Leafing Through The Pages, I Found You

Summary: An Ability traps the ADA certain PM members in an illusion that shows them Dazai's life, before and as he became the man they know today.

9-10yo

The watching audience was quiet after that touching homecoming as the world shifted again, not really knowing what else to expect after all that they've seen so far. To many, just learning about the truth behind the origins of Suribachi City seemed overwhelming, but they haven't even reached the half-point of Dazai's life yet. And as curious as any of them had ever been about the mysterious enigma of a man, none of them could say they didn't dread what else they might see.

After all, little Shuuji, though similar to Dazai and clearly being him, lacked that certain look in his eyes that they knew their resident suicidal maniac to possess. Or rather, there was still something similar to a light in his eyes that was today mostly only artificial or absent completely. They did not really want to know what caused that little bit of light to completely get extinguished, but they had a feeling they would, anyways, and that they had no say in it. Whatever had brought them here and was showing them all of this was clearly beyond their control. Not even Ranpo was entirely sure how it worked. The only thing he could tell them was that they can leave only if this thing runs its course or if Dazai nullifies it.

But they had no idea how time ran in here compared to the real world, so they could be hear for some time yet, but the time in the real world could be standing still, so to speak. They could only hope that was not the case.

"It's starting again," Akutagawa commented needlessly when the colors stopped again, once more revealing the Tsushima manor. Little Shuuji who was not so little anymore, really, looked to be a bit older than the last vision and the calendar on the library's work-desk showed that it's been about a year since the Suribachi incident. He was going through what looked like finance records of the manor, sorting bills and funding for projects around his hometown and going through mail sent to him by his aunt Kiye, who was in charge of Tsushima Copr until Shuuji comes of age, giving him status reports dutifully despite not being obliged to do so. Gentle blues music was playing from an old fashioned gramophone, a well-cared for record spinning under its polished needle, even as, through the window, you could hear Chibi's vicious barking, someone's wailing for help followed by a single gunshot.

Matsuki entered the library soon afterwards with a tray of tea and some snacks for Shuuji, going over all the reports with a critical eye and making a pleased sound when he noticed everything was done flawlessly. It was perhaps not the most conventional way to educate a child, but it has been known for years that Shuuji was incredibly clever. Tane had ended up needing to hire him special tutors because the teachers from the local school simply could not keep up with Shuuji's speed of devouring information, running out of lesson plans in a couple of months. Tane refused to put pressure on her baby by making him skip grades and she refused to keep him in the school because kids started picking on him for looking so delicate and always preferring books over playing with the other kids since they bored him. The tutors had suitably challenged Shuuji's swift learning capabilities and often found the boy a delight to teach.

However, since his parents' deaths, they felt uncomfortably teaching him, fearing they might be pushing a grieving orphan. Shuuji quickly got bored of their coddling and dismissed them. While he greatly missed his parents and feared the day he will no longer remember the sound of their voices, he was not crippled by this feeling that might be some muted form of grief. It differed from the descriptions of it that he'd read about and he often wondered what that said about him, but regardless of everything, not being properly intellectually stimulated left him extremely bored, something he'd complained to Matsuki about.

Thankfully, Matsuki had just the thing: not only did he tutor the boy, he also left the house managing tasks to him, taxes and finances and continuing the charity work Tane and Gen'emon had started for their local community, on top of giving him access to all the books his parents' had collected and getting him even more on various subjects. Shuuji rarely needed instructing other than the things he reads, which was both impressive and a bit intimidating from such a young child.

"Chibi sure is loud," Shuuji commented as he accepted his tea with thanks, taking a slow sip to enjoy the aroma and the heat. It seemed to be winter, the grounds around the manor covered in snow. "The guards also seem to be doing a good job."

"Chibi will always be vicious with whoever comes here bearing ill intentions, Bocchan," Matsuki replied easily, ignoring the slight glare Shuuji gave him at being so formal again. "The guards are well trained, well payed, with great benefits and their patrols are well planned out, as you know, having drafted it yourself."

"Well, that sure does explain Dazai's ease with taking on certain assignments and duties you gave him, Ougai-dono," Kouyou commented while Kunikida was wailing about Dazai's laziness somewhere in the background from the moment he saw the child dutifully doing his paperwork.

"Yes, he always did seem very comfortable giving orders," the aforementioned doctor hummed.

