Bungo Stray Dogs - Volume 7 - Chapter 5

Phase.05

A month had passed.

Day turned into night and night into day. Tragedy turned into fortune and fortune into tragedy. The Arahabaki Incident was treated as a solo crime committed by Randou alone. After he betrayed the Mafia, his house was burned down, and his possessions were thrown into the ocean. It was common procedure for the Mafia to punish the traitor’s family as well, but Randou had none.

His body was left outside to the elements for a week before being buried in a rural public cemetery.

A thick sea breeze blew through that cemetery, a deserted graveyard far from town, nothing more than a cluster of blank, nondescript tombstones protruding from the cliffside. Just below the cliff was the ocean, and each tombstone leaned dismally to one side from being exposed to the strong sea breeze day after day.

Seated atop one tombstone was a single boy.

“Tsk. Still a pain in the ass even after death,” Chuuya muttered to himself with an annoyed look on his face. “The Mafia threw away all the records you collected when you were alive, so I’m having a hard time investigating. Now I don’t have any leads on what that military facility was that you snuck into eight years ago and why Arahabaki was there.”

He was staring straight at a new white headstone. It was chipped in several places, procured from some old stone from who knows where. A tiny lone dandelion mournfully grew at its base, swaying gently in the wind.

“Eh, not that you would’ve told anyone about that stuff even if you were alive…”

Chuuya kicked his legs forward and hopped onto the ground. He then shoved his hands in his pockets, turned his back to Randou’s grave, and walked away.

“See you again soon.”

As he headed down the pathway facing the cliff, a boy suddenly appeared before him.

“So this is where you were,” the boy said. “I was looking all over for you, Chuuya.”

“Shirase…”

It was the silver-haired Sheep who’d been searching for Chuuya at the arcade the other day with two friends.

“Did you need me for something?” Chuuya asked.

“I just wanted to apologize. That’s all,” Shirase answered with a shrug. “We got into a little fight the other day, right? Y’know, at the arcade. I felt really bad after that. I realized that we shouldn’t get in the way of your freedom all because it’s inconvenient for us. You really wanted to catch that criminal, yeah? But here I was tellin’ you to put us Sheep and our rules first… Anyway, I was wrong. It was our fault for not coming up with another way to protect ourselves. We relied on you way too much.”

Chuuya appeared surprised as he listened to his friend.

“I’ve got a good grasp of where the Sheep’s problems lie,” Shirase mentioned with a faint smile. “So we all got together and came up with a solution. Want to hear it?”

“You did, huh?” Chuuya said, a note of bewilderment in his voice. He then started walking off. “Sure, tell me about it.” He passed his friend, sighed slightly, and continued, “I’m still kinda exhausted from everything that happened, so I’m all for havin’ a few extra days off to rest… Let’s chat while we walk. What kind of solution is it?”

Chuuya started sauntering down the cliffside path. The sea breeze blew a touch stronger, rustling the weeds in the graveyard.

All of a sudden, something slammed into Chuuya’s back with a thud. He stumbled forward.

“This kind of solution.”

Chuuya slowly turned to face the silver-haired teenager pressed against his back.

“…Shirase, you…”

The teen retreated; Chuuya lost his balance and fell to the ground.

Sticking out of his back was a brand-new dagger. Fresh blood slowly trickled out of the wound around the handle.

“The solution is to attack from outside your periphery the moment you let your guard down. That way you won’t have time to manipulate gravity,” Shirase said with a smile plastered on his face. “Right, Chuuya? I would know. We’ve been comrades for a long time, after all.”

“The hell…was that for…?” Chuuya groaned painfully. He tried to get up, but his arms and legs were trembling and weak.

“I wouldn’t squirm so much if I were you. The blade was tipped with rat poison.” Shirase’s lips curled into an even wider smirk. “Your arms and legs are gonna be numb for a while, so you won’t be able to move like normal. I feel bad for you. It wouldn’t have had to be like this if you weren’t so strong.”

“What are you…talking about…?”

