Chapter Text
Corruption is painful and it takes Chuuya some time to even start functioning. But when he manages to open his eyes, Boss is next to his bed. Which is surprising, to say the least. Usually, he woke up to Dazai (who just wanted to slack off, and, apparently, him sitting next to unconscious Chuuya was the best he could master) or some of his weird pranks, or even empty rooms. Fukuzawa only came the first time, to check if he was even still alive and loyal. Which was a different can of worms Chuuya wasn’t going to dwell on now.
“If I ask you what exactly happened with the Guild and the Port Mafia, will you answer me?” he asked, not even looking at Chuuya.
“Well, I still have a report to write,” Chuuya huffed.
“You almost died, and it wasn’t external damage.”
“Boss,” Chuuya tried to sit down. He really wanted to drink some water. So far he felt like after a really bad hangover, and there was a bottle on the table near him. “It’s fine, I did that already.”
“So what?”
There was silence. Chuuya shrugged, finally reaching for water. Ok, drink some, and then lie down, just so it won’t escape his empty stomach. The drill was pretty simple, drink some water, eat some soup. Tomorrow he could stand up and in two days he would be able to go as usual.
“So you knew you could die and did it anyway?”
“Not exactly. I thought I would die, not just could,” Chuuya laughed and then started coughing. He covered his mouth and spilled some water on the blanket. Damn it. There was blood on his bandaged palms. He felt so tired and weak.
Boss exhaled and rubbed his neck.
“You were unconscious for three days. We and the Port Mafia combined our forces and resolved the conflict.”
Chuuya laid back and winced.
“You know, I never asked even though I was curious what precisely you, being that young, could even possibly do to get an eighty years sentence. Your case was too vague to make something out of it.”
It was really hard to believe Boss didn’t know that. Well, some of that was sealed behind a classified sign. Some – as a courtesy to the Port Mafia they really asked for – wasn’t revealed, though it was added to Chuuya’s sentence. Some just speculated and never proved, or Chuuya admitted that, but they didn’t have any proof. And yet, Boss was a very resourceful person, he managed to gather a lot of information on him while Chuuya was still the King of Sheep. Missed the Arahabaki bit, but otherwise knew everything. He had Hirotsu and his wide net of informators. He probably has or had spies in Port Mafia and the Government.
It was impossible to somehow create the Agency and not have something to keep the Permit intact no matter what. Boss wasn’t the person Chuuya would want to have as an enemy. And now it felt like some weird interrogation.
“Well, a lot of things. But most of them were possible because of my ability anyway.”
Boss’ face was plain. Yeah, interrogations aren’t that easy.
“That’s your ability that left you in a barely alive state?”
Chuuya shrugged. No need to answer something obvious.
“I can’t stop when I’m like that,” Chuuya said. “And I need Dazai to nullify my ability, so it won’t kill me and everyone else around”
Boss was silent for a bit, then she stood up. Belatedly Chuuya noticed that Elise wasn’t there, which was a bad sign. Boss stopped next to the bed, put the bottle back on the table, and took Chuuya’s hand.
“Your palm didn’t have pieces of skin, you lost some fingernails, and some bones in your hand were broken all over multiple times before that, but not this time, thankfully,” He didn’t sound disappointed, more like stated fact with no emotions. Chuuya shrugged and took his hands away. “Your regeneration was slightly faster before you woke up yesterday.”
“Was it?” Chuuya asked absently.
Boss sat on the bed and looked in front of himself.
“Kyuusaku is dead, did you know that?”
“Huh?” Chuuya blinked and looked at Boss. It seems, his surprised reaction eased some tension.
“Steinbeck strangled him, and then Dazai-kun shot Steinbeck. We’ve lost a track of Lovecraft, but he didn’t resurface again yet.”
Chuuya had this feeling he didn’t really kill Lovecraft, but he wasn’t going to say so. He also didn’t remember anything, aside from how Dazai held him. Weird feeling, now that he grew so much.
“Who would’ve thought that Double Black were you and Dazai,” Boss huffed and shook his head. Ok, one more Pot Mafia courtesy secret is out.
“We didn’t leave anyone alive to tell ‘bout us, so,” Chuuya shrugged.
Boss hummed and slouched. “You gave us a scare, you know? Your tracker showed a great amount of power, that is nearly impossible, and then it died off, so we didn’t even know if you were still alive or not, until Sakinosuke-kun contacted us from the car.”
“Ugh, I’d have to write a lot of paperwork on that, right?” Chuuya groaned and covered his face.
“Nope, everything is even worse. You’ll have to go on one more trial with Hunting Dogs present.”
Chuuya froze. That was literally the worst.
“I won’t join them,” the voice ended up being way too rusty.
“I know. And they know. But Ango-kun’s report on your ability wasn't full, it seems.”
The silence stretched.
“I won’t ask you.”
“But they will. I guess, a plausible explanation would be, under Director’s ability I could’ve controlled it, but without him, I can’t, and it’s true.”
It wasn't the whole truth, and the gaze Boss gave Chuuya spoke volumes on how he knew. He nodded, accepting that.
“Makes sense. Fukuzawa-dono’s ability gave you the control before, and you only used it again because Dazai-kun was near to nullify it, correct?”
It was the repetition of the same words, but, if there was going to be a trial, he needed to get a hold of this wording.
“Correct. And I won’t use it again, because it will kill me if I’m not stopped. Even this time I made it out in one piece thanks to some luck or whatever,” Chuuya waved his hand.