"I can't believe Dazai-san lived around such a vicious dog," Akutagawa said, a little bit in awe, a little bit disgusted. Kyouka wasn't feeling very well after hearing Chibi hunting down that intruder, either, especially when the dog came around and sat in front of the windows again, the fur around its mouth and snout a little bloody even as Chibi wagged his tail.

"Do you not like dogs or something?" Kenji innocently asked, tilting his head with huge eyes trained on the black haired boy.

"I loathe them, and so does Dazai-san."

"Really? I just thought he likes playing with them in weird ways," Atsushi retorted, to which Akutagawa gave him a disgusted sneer at knowing and understanding their mentor so little.

"That may be true, Matsuki-san, but anyone can be bought, for the right price," Shuuji returned, to which Matsuki frowned. "Don't worry, Matsuki-san, I know that the 'right price' for you would be if it's the only way to save my life."

"I still do not like the implications you made, Bocchan."

"Does Dazai-san really think that?" Kyouka asked, feeling a bit hurt, because she had thought Dazai trusted them, the Armed Detective Agency, but she also remembered the way he would go off and do his own thing without telling them anything, even if it ended with him captured and/or injured.

"I'm sure Dazai learned some things about loyalty," Fukuzawa tried to reassure her, but even he was not sure. He'd have to have a word with Dazai regarding this.

Shuuji shrugged at his caretaker slash servant slash tutor slash advisor slash closest personal bodyguard, putting his work away and just leaning back in the chair, closing his eyes. He looked tired. In fact, he was starting to get the look on his face befitting of the Dazai they knew, the insomniac and picky eater. He still had a lot of baby-fat on his face, since he was still so young, but he seems to have lost weight in the year he'd been orphaned. He still seemed healthy, though, and the manor seemed peaceful and pristine, despite the attack that had just occurred. "When will my uncle and Bunji be arriving? I really don't feel like dealing with them today, but they've actually made an appointment so I can't just brush them off the way I usually do."

"I'm afraid they should be arriving within the hour," Matsuki replied with a sigh, seeming just as exhausted as Shuuji at the prospect of dealing with the two men. "Really, I don't understand why it's so hard for them to comprehend that you do not wish to integrate this manor into the Tsushima family's possession. It was never anyone else's but yours and your parents'. In fact, the servants living here technically have more claim to it than they ever did."

"I don't know what to tell you, Matsuki-san. Humans are confusing like that."

It was at that moment that a female servant came to inform them their guests were being let in at the gate, causing both boy and his servant to sigh in shared exasperation that made one believe Matsuki might be more family to Shuuji than the people coming to visit him.

"I don't like this," Kyouka said quietly. "Every time any of the other Tsushimas were shown, nothing good happened."

"She's not wrong," Tanizaki commented hesitantly. "I also don't think this will end well."

"Just look at how alert Chibi is," Hirotsu said with a frown while Chuuya still had to stifle his instinctive reaction to bristle at the nickname Dazai usually referred to him by.

And indeed, the dog was not pleased by the visitors, either, having stood up and staring attentively in the direction of the gate. Matsuki and Shuuji noticed this, too, and Matsuki told Shuuji to stay in the library, locking the door behind him. Shuuji frowned and pressed a button underneath the desk, causing shutters to start closing over the windows. Shuuji jogged over to one of the windows that was actually a door and called Chibi in before the shutters closed. Seconds before they did, after Chibi was safe inside, a hail of bullets rained down on them, ricocheting against the defense and making Chibi startle, bark and growl as the dog put himself in front of Shuuji protectively. Shuuji just reached for the phone on the work desk and tried to call but the line was dead, probably cut from the getgo.

"Fuck," cursed Tachihara, watching as more and more bullets rained down on the protected windows, more gunfire heard coming from outside but not aimed at Shuuji's hiding spot. Chibi was at this point rumbling like an engine but Shuuji was mostly unaffected. He didn't seem scared at all, though he did seem worried.

'Is Matsuki-san alright? Have the servants made it to the safe rooms? Was the alarm triggered, for the police to get here? I need to get to the satellite phone!'

"No, he should just stay in there," hissed Kouyou, watching with a rare show of panic on her face as Shuuji came up to the doors and, with practices ease, picked the lock. Chibi followed him like the loyal dog he was, though he had tried to at first tug him away from the door but an order from Shuuji had him ceasing at once. "That lad always had a way of complicating things more than they ever should be."