Chuuya covered the wound on his back while managing to look back and glare at the silver-haired Sheep.

“This.”

With a wag of the Sheep’s finger, a group of soldiers instantly appeared on the other side of the graveyard with their rifles aimed at Chuuya.

“Those are…GSS soldiers…”

The highly armed soldiers formed a semicircle around Chuuya where he lay on the cliffside.

“This is what we decided on. The Sheep and GSS have joined forces,” Shirase revealed. Several boys and girls with guns weaved between the soldiers before aiming their weapons at Chuuya. Their expressions were grim.

“This is your fault, Chuuya.” He glared at Chuuya with a smile still on his face. “Everyone came to the same conclusion: What if you really did join the Mafia? What would the Sheep do? It was easy for all of us to imagine. We’d be helpless. Everyone would get killed. And that’s because we were weak. We’d always relied on those incredible powers of yours. We couldn’t just let dozens of lives depend on the whims of one person. They call that a ‘vulnerability.’ An organizational vulnerability—like how a flood can sneak through a small crack in the foundation of a fortress and destroy it. You get what I’m trying to say?”

“You dumbass… Do you really think…I’d betray my friends…?” Chuuya growled. Cold sweat dripped down his pale face. The poison seemed to be working.

“See, GSS doesn’t switch loyalties on a whim. We can trust ’em so long as there’s something in it for them. This is the smarter way to take on a powerful organization like the Port Mafia.”

Chuuya, his breath ragged, looked around—first at the teens pointing their guns at him and then at the GSS soldiers. The people he’d thought were his friends up until a few moments ago were now staring him down like terrifying beasts.

“So that’s it…,” Chuuya managed between gasps. “Everything I did…was just an annoyance…to you all…”

“We’re really grateful to you, Chuuya.” Shirase took the gun out of the holster at his waist and aimed it at his former leader. “We Sheep took you in when you had no family and nowhere to go, but you already gave us more than enough in return. That’s why…it’s time to rest…after dying and contributing to the Sheep one last time.”

He signaled to the soldiers with his chin. “Kill him.”

A barrage of gunfire followed. Chuuya blocked each bullet with his skill at first, but there were too many. The Sheep knew what kind of ammo it would take to kill him. A heavy downpour of bullets rained on Chuuya.

He used his nearly lifeless limbs to roll away as the ceaseless gunfire pelted the weed-covered dirt where he’d just been.

The next moment, he increased the gravity on the soles of his feet, sinking his body into the ground. A fissure opened up in the earth and immediately spread until the bullet-ridden soil could no longer hold.

The ground crumbled beneath him as if it had been shaved off the cliffside. Chuuya fell along with the crumbling earth, sending clouds of dust into the air. The ocean’s raging waves waited for him below.

“He threw himself off the cliff!” Shirase shouted. “The poison might’ve weakened his powers, but he ain’t gonna die from a fall like that! Hurry—after him! Don’t let him live!”

A white wave broke over the boulder at the bottom of the cliff. Chuuya tottered up an unmarked path.

“Damn…it…,” he grumbled, clinging onto the wet rock with both hands. “This wound’s…deep…”

Chuuya focused on the wound on his back. He applied a weak gravitational force on the dagger and slowly pulled it out, then dropped it into the ocean. The poison had dramatically hindered both his skill and his physical strength. The Sheep knew all too well how to kill the invincible Chuuya. That was hardly surprising. Unlike with Randou, Chuuya never tried hiding his true powers around them. They were friends; he had no reason to hide.

He heard the soldiers shouting something at the top of the cliff, while at the bottom, the sound of sporadic gunfire grew closer. It wouldn’t be long before they surrounded Chuuya again. The Sheep couldn’t let him live, for he knew where their hideout was, where they hid their weapons, along with their criminal records—every weakness they possessed. Chuuya couldn’t help himself from smirking.

“Leader, my ass…,” he muttered under his breath as the waves splashed against him. “I was the one…who ruined…the Sheep…”

He grabbed on to a boulder and lifted himself up to find a nearby slope that was sparsely forested. He walked through the trees, dragging his wet body with each step, until a figure suddenly appeared before him—a small, lanky youth. Chuuya’s face grimly tensed, thinking he’d been surrounded, but he was wrong.

