Leafing Through The Pages, I Found You
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.
15yo
"Well, that was ... interesting," Higuchi commented awkwardly as the visions shifted, fastforwarding a few hours, even though Shirase's words about Chuuya's lack of family or friends outside the Sheep still echoed in their ears.
"And I thought mine and Akutagawa's first meeting was tense," Atsushi tried to joke but it fell a little flat to his ears.
Chuuya, though, wasn't nearly as affected by it all as he thought he'd be. The memories seemed far more painful than actually watching these events from an outsider's perspective. Or perhaps just Dazai's perspective, because it was easy to go along with his indignation, his rage, apparently, at the way Chuuya was treated by people he lumped into the same category as his distasteful elder cousin.
"So we will see how Mr Fancy Hat joined the mafia," Ranpo half-asked, half-commented, tsking at the lack of snacks he could munch on as he just knew things were only going to get even more interesting.
"I always did wonder that, actually," Tachihara commented. "Like, Chuuya-san is strong and charismatic enough to be a leader of his own organization, so how did he end up in the Mafia?"
"Careful, idiot," Gin hissed.
Chuuya shook his head. "The last thing I want to be is a leader of an organization. Least of all the Port Mafia."
"I don't know whether to feel relieved or offended by that," admitted the current leader of the Port Mafia.
Chuuya just shrugged. "I know some people think I'd be good for the position, but honestly, that's too much stress and too many restrictions on my movements. I can't protect others if they're all dead-set on protecting me. Besides," he shrugged again. "The Port Mafia as it stands is a product of shitty Dazai's work-"
"Is this about the jewel trade?" Mori asked, exasperated. "The Port Mafia is not Dazai-kun's leftovers!"
The fedora-adorer snorted. "No, it's nothing like that. I meant that the Port Mafia as it is can't be run by just anyone. Even you're struggling sometimes, Boss. I'd probably go crazy and anyone else would die under the workload twice over."
Mori sweatdropped at that. "I suppose you are correct ... "
"It' can't be that bad," Fukuzawa said with a frown. He runs a much smaller organization, therefore a whole lot more work passed through his hands since there's only so much that can be delegated onto the rest of his employees.
There was a crazed look in Mori's eyes as he turned to face his former partner. "Oh, I hope it shows the demon Dazai-kun was. You deserve the trauma even more than we do, it seems, doubting Dazai-kun like that." The rest of the Port Mafia who had been present for Dazai's reign of terror collectively shuddered as they recalled that time.
"Never was I more sure Ougai-dono was indeed a masochist than after he left Dazai-kun in charge."
Yosano arched an eyebrow at Kouyou. "Surely it can't be that bad?"
"Famous last words," muttered Hirotsu as the vision finally settled.
It left them all blinking in confusion, even Chuuya, who had actually been there to see the leftovers of this event.
The vision started off by showing Natsume in cat form yawning inside an abandoned warehouse, feline eyes trained flawlessly on the windows of what used to be an office but was now acting as space for a ... party? Dazai and Randou were there, the teen directing the long haired Ability user as they decorated, with streamers and banners that bore messages of congratulations for Chuuya leaving the Sheep. Dazai sure did go all out with the celebrations. Randou seemed to think so, too, but he was both wary and kind of amused by the teenager's 'excitement' about this party and what it will stand for.
"Oh my god, he did the hand and chin thing even as a kid," Kunikida groaned while Atsushi chuckled, happy to see that his mentor had had at least a few somewhat happy moments in his childhood, that the Dazai of then and the Dazai of now were, indeed, the same people.
"I'm not familiar with what the young people are into, but," Randou sweatdropped as he peeled away a rug to reveal the trap underneath. "I'm pretty sure a pitfall is not one of those things ... "
"WHAT!? OH, I'M GONNA KILL HIM THE NEXT TIME I GET MY HANDS ON HIS SCRAWNY NECK!"
"Hehehe, it's not just a pitfall," teen Dazai said gleefully. Chuuya of today paused in his indignation, his bullshit senses tingling. He listened carefully to what this past version of his smarmy partner was saying. "All the members of the Sheep will gather here," he explained, with absolute certainty in his ability to make it happen despite them hating his guts right about now. "And Chuuya, who will be in the middle of all of them will step on here and fall though~ Of course, a trap like that isn't enough to faze someone like Chuuya."
"Glad you figured that out, fucker."