"At least we know he survives this, right?" Tachihara said jokingly but Kouyou and Hirotsu don't find it funny. Well, no one does, but those two look to Mori who shakes his head.

"I found Dazai-kun when he was fourteen, after a failed suicide attempt. This is too early for us to meet. I was probably still on the front-lines when this happened."

"I don't want to imagine you with a nine year old Dazai," Yosano saidwith a venomous glare at the former military doctor, who was only amused by her animosity.

Once Shuuji was out of the library, a chilling sight met them: hallways full of dead bodies, some of the manor's servants, others of the security personnel he'd hired and then there were the invaders, dressed in pressed black suits and ties, some with black sunglasses on despite it being cloudy outside. Shuuji didn't even need to go through any of their pockets for identifying objects to realize these people were no doubt gunmen from the Port Mafia. His uncle and cousin really had come to kill him in order to claim the estate and his parents' company. The gunfire was also louder outside of the library and going back inside would be useless now, as Shuuji did not have a key.

But he hadn't left the room just because he didn't know how to avoid danger; quite the opposite, actually. That room could more certainly be his tomb if he stayed in there. After all, normal security measures meant nothing to ability users.

"His uncle and cousin were Ability users?" Kunikida asked with dread, pallor going near white as he realized that these people had not stood a single chance.

"Fuck," Chuuya cursed, running a hand through his hair in a display of stress. Sure, he knows his partner came out of this situation alive, but there's no way these events didn't affect him. He was just a child, for fuck's sake! Even Chuuya hadn't been exposed to death for the Sheep in his first year with them. Killing had only become necessary when larger gangs tried to take them out.

"Where is he going now?" Akutagawa asked as Dazai-to-be took down the halls like hell hounds were on his heels. Chibi ran after him, not barking for once, but the dog's steps were far louder than Shuuji's socked feet. The little brunet seemed to be heading towards where all the fighting was going on, stealthily avoiding a few grunts who'd survived their gunfight and were instead either looting what they could or searching for survivors and, no doubt, Shuuji. At this point, the youngest Tsushima in the residence was sure none of his servants or bodyguards were alive. He had been keeping a mental count and he'd found eighteen on his way so far. The other dozen remaining were unlikely to have met a kinder fate. Who he worried about, though, was Matsuki.

Not because he was special, but because he was explicitly loyal to this little branch of the Tsushima family. His sole loyalty was to Shuuji and Shuuji alone as of last year and the other Tsushimas knew this. It's why they'd definitely torture him, even if it's just for fun. But it won't be just for fun; Matsuki managed this estate and all the finances that went into it. He was practically Shuuji's main legal guardian, with his aunt Kiye coming in second. Kiye was too valuable to kill but Matsuki still had access to a lot of the inheritance Shuuji was supposed to get upon becoming of legal age. He had legal power they would want.

Matsuki was as in much danger as Shuuji was and Shuuji wasn't leaving him to that fate.

He was, however, too late.

Down in the foyer, he watched as Matsuki's head was enveloped in a sphere of water and he was waterboarded by none other than Bunji's Ability while his uncle stood to the side and watched, clearly waiting for the old man to give in. When it became clear he'd rather drown than betray his young master, Bunji let him go, only for the uncle to put three bullets in him. Matsuki took those bullets with grace even as he crumbled to the floor, barely letting out a single sound, but it was at that moment that he caught sight of Shuuji. The noise he released then, a mix of warning and panic, alerted the two elder Tsushimas of Shuuji's presence.

"Run, you idiot!" Yosano and Kunikida yelled at the same time as Shuuji's relatives smiled cruely upon seeing him.

"Well, well, well! Look who we have here! Little Tsushima-dono himself, hm?" Bunji mocked. "You know, I actually liked Tane-san. She was a good aunt. But the biggest mistake she made in her life was having you. I can't believe Gen'emon-san was so stupid, too. He should have stayed. He would have been great. Maybe even the next boss. Ojii-san sure liked him enough."