“Hm,” Boss said and looked Chuuya over. “Not exactly.”
“Well, aside from my hands, and no bones are broken, so that’s a win.”
“Your hair is cut on the right side. Don’t sit, I’ll bring you a mirror.”
Chuuya didn’t wait for the mirror and touched his hair. It was hard to tell, he almost didn’t feel anything because of the bandages on his hands, and overall injuries, but he was able to get some strands and compare its length. Damn. The mirror only visualized it.
He hasn't cut his hair ever since he left Port Mafia. It was his… Promise to himself, probably. That he became somehow free.
He never was. Just changed one captivity to another. But here, at least, he didn’t have to kill.
“Mizuki-kun will come in a few minutes with your new tracking device,” Boss said. “You tolerate each other, right?”
“Yeah, she’s nice,” Chuuya said absently. At least, Boss didn’t comment on his reaction.
He sighed and patted Chuuya’s leg.
“You asked me what lesson I wanted you to get a few days ago.”
Chuuya nodded. Right, five in the morning. Before he met Dazai again and all the shitstorm with Kyuusaku happened.
“You’re really obedient. Not blindly obedient, and that’s a good thing. I guess that’s why you’re still alive.”
Chuuya had no idea where this all was going, so he listened to Boss.
“But you still take on orders that might hurt you physically and mentally.”
“And ya give me these orders knowing that,” Chuuya huffed. “Besides, as ya said, I always think it through. If ya ordered that, it meant ya wanted me to do it, either to make me learn how to deal with unpleasant situations, or whatever. I’ve been taught this way before, so I can see that.”
“I’m sorry, Chuuya-kun.” Chuuya blinked and stared at Boss. Huh? “I should’ve recognized that sort of pattern instead of keeping pushing you further to the point you almost lost your temper in the worst possible way.”
Huh?
What was he talking about?
“Right before the mission with Kyuusaku’s rescue, you seemed off. Your gaze was blank for the first time I’ve known you. You always had this passive dangerous aura around you, but it was the first time it felt like you wanted to kill.”
“It wasn’t that,” Chuuya said, looking anywhere but at Boss' face. “It was Kyuusaku, and not all that. If it wasn’t for that brat, I wouldn’t act like that.”
Boss hummed. Someone knocked and the door opened. Higuchi looked inside.
“Um, Tsujimura-san is here.”
“Great. Let her in, and I need to deal with some paperwork. Chuuya-kun, after she leaves, get some more rest. We can always continue that talk later.”
“I’d rather we won’t.”
“Or we won’t, it’s your call,” Boss patted his leg again and left, briefly greeting Mizuki.
Ugh.
“Aaand, done,” Mizuki said, clicking something on the pad.
“Yay, Big Brother is watching me again. Here goes my last chance to run away.” The tracker looked like your normal fitness watches, though, Chuuya would’ve preferred some other color, and not just plain black. It seemed weird on his wrists covered in bandages.
“I don’t think it’s that bad,” Mizuki said and hid the pad in the bag, looking at the brown-ish blood on Chuuya’s palm.
“I’m fine,” he said and waved it off. “But I really want to know who would be on a Trial from the Hunting Dogs, to brace myself.”
“You aren’t going like it,” Mizuki sighed. “Okura-san and Suehiro-san.”
“Well,” Chuuya winced. “Tetchou is a pretty chill guy, but Okura-san...”
She really liked to change his age for whatever reason, as a punishment or whatever. And this time it was quite possible he would have to act as a scapegoat for all the Agency’s faults in this Guild mess. He actually needed to know what exactly was that mess, but whatever. He doubted they killed anyone, right? Well, aside from Kyuusaku dying, but the last time Chuuya saw that brat he was still alive.
“I’ll be on a trial as well,” she said like it was going to make him feel better.
Actually, it did. The Government was always on the prosecution side. It would make some sort of difference if it wasn’t a trial with Hunting Dogs. Oh, he’s royally screwed.
“I’ve heard you won’t be able to get up for another five days.”
“Five?” Chuuya frowned. Oh, well, whatever, it would give him at least two more days. But also he just wanted to get rid of it as soon as possible. “Yeah, probably, Boss didn’t tell me exact days of my sick leave.”
Mizuki nodded and looked around.
“Well, you did your job, thanks, no need to sit here and spend time on me. I’ll fall asleep in a few minutes anyway.”
“Ah, no, it’s ok. It’s just, when your signal acted all weird and then disappeared, we all were worried.”
“Well, I didn’t destroy the city, so it’s fine, no need to worry about citizens or whatever.”
Mizuki watched him with something he couldn’t decipher. It almost reminded him of pity. Which wasn’t pleasant.
Before any of them could say something, her phone rang. Ayatsuji, right. One more criminal detective under the Department.
“Well, I need to go,” she didn’t sound happy. “Get well soon,” she smiled.
“Yeah, good luck with that asshole.”
“Ayatsuji-sensei isn’t an asshole!” Mizuki didn’t really believe it. She collected all her things. “See you.”
“Yeah.”
Thankfully, nobody wanted to bother him. Five days ago he came back from the North, and here he was. Bound to the bed for a few days, and then trial. And then damn Dazai. Chuuya grunted and stared at the ceiling.
Well, they survived that. There was still too much to deal with, but that’s a problem for the future. Chuuya closed his eyes. The medical wing smelled of medicines, and the air from a bit opened window brought rain. No sun was a good sign.