Bungo Stray Dogs - Volume 5 - Chapter 4.1

Interlude—3 

Osamu Dazai was standing within Draconia inside the fortress at the center of the fog. Countless red crystals glittered on the shelves on the wall, each indicating the life and death of the past owners. As Dazai silently gazed at the crystals, he heard the door open loudly behind him. He looked back to find Fyodor standing at the entrance. 

“All according to plan,” claimed Fyodor while closing the door with his hand behind his back. He was holding a key with his delicate fingers and placed it into the keyhole as if he were doing a magic trick. Click. The door locked. They were the only two people in Draconia now, and the sweet smell of secrecy filled the air. 

“Yes, all according to plan,” Dazai quietly agreed. He then added with a sigh, “It was a real pain in the ass, sneaking in without him suspecting anything.” 

Fyodor didn’t approach Dazai but instead walked over to the edge of Draconia as if he were rummaging through the crystals on the wall. 

“By the way…,” said Dazai. “Why are you really helping me?” 

“I simply wanted to see the world as I think it ought to be.” Fyodor continued to observe the shelves as he walked. “The more sideshows, the better. Don’t you agree?” 

He reached for a shelf and picked up two crystals, but Dazai was more interested in what he meant by sideshows. “So the question is: Who plays the clown, huh?” he asked with surprising indifference. “I didn’t want to join forces with you, but I had no choice if I wanted to make Shibusawa the clown,” groaned Dazai as he gently lowered his gaze. “Besides, the man even has the Japanese government wrapped around his finger.” 

Fyodor faintly smirked in agreement. “After all, he was planning on covering Yokohama in fog with or without your guidance, Dazai.” 

With the two crystals in hand, Fyodor changed directions. Dazai began to follow. From opposite ends of the room, they headed toward the vacant pedestal in the center of Draconia, slowly approaching each other until they were almost face-to-face, but neither stopped. They crossed paths, then slowly turned around and faced each other. 

“Here.” Fyodor held out both crystals. “Out of all these skill crystals, these two make the best pair.” 

The crystals floated above his hands and began to rotate as red light reflected off them like chandeliers. Fyodor promptly described the two crystals as if he’d had his eyes on them for quite some time. 

“One of these crystals can summon all skill users within view into a single location. The other fuses the abilities of skill users who come into contact with one another into one single skill…” Fyodor flashed a sinister grin. “Absorbing the entire collection using these two crystals will cut off the fog’s energy source. With that, he will no longer be able to sustain the fog.” 

Just as Shibusawa mentioned earlier, he was only able to create and maintain a fog of this scale because of his huge collection. Therefore, one could easily get rid of the fog if they were to gather all the crystals in Draconia and simultaneously nullify them…which was something that Dazai could do with the two skills Fyodor selected. However, Dazai wouldn’t be able to manage this alone, for he could only nullify a skill while touching it. Although Dazai himself could nullify the fog, he couldn’t nullify it so that it wouldn’t affect others, much less do anything about a fog that covered the entire city of Yokohama. More importantly, Dazai couldn’t outsmart Shibusawa alone. That was why he needed Fyodor’s help. 

The three of them gathered at Skull Fortress, each with their own goals and intentions, which was why they had an idea of what the other wanted, making them wary of a betrayal. It was a three-way contest that had reached a stalemate. 

However, what would happen if two people shared the same goal? That would create a power imbalance. Dazai was able to outsmart Shibusawa because he joined forces with Fyodor to rid Yokohama of the fog. Both Dazai and Fyodor knew there was no way to prevent Shibusawa from targeting Yokohama, so they decided to cooperate with him in order to infiltrate the fortress. 

Fyodor raised the two skill-enclosed crystals into the air and softly said, “Now, use your skill to nullify these shells and return the abilities to their rightful forms.” 

Dazai reached for the crystals just as Fyodor urged him to. “I hope Atsushi and the others are okay…” 

The moment his fingers touched the crystals, their hard gemlike surfaces cracked, and they melted away. 

Drip. Trails of light suddenly transformed into a liquid-like blood, swirling around and mixing together in the air. The two lights melted into one and spun until they formed a single sphere. 

They had produced a single apple—a juicy, poisoned apple red as blood. 

The apple appeared in Dazai’s hand and gently rose to the ceiling before stopping. It birthed a skill—and an extremely powerful one at that—the ability to absorb. Every last crystal adorning Draconia’s walls was sucked into the apple with intense force. Ten—a hundred—a thousand—two thousand—every last one was greedily devoured by the apple, and their light turned into a storm that ravaged Draconia. The light was so blinding that neither Dazai nor Fyodor could even keep their eyes open. The apple swelled as it absorbed the numerous crystals until the red light became hotter than the surface of hell. The intense power within overwhelmed the collection room, but even then, Dazai dauntlessly regarded the sphere of red light he created and muttered: 

“It’ll all be over once I touch it.” 

His dignified visage was rife with determination and duty. Right as Dazai reached for the massive photosphere… 

Thud! 

Something struck him in the back. 

