Chapter Text
The red of the evening sun fell upon Yokohama, spilling into one of the many alleyways in the bustling city, where a doctor hummed in his small clinic as he thought about his next steps.
Now that Fukuzawa has taken Yosano away, it’s clear that he would need a new partner-in-crime to materialise Natsume-sensei’s Tripartite Framework on his end.
Mori Ougai turned to call out to his partner, whining.
“Elise-chan~ What do I do now?” A blonde girl dressed in a nurse’s costume poked her head into his office. She sighed upon seeing him draped backwards on his chair, walking into the room.
“Rintarou… haven’t you already done something?”
“But he hasn’t replied!” Mori checked his email once again. Indeed, there’s been no reply to the mail he’d sent out two days ago.
“So? You’re just being impatient,” Elise snapped, crossing her arms and looking annoyed, like he was the child and she was the adult.
“Elise-chan, you’re so -”
“Apologies for the intrusion!” A voice cut Mori off. The doctor looked at Elise, who stared back with a raised eyebrow, before he stood up and made his way to the door.
“Yes, may I ask who is… oh, Dazai-kun!” The teenager stood at the entrance, a white binder file in one hand, his figure shadowed by the rays coming in from behind him, eyes narrowed, and lips lifted in amusement.
“Good evening, Mori-san, Elise-chan,” Dazai greeted. Elise shot off a cheerful hello before disappearing to the back of a partition with a flourish, nurse's dress fluttering behind her.
“Dazai-kun, I didn’t think you were going to come.” Mori commented, almost with a whine, Dazai made a big show of sighing.
“Mori-san, have I ever not been able to complete a request I’ve accepted?”
“But you didn’t send a confirmation this time round!” Dazai poked his tongue out.
“That’s because you made a crazy and impossible request! I was busy trying to gather information for you! If you do this again, I’m going to ignore you straight out!” Mori laughed nervously at Dazai’s accusation.
“I apologise for that, Dazai-kun,” he said, unchanging from his usual tone.
“Whatever,” Dazai scoffed, as they made their way into Mori’s office, the surgeon making sure to close the door properly behind them before taking his seat. “Here’s the information you’ve requested.” The brunet sighed, “it wasn’t difficult to get, just really tedious. Why do you need information on the Sheep again?” Mori raised an eyebrow at Dazai as he handed the file over.
“I didn’t think you’d be interested in the motives of your customers, Dazai-kun,” he commented as he flipped through the file, red violet eyes flicking through the information Dazai had for him. Names of each member, background, and abilities… specifically, the ability of one member.
“I’m just curious, Mori-san,” Dazai whispered, and Mori felt a chill go up his spine as he looked up at the boy who’s smirking at him, eyes dark and intense, “why you’d feel the need to investigate in a group focused mainly on defending their territory?”
“I have my reasons, Dazai-kun,” Mori replied, hoping it would placate the brat who’s looking more like a demon by each passing second. It did, and Dazai hums as the acute feeling of being scrutinised lightens up significantly.
“The Tripartite Framework, huh?”
“I really have to find out how you know about that one day.”
“That’s for me to know and you to never find out, Mori-san,” Dazai said, a touch smugly, “but I assure you that everything I do is for the good of the Framework.”
Mori paused, wondering just how and when Natsume-sensei had come into contact with this boy in front of him. Neither he nor Fukuzawa-dono have seen Natsume-sensei in years, and this young boy shows up in Yokohama’s underworld as an information broker suddenly with the knowledge of something only he, Taneda and Fukuzawa-dono should be privy to.
Dazai-kun was insanely good at what he does, and Mori suspected he’s good at other things as well. His behaviour, from what Mori had observed during their small number of meetings, reminded Mori a little of himself.
“I know that, Dazai-kun,” Mori chuckled, “would you like to work together with me instead?”
“This is the third time you've asked, and I still have to politely decline your offer,” Dazai said, sighing and placing his hands on his hips.
“That’s really a shame,” Mori said, not at all bothered, causing Dazai to mumble a “not really” under his breath. They both understood that Mori was asking simply for the sake of it, just out of the tiniest shred of hope that Dazai might say yes, but he’d never push. It is a shame, really, because he would’ve been the perfect partner-in-crime had Natsume-sensei not claimed him first. While Mori might be ambitious, he would never disrespect the man who’d taught him most of what he knew, and came up with a way to preserve Yokohama’s peace.
So he had to let Dazai Osamu go.
Which brought him to his next candidate.
“Thank you for the information, I’ve checked through it, and will make an agreed payment to the same bank account as before.” He winked at Dazai, who looked at him like he’s doubting his mental age.
“Right, thank you for your business.” Dazai’s tone was flat and dry and it drew an inevitable laughter out of Mori.
“Dazai-kun! We’ve worked together so many times, I’m sad that you don’t want to be nicer to me.” he complained, mainly for theatrics’ sake. From the next room over, Elise shouted, “Sheesh Rintarou, stop being such a drama queen!”
The teenager standing in front of him shot him an amused look. “You heard Elise-chan. And I’m always nice to you, Mori-san.” He shrugged.
“I don’t just meet with all of my clients in person, you know.”
The sun was rising.
The good thing about living in the slums is, Chuuya thought to himself, leaping at a height impossible for any normal human being and coming to rest on the edge of the crater he lived in, that there are no bullshit buildings or skyscrapers blocking your view of the nature around.
Letting his ability fade, he squatted down, balancing himself on a steady-looking slab of stone debris. Hands still in his light blue hoodie, he looked out at the horizon, where the sun was slowly gracing this part of the world with its presence. Or, really, we are the ones slowly spinning to meet it instead, he mused, very well aware of how gravity, his ability, worked on this star that he’d been born on.
Coming to the edge of Suribachi, simply to look at the sunrise, was something