"All he needs to do is kick the floor and come right back up. But to bad~ There's no place to jump off of," Dazai gleefully explained as he waled around the long table in the middle of the room to get to the other head, where he jumped up and took an awkward crouching seat. He looked like a deranged, edgy, emo bird like that. "He'd be like a pond skater at the bottom and I guarantee he would die by drowning~ Even for Chuuya, it would be difficult to escape from the muddy sludge down bellow." Dazai giggled to himself some more, creeping the Agency and Higuchi out. Tachihara was more interested in this 'prank' than anyone should ever be, honestly. "This party's main guest of honor ... While Chuuya-kun is struggling down in the mud bellow, raining from above is twenty kilograms of flour!"
"... I'm sorry, what!?" Even Mori had to yell, all of them gawking as much as Randou was as Dazai explained his 'brilliant plan' for this 'party'.
"At the same time the pitfall opens up, he'll be enveloped in a mass of powdery snow, more than I could consider to be romantic," Dazai 'swooned' and giggled. "Chuuya's gravity manipulation can apply to any physical body he can touch, meaning, because the flour is so refined, it's impossible for him to touch every single particle, so he can't fly out of there. as a result, he'll be so focused on dispelling the particles around his mouth so he doesn't suffocate after somehow managing to breathe, as his only resistance, he'll scream foul names up at me. All while I'm up here, using it as banquet music and eating elegant snacks. Ah~ I'm getting really excited~" He looked over to his companion, secretly amused by the look on his face.
He looked traumatized.
'Adults are just no fun~'
"What's the matter, Randou-san?"
"Ah ... hmm ... That's ... Uh ..."
"I don't blame him," Kouyou muttered as they watched the foreigner try to gather his thoughts after what he heard.
"You're very well suited to being a torturer for the Port Mafia ... " He finally settled on and that gave Dazai pause. Was he? Probably. He had intricate medical knowledge that could easily be used for torture. He's been told his eyes are unsettling. He has no qualms about breaking humans. And driving people mad seemed like a fun way to pass time ... Well, 'fun'. And torture was a way to get information, but did he want to get all dirty on the regular? He'll have to think about that.
"Well, Rimbaud definitely wasn't wrong," Mori and Kouyou wryly commented. "The lad was definitely the only interrogator who always got his victims to talk," the redhead finished, making the Agency shudder.
"Wait, isn't this basically a childish, watered-down version of the plan to take on Verlaine-san?" Hirotsu observed and Mori, Kouyou and Chuuya all titled their heads as they thought about it.
"... Huh. I guess it is. Just with less Ability users and more flour."
"We should have just done this to Verlaine instead," Chuuya grumbled, often getting peeved anytime someone mentioned his brother in the context of what happened when he and Dazai were sixteen.
The vision next showed Randou asking Dazai about his bet with Chuuya and, of course, Dazai revealing the real culprit and how he'd come to his conclusion, confirm the other's own musings from earlier about the sea being the key to his deduction. Randou defended himself by saying Dazai had no proof. Dazai's pretty sure that, at this point, Mori wouldn't even demand it from him to act, just so he'd be an ass to Dazai and prove his 'superiority'. Randou mentioned his bet with Chuuya again and Dazai sighed.
Chuuya flushed in slight embarrassment even before his scream for his dramatic entrance could be heard in the distance, becoming louder the closer he got. Kouyou sent him reprimanding looks for his brashness as he slapped into Randou and catapulted the spy through a couple of walls and glass windows until they both stopped in the main space of the warehouse.
"Do you ever do anything other than screaming, Mr Fancy Hat?" Ranpo teased with a grin, but Chuuya just flipped him the bird, getting indignant reactions from Kunikida and Kouyou for his rude gesture around children.
What followed was another little bicker-fest between partners-to-be, since they both insisted that they had won the bet.
"Sorry, Chuuya-san, but that Dazai guy won," Tachihara said with a sheepish grin and Chuuya snorted.
"Just like every other bet that followed, the bastard."
"Then why do you even keep making bets with him?" Higuchi asked, curious.
"As if I'd ever turn down a challenge from that stinky fish! He'd never let me live it down!"
The scene continued playing in the background, teen Chuuya explaining how he'd figured it out because Randou had been the only one who claimed to have seen Arahabaki itself, not the former Boss during the incident. Randou questioned him if his story was invalid because gods didn't exist.
