After hanging up with Mori, Dazai fell into silence. He was thinking about all the possible ways to save Ranpo. The others stared at him, feeling equally helpless.
"Taking it out on Ranpo-san is really low," Atsushi finally said, clenching his fists.
His colleagues nodded in silence, angrily.
Yosano placed a hand on Dazai's shoulder. "It's time to get some rest now. Doctor's order. We'll come up with something."
The woman motioned for the others to leave the room. She reached for the IV in Dazai's right arm and pulled out a syringe from the pockets of her blouse.
She said, "That should help you rest." as she injected him with painkillers.
His colleague's silence prompted her to put a comforting hand on his arm before leaving.
In the conference room, his colleagues were already in discussion. Yosano pulled out a chair and sank into it.
"Going against the Port mafia could be risky as we are." said Kunikida, arms crossed, eyebrows frowning. "They may be weakened but so are we."
"Sh-should we go against the Eu-European then...?" asked Tanizaki, frightened by this idea.
"We are still seen as terrorists, thanks to that monster. And we failed to retrieve the book." Yosano said with a sigh.
"But wouldn't attacking the Europeans just make us the bad guys...?"
The group turned to Atsushi who had just said those words. They were at a loss for words. They were worried about Ranpo, but they also had their hands tied.
Fyodor slowly opened his eyes. He blinked several times, surprised to still be alive. To his right, he saw Nikolai watching him in silence, smiling.
"You're finally awake, my dear friend!!" pronounced the masked man.
Fyodor slowly turned his head towards him.
"How are you still alive?" Nikolai asked after a moment, all smiles but with an evil look in his eyes.
"You tell me." simply replied his friend.
The two men stared at each other for a long moment. Then, Fyodor looked at the ceiling again and confessed, "I found our purging god."
Both men smirked.
Ranpo was unsure where the Port Mafia boss wanted to take him in this underground maze. He walked along humming, giving a few happy looks to the little blonde beside him. After a while, she had a tantrum. She was tired of walking. The intimidating doctor leaned down to her and apologized sincerely. He then took her in his arms.
Ranpo was also exhausted from walking after this endless day. He would have liked someone to carry him too. He looked around him, apart from Mori and the little girl, there was only the shy mafioso who followed them in silence. He turned around with a sigh, under Gin's confused gaze.
After a long time, they arrived in front of several closed military grade steel doors. The detective no longer had any doubts about where he was and what he was going to find on the other side of this door. His heart was pounding in his temples.
Mori seemed to guess the feeling inside him as he turned to him, smirking, and opened the door. On the other side, tied to the wall with chains, faces swollen with bruises, clothes in tatters... Fukuchi.
Gin forced Ranpo into the cell before closing behind them.
"We tried to get information about the Decay of Angels from him, but he didn't say a word." Mori said, dropping Elise down. "We offered him a softer and shorter program but he still persists in remaining silent."
"He knows you're lying, Rintaro." replied the girl before Ranpo. "Port mafia intends to torture him as long and painfully as possible."
Mori gave her a grim smile "You are quite right, Elise-chan." Then he turned to Ranpo. "So I would like your help, Mr. Great Detective."
The detective did not react immediately. He had always used his gift for ADA since he had met Fukuzawa. So he had great resistance to using it for evil. However, he called himself back to order. By making his pact with the Port Mafia, he had considered this possibility. So, in silence, he took out his glasses and got ready to put them on.
A hand rapidly grabbed the glasses and snatched them from Ranpo's hands. The detective watched dazedly as Gin handed his glasses to her boss who held out his hand.
"In the Port mafia, we have another way of making people speak." Mori pointed to the table to his right. Several torture tools made up the contents of the table. "I want to make sure you're ready to become one of us. It would be a waste otherwise."
In silence, Fukuchi looked between Ranpo and Mori. He clenched his teeth. He would have liked to say a lot of things, but he refused to please the boss of Port Mafia. The situation amused him. He knew Fukuzawa's assistant was harmless. Without his gift, Fukuchi would have considered Ranpo a mere child.
The detective approached the table slowly. He examined the tools for a moment. Inside him, his heart was beating hard. He swallowed his saliva and reached for a knife.
Under Mori's fascinated gaze, Ranpo turned to Fukuchi, knife in hand. The prisoner let out a mocking laugh seeing him do it. In the detective's head, fresh memories came back to him of all the suffering that this monster had caused to his friends. With an impulsive movement, he planted the knife in Fukuchi's thigh. He did not let go of his pressure, despite the cry of surprise from his victim. Ranpo was frozen in place. His eyes stared at the blood running down the blade, gliding down to his hands. He found himself begging Fukuzawa to come save him.
Mori smirked.
Voices came to him from the depths. He was beginning to regain consciousness, with difficulty. His whole body was heavy and painful. He just wanted to keep sleeping. But, the voices were getting closer, disturbing him.
Chuuya weakly opened his eyes. His vision was blurred. So he paid attention to the sensations in his body. The exercise required a lot of mental effort from him. However, he was able to conclude that he was potentially badly injured, lying on concrete and held down by chains. He groaned weakly, feeling his consciousness slip away again.
Just before losing consciousness, he heard a familiar voice.
"It's been a while, Chuuya Nakahara."