"Shut up, Bunji. We're not here to taunt a brat," the uncle snapped as he started walking towards the boy. "We're here to rectify the mistake that cost my sister her life. Sue, she was annoying, but she was still my imotou. She shouldn't have died for you to live. But I'll make sure her real legacy lives on, as soon as I get rid of y-"

Chibi, who had been behind Shuuji, upon seeing the man come too close and start raising the gun again, lunged, knocking the Tsushima to the ground with a bloody, unrelenting grip on his arm, making him release the gun. It slid across the room and even shot once, since the safety was off, but that was hardly the most horrifying sound echoing the room. No, it was the sound of Chibi's snarls turning into whimpers of pain as the uncle's free hand released fire as he tried to pry the dog off of him. Chibi still did not let go, even as fur and skin burned. Bunji looked to be rather queasy as the scent hit him but Shuuji was staring with wide, horrified eyes as Chibi stopped whimpering and lost his grip, in too much pain or maybe no longer conscious enough to hold on. The uncle kicked the dog off of him, sending it flying in the same direction the gun had gone. There was a sickening snap as the injured canine hit the floor, but not even a whimper from the dog.

"CHIBI!" Shuuji yelled, the first sound of desperation they heard from the boy as he ran for his loyal pet. Thankfully, both older Tsushimas were too busy with trying to tend to the uncle's bleeding and burned arm, since it didn't seem he was impervious to the heat of his own Ability. Shuuji dropped to the German Shepard's side and shaky hands hesitantly touched his face and head. Thankfully, he had landed on his injured side so the child wasn't exposed to all that gore, but the dog was no doubt gone, having fought to the end to protect its young master. "You stupid dog! Why did you have to do that!" Shuuji berated harshly, voice hoarse, and though no tears graced his face, there was pain in his usually dull eyes. His hands were painfully gentle as he pet the dog like he only ever had once before and he regretted, oh how he regretted, not doing it more often.

His late parents' voices rang in his head more clearly than he's been able to remember them in months.

"... you really should try being a bit more open to Chibi, you know? He really likes you."

"... he's only trying to protect you."

"You did great, Chibi. You can rest now."

More than one person was openly and more or less shamelessly sobbing as they watched Shuuji close the dog's eyes and mouth so it didn't look like it was in pain in its last moments, petting it one last time before retracting his small, pale hand away and accepting that he had just lost the last tatters he had to his parents' memories. Atsushi, Naomi, Tanizaki, Kunikida, Kenji and Higuchi fit this group of people. Another part of the watching audience turned their head away, trying to act tough in the face of such sorrow rarely displayed by the man Dazai Osamu has become. This group consisted of Gin, Kouyou, Tachihara, Yosano and Fukuzawa. They may or may not have wiped a few tears away. Akutagawa, Kyouka, Ranpo, Hirotsu, Mori and especially Chuuya, though, watched each moment play out, honoring it for it had given them the precious person they met later in life.

Chuuya, Ranpo and Akutagawa just wondered how Dazai had come to hate dogs so much later on when it was clear he had become fond of Chibi.

The emotional moment was cut short when Shuuji spoke his next words. "I'll take care of the enemy." Before anyone could panic about the idiocy of such a thought, the air caught in their throats upon seeing Shuuji's eyes. Even more so than in that hospital room as he stared Kashimura down, these were the eyes of the Demon Prodigy the Port Mafia had come to know. No, it was even worse than that.

By the time Dazai received any nickname in the Mafia, including his title of the wraith, he'd found some things that made life bearable living through another day. As the Demon Prodigy, he'd had two friends and a partner he could rely on. Instead, these were the enraged version of the eyes Mori and Chuuya had witnessed when Dazai was fifteen and just wanted to end it all.

It was quite possibly even scarier than the Demon Prodigy's enraged gaze.

Akutagawa almost agreed.

"Just go deal with the brat," the uncle snapped at that moment and Bunji begrudgingly walked over to where Shuuji was still kneeling by Chibi's side, brumging all the while under his breath about how the older Tsushima was losing his edge in his old age and that clearly Bunji deserved the most spoils from their raid.

"Time to meet your parents, brat. Have a nice trip to the pearly gates-AAAAAHHHHHHHH!" His taunt was cut off by a scream as Shuuji twisted the second Bunji was within range and grab his knee in a specific way so that he pulled and pushed at the same time, dislocating his cousin's knee in one practiced move. Clearly, the self defense lessons with Matsuki, a former Military Police officer, have more than come in handy, because in the next second, Shuuji had the discarded gun from earlier in one hand and an impressive choke-hold around Bunji's neck with the other, gun pressed to his temple when the uncle jumped to his feet to save him.

