Dazai hums while he walks through the nostalgic halls of the Port Mafia headquarters. His coat attracts a few curious stares from the more nocturnal members. They weren't as entertaining to see as second and third double takes from people who'd been in the Mafia long enough to recognize him. The funniest reaction has to be the poor bellhop who freezes in terror as soon as the elevator doors slide open. Poor man must have been through one of the demon prodigy's group training sessions.
In a vain attempt to ease the bellhop's fears Dazai smiles and walks towards the back of the elevator. It doesn't do much as the man recoils further into the corner siding eyeing the whole two minute trip up. The pleasant chime indicating his floor is up nearly makes the man jump out of his skin.
"Well have a nice day!" Dazai chirps, giving him a polite wave goodbye as he skips off. The other man doesn't take his eyes off Dazai until the elevator closes behind him. Wonder if he's going to take a break after that? Or maybe ask to go home early?
While he's wondering about whether or not the bellhop is going to be there later, a couple of little kids get the best of him. Not expecting it, he walks into Mori's office. Right into Chuuya and Elise armed with buckets of black paint.
"Oi, Chibi, finally make friends with someone your own age?" Dazai asks, amused by how short the redhead's fuse already was. Oh he's going to have fun being back.
"Stupid-," Elise cuts Chuuya off, "As if! I needed someone to help me destroy that tacky coat of yours!"
She squishes her face up in disgust and stomps her feet. "How dare you wear such a thing in my presence!?"
Right, Dostoyevsky did try to kill Mori. More than once now that he's thinking about it.
"Elise dear, play nice we just got him back," Mori chimes from his desk. A slight hint of a smirk behind the parental chaste.
Dazai makes a point of ignoring the man in favor of fueling Elise's spoiled nature.
"Since the paint is still wet how about you make it look more to your liking than?" He says, slipping off his coat and offering it to her.
There's an exaggerated sigh from across the room. "Please don't encourage her."
He smiles as the young girl's eyes light up with mischief. She latches onto Chuuya's arm with all the seriousness of a child demanding a toy from its parent while they're shopping.
"Come on, I need someone to help me fix this awful thing."
"Boss?" Chuuya whines, trying to pry his arm back with no luck. He practically tries to shake her off.
"Thank you for volunteering to look after my dear Elise Chuuya," Mori replies leaving no room for denial.
The redhead fails to suppress an annoyed twitch before he storms out of the room.
The scene would inspire awe in anyone else. Someone like Kunidaka would never think a murderous criminal organization could be so domestic. Someone like that doesn't understand they're all still humans capable of good and bad. Human's will do unspeakable things if it means protecting the people closest to them. Mori makes a good case for this. First and foremost the man has always been a doctor but one with an odd lust for power. Though he doesn't seem to care about much other than keeping the Port Mafia from falling apart and the city from falling into chaos. A necessary evil.
"Aww but I want to insult chibi some more!" Dazai whines. The thick wooden door behind him shakes from Chuuya trying to come back in to strangle him. Likely being held back by Elise and who else is out there.
"Maybe I shouldn't have been so insistent on having you back," Mori sighs, putting his head in one head. "You two always had a habit of destroying my office."
"I'm hurt! I thought you wanted me back," Dazai replies with a hand dramatically placed over his heart. His voice is a little too high pitched to be sincere.
The godfather of the Port Mafia takes a deep breath and leans back into his chair. Shoulders back in resignation. Eyes alight with something akin to fondness and regret. Mori cuts right to the point.
"You know I've always understood how you felt about Oda, back then and now."
Dazai frowns and approaches the desk with caution. He expected the topic to come up eventually but not right off the bat.
Mori sighs again and stands up facing away from him and out the large window overlooking the city.
"Do you know why Elise looks the way she does?" He asks looking back at Dazai knowing his former protégé doesn't have an answer for that. He turns back to the window after Dazai confirms the thought with silence.
"Once upon a time I had a lovely wife and daughter," the man starts and gestures for Dazai to join him.
"Long before I'd meet either Yosana or Fukuzawa."
Mori reaches out for his reflection. Dazai knows he's seeing someone else there so doesn't remark on the odd action. Mori's hand curls into a tight fist as he continues.
"I found them bleeding out on the floor of my clinic. My daughter had already passed on from blood loss," He stares at the floor. Long hair making it hard for Dazai to make out what's going on in his boss' head.
"My wife bleed out in my arms. Despite my extensive medical knowledge there wasn't anything I could do to stop the light from fading out of her eyes."
He pauses to take a breath and resumes, "In my despair I joined the military hoping to find the kind of connections that would help me figure out who was responsible."
A self deprecating and cruel laughter erupts out of him and turns to Dazai with a crazed look in his eyes.
"It took gaining power in the Port Mafia though to find out the person who murdered my family was just some nobody who didn't like the idea of a neutral clinic."
Briefly Dazai wonders if Elise dragged Chuuya out of the room on purpose. She is an extension of Mori after all. He wants the conversation to stay between us Dazai thinks while he watches the other man's face go neutral again.
"After years of wanting revenge I found out the man had been kicked from his gang for the attack and had taken that as a sign to redirect his life."
A bitter smile makes its way onto Mori's along with a few wrinkles making his usually youthful face look as old as he really is.
"I looked into his life. The man had started working as a nurse before getting in a deadly car accident months prior."
Coming to the end of his story Mori straightens up and turns towards him. Bitter smile shifting closer to something bittersweet. With a slight jovial tone as cover he finishes. "I'm glad you spiraled in a different direction than I did. I don't think Yokohama would have survived otherwise."
Without skipping a beat Dazai points out the one thing Mori didn't explain, "What does that have to do with Elise?"
"Ah right, Elise had always been something of an older sister to my daughter. Even taking on an older appearance so she could watch over her while her mother and I were busy," He explains with the fond glint back in his eyes.
It's not an apology or an excuse but it is an olive branch. A layered peace offering between two flawed humans in the form of understanding.
Mori's done unspeakable things for a reason. A good one from his own perspective. While Dazai's been doing good for selfish and personal reasons. Oda was right when he said good and evil don't matter to him, all Dazai wants is something to fill the void.
Yeah, someone like Kunidaka would never understand how human the people around him are if he keeps being rigid about his ideology.
Dazai laughs and decides to light things up. "Oh you have no idea the chaos I wanted to cause back then! I would have killed you, taken control and then been too lazy to run things properly!"
"I was surprised you didn't," Mori's lips curl up in a smirk before he repeats Dazai's words back at him. "Evil expects evil does it not?"
The veiled acknowledgement that one day Dazai will in fact murder him for control of the mafia. A twisted right of passage.
"Of course," Dazai replies with a matching smirk. I will murder you one day though out of respect rather than cold blood.
It's nothing personal. It wouldn't even be revenge at this point. Painful as it is, Dazai understands Mori's line of thought with his action back then. What was one person's life to a large portion of the mafia's protection? Other members wanting a relatively normal life would be able to function without fear of the police or government coming for them. Though he can't be sure whether or not Mori knew about the orphans or if that was the call of another member. It doesn't matter. Sacrifices are necessary, evil or not. That weight would always be on Mori.
One day he'll have to bear a similar burden.
"A leader is first a servant."
TTYL Dear Cabbages lol finally found the line break option
3/3