“Hey, Chuuya. Looks like you’re having a rough day. Need a hand?”

It was Dazai.

“Dazai…? What are you…doing here…?” Chuuya asked vacantly.

“Work. When I told Mori I was gonna join the Mafia, he jumped for joy and said he was going to give me something nice. ‘Something nice’ being putting me in charge of a bunch of soldiers and a new job I was forced to do.”

That instant, a great number of shadowy figures showed up at Dazai’s command. They were dressed in dark suits with black rifles in their hands. It was a group of expressionless mafiosi—unfeeling, machinelike men who knew nothing of compassion.

“The Sheep and the GSS apparently formed an alliance, so the boss wants to eliminate them before they get too strong…which is what brings me here,” Dazai explained. “Anyway, shouldn’t be a difficult first job. It’ll be over before lunch.”

Chuuya held his wound while panting. “What are…you after…?” He eyed Dazai sharply. “Obviously, runnin’ into…ya here…isn’t a coincidence… You tryin’ to save me…so that I’ll owe you?”

“Who said I was saving you? I think you’re the worst. We just came here to slaughter our enemies, every last one of them.”

“Every last one…?” Chuuya’s expression froze. “You mean…all the Sheep, too?”

Dazai observed Chuuya and smirked as if he wanted to say something. Several silent moments passed before he offered a loaded reply:

“Yep. That’s our policy. They’re a dangerous organization, after all. But, well…let’s say a Mafia associate—someone with inside info on the enemy—was willing to tell us how to weaken the enemy without killing them, then I’d consider revising our policy.”

“Help from…an associate…?” Chuuya asked with a stern look.

“Yep. We can’t trust any tips from an enemy, but we could definitely trust one of our own. That’s how all organizations work, right?”

Chuuya remained silent…because he knew exactly what Dazai was trying to say.

“So that’s…what this is about,” Chuuya said hoarsely. “You wanna…make a deal, huh?”

“Hmm… I don’t know.” Dazai smiled, dodging the question. “But I do know that a certain someone lost during our little game at the arcade, so if they do join the Mafia, they’re gonna spend the rest of their days serving me like a dog.”

Chuuya glared at him, still breathing heavily. Despite his trembling legs and the sweat pouring down his face, he didn’t take his eyes off Dazai for a second. He quietly stared at Dazai as if all the answers were written on his face.

Soon, he could hear soldiers’ footsteps and gunshots approaching. He was running out of time.

“Don’t kill…the Sheep… They’re just kids,” he stammered, practically expelling as much air out of his lungs as he could. “They took…good care of me.”

“Very well.” Dazai smiled. “You guys heard that, right? It’s time to get to work. As we discussed earlier, you’re not allowed to harm any of the kids. Let’s go. It’s time we remind our enemies why we used to be called the terror of the night.”

Dazai strode through the woods, his Mafia soldiers following in silence as if they were servants of death before they all vanished among the trees.

Chuuya was watching them go when it suddenly hit him.

“Oh…,” he said. “Even this…was all part of his plan. Ever since he made that phone call at the arcade… He did that to sow doubt about me…among the Sheep…”

Dazai had called Mori at the arcade and asked him to release the Sheep hostages. The Sheep thought that Chuuya would come back to them after that, but he instead prioritized his mission, albeit without telling them his real motive. That was when the Sheep realized that their safety depended on Chuuya’s feelings at any given moment.

Everything went exactly how Dazai had planned it.

He even knew the Sheep would come for Chuuya. Thus, he brought Mori his strategy and mobilized his men. After that, he simply waited until Chuuya could no longer refuse his deal.

“He’s a demon… That son of a bitch.”

Chuuya stood clutching his wound, then glanced in the direction Dazai had disappeared. He seemed to be looking for an invisible sign of what future that spawn of darkness would create. He then growled:

“…Bring it on.”