Bungo Stray Dogs - Volume 7 - Chapter 4

Phase.04

“Could you place that ornament on the right near the ceiling? Yeah, right there. Just a little higher, please.”

Dazai was preparing for a banquet in a reception room within a shipyard building. The owner had gone bankrupt and was nowhere to be found, so the run-down shipyard became the perfect spot for illegal organizations to take root. The dock formerly used to repair ships was now a vacant lot while the three-story building that surrounded it had succumbed to disrepair and decay.

Inside the building were Dazai and Randou. What was once most likely a room decorated with expensive paintings and cushy leather chairs was now a decrepit hall full of broken glass and dotted with stains from a leaky roof. And Dazai was in the middle of redecorating this space exactly to his liking.

“Phew… I’m so excited. I bet Chuuya’s gonna be thrilled once he sees the huge party we’re throwing to celebrate his newfound freedom.”

He hummed a cheery tune as he hung a cloth garland on the wall. Even with his right arm in a cast, he was able to festoon the walls with one vividly colored decoration after the other.

“Oh, wow! This garland is so long! Worth every second put into preparing it. I bet I could cover every inch of the walls with this. Randou, here. Hold this corner for me. All these magnificent decorations are going to move Chuuya to tears.”

A high-quality rug of deep crimson was spread out on the floor while the sound system was playing upbeat, modern pop music popular with teen boys. Farther back in the room, there was a serving cart decorated with gold ornaments; atop it was a colossal cake that could feed twenty people and then some. Lights flashed alternating vivid colors throughout the dim room, transforming it into the deep sea, the twilit horizon, and a luscious green forest every few seconds.

“I don’t know, Dazai… I get the feeling any normal person would want to kill you over a welcome like this…,” Randou remarked timidly as he helped put up the decorations.

“Why do you say that?” Dazai asked curiously. He was hanging the endlessly long crimson garland. “Everything about this screams ‘Congrats on being relieved from duty, Chuuya.’ Good snacks, good drinks, good music, smiling friends… What am I missing?”

“While I admit I may not know what’s popular among teenagers these days…I am fairly positive they don’t like pit traps, at the very least…”

Randou stared fretfully at the floor like a small animal. The pit in question was completely hidden thanks to the rug, which was right in front of the giant cake visible from the entrance—precisely where curiosity would lead anyone invited to come inside.

“Hee-hee-hee… It isn’t just any pit, though! First, his Sheep friends are going to applaud and congratulate Chuuya as he’s guided to the back, where he’ll step onto the pit and fall straight down. Of course, a petty trap like this isn’t even going to make him bat an eye because he’ll just kick off the ground and jump back out. Unfortunately for him, however, there is no ground below to kick off. What’s waiting for him at the bottom of the pit is a thick sludge that would drown even a pond skater, guaranteed. Even Chuuya would have a difficult time escaping it. And then…hee-hee-hee…the real guest of honor—forty pounds of flour—will come falling onto Chuuya’s head as he struggles to escape the mud. And I’m not talking a dusting like a little romantic snowfall. No—a ton of flour is gonna bury him from head to toe the moment he falls into the pit. Chuuya’s skill only works on things he touches, so even if he gets one layer of flour off his body, there will still be plenty more fine powder left over that’s not directly touching him. Eventually, he’ll have to focus the gravity around his mouth to keep from suffocating. Then, as he’s just barely managing to breathe, he’s gonna do the only thing he can to fight back: scream obscenities at me. And those screams will serve as background music for the party as I partake in the delectable spread. Ah…! I’m literally trembling with excitement!”

Dazai was grinning from ear to ear, his cheeks rosy with giddiness like a child the day before Christmas. Randou, on the other hand, was utterly aghast.

“Ah, um… Well…I did learn one thing today. You would make a fantastic torturer in the Mafia,” Randou suggested as he fought to keep his lip from twitching. “More importantly, how are you going to even get Chuuya to attend?”

“That’s the easy part. All I need to do is trick a few Sheep into coming here and make it look like a real party. I’m practically finished with that part, to tell the truth.”

“Ah yes… Now I see why you’re Mori’s right-hand man…”

“Mori always encourages us to do the jobs that nobody else wants,” Dazai gloated.

“This…wasn’t what he had in mind.”

Once he’d finished decorating, Dazai dusted off his hands and returned to Randou’s side. “Anyway, what’s most important is that Chuuya and his friends patch things up,” he added. “They’re basically a bunch of sparks in a powder keg. They just haven’t realized it yet. Neither Chuuya nor the Sheep have any idea that their entire defense system is awful. It’s like… What’s the best way to describe it? They’ve got their wires crossed? They’re unstable? Or perhaps the undercooked meat theory would apply here?”

“Uh… The what theory?”

“Mori taught it to me. Imagine three teenagers went to a yakiniku restaurant,” Dazai began as he stroked his chin. “Usually, you’d put the raw meat on the grill, flip it over when one side is cooked, then take it off and eat it once the other side is done. However, these are three growing teenagers with healthy appetites, so they’re stuffing their faces with the meat the moment it’s finished cooking. Every one of them wants to eat even more, though. It’s basically an all-out war. That’s when one of them has an epiphany. He’s going to grab the meat and eat it a few moments before it finishes cooking. That way, he can eat as much as he wants before the other two can even pick up their chopsticks. He gives it a try, and the plan goes exactly how he imagined. He gets to eat to his heart’s content. Now the other two are at a disadvantage. There’s no point in coming to the restaurant if they can’t eat as much as they want. Do they come up with a solution, though? Of course they do—the same one the first guy came up with. In other words, they also decide to eat undercooked meat. There are no other options. Once they all start eating undercooked meat, there is no turning back. If one person stops, he alone will end up with less meat than the other two. Therefore, each one of them is trapped, forced to eat the undercooked meat and nothing else, even though all three know that perfectly cooked meat tastes much better. And that’s the undercooked meat theory. It explains at least half the misery in the entire world.”

“I see… In other words, since everyone pursued what was best for them, they couldn’t achieve what was best for the group… And furthermore, the one who came up with the strategy and caused this misery no longer had the means to fix it. Correct?” Randou tilted his head curiously. “And you’re claiming this same situation can explain what is happening with the Sheep as well?”