"It's the opposite," Chuuya corrected, face solemn. "I figured it out because gods do exist. I'm sure of it." Dazai stayed quiet, just listening, wondering if he'll finally find out what the big deal with this Arahabaki is. He just knew it had something to do with Chuuya ... And those experiments eight years ago.
"So you're confident that Arahabaki exists?" Randou questioned, narrowing his eyes at the redhead.
"Yeah. You saw it too, didn't you? Eight years ago. I mean, there's no way you could've given such a precise account otherwise."
'That's true. This also confirms two things. One, Randou-san had, indeed, been there, that night,' Dazai thought, his own eyes narrowing as the only adult present got to his feet from the little crater Chuuya had landed him in.
"Chuuya, I have a question for you. Do you know where Arahabaki is right now? Tell me, boy," he demanded.
Dazai made sure to keep his intonation flat. "If you know, you should tell him." Chuuya grunted, throwing a disgruntled look Dazai's way, but Dazai paid it no mind. "Randou-san is going to be executed for endangering the Port Mafia. So there's no harm in letting him know."
Fifteen year old Chuuya was getting frustrated that even Dazai was pushing this. "Damn it, what the hell is it with everyone? Why does everybody wanna meet that thing? Jeez, it's not like it has the power to revive the dead or something. That thing doesn't have any kind of personality, it doesn't have a mind of its own. It's like a typhoon or an earthquake," he growled, almost to himself, and Dazai was now almost certain.
He just needed confirmation.
'Two, Arahabaki ... '
"It doesn't need to have a personality. It's pure destruction," Randou responded, drawing Chuuya's attention back to him. "Its devastation has no limits. It scorches the earth, it stings the skies and rumbles the air."
Well, Dazai could agree with that description. He remembered very well the reason why he was the only survivor of that event ... Because of No Longer Human.
Only he hadn't been the only one, had he?
No, two others survived, two scientists.
And, of course, one more. Dazai thinks he remembers it now. A yellow light of a cube-like shape ... Yes, just like Randou's Ability.
' ... almost certainly ... '
"This thing from the other side is unfathomable, Chuuya-kun. That power is enough for me."
Liar.
"Where is this thing beyond human comprehension? The thing that burned me alive and left me always feeling so cold."
Chuuya regarded Randou and Dazai regarded Chuuya before the redhead walked over to the man, with slow and steady steps. "I'll tell you if you really wanna know." Randou stayed quiet as Chuuya finally looked up, meeting his eyes. "Arahabaki ... " He began. "Is me."
' ... indeed Nakahara Chuuya.' Dazai still couldn't help but feel just a tiny bit surprised, because this ... This proved one other thing. 'And Nakahara Chuuya ... is him.'
"Chuuya-san, what!?" Screeched Higuchi and Tachihara, while the Agency was too busy gawking to utter a sound. Kenji was practically sparkling at realizing Chuuya was even cooler than he'd thought.
The man himself, though, did not appreciate all that attention. "It's more complicated than that," Chuuya huffed, not meeting anyone's gaze. "Arahabaki or not, I'm still me." He looked back up to the younger version of himself, explaining how he remembered being taken out of the void, Dazai and Randou silently and intently listening to him. "It's something I struggled with for quite a while ... And those two fuckers both had a hand in making me accept that."
"I see," Kouyou mumbled, more to herself than anyone else, even though everyone heard her. "I always did wonder why you respected the traitor so much when he had literally tried to kill you on your third meeting ... I'd say Randou, too, but I get the feeling now's not the time to tease you about your bond with Dazai."
Chuuya rolled his eyes at the joke already made but didn't comment on it, just letting her have her fun. Besides, it's not like the statement really couldn't apply to either of the dark haired individuals he was with that day. 'Fifteen was a crazy time. Sixteen was just plain insane. Everything that followed just became your regular Tuesday.'
"To find answers, I've decided to follow this case," fifteen year old Chuuya said, staring intensely up at Randou. "Tell me everything you know."
The chilled man smiled. "Very well, then. If anyone has a right to know, it's you." As he said this, he started using his Ability, cubes of subspace forming above one hand that he then fired at Chuya, launching him across the warehouse. Dazai whipped around after the other teenager, shocked by the fact Chuuya had gotten hit at all. Not even Hirotsu had managed that.
"Why didn't his gravity stop that attack?" He asked, more to himself than Randou, but the man answered anyways.