“…!” 

His eyes opened wide. He could feel a burning pain shoot through his chest. 

“Didn’t I tell you?” a man said to Dazai from behind. His white hair fluttered as his crimson eyes narrowed in amusement. “No one will ever exceed my expectations.” 

Standing behind Dazai was Tatsuhiko Shibusawa, who supposedly had no way of even entering Draconia. In his hand was a knife that glowed dully as it pierced Dazai’s back. He smiled while slowly twisting the blade even deeper. It was followed by the unsettling sound of flesh rending. Shibusawa, who had been in Draconia for who knew how long, let go of the knife. 

“Letting your guard down the moment your plan was about to succeed? I thought you were better than that,” admitted Shibusawa with a mix of disappointment and ridicule. The walls and floor behind him had become transparent, giving a wide view of a vast collection of skill crystals. The ones that Dazai had absorbed were merely a small section of it. 

Struggling to remain standing, Dazai clenched his chest and moaned, “The door…was locked…” He turned his gaze toward the door, then at Fyodor, who had locked it. Fyodor was smiling. He looked delighted, like he was enjoying watching Dazai get stabbed. That was all it took for Dazai to understand what happened. 

“I see,” he groaned. He could feel lukewarm blood slowly begin to stain his sand-colored overcoat. “So this is where you betray me…” 

“I told you, right? The more sideshows, the better.” Fyodor faced Dazai with a frigid smirk. “You’re the sideshow.” 

He was never on Dazai’s side. The plan was to lure Dazai into Draconia and have Shibusawa stab him. This two-versus-one struggle wasn’t against Shibusawa—it was against Dazai. Fyodor pretended to be on his side so he could bring him to the collection room and merely pretend to lock the door, allowing Shibusawa to come and go as he pleased. 

“So…?” Dazai said between labored breaths, shooting Shibusawa an incendiary look. “What’s your next move?” 

Dazai then collapsed. 

“There is no next move. I already found the skill I was searching for.” Shibusawa lightly gestured to him with an open hand. “Yours.” 

Shibusawa’s eyes gleefully lit up as he gazed down at Dazai on the floor. “From the very start, you were the only one I was after.” 

Those were the eyes of a child who had just found the insect he had been eagerly waiting to pin to his collection. 

Dazai sighed in exasperation. “I thought a paring knife would only hurt so much, but…” He glanced in Shibusawa’s direction. “…poison, huh?” 

“A lethal anesthetic.” Shibusawa’s lips masochistically curled at Dazai, who couldn’t even lift a finger. “Enjoy,” he said with a saccharine note in his voice. “It’s what you always wanted—death.” 

“How could you…do such a thing…?” Dazai muttered feebly while maintaining his sarcastic expression. His vision blurred as his limbs lost all sensation. The world he knew slowly began to melt away, and in its place, eternal peace approached as a way of salvation. A calm, endless world of darkness. Dazai’s body was wrapped in the gentle touch of death. 

“It feels…so good…” 

He faintly smirked and closed his eyes. His shallow breaths came to a halt. Dazai’s muscles relaxed, and his messy hair drowned in the pool of blood. 

That was the final moment of Osamu Dazai’s life. 

Tatsuhiko Shibusawa expressed no interest in the abrupt demise of the man who was always seeking death. He was more focused on Dazai’s body. Before long, a crystal emerged from it. Fyodor grinned as he cast an admiring look at the clear-white light of the crystal. “With the host dead, the skill has begun separating itself from its owner.” 

Shibusawa’s fog had the power to separate skills from their owners. Up until now, Dazai’s skill had been nullifying its effect, but it stopped working the moment he died. In other words, Shibusawa was finally able to obtain Dazai’s skill through killing him. He trembled in delight while reaching for the skill crystal. 

“Ah… I’ve never felt such a thrill.” 

To Shibusawa, this was the skill he had always dreamed of. That was why he had left the pedestal in the center of Draconia empty. He wanted to display his longed-for crystal. He reached forward to touch the glittering skill, but all of a sudden, it began to change. 

“…!” 

The crystal gradually turned red. The encroachment didn’t stop until the white crystal went from a venomous red to crimson. The white crystal that was born from Dazai’s body was no more. Shibusawa’s eyes opened wide. 

“No… Is this not it?” 

Trembling, Shibusawa took a step back. 

This wasn’t supposed to happen. 

He didn’t even notice Fyodor’s hideously twisted smirk. The crimson crystal gradually grew brighter until the massive red sphere of light near the ceiling began reacting to it. The two lights were drawn to each other: the red light from the collection of skill crystals Dazai and Fyodor made together and the crimson light from Dazai’s crystallized skill. 

A crimson sphere of light possessing an enormous amount of energy was coming to life. The confidence vanished from Shibusawa’s expression, for this wasn’t something he could have ever predicted. He looked up at the rampantly swelling sphere of light with sunken eyes. 

“What…?” 

Just what on earth is this thing? 

But Shibusawa was suddenly knocked back by the growing orb before he could get his answer.