“Hee-hee-hee… What’s great about them, though, is that they don’t even realize they’re eating undercooked meat. Chuuya, the Sheep—what exciting little playthings they turned out to be. I never knew the underbelly of society could be such a thrill,” Dazai gushed before snickering yet again.

“True… I suppose I can agree with you there,” Randou replied, his hands held over a light for warmth. “Violence and war are not necessary for survival. If we all agreed to stop eating undercooked meat—in other words, if everyone agreed to stop fighting and banned all weapons—then violence would be no more. But that isn’t realistic. No matter what, someone will break the rules to get ahead of the rest because that’s always the most profitable option. Everyone else would have no choice but to eat undercooked meat—they would have to maintain their stance on fighting back only when provoked. You might say this is the true nature of conflict in the underworld.”

“You probably know much more about that than me, since you’ve been in the Mafia for so long,” Dazai argued, a faint smirk on his lips.

“Yes… I was a low-level grunt during the previous boss’s reign,” Randou said. He was now rubbing his hands together to warm them further. “I had no support, no financial backing. I was the dregs of the organization. My duty was to fight and die on the front lines. To some extent, my skill helped me to survive those many battles, but I mainly have my good fortune to thank. After Mori became the new boss, he noticed my abilities and promoted me all the way to a sub-executive. That is why I feel eternally indebted to him. For his sake, I would dispose of any foe who stands in the Mafia’s way. I intend to do everything I can in that regard, even against a foe as dangerous as Arahabaki.”

“I’m counting on you.” Dazai smiled.

“By the way, Dazai… You said you found out who’s behind the Arahabaki ordeal. Is that true? Or were you simply lying to torment Chuuya?”

“Both!” Dazai laughed. “I brought it up in front of Chuuya so that he’d make a bet with me. But I really do know who’s behind this.”

“Oh? …And who is that?”

“You, Randou.”

Silence.

But it wasn’t simply quiet. It was as if all sound had escaped the room.

“You impersonated the old boss and spread the rumors about Arahabaki,” he continued. “Anything you want to say for yourself?”

Randou scratched his head in vexation. “Excuse me…? Uh… I… I’m terribly sorry, but…I’m not sure how to react here. I’ve never been called a criminal before.”

“It’s fine. Everyone’s gotta start somewhere,” Dazai said with a grin. “I’m feeling generous today, so let me tell you how a criminal would normally react. First, after being called a criminal, you would immediately say, ‘That’s ridiculous. I couldn’t possibly do such a thing.’ Or you might say, ‘That’s a really funny joke, Dazai.’ Then I’d reply with ‘But it’s true. You are the criminal behind all this.’ The criminal would then get heated and try to argue. ‘Did you not hear what I just said? I told you I feel indebted to the boss. Why would I try to incite an internal conflict to destroy the Mafia?’ …Are we good so far, Randou?”

“Well…I suppose I have nothing to add. Besides, all that is true,” Randou answered uncomfortably. “You said exactly what was on my mind. And…? What would your rebuttal be?”

“I’d say this: ‘Your debt to him means nothing, Randou, because attacking the Mafia isn’t your goal. The man behind all this has a different objective.’ So…? Think it’s maybe about time you took over from here?”

“Yes, I suppose… Although I’m still a little confused.” Randou scratched his head. “I don’t like being called a criminal, so perhaps I should take your claim seriously. Hmm… What evidence do you have? Because you have shown no—”

“‘No theoretical evidence that even suggests I am behind this other than simple speculation.’” Dazai finished Randou’s sentence. “Exactly, Randou. That’s how you’re supposed to do it. Now…would I really accuse a sub-executive without any evidence?”

“Well, I suppose you have something, given how confident you are.” Randou sounded perturbed. “Something that seems like evidence to you—something that I cannot even imagine.”

“So you must be super curious, right? I feel bad for making you wait like that.” Dazai shrugged. “You made a mistake—an extremely basic error. I bet you’re going to hate yourself when I tell you.”

“And what would that error be?”

“The ocean,” Dazai declared with a wag of his index finger. “You said when you saw the black flames of Arahabaki, you could also see the ocean—that only the sea in the distance retained its calm, steely surface.”

“Yes…I did say that. Because that’s indeed what I saw. What about it?”

“Are you sure you don’t want to figure it out yourself?”

“Apologies, but I’m afraid I’m not following at all. Just tell me.”

“Fine.” Dazai nodded, smiling. “Your story took place in the middle of Suribachi, but Suribachi was turned into a hemispherical basin valley in the explosion. Which means…”

“Ah!” Randou suddenly exclaimed. “Ah yes…I see.”

“Exactly. There’s no way you could have seen the ocean. That massive valley is just over a mile wide, so you could stand on the tips of your toes and never even get a glimpse of it. Once I realized that, the rest was easy. So why did you say you saw the ocean? The rest of your story was perfect and didn’t contradict the rumors at all. Your description of Arahabaki was extremely convincing. And if you ask me, I do think you saw it: the ocean, that is. That’s why you made that mistake. You saw the ocean from Suribachi a long time ago…long before the explosion eight years prior. In other words, you saw the calamity—the black explosion that created Suribachi and gave birth to the rumors of Arahabaki itself.”

Randou didn’t respond.

Dazai quietly observed him for a few moments, then gently sighed. “That one gossip-loving Sheep said the oldest rumor about Arahabaki went back eight years ago to when that explosion created Suribachi. That incident was probably what started the rumors about an ancient god. Someone else must’ve witnessed it from afar. However, you witnessed the entire event close up. You were so close that any normal person would have been vaporized in the explosion. You described that memory with such accuracy that you accidentally mentioned the ocean as well. And now your motive should become clear once I learn why you had to describe that day so vividly.”

Randou, who had been listening in silence, sighed defeatedly. “You had a bet with Chuuya, didn’t you?” he asked. “Well, it looks like you won. You found the perpetrator first.”

“Thanks, Randou.” Dazai beamed. “Now I have a dog that’ll do whatever I say for the rest of my li—”

All of a sudden, something crashed through the wall and collided right into Randou.