"You rat!" Hissed the eldest Tsushima, but he didn't dare move when Shuuji demonstrated he knew how the safety system worked, therefore knowing he can kill Bunji by pulling the trigger. "You think you can win against us? And our men? Don't kid yourself, runt! I'm a Mafia Executive!"

"If you care for your crotch goblin at all, you will do exactly as I say and I'll let him live," Shuuji said in a cold voice, too high to match the one he uses these days when striking serious negotiations or when threatening slash blackmailing an enemy or reluctant ally, but matching it in tone perfectly. The atmosphere in the foyer had fallen so quickly and the freezing feeling in the air had nothing to do with the open doors that were letting the winter air and snow in. It's why no one could really find it in themselves to be amused at the term Shuuji had used to describe his cousin. "I want you to use your Ability to set the manor on fire. Right now."

"Are you mad!?"

"Just do it," grumbled Bunji through grit teeth, who didn't dare to move as he valued his own life too much. Not to mention that one of his legs was utterly fucked up so he wouldn't really be able to do much, anyways. He couldn't even get up! "I'll put it out, no problem!"

"They don't know about his Ability," Akutagawa voiced everyone's realization with a vicious look on his face.

And as was observed, the uncle believed Bunji would be able to stop the spread of the fire. Except No Longer Human is always active, allowing Shuuji to very easily prevent Bunji from following his part of the 'deal'. The fire spread quickly and there were panicked yells from further within the house. Shuuji kept an ear out, just in case, but upon not recognizing a single voice, he took out a 'panic' switch and pressed the button, sealing off all spaces in the house. Doors, windows, vent, even the chimney. The only place not sealed off was the front door since it seems that the hooligans accompanying his two unpleasant guests damaged the sensors when they blasted through.

Bunji and the uncle were now starting to panic, as the fire had really spread out and was moving towards the only remaining exit. Bunji was especially panicked as his Ability wasn't working for, to him, an unfathomable reason. The uncle was yelling at Bunji to do something but froze the second he caught the look on Shuuji's face. Chuuya could only describe it as the same deranged smile he'd seen on Dazai's face when he'd kept shooting that GSS soldier despite the man already having died from the first bullet. The eldest Tsushima present seems to be having war flashbacks to Shuuji's parents and their reputation, because he started backing out and looked ready to bolt.

He didn't get a chance to, because the until then forgotten yet still alive Matsuki jumped him from behind and with a surprising amount of strength remaining in his elderly limbs, he snapped the man's neck, causing him to fall to the floor. Bunji was now really panicking, especially when Matsuki dragged himself on staggering feet to Shuuji, took the gun, covered Shuuji's eyes and shot the elder Tsushima cousin. The blood still sprayed over Shuuji's face and clothes, but he didn't flinch. In fact, he didn't care about the dead bodies at all, instead trying to catch Matsuki, hands aflutter over the gaping bullet wounds in his chest and abdomen.

"Bocchan ... No, Shuuji-kun ... You need to leave," Matsuki said as he started coughing up blood, skin far too pale and cold considering they were in the middle of a burning house. Somewhere further in, you could still hear people begging for their lives, but Shuuji did not release them. It was a question if he even still could. They were left to either die of inhaled smoke, lack of oxygen or burn if they were unlucky enough. "You need to run ... You need to survive ... "

"But you're dying ... "

"There's nothing ... you c-can do about it n-now." Some more coughing. Shuuji brought the older man up into a sitting position but it did not help one bit. "They're dead ... they're all dead ... So you need to survive ... You n-need to l-live ... Before s-someone else c-co-comes to k-kill you-"

"But then I'll die, too, and we'll all supposedly be together aga-"

"No," Matsuki interrupted, bringing a hand up to pet the boy's hair in a way he had never dared do before. It had been improper, but now, it didn't matter anymore. "Letting them kill you is letting them w-win. After ... everything ... y-you can't l-let them have that s-sat-satisfact-ion ... "

"Then someone else can kill me. Or maybe I can kill myse-" Shuuji began but Matsuki was apparently very good at interrupting him, weakly shaking his head no.

"Y-you can't d-die by yourself ... I-it's i-impossible ... "

"Is he ... Is he lying to him?" Gin asked hesitantly, not sure whether she was understanding the whole situation right.