"Unlike the bullets, the subspace I control doesn't abide by the laws of physics. It is another world entirely, closed off from this one, and I alone hold the key" Randou explained, even as he let a small cube hit the ground, from which a huge realm opened, engulfing the entire building, though Dazai noted that while the rest of the world turned a yellowish tint, his world was only illuminated by it, like from a light source. He'd been left outside. Separated from the subspace trapping Chuuya in that warehouse. "As such, only if I allow you to, you may enter, and only if I allow you to, may you leave."
"You left me outside the subspace you deployed," Dazai decided to make his observation known, loving the minute signs of discomfort Randou showed at his intelligence. That woman from that night in the library had really been right. Adults could only be fascinated or unnerved by a child's overwhelming intelligence. However, Randou was at an advantage here. Dazai may be outside of his subspace, but he was still trapped. Worse still, he had Chuuya trapped inside a place where the laws of physics don't apply as he's used to. "Then you must know what my Ability is."
The reminder might have left Randou even more uncomfortable if Chuuya didn't barge in with another battle cry, though usually the shorter boy was much more successful in his battles than the one he'd just entered. In fact, this had to be the first time Dazai's ever seen Chuuya run away and hide, rather than face his opponents head on.
Then again, not even Hirotsu could match Randou, for all that Hirotsu, in a way, held a much higher position than the traitorous Subexecutive.
"To be fair, I think that's the first time I've seen Chuuya-san flee rather than charge head on, too," Tachihara observed and even the Akutagawas had to nod in agreement along with Higuchi and, of course, the Agency, though they had a whole lot less experience with Chuuya's battle habits than the others did.
Chuuya himself, though, just shrugged. "Eh, the things I usually fight don't require more than that, since I can easily overwhelm them with brute strength and power alone. Rimbaud and later Verlaine were, quite literally, the only exceptions. They were too well trained, too powerful and too experienced for teenage me to win on my own, so shitty Dazai's plans were required. In short, for all that I've fought a dragon and a Cthulhu wannabe recently, those two were Soukoku's toughest opponents. Fuck Shibusawa, Shibusawa was easy once we found him."
"Only a diamond can polish another diamond," Mori chirped, earning himself a Look from Fukuzawa at quoting Natsume so blatantly.
"Any Ability that touches that idiot gets nullified," fifteen year old Chuuya observed as he hid behind the quarantined space Dazai was trapped in. "You try to quarantine him with your subspace ... You make a good opening for me."
"His existence is truly heretical," Randou said, drawing Dazai's attention to him more than Chuuya. "The ultimate anti-Ability, with no peer even back in the West."
Two more things clicked for Dazai. One, someone out there had an Ability similar enough to his own that he was dumped into the same category as them, though Dazai rather doubted they could really compare. Randou's words confirmed that. No Longer Human seemed to be the ultimate nullifying Ability. The second ... "The West? Is that where you're from?"
"Still," Randou - if that was even his real name - smirked in a creepy way and Dazai narrowed his eyes.
Then the Book got frantic. D-A-N-G-E-R D-A-N-G-E-R D-A-N-G-E-R DA-NGE-R DAN-GER DANGER
And then Dazai felt a strange stirring behind him and he whirled around just in time to avoid being cleaved in half by a gigantic red scythe he was, unfortunately, far too familiar with. still, he hadn't been fast enough, and it sliced through his shirt and the sling holding his cast-encased arm. Blood immediately spurted everywhere from the open wound and Dazai's momentum had launched him back enough that he fell over when the sudden crashing waves of pain hit him.
"DAZAI/DAZAI-SAN!" Nearly half of their group yelled, eyes wide as they watched the teenager get injured seemingly out of nowhere, all of a sudden.
Dazai looked up, already knowing what he was going to see - his grandfather, back from the dead, moving around as though he was far healthier as a cadaver than he'd been alive when Mori had freed them of his continued existence.
The old man smirked down at him with malice. "How've you been, son?"
"Well, this was a reunion none of us needed," grumbled Naomi, clutching onto Junichiro's arm as they watched with worry as the injured, teenage version of one of their friends faced down his past abuser.
Dazai, though, didn't seem fazed. He'd been expecting something like this, after all. He just hadn't thought Randou was the one behind it. "You look well for someone who's been dead, Boss. Or rather, former Boss." In fact, he seemed more bothered by his wound than the fact that there was a zombie standing in front of him. Then again, even back when he was ten, he'd never been hurt like this. Or perhaps it hurt this much because he hadn't been in pain for a very long time and so he was no longer used to it? 'I'll have to train my pain tolerance back up again. I hate pain, but I hate it incapacitating me for this long even more.' He'll deal with that later, though.