“It was you!” a gruff voice shouted. “I beat that sly dirtbag! I win! You’re the one who’s behind all this!”

Randou had been thrown clean from the building and tumbled onto the ground outside. Standing over him was a small-framed boy.

Dazai blinked a few times. “Wow…”

“Sorry, man, but it’s over.” The boy boastfully smirking was none other than Chuuya. “You can’t fool me. I saw through your lies and— Ahhh?! What are you doing here, you slimeball?!”

“I’d like to ask you the same question, pip-squeak,” replied an annoyed Dazai. “Just so you know, I already announced that he was the criminal before you got here. I was in the middle of explaining how he did it when you showed up.”

“Huh? You were in the middle of explaining…which means you still haven’t finished, right? Then it looks like I win. I defeated the mastermind behind all this. Which equals my victory. The strongest always win. That’s just how the world works.”

“It’s people like you who turn the world into undercooked meat,” Dazai said with evident disgust on his face. “Did the ocean convince you it was Randou, too?”

“The ocean?” Chuuya seemed puzzled. “The hell are you talkin’ about?”

“Huh? Then how did you know Randou was the mastermind behind all this?”

“It was obvious if ya actually listened to him. Every eyewitness mentioned they saw the old Mafia boss, but this guy said he saw Arahabaki itself. That’s impossible, though. That’s why I knew he was lyin’.”

Randou lay on the ground groaning in pain. “Does that mean…you decided I was the one behind this because you don’t believe gods exist?” he asked.

“Ha-ha. No. It’s the opposite. It’s ’cause gods do exist,” Chuuya declared. “I know that for a fact. Which is why I know there’s no way you coulda seen Arahabaki in Suribachi.”

At that, Randou’s presence suddenly changed. His cold body stopped trembling. “You know…that Arahabaki exists?” he managed to ask.

“Yeah,” said Chuuya. “You saw it, too, right? Eight years ago. You wouldn’t have been able to describe it with such accuracy otherwise.”

“It’s true… I did see it,” Randou admitted as he sat up. “But I didn’t simply see it. I experienced the explosion up close. It came out of nowhere… I was severely wounded, hovering between life and death. The impact and the fire caused me to lose my memories. I wandered Yokohama until I caught the previous Mafia boss’s attention, and he invited me to join the organization.” Randou fixed Chuuya with a heated gaze and added, “Chuuya, you know, don’t you? You know where Arahabaki is right now.”

Chuuya, however, didn’t answer. He simply stared back at Randou, a piercing look in his eyes.

“Tell me,” Randou demanded.

“I guess you would want to know, huh, Randou?” Dazai faintly smirked. “After all, that’s why you started the rumors. The only one who could see through the lies about Arahabaki is the person who knows the true Arahabaki. By describing it so vividly, you shined a massive spotlight on yourself in order to find whoever knew the truth, right?”

Chuuya quietly looked back and forth between them for a few moments before eventually shaking his head.

“Sigh… Why do you wanna see it so bad?” he said. “It doesn’t have a personality or a mind of its own, so what’s meetin’ it gonna do for you? You gonna pray to it because it’s a god? It’s a god of destruction, y’know. Nothing more than a mass of energy. It’s no different from a typhoon or an earthquake. Ya might as well pray to a power plant.”

“Having a personality, a will, or being capable of thought is of little importance,” Randou replied solemnly. “It is a massive force of destruction. Capable of scorching the earth, staining the skies, and rumbling the air. It is not of this world—something that the human mind cannot comprehend. That power is enough for me. Tell me, Chuuya. Where is this being that defies human comprehension? Where is this god that set me aflame?”

Chuuya didn’t immediately respond. He gazed at the palm of his hand, then flipped his hand over and stared some more. He was buying time to think. Eventually, however, he sighed in resignation.

“All right. If you really wanna know, I’ll tell ya.” Chuuya’s eyes were crystal clear as if they could soak up everything in their sight. “Arahabaki…”

He took a deep breath in and out.

“…is me.”

Dazai stepped back.

“What…?”

Chuuya’s expression was still in every respect. It wasn’t insinuating anything, nor did it have any real motive. He was simply offering the truth.

“It appears I was right, after all.” Randou nodded slowly. “I had a hunch that you were.”

“I only remember part of my life,” Chuuya quietly confessed. “Unlike you, I didn’t lose my memories from a blow to the head. My life started that day eight years ago. Everything before that was darkness. I was floating in that bluish-black darkness, sealed away in some sort of facility. Arahabaki isn’t a god. It can’t resurrect the dead, either. I don’t even know why I as a person exist. All I know is that someone destroyed the seal and pulled me out of there,” Chuuya explained. “It was you, wasn’t it, Randou?”

A bluish-black darkness. A heavy, quiet darkness surrounded by transparent walls. And the strong hand of someone who broke the seal.

“I need answers,” Chuuya demanded. “Where did you find me? Why did you break me out of there? How were you able to materialize Arahabaki’s complete form? I’ve been following the rumors to get those answers. Looks like we finally meet again. Now, come on. Spit it out.”

But Randou didn’t respond. He lowered his gaze, hiding his expression while trembling. However, he wasn’t shivering because he was cold. He was laughing.

“Of course. Of course I’ll tell you… You have every right to know.” He spoke in a low, sonorous voice. “But it would probably be quicker to demonstrate rather than explain… Chuuya, this is what I did to you eight years ago.”

Their surroundings instantly transformed. Space inverted and separated from the outside world. They were no longer in an abandoned shipyard but somewhere completely different.

“Is this your subspace skill, Randou…?” Dazai looked around. “But I never heard anything about you being able to create a portal of this scale…”

The subspace shimmered crimson, expanding until it swallowed the entire shipyard and even the building’s rooftop.

“As you already know…my subspace is a separate world completely severed from ordinary space,” said Randou. “Nobody can come inside unless I invite them.”

“Unbelievable.” Dazai continued to gape. “Power of this magnitude goes beyond the standard for sub-execs. This skill is executive level. No, it’s even greater than that… How have you been able to keep this a secret from the organization this whole time?”