"I don't think they knew how prone to suicidal tendencies Dazai-kun is," Mori answered, the only one not emotionally wrung out from the latest set of visions they were witnessing. Hell, it wasn't even a set of visions. It was just one hellish vision that just doesn't seem to want to end ...

"J-just live ... Shuuji-kun ... Live for us ... and make ... us ... prou ... d ... " Matsuki's hand fell from Shuuji's head, eyes remaining grotesquely open as the manor around them groaned, fire weakening its support beams, threatening to take the whole thing down in one fell swoop. Shuuji remained where he was, hair obscuring his eyes, bent over the caretaker he knew of as a third parent, who was more family than his actual remaining flesh and blood, before he reached up gently and closed the old man's eyes the way he had done with Chibi. Then he stood up, grabbed his deceased caretaker under the armpits and started dragging him out into the cold, leaving a fresh trail of red blood on the snow. Despite it having been disturbed, it was snowing so hard that the tracks left by the invaders were nearly completely covered up in fresh, white powder. It just made the contrast worst.

Once he was sure the body was a safe distance away from the house should it collapse, Shuuji went back inside, despite clearly being tired enough to just fall over and knock out for days on end. They watched with breaking hearts as he carried Chibi out, gently placing the loyal dog next to the loyal servant.

Then, he heeded Matsuki's words, turned and left the estate. Or, tried to. He collapsed maybe a dozen steps from the gates, past the vehicles his now murdered relatives and their cohorts had taken. Luckily, the fire finally caught the locals' attention and someone found Shuuji, calling the emergency responders to put out the fire and send for several ambulances. Shuuji was rushed off to a hospital by the people who found him, in an ordinary car.

The vision did not follow Shuuji to his new hospital room, where he would recover from the heat and the smoke and the overall strain his young body had just went through. Instead, it stayed at the Tsushima manor as it collapsed before firefighters could really do anything about the raging flames. It stayed there as black, nondescript, clearly Mafia owned vehicles showed up on the scene as well, the few police personnel who'd arrived clearly in their pockets as they just let them through.

"Oh, it's going to show this," Hirotsu mused and everyone gawked as the realized one of the mafioso on the scene was none other than a younger Hirotsu himself. He was there with a man around his age who was clearly his field partner, trying to gather information on what had happened.

Hirotsu, though, got distracted by a man who stood out from all the uniforms. He walked over and that was the first time in years Ryurou and Soseki saw each other in person. "And what business might you have here, Soseki-san?"

"It's not a widely known fact, but Gen'emon-bozo and I were friends. Close friends, even. I am his son's godfather."

"Wait, what!?" Everyone, sans Hirotsu himself, exclaimed to Natsume's declaration.

"So you're here for the boy, who supposedly did all this?" Hirotsu asked, eyeing the other man warily.

Natsume just shrugged. "Do you think a nine year old boy could do all of this on his own?"

"If what I've heard about his parents was true," Hirotsu began with a long, deep sigh, itching for a cigarette but refusing to smoke until the job was done. "I wouldn't be surprised."

"It's all true, old friend. Gen'emon-bozo and Tane-chan were the very pinnacle of true mafioso. Yet they chose a peaceful life once they realized they were capable of more than destruction upon falling in love. Shuuji-kun is the result and embodiment of that change of heart. He is all that is left of my dear young friends and I will not let the Mafia get their hands on him."

"That's not up to me," the one with graying hair replied. "I don't even know where the boy is. The paramedics and firemen are a lot harder to bribe when a child's life is at stake than the police."

"That's disturbing," Kunikida commented, glaring at the Mafia members all the while. They all ignored him. He should know by now that their standards for morality are pretty damn low and they didn't care much either way. They were Mafia. How they got information or went about their business in general was not exactly legal or righteous.

Natsume looked away from the sight he'd been observing - the paramedics zipping up Matsuki's body and people debating what to do with the dog's remains - to instead focus on his once partner. "Ryurou-san, do you really think the Mafia is a good place for a child? He's not even ten yet. His parents have carefully kept him away from that lifestyle and have limited his interaction with most of their relatives since everyone wanted one or the other to come back. Or even both. Tsushima Shuuji would be swallowed by the Mafia's darkness far too easily and would either lose himself to it or perish in it."

Hirotsu narrowed his eyes at him. "You seem to care too much for this just to be a favor to your dead friends. What have you done now, Soseki-san?"

