permission.

Comically, Chuuya looked like he had swallowed a sour lemon after chewing it with shards of glass. "Excuse me?"

"There is a girl with me," Adam continued. "She also knows you and has a desire to be implicated in this matter. I am asking if she also counts?"

Alu was going to make her fist count when it connected with that idiot, next. Oh man, she sweated, eye twitching. He was supposed to help civilians avoid death, not throw them under the bus!

"Chuuya has a girl?" Albatross's jaw utterly dropped to the floor. It was comical.

Pianoman smiled, just then, snickering. "Chuuya! You should have told us you have a woman! You sly bastard!"

"And I thought I was an A class actor, guess the Grammy for best poker faced Casanova goes to you, Chuuya," Lippmann dramatically put his hand over his face. "Perhaps our Prince is going to become a King in the future~"

The men all laughed, uproariously.

"Guys! It's not like that!" Chuuya turned red as a tomato, bewildered. "Seriously! Stop it! I have no idea what this damn stupid robot is talking about!"

The robot, completely ignoring this sudden burst of teasing, is all business now that he has procured Chuuya successfully. "I understand Chuuya-san's opinion." Adam nods at Chuuya—but Alu secretly wondered if he understood jack shit, lol. "Detecting increasing partnership between comrades. This must be what they call a 'strong will' in human words. Very well. I will no longer attempt to convince Chuuya-san. Instead, I propose another course of action."

Something shot —without any warning— out of Adam's elbow.

It was a wire. From both the right and left elbows, a wire with attached weights wrapped around Chuuya's body, halting his movement completely. The weights snaked as though magnetically, strapping Chuuya into a single pole. He looked like a worm lol.

"Ah?" Chuuya, expression twisted with disbelief as he was momentarily stupefied. He had his limbs bundled up, and Adam, who was picking him up single handedly, spoke at the same time.

"This machine's first priority is the mission. In human words, that would be-" Adam cut off there, thinking for a moment before continuing: "a 'strong will'. Therefore, I will be borrowing Chuuya-san for around half an hour."

Adam —programmed into being a fine classy British gentleman - leaves through the front door and leapt like a gazelle, out of the store in one jump, Chuuya in tow, lmao.

That's not a strong will," Alu twitched with irritation. That's called taking away Chuuya's free will! What an idiot robot. She was going to have to clobber whoever programmed his dictionary function because clearly this person didn't have their definitions straight.

Carrying Chuuya like baggage, Adam leapt into the residence areas outside. He jumped off the ground, cracking the surface of the road, landing onto the roof of a house. He jumped around, across the faces of various buildings, before dashing off into the distance.

Left behind were five awe-struck mafiosos.

And one pissed off Alu.

Alu ducked into hiding the second that the door was indicated to be opened. But still, he went and left her behind!? Her jaw dropped with utter horror as she realized that the stupid robot had just left without her—leaving her literally in the jaws of death. I'm going to kill him, Alu could only think, grinding her teeth, incensed.

Damn that shitty tin man. She was going to dump sticky soda all over his motherboard, consequences be damned!

With a low growl, Alu snuck off, deciding she'd have to somehow find Chuuya, herself—and that shitty tin bastard. No way she was sticking around the Happy Kill Bunch!