“I haven’t. I simply remembered how to do it recently…along with my real name.”

Randou took a step forward. Even within the crimson subspace, there was something clearly off about him.

“Your real name?” said Dazai. “Randou, who are you?”

“My name isn’t Randou.”

The space around Randou wavered as black flames surrounded him like flower petals, burning soundlessly.

“A friend started calling me that after misreading the name on one of my belongings. When I remembered my real name, I came up with a new scheme. I made a decision to impersonate a god and exploit a demon… And I did it all to find and kill you, Chuuya.”

The center of the subspace suddenly burst. The rush of high-density air formed a shock wave—although strictly speaking, this was no wave of air but a massive vibration created when space itself burst. Chuuya was engulfed by the powerful surge.

“Guh?!”

The subspace wave effortlessly knocked Chuuya backward until he slammed through a rusty shipyard pillar and crashed into the concrete wall.

“Gwah…!”

Unable to get back on his feet, Chuuya coughed up copious amounts of blood onto the ground.

“Hmm… So that didn’t kill you. It appears Arahabaki has a strong vessel, albeit one not remotely complete.”

“What…?” All Dazai could do was stare at Chuuya in mute amazement. “Why didn’t you use gravity to block?”

“He couldn’t. I used space itself to create that shock wave. The laws of physics do not apply,” said Randou. “Everything within this subspace is mine to control. Therefore, my skill can only exist inside it. Like this…”

Swish. Swish. The wind howled.

“Damn it… This ain’t good,” Chuuya mumbled as he wiped the blood from his lips. “He’s here.”

A figure emerged from the other side of the subspace’s crimson haze.

“What a familiar face… It feels like ages since I last saw you. My boy…how have you been? Has the good doctor been treating you well?”

An old man dressed in a black overcoat was hovering in midair.

“Oh my. Look who it is.” Even Dazai’s smile was tense. “Long time no see. How’s your lower back doing? Your complexion looks a lot better. Maybe dying was actually good for your health, boss—or should I say…former boss?”

The old man’s limbs were frail, and his eye sockets were sunken from age. Protruding veins covered his cheeks, and his eyes burned with the tyranny of yesteryear.

This was the merciless tyrant of the night—the villain of Yokohama. His inhuman desire for destruction had manifested as a curse. He was the embodiment of the Port Mafia’s evil.

“The old boss is dead. What did you do, Randou?”

“He…is my skill,” Randou told Dazai while hunching over. “My skill integrates corpses into its subspace and turns them into skills. I dug up the old boss’s grave. However, I can only control one corpse at a time. That is to say…the old boss now serves me as my own skill-derived life-form.”

Both Dazai and Chuuya were speechless. They had come to know countless skill users over the years, but never before had either of them seen such a mysterious, otherworldly skill: the ability to turn people into skills.

“This is madness,” Dazai uttered, straining his voice. “Just who are you?”

“I was once a European spy sent to enemy nations to steal information,” Randou revealed, his eyes still cast downward. “And eight years ago, I snuck into this country on a mission. I was to investigate and seize an unknown high-energy being that the Japanese government was researching.”

“And that being…was Arahabaki?” Dazai interrupted, grimacing. “Didn’t you say you were a spy for Europe? There are only a few dozen in the world with similarly unparalleled skills: the Transcendents. Randou, are you—?”

“Allow me to reintroduce myself.”

Randou pantomimed removing a hat and placing it against his chest, then bowed.

“Rimbaud. Arthur Rimbaud. My skill is called Illuminations. Chuuya, my goal is to kill you and absorb you into my skill.”

Numerous explosions suddenly went off. Chuuya leaped into the air, dodging the wall of concentrated red waves before landing against a building and running to dodge each follow-up wave.

“Tsk!”

Every surface Chuuya ran across was immediately shattered into dust one after another. The iron pillars were smashed by the powerful blows as well. Chuuya wouldn’t survive a single hit.

“Not even you can continue to run away from space itself forever,” the previous boss said.

Chuuya kicked off the wall and jumped, only to be met with another shock wave. Even though he could control the gravitational force affecting his body, his mobility was greatly hindered in the air compared to when he was on the ground. He couldn’t run away from all the attacks.

“Ha-ha!” Chuuya laughed. “You really think this is enough to defeat me?”

He spun, then kicked off empty space and dodged the shock wave.

“What…?!”

Chuuya had leaped off a tiny piece of the building that was floating in the air, using a fingertip-sized fragment of the wall to dodge while simultaneously maximizing the wall’s gravitational force and minimizing his own. By switching the mass ratios, he appeared to be leaping through empty space as if he were a flying squirrel hopping between boulders. Space waves relentlessly pursued Chuuya through the air, one after another, but each time, he kicked off another piece of airborne debris to avoid each strike.

“You have a wonderful gift, boy,” the previous boss intoned, “but keep running and you will eventually find yourself cornered.”

Another shock wave shot right toward Chuuya. There was no way for him to escape the incoming strikes as long as he was in this subspace. And since space itself lacked mass, he was unable to manipulate the gravity of the attacks. Chuuya had finally found a skill that rivaled his—one that had the advantage.

However…

“Seems like you’re gettin’ forgetful in your old age.”

The next shock wave rushed toward him…and then vanished into thin air. Chuuya had used a shield to block the attack.

“Hey, do you think you could not pull on my collar like that? You’re hurting my neck!” the shield protested.

“Dazai? …Hmph,” Randou scoffed.

“I’ll just have him nullify your skill,” Chuuya explained, still holding onto Dazai. “Even if you’re careful that the subspace doesn’t touch him, your attacks still won’t be able to hit me. So much for being a high-level European spy. You can’t do anything about his nullification powers.”

“Yes…I must agree with you there. Dazai’s existence is bizarre even to me. He possesses the ultimate anti-skill—no one like him exists in all of Europe. However…” Randou raised a hand into the air.

“Chuuya! Pull me back as hard as you can!” Dazai shouted as a silver ray of light shot their way at almost that exact moment.

The space had been severed. A silver flash sliced where Dazai’s head had been only moments prior. The tip of a scythe sliced through his clothes, skin, and muscle. Blood instantly squirted out of the wound.