The cat shifter had a rather offended expression on his face at this - rightful - accusation. "What makes you think I did anything?"

"You never get involved this much."

Natsume just looked away, back towards the house he'd visited many times in both his forms, mourning the lack of that liveliness in his life, as it will remain for the rest of his days. "I really just don't want Tsushima Shuuji to end up in your Boss' hands. That's all."

"I guess he was telling the truth," the Hirotsu of now grunted, looking tired from just having to watch this. "He didn't want the boy in the old Boss' hands. But I guess none of us realized how much more there was behind it all. We definitely didn't know about No Longer Human back then. I'm not sure even the old Boss knew ... And none of us knew that the boy was created by the Book ... Though, I do wonder if Sensei ever found out?"

"You and Natsume-sensei had a mentor?" Fukuzawa asked, this being the first time he was hearing of such a thing. Sure, there had to have been people who guided and taught the man who would alter do the same for him and Mori, but he'd never thought their mentor had a partner, let alone a specific mentor of his own, too. It was surreal, like a little kid learning their teachers don't actually live in the school they teach at.

Hirotsu looked at him with tired exasperation. "Of course. The creator of the Book itself." At the gasps and gawking and no doubt impending questions, Hirotsu raised a palm in a stopping motion to prevent the overflow of words coming his way. "I don't know much about the Book, let alone it's location or how it's meant to be used. Soseki-san was chosen for the role of keeper and was allowed any means to keep it and this city as its hiding spot safe. As such, Soseki-san had to go into hiding and so we fell out of touch. I would only randomly see him every now and then, to this day. In fact, I think the last time I saw Soseki-san was a couple of weeks after Dazai-kun left the Mafia."

"That would make sense, if you were friends and he knew you were fond of the lad," Kouyou said with a small smile to one of the few men she could genuinely and wholly respect in the Mafia. It didn't take a genius to get what she was saying, even if it was vague. Hirotsu just nodded, now that he knows of Dazai's connection with his old work partner, it made sense. Though, did those two ever really meet or have a proper conversation? Hirotsu was itching to find out.

After all, it was extremely rare Natsume faced someone of equal intelligence and cunning. And, well, he's interested to see if Natsume could keep up with Dazai.

The scene shifted, though only in location, not really in time. Instead of the now burned down Tsushima manor, they were, yet again, in a hospital room housing Tsushima Shuuji. If one counts the day he was born, this would be the third time they were seeing him in a hospital and it would hardly be the last, considering Dazai's lifestyle. Unlike his family home, which was the only other location shown the same amount of time so far, which was now forever gone. It's a very depressing realization to come to and they all wondered how Shuuji would react now that it was all over.

Instead of Shuuji, though, the first person they really see is the old Mafia Boss himself, gazing into the room where an unconscious Shuuji was hooked up to various instruments that helped his lungs heal from the smoke. A doctor was reading a report off of a clipboard to the old man, but his gold eyes were trained on the little brunet with a complicated look. as if sensing the intense scrutiny, the boy wakes up, slowly and groggily, but it seems he quickly realizes where he is and sits up before nurses could rush in to reassure him he was safe. He's almost off of the bed by the time they try to push him back, but as soon as one touches him, he takes a pen from their pocket and stabs them with it to the throat. Screams accompany the spilled blood and male nurses and security rush to the scene all the while the old Boss watches with wide eyes as Shuuji frees himself from the IV and other various tubes and cables, trying and mostly successfully evading the reaching hands trying to grab and restrain him. He breaks one more arm and dislocates one more knee before he catches sight of his grandfather, the surprise of it shocking him still just long enough for a big male nurse to carefully but firmly grab him, safely lifting him into the air for others to restrain his limbs so someone could inject a sedative. With all the adrenaline pumping through his little body, it takes twice the dosage to finally pull him under and for him to go limp in the nurses' hold.

All the while, the old Boss watches with a sick sort of glee as he realized he had been right all along; Shuuji was exactly too much like Tane and Gen'emon. His ability to survive an attack that killed over seventy other people, including two Ability users, had been proof enough, already, as well as the intelligence he had displayed since a young age. But seeing him in action ...

"I'm signing his release form," he told the doctor who tried to reassure him this didn't usually happen and that the treatment wasn't harmful to the boy, causing the woman to shut up. She didn't dare protest, not when she saw the crazy gleam in his eyes.