"There's no way he could have hurt that idiot with his Ability," a concerned and confused Chuuya commented beyond the confines of Dazai's own prison. The sound of his 'annoying' voice reminded Dazai that he can't just sit around the whole day, clutching his chest as he bled out, no matter how painful it was to move.
"You got it," the brunet called out to his companion. "The former Boss' giant scythe isn't an Ability. It's real."
Chuuya only looked even more concerned. "So it could kill you, then."
Dazai had to ignore him for the moment, because he needed to find out waht the deal was with this Ability. "The former Boss is dead. What did you do, Randou-san?" He asked, turning to face the man, because he had a feeling his grandfather's corpse won't move without a command from him. It had something to do with this subspace, he was sure of it. Did he feed energy into the corpse, thus allowing it to move?
"My Ability can turn corpses stored in my subspace into supernatural beings I command," he replied, casual as you can be when you reveal you can make zombies, basically. "I can only control one at a time, though." And of course, his target was Chuuya. Neither of the teens was surprised by that in the least. For all that he was so young, Dazai was almost completely certain Chuuya was now the most powerful Ability user in Japan. After all, the only other person who could have challenged him, Masaoka, was dead. And there had to be a way Chuuya could defeat Randou.
After all, Chuuya and Dazai first met after Chuuya - or Arahabaki - was through with beating Randou into the ground, eight years ago. Chuuya had only stopped when he'd come into contact with No Longer Human, thus getting his Ability nullified and ending Arahabaki's rampage.
Finding out that Randou was a western spy wasn't even a surprise at this point. How could it ever be, compared to the fact that Chuuya either was or contained a god of calamity in his body and that fact that certain Abilities can apparently bring back the dead?
"Dazai-kun, if the Boss were to learn what you just have, he would attempt to have me assassinated."
'So? Is that my problem? Just leave the country like anyone else smart enough fleeing from the Mafia. You're not special.'
"Ah, snarky Dazai's back. I missed him," Yosano hummed, trying to lift the mood but they were all far too focused on the danger the two teenagers were in. Sure, they knew they both survived; they wouldn't have met either of the twenty two year old men today if they hadn't, but they all knew this was an extremely close call. Chuuya himself had said it.
"I regretfully ask you to die here with Chuuya-kun."
'Well, would you look at that? He's actually regretful ... However, I can't say I'm all too keen on heeding his plea. I can't destroy the Book this way and I've been trying for years to make sure that chibi over there is alive and will live a long life free of stupid adults trying to control his every move ... Though, if he joins the Mafia, Mori-san-' He cut his own thoughts off, as the memory of his conversation with the man before this whole mess started flashed before his eyes. 'No danger whatsoever, my ass. Is he trying to get rid of me? Did he know what Randou-san was after and tried to get rid of a traitor, a loose end and the greatest threat to the Mafia's expansion?' "How exciting." 'If I join, will I get to play these types of games on the regular? Plans, strategies, battles ... Fighting with Chuuya ... That might just make life interesting enough for me to find another reason to live besides guarding the Book and guarding the chibi ... And if not, where else can I die than in the Mafia? I've decided ... ' He turned to Chuuya, looking pass his grandfather, or what was left of him, and calling for his attention. "Hey. Let's kill them. Together."
Needless to say, fifteen year old Chuuya's surprise was very understandable, considering one of the first things he learned about Dazai was that he was suicidal. "HAH?! Didn't you want to die?" He asked, curious though also clearly relieved that Dazai won't just roll over and die, leaving him most definitely trapped in there and sentenced to certain death.
"I'm starting to like working for the Port Mafia." 'Well, not really, but as if I'd ever explain any of the things I could get out of it to a chibi puppy like him.'
"He's really starting to annoy me all over again," Chuuya of the present growled while most of the others tried to hold in snickers.
Dazai gave a bit of a shit explanation about how death was basically just a part of life and in order to understand life, you need to embrace death. Sure, he partially believed it, yes, but he's not sure if he'd ever understand people. He was clearly not human himself, his emotions stunted, his morals more questionable than a questionnaire or people's theories nowadays that the Earth is flat despite even the ancient Greeks having proven otherwise. He simply did not see the world the ways others did, he found no value in living and ever since he found out he could destroy the Book, he knew his only purpose in existence was to destroy it. Whether whoever wrote him into existence intended it that way or not didn't matter; fate had said its piece and Dazai now had to live with it.