“Gwah…!” Dazai moaned. Chuuya, who had pulled him out of the way, went wide-eyed in astonishment.

“That’s impossible!” he shouted. “How did that…?!”

The silver flash of light that cut Dazai…was a scythe around the size of a person. The old man holding it gave a muffled laugh.

“Karma… This is indeed karma. I never imagined a day would come where I could behead this boy with my own two hands,” the previous Mafia boss crowed hoarsely. “If only we could chat about old times first, but…this body isn’t even capable of that.”

“Boss, you are no longer human…,” Randou solemnly stated. “I preserved your personality and memories…but you are still nothing more than my skill. And your mission…is to slow Dazai down with that scythe until Chuuya is dead.”

“Very well. Yes, I see… This soul is but a piece of scrap paper stuck to a skill, and this body is merely an empty automaton with no will of its own. And yet…I find it strangely satisfying.”

The previous boss raised his scythe. Floating in the air, cloaked in black fabric, he looked exactly like the grim reaper.

“Well, this is less than ideal.” Dazai painfully groaned as he clutched at the laceration to his chest. “That scythe’s an actual weapon, not a skill. Randou must have gotten it somewhere and given it to the old boss. In other words—”

“It could even kill you, huh?” Chuuya glanced at Dazai.

The cut was deep. His chest had been sliced all the way to his arm, and his clothes were already soaked dark red in blood. He needed treatment soon, or he wasn’t going to make it.

“Tsk. Damn it.” Chuuya grimaced. “This is not lookin’ good for us.”

A shock wave attack with no mass, which prevented Chuuya from blocking it.

A scythe that Dazai couldn’t nullify since it wasn’t a skill.

All it took was a single skill to completely subdue them.

“Dazai, I never wanted to kill you. The mere thought of killing a child breaks my heart,” Randou said drearily. “But you know the truth now, and if Mori learned of that same truth, he would have me assassinated… I would end up killing countless comrades I once worked with…and that I want to avoid. Taking your life alone isn’t a bad deal in comparison. My apologies—I need you to die along with Chuuya,” he added with a hint of genuine guilt. His eyes were tainted with darkness, just like everyone in the Mafia. It was a murky darkness—one that viewed human lives as mere numbers.

The skill user who once called himself Randou took a step forward, his body engulfed in black flames. The late Mafia boss floated high in the air wielding his shining silver scythe of death.

“Yeah… We’re not beating them,” Dazai calmly stated. “Time to just give up and accept death.”

“The hell?”

Dazai suddenly took a seat on the ground. Chuuya stared in evident astonishment; Dazai’s expression was entirely unremarkable. It was the face of someone who wasn’t hiding anything, who simply said what they were really feeling.

“What’s wrong with you?” Chuuya demanded.

“What do you want me to do? It’s hopeless. He’s a highly trained intelligence operative from Europe. There’s no way we can beat him.”

“Stop tal—”

A shock wave suddenly hit Chuuya before he could finish his sentence.

He tried to jump out of the way, but he didn’t make it in time; the left half of his body absorbed the blow, instantly knocking him backward as if he’d been hit by a giant cannonball. His body tore up the soil before he slammed into the rubble of the collapsed wall.

“Dazai is right,” Randou replied, his hand still raised from firing a shock wave. “Chuuya, you should give up as well. I am far too familiar with both of your powers. Fighting back is simply going to make you suffer more.”

“Damn…it…”

Chuuya grimaced, buried in the debris, as blood trickled out of the corners of his mouth.

“My objective cannot be achieved as long as you are still alive,” Randou apologetically admitted. “Eight years ago, I tried to steal you and run away, but…I made a mistake. The enemy had me surrounded, and I was unable to force my way through using the skill-derived life-form under my control at the time. That was when it hit me: Perhaps I could make my skill even stronger if I absorbed you, the destructive god Arahabaki. And that’s what I did. I delivered the fatal blow and made you mine, but…that was when the unexpected happened. What I took in was a safeguard. In other words: you, Chuuya. You, the human identity engraved into Arahabaki, were like a talisman preventing the god from going out of control. Attempting to make Arahabaki my skill removed the safeguard, and its true form manifested in the outside world… The rest is exactly as I explained it back at the mansion. The god of destruction appeared in its complete form and destroyed everything.”

Randou took a step forward. His environs flickered crimson like a flame.

“I won’t make the same mistake twice, though. I will cut off your head and make sure to kill Arahabaki, your true form, before absorbing you. I have killed countless seasoned skill users far stronger than either you or Dazai. Resisting will only delay the inevitable,” Randou quietly insisted.

But that was neither a threat nor bluff. It was clear from the look on his face that he was merely stating the truth.

Space itself began to shake as it gathered around Randou. An unbelievable power capable of cratering and decimating the ground underfoot was waiting to be released.

“Hmm… Randou, I have a proposal,” Dazai said, still covering his wound. “Give me a few minutes, and I’ll convince Chuuya to give up.”

Randou briefly glanced at Dazai in silent thought. “How many minutes?”

“Five would be nice.”

Randou closed his eyes. “You have two.”

“Thanks.”

Dazai unsteadily dragged his feet over to Chuuya, who was still under the rubble. He then crouched down and leaned toward him.

“Get away from me,” Chuuya spat. “You’re not gonna convince me to do anything.”

“I know.” Dazai glanced at Randou. Then he whispered quietly so that Randou couldn’t hear: “Let’s beat him. Together.”

Chuuya stared at Dazai in bewilderment, seemingly uncomprehending. “…Are you being serious?”

“I have a plan, but I can’t do it alone. It needs both of us to work. Do you trust me?”

Chuuya held Dazai’s gaze for a brief moment and demanded, “Tell me what made you change your mind. I thought you wanted to die.”

“I just felt like it. Is that not a good enough reason?” Dazai smiled, perplexed.

“It’s not.”

He nodded cheerfully. “Then I’ll tell you why.”

Dazai looked at Randou, then the subspace, and finally stared at the city in the distance.

“Working for the Mafia has piqued my interest, albeit slightly,” Dazai began. “In the outside world—the world of light—death is kept separate from everyday life. It’s swept under the rug. People find it unpleasant. But the Mafia’s world isn’t like that. Death is an extension of everyday life. It’s a part of life. And I tend to think that’s more accurate. Death isn’t the opposite of life but merely a function of it. We breathe, eat, fall in love, and die. And you can’t get the full picture of living without observing death up close.”

Chuuya quietly stared at Dazai’s expression as if he were searching for something human deep inside of him. “So you’re saying…you want to live now?”

“I wouldn’t go that far,” Dazai replied with a resigned smile. “Maybe I won’t find anything, but I figure I’ll give it a try. Once I successfully complete this mission, I’m going to join the Mafia. Gotta defeat him first, though. Besides…”

“‘Besides’…?”

“I got a new dog—you. And I still haven’t given you any commands,” Dazai said with a smirk. Chuuya snorted.

“Yep, you’re still a piece of shit. Your plan better not fail and get us both killed, or I’m gonna kill you, Dazai.”

Dazai smiled back at him. “I’m fine with that. Now, let’s do this, Chuuya.”

They stood side by side and began walking toward Randou.

“Did you convince him?” Randou asked.

“Yep,” Dazai replied. “Everything went smoothly. Chuuya convinced me not to die yet.”

Bewilderment flashed across Randou’s face. A few seconds went by until he forced his lips into a smile.

“I see.” He sighed. “Mori would jump for joy if he heard that. After all, this would normally be something worth celebrating. I will do my best to make sure your death is painless.”

“Heh. What a gentleman.” A smirk made its way to Chuuya’s face. “Do you have any idea how I feel right now?”

“I cannot even imagine.”

“I’m ecstatic. It’s been ages since I could fight with both hands!”

Chuuya dashed forward. A crimson shock wave burst right before his eyes, but he appeared to have expected it. He launched himself off the ground with both hands, then used the momentum to throw himself into the air.

“These fists aren’t gonna stop till they meet your face!”

He scattered the gravel he’d picked up in each hand and used the fine particles as footholds to sprint up and down, left and right like lightning. The crimson shock wave followed his small figure, but all it could destroy were the blurs of movement left in Chuuya’s wake as he rocketed through space.

“Ha-ha-ha-haaa!” he cackled as he hurtled toward Randou and aimed a comet-like kick at the man’s heart.

Just then, a crimson shock wave pierced the air.

“Hff…!”

Air expelled from Randou’s lungs as he raised both hands, creating a condensed subspace shield that blocked the kick. The blow was so powerful that the soles of Randou’s shoes cracked radial fissures into the ground beneath him.

“Dazai! Now!” Chuuya shouted.

“What—?!”

Dazai was already standing right in front of Randou. He had approached him like a shadow hiding behind Chuuya’s flashy attack.

“Hmph!” Randou snorted. “Sneaking up on me so you could touch me and prevent my skill from manifesting?”

No skill could touch Dazai. Any skill user’s powers would be nullified if they touched a part of his body, leaving that person virtually naked.

“However…”

Something dark appeared between Dazai and Randou. It was death itself, clothed in ominous robes.

“It’s time to die, boy,” the old boss declared hoarsely.

“…He saw right through my plan, huh?” said Dazai.

The silver scythe glimmered with death as it fell. And yet, Dazai didn’t look away. He watched the blade swinging down at him with utmost calm. It was as if he knew the scythe wouldn’t touch him.

And the blade did stop…right at the tip of his nose.

“You have no idea how irritatin’ this is, you crafty son of a bitch,” Chuuya grumbled while still midair. “I can’t believe your prediction was right again!”

“Hrm…?”

Something dark was restraining the old boss’s scythe.

It was Chuuya’s biker jacket wrapped around the base of the scythe. He had thrown it into the air while manipulating its gravity, and the weight of it caused the massive scythe to drop. After it hit the ground with a resounding thud, the jacket returned to its normal weight and softly fell.

“Haaaaaah!”

Chuuya swung his fist down at the old boss. Each punch was no different than a burning comet, slowly breaking down the predecessor’s body.

“Gwah…”

The previous boss’s inhuman form gradually cracked open, expelling flames from each lacerated wound and pushing him back.

“Eat dirt, you old fart!”

Chuuya grabbed the previous boss’s face, and black waves of gravitational force shot out from his hand. The predecessor’s body slammed into the ground, sending radial cracks through the spot where he landed. Nevertheless, Chuuya still didn’t ease up the gravity. Instead, he pressed the old man’s body into the earth by applying as much gravitational force as he could muster.

“Even this artificial body…is not powerful enough,” the old boss said as he gradually sank into the ground. “How unfortunate. But impressive work, boy.”

“You can’t use your hands anymore,” said Chuuya. Then he shouted, “Dazai! Now!”

“I’m already on it!”

Dazai sprinted right for Randou, one fist raised.

The boy’s eyes were as clear as the sky on a sunny day; they lacked any shred of trepidation. This was not something earned, for only those determined to live could possess their heavenly blue sparkle.

“Haaaaaah!”

Dazai’s fist closed in on Randou’s face.

Until all of a sudden…

…the world collapsed.

“What—?!”

A crimson glow had engulfed everything in sight. The buildings vanished along with the ground beneath. Even gravity itself had disappeared. Their entire environs had been shaken up, broken down, and were now floating in midair.

“You should already know my powers allow me to manipulate subspace.”

They heard a voice—something not human was speaking in this crimson world.

“In other words, I can control everything inside it,” the voice continued. “Dazai, you may be my greatest threat; your fists will never reach me as long as I can manipulate where you stand or the distance you move.”

Randou was floating. His overcoat fluttered in the wind, countless pieces of rubble hovering around him.

“You’ve gotta be kidding me,” Chuuya spat. “The hell can’t his skill do…?”

Dazai looked around in mute amazement. “Sneaking into the Mafia’s vault must have been a piece of cake with a skill like this.”

The world inside the subspace no longer resembled any place on earth. The ground was hollowed, and the buildings were destroyed. Everything was floating in the crimson atmosphere. Dazai and Chuuya stood atop giant pieces of rubble like tiny ants clinging on for dear life.