However, he figured there's no need to just roll over and submit to it, either. Not yet, anyway. Things were, indeed, getting interesting. Being around Chuuya was fun. He was an enigma; Dazai wanted to understand him. Not just his Ability, but this stupidly loyal boy who let himself be used just so he could stay with the people he cared about. Dazai just hoped he grew out of it, unlike his height.
"OI!"
Chuuya listened to what Dazai did say, their forming bond and tacit understanding still too new, too young for him to see through to something deeper in Dazai's soul the way he'll be able to soon enough. Instead, he focused on the most pleasing, satisfying and relieving thing from Dazai's little speech. "In other words, the suicidal maniac wants to live," he said with a smirk, figuring things were about to get interesting, fun, exciting.
After all, Dazai was the first person Chuuya has met who seemed to understand him, to read him like an open book and who never once coveted his Ability, nor the god inside him. Chuuya was indeed annoyed by the bastard, but he would have found it a shame if nothing happened of this strange understanding and trust that had inexplicably developed between them in the day and a half they knew each other. "Is that it?"
"I've come to think it's worth trying. That's all," the bandaged boy replied with a smirk of his own.
Of course, his useless grandfather had to interrupt just then, attacking him again with his scythe. Dazai, though, was too used to his moves and he'd gotten better, faster, more agile over the years with his life on the streets. It was easy to dodge the consecutive slashes and maneuver past him. He ran towards Chuuya, hand outstretched, only for Randou to push the wall of Dazai's prison away from him, even pushing Chuuya away.
"There you have it. You understand, right?"
"Don't give me orders."
"Huh?" The Agency members, even Ranpo, surprisingly enough, intoned, along with the Akutagawas, Higuchi and Tachihara. Hirotsu, Mori and Kouyou, who have heard or read reports of these events, knew what was going on and Chuuya, well, he was just watching fondly the first time he partnered up with Dazai. That day sure did change both of their lives forever. It was an unforgettable experience, that first time he and Dazai fell in sync. Then again, they never did fall out of it, so it's the only time they fell in sync. They just got better at accepting it over the years.
They watched as Chuuya and Dazai each had their own battles, Dazai dodging his zombie grandfather's attempts to kill him and Chuuya trying to battle Randou, gravity versus cubes that defy physics. Chuuya even got his ankle painfully twisted with Randou's Ability before he was throwing against the confines of Dazai's quarantine. Randou laughed as he launched what would be a devastating attack, but Chuuya survived by increasing his own gravity and density.
Dazai noted that Chuuya was finally where he needed to be and prepared for his own part of the plan. He just needed to get there.
"Hey. Want me to tell you why I was keeping both of my hands tucked away until now?" Chuuya called out, though whether it was to Dazai to answer his question from earlier that day or to Randou was up in the air. "I thought that if I ever felt like I was about to lose," he said, taking his hands out of his pocket, For The Tainted Sorrow glowing more brightly around him than usual. "That feeling might give me a reason to be fond ... of my humanity."
Randou ... lost his marbles a bit at that moment, though his enthusiasm to stop feeling cold all the time was understandable.
Dazai was having one of it, though. If Chuuya was going to die some day, it's when Dazai is already dead and the Book destroyed. "Come on, Chuuya!" He called out, dodging more slashes from the cadaver.
Chuuya kinda 'surprised' him by planting himself in place, arm outstretched, Ability glowing red all around him like the stubborn fire in his blue eyes. "You come, shitty Dazai." And, well, Dazai would grin if he could spare the moment to. Maybe stupid Mori was right and they get along just fine.
Present day Chuuya grinned for him, though. He couldn't help but like these events from Dazai's perspective.
Dazai managed to get around the old Boss, closer to Chuuya, and he turned around, his casted arm in front of him as the scythe finally connected.
"DAZAI/DAZAI-SAN!" Teen Chuuya and the Armed Detective Agency - sans Fukuzawa and Kyouka - and the Akutagawas exclaimed once again. Randou made a satisfied sound ... Only to get confused when the scythe not only failed to kill Dazai, but it also served to launch him towards Chuuya, the steel Dazai had hid beneath the fake cast now revealed.