“Does this place look familiar, Chuuya? You’ve been here once before, after all,” said Randou. “On that day eight years ago, my partner and I infiltrated this country to steal a high-energy being. We learned that it was sealed away in a secret military facility…but when we captured you, Chuuya, and tried to flee…something happened—something not good. But I still cannot remember what that something was. All I do remember is that it led the enemy to find me and back me into a corner until I had no choice but to absorb Arahabaki as my skill.”

Debris swirled around Randou. The indescribable noise filled the air as something invisible to the eye roared into space.

“Randou,” said Dazai, “just what is Arahabaki? Who is Chuuya?”

“Not even I know. Bringing Chuuya back with me and finding the answer to that question was one of my duties…but every record stored in the secret facility where Chuuya was being kept was wiped out in the explosion. There is perhaps no one left who knows the truth… Nevertheless, when I turn Chuuya into my skill, his memories will be reconstructed. Then all questions will be answered. Perhaps something happened to my friend that day as well.”

“Your friend…?” Chuuya muttered as he gazed up at the crimson world.

“Yes. My spy partner who snuck into the facility with me was also my dearest friend. His name was Paul Verlaine, another skill user who overcame many dangers,” Randou explained. “What happened to him? Did he die in the explosion? Or is he alive somewhere? That is the sole thing I cannot remember. Therefore, I need your memories, Chuuya. But if I try to integrate you while you’re still alive, the same thing that occurred eight years ago will happen again. You must die so that I can absorb your dead body and learn what became of my friend—so that I can fill in those missing eight years—so that I can save him.”

“I see… So it’s all for your partner,” Dazai said listlessly. “Betraying the Mafia, spreading rumors about the old boss’s resurrection, this fight we’re in now… It’s kind of hard to believe, to be honest.”

“Maybe for a slimeball like you it is,” Chuuya scoffed. He looked up at Randou. “Throwing everything away for your friends is a perfectly respectable reason to risk your life if you ask me… What more could you ask for in an opponent?”

Chuuya focused his skill in both hands. The mass of his fists increased as the air shook around them.

“Hey. You wanna know why I always fight without using my hands?” Chuuya asked as he approached Randou. Numerous pebbles vibrated by his feet and floated with each step. “I’ve never lost a fight in my life. I’ve never even been in real danger… But that’s no surprise. After all, I’m not even human. My identity is a safeguard, like you said. Nothing more than a little pattern etched on a colossal furnace of power. Hey… Do you know how that feels?”

Chuuya stepped onto empty space, using the floating debris to walk in midair. He took another step forward with his other leg. And just like that, Chuuya slowly approached Randou as if he were ascending a staircase.

“That’s why I kept my hands in my pockets. I figured I’d one day feel like I was about to lose, no longer enjoying the fight but just doing everything I could to protect myself… I thought maybe that way I’d start to like myself as a person—me, a little pattern without a body of my own.”

He launched himself into the air like a falcon tearing through the crimson night.

All of a sudden, a shock wave appeared right before him, powerful enough to pulverize an entire building…and yet, Chuuya went right through it without even attempting to dodge.

“What?!”

“Haaaaaah!”

His clothes and flesh split open as he shot through the shock wave. Copious amounts of blood followed the many cuts that appeared on Chuuya’s body, but he did not slow down.

“He absorbed the impact by increasing the gravity and density of his clothes and skin…?!”

Chuuya left a trail of blood in his wake as his every bone cried in agony, but even then, he managed a ferocious smirk.

He used lateral gravity to increase his speed even further, launching himself at Randou like a living cannonball. There was no wall to stop the soaring menace, no time to create a barrier of subspace waves. The old boss wouldn’t make it to Randou in time to absorb the blow, either.

Chuuya buried his fist deep into Randou’s stomach, folding the man’s body in half. He accelerated even more, turning himself into a living storm as he threw a right hook that tore through the air. Then came a roundhouse kick, followed immediately by a lightning-fast ax kick. Chuuya pivoted on his right heel, using gravity to anchor his left heel as he slammed his knee into Randou’s chin.

Punch, kick, punch, punch, punch, kick, punch—the ceaseless attacks came from each and every direction with the weight of heavy machinery behind them. Moreover, each blow accurately hit Randou’s vital spots. It was a relentless storm of punches and kicks where one flowed into the next, speeding up with every strike. The onslaught was unstoppable.

Chuuya slammed a foot into Randou’s chest, then spun like a wheel so quickly that his next kick looked like a mere blur. The resulting impact was powerful enough to make the air vibrate. Randou was immediately sent crashing into the earth as a cloud of dust rose into the air.

“Incredible…,” Dazai muttered absentmindedly as he watched from the ground.

Chuuya landed in the cloud of dust and immediately dropped to his knees, out of breath. The lightning-quick succession of blows had clearly worn him out. He placed both hands on the ground to keep himself from collapsing.

When the dust eventually settled, he looked up…and his expression froze.

“Magnificent.” Randou was standing on the other side of the dust cloud with not even a scratch on him, despite having taken so many hits. He didn’t appear to be in any pain whatsoever. “Chuuya, you already possess strength and talents all your own, separate from Arahabaki. You are strong not as a god but as a human being.”

“Gee… Thanks,” Chuuya mumbled, his breath ragged. “But I’m kinda bummed out… There’s not even a scratch on you after all that.”

“So be it—this is my world.” Randou lifted his hands and showed Chuuya his skin. “I use subspace to keep a thin film over my skin. No physical attack can break through it.”

“Hmph… Anything goes when you’re a skill user from Europe, huh?”

A shadow rose above Chuuya—one in a black robe. He saw the previous boss’s deathly visage followed by a silver flash aimed for his neck.

“Tsk.”

Chuuya couldn’t stand right away; he had overexerted himself. He began lifting his arms to touch the blade at the last second and manipulate its gravity…but the subspace sliced the gravitational field open, allowing for the tip of the scythe to pass clean through.

“Mn…!”

The scythe pierced Chuuya’s left arm right below the wrist until the blade came out the other side and dug into the floor. Chuuya was pinned down like a laboratory animal about to be dissected.

“You won’t be able to move around so quickly with a wound like that,” said Randou. “Which is why you won’t be able to dodge the next shock wave, either.”

A shock wave crushed Chuuya with enough force to shatter a boulder.

“Chuuya!”

Dazai tried running over to help, but he was too far away. It would take ten seconds to reach Chuuya, even if he sprinted across the hovering debris.

“Another.”

Another shock wave came crashing down, fracturing the ground and sending clods of earth flying.

“And another.”

The next shock wave came from below, rending the earth and scattering the fragments everywhere.

“The next attacks will be consecutive.”

He knocked Chuuya into the ground, tossed him into the air—and almost simultaneously, countless shock waves hit Chuuya from all sides. He couldn’t dodge, much less get into position to block them. It was like being hit by a car in every direction. The seamless attacks appeared to have no end in sight.

The crimson shock waves eventually ceased. Chuuya’s body had been crushed, twisted, and ripped apart. He lay facedown, not even twitching. A rusty metal drum by his side had been smashed into a thin board after the attack.

“Even a tank would be completely flattened after that much force,” Randou said quietly. “I will reconstruct your broken bones and organs after I absorb you into my skill.”

Randou solemnly extended his arm toward Chuuya, and a light appeared at the tip of his finger. He was trying to absorb Chuuya as a skill.

“No need to worry. Your soul and identity will soon become nothing more than superficial information…although I suppose that’s no different from now.”

Chuuya’s body was wrapped in light.

However…

“I appreciate it.”

He swiftly jumped to his feet, then thrust the scythe piercing his arm deep into Randou’s chest.

“What…?”

Chuuya was alive. He was covered in a myriad of lacerations and bruises, along with a number of broken bones, but nonetheless alive.

He pushed the scythe even deeper into Randou’s chest, piercing the man’s sternum until blood suddenly sprayed out.

“Im…possi…ble…”

“I’m pissed, too.” Chuuya’s scowling face was bruised and cut up. “Every last detail went just as that sly bastard said it would, even the ending.”

Dazai was standing at a distance. “Sorry, Randou.”

In his left hand was a piece of fabric: a garland he’d used as decoration for Chuuya’s fake party.

The long garland dragged across the ground, cleverly hidden in the shadows of floating debris. One end of the cloth was stuffed inside Chuuya’s clothes.

“I told Chuuya to pick up this garland when you destroyed the nearby building,” Dazai said with a childlike grin.

“Then I tied it to myself using my skill,” Chuuya added with the scythe still piercing his arm. “I wrapped it around my entire body and made sure it was hidden underneath my clothes.”

“After that, I simply touched the other end.” Dazai held up the cloth. “Want to guess what happened then?”

“The skill affecting the cloth you touched…was nullified,” Randou replied painfully. “In other words…it functioned as armor to keep the subspace shock waves from ever reaching you…”

“Exactly.”

Chuuya ripped the scythe from his arm, and copious amounts of blood immediately began spilling out. The airborne rocks and debris dropped lifelessly to the ground.

“What formidable children…you two turned out to be…”

Blood that had entered Randou’s airway now spilled from his mouth. He collapsed into a pool of his own blood with a sickening splat.

The wound was clearly fatal.

Long ago, there were two spies in a far-off country. They were colleagues, partners, friends—brotherly figures who could trust each other more than anyone.

At least, one of them felt that way.

They never cowered even when death seemed to have them in its grip. It wasn’t because of the love they had for their country, nor did honor have anything to do with it, either. They simply knew they had nothing to fear as long as they were together. They believed neither fear nor hesitation were necessary to protect each other.

At least, one of them felt that way.

One day, the two partners were given a mission to sneak into an enemy nation and steal a powerful weapon.

It was a dangerous mission. They would have no backup or support, no help from allies on the inside. Nevertheless, they accepted the mission, infiltrated the enemy facility, and found it—that unworldly something.

They couldn’t leave a thing like that in the enemy’s hands. They had to bring it back to their country and surrender it for research, for it would only spark further strife if they left it behind. They had to bring it back home no matter what.

…At least, one of them felt that way.

The subspace vanished, revealing the vast blue sky through the collapsed ceiling. Randou lay feebly on the ground in what was left of the shipyard.

“I see… Paul… You were…”

“Any last words, Randou?” Dazai asked quietly. “If you have any final wishes, we’ll see what we can do to—”

“No… There is nothing left for me…,” Randou said lifelessly. “When I took in…Chuuya’s skill a few moments ago…I remembered…what happened to my best friend, Paul.”

He placed both hands on the ground. No longer able to support his own weight, he slowly sank back into the pool of his own blood.

“He…betrayed me…at the very last moment…” The last remnants of life in his eyes flickered as he grew weaker. “When we were escaping…he betrayed me…and our country. He tried to stab me…from behind…but I just barely managed to dodge. We fought to the death, and in the end…I killed my best friend…with my own two hands…”

“I see,” Dazai said softly, the words falling to the ground. “A fight between two skilled spies would obviously cause a stir given the inevitable destruction that followed. So the military must have noticed that and surrounded you, right? You had no choice but to try absorbing Arahabaki…”

Randou rolled onto his back and looked up at Chuuya with crystal-clear eyes. “Chuuya… Can I…ask you…a favor?”

“What is it?”

“Live,” Randou said in almost a whisper. “There is no longer…any way of knowing…who you are or where you came from,” he rasped. “But even if…you are but a pattern…etched on the surface of raw power…you are you. Nothing changes that…because all people, all humanity…their brains and flesh…are nothing more than patterns—beautiful patterns…upon the material world…”

Both Chuuya and Dazai quietly listened as if there was something in what Randou was saying that they couldn’t allow themselves to miss.

“It’s strange… I don’t feel even the least bit cold…” Randou smiled faintly. “The world I thought was so cold… Paul… Did you feel…this warmth in the end…as well… … …?”

His hand dropped into the puddle of blood with a splash. And then there was silence. The crimson subspace quietly vanished, and the sky returned to its usual blue hue. Some things, however, would not return to normal: the body of a man who no longer felt the cold, and the hearts of two boys who stood rooted to the spot, staring at him.

A gust of wind peered through their souls as it passed them by.