"As expected of Dazai-san!" Akutagawa and Atsushi both said, the latter with a cheer, while the Agency just let out stunned laughs at the stunt.
"Chuuya!" Dazai called, the momentum from his grandfather's hit carrying him, much like it had that day he'd jumped off of the Port Mafia building, towards the wall that seperated him from the ginger.
"Come, Dazai!" Chuuya called back, increasing the output of his Ability even more when Randou caught on to their plan and tried to move the wall of his Ability out of Dazai's reach. But Chuuya held strong, even as what must be an unbearable force tried to push him back, staying in place, keeping the wall in front of him as Dazai finally reached him. They interlocked fingers as No Longer Human lit up the whole building, glowing bluish-white letters floating through the air as the Ability nullified the subspace, freeing Dazai and Chuuya to move as they please. The second the Ability was gone, as No Longer Human's light still lingered, Chuuya launched himself after Randou, punching him into the ground from a little piece of earth he'd levitated to use as support.
"You cannot escape gravity!"
On the other end of the warehouse, Dazai approached his grandfather's corpse, still glowing yellow with Randou's Ability, but clearly on the verge of disappearing as strings of kanji from No Longer Human's light effects closed in on him more and more, slowly engulfing him. "If Randou-san's subspace vanishes, naturally, so will you." He commented as he approached. "But ... " He went low as the old man roared and tried one last attack. With skills this person in front of him had watched him get beaten bloody to attain, Dazai snuck under his guard, punch ready. He aimed straight for his opened mouth, letting the steel casing he'd been lugging around all day to break the man's jaw, stopping the cadaver in its tracks, its eyes wide. "Let me thank you for once," he whispered to it, taking his fist out and leaving the corpse to dissipate with Randou's Ability, the warehouse finally falling into darkness once again as the sun outside was setting.
It was finally over.
He reunited with Chuuya near Randou's crumbled body and they had one more exchange of quips before they 'interrogated' Randou, who was very willing to talk. His real name was Arthur Rimbaud and he was a French spy sent to capture or destroy Arahabaki. He had not been alone that night that Suribachi exploded; he'd had a partner, whom he claimed he'd killed after he'd betrayed him. They had been the ones responsible for Chuuya getting out in such an explosive, destructive way. Dazai wondered if he should blame this man and his partner for his parents' deaths. He feels like that's something normal people would do, but Dazai still feels as though Kashimura Kansuke and his scientist friends were the ones to truly blame.
"HA!" Kouyou surprised them all by crowing, pointing a not-elegant-at-all finger at Chuuya's face triumphantly. "We told you!" Behind her, Mori and even Hirotsu crooned agreements and victory while Chuuya just flushed with a relieved smile that his partner did not blame him for the death of the Tsushima couple.
"Chuuya-kun," Rimbaud called, surprising the teen while Dazai just observed them, simultaneously filing away all that they'd learned and already planning what he'll give to that information broker with the wood-recovery-related Ability. Perferable before the grunts get to Rimbaud's mansion and ransack it, destroying anything Dazai might find useful. "I suspect you aren't Arahabaki itself, but a human being chosen as a vessel to keep Arahabaki under control. But you are strong, not as Arahabaki, but as a human being."
"Well, thanks," the slightly older teenager said awkwardly, turning away, towards Dazai, though he did not look at him.
"Whatever may live inside you, you are already you. Is that not enough?" Randou got philosophical at this point, but Dazai was a bit more focused on how stupid Chuuya was.
"OI!"
'Chuuya? Not a human being? Preposterous.'
"... Hah?" The Executive in question grunted, surprised.
'For one, if he were really just Arahabaki, he'd cease to function or maybe even exist the second I touched him, since it seems Arahabaki is the source of his Ability. For another, didn't he say that Arahabaki didn't have any thoughts, feelings or personality? If Chuuya doesn't have personality, then no one is human, that little gremlin.'
"... I'm not sure whether I should feel insulted or flattered ... "
'There's a whole lot more to this story even after getting some of our questions answered ... Well, it looks like I've found myself a side-project that will keep me from getting bored. I'll start proving Nakahara Chuuya, my dog for life, is human before the day ends. I just need to go get the ashes from Randou-san's fireplace.'
" ... " Chuuya couldn't even say anything at this point.
He was so touched, he may as well be moved to tears.
The others just let him have this moment as the scene shifted once again after Rimbaud breathed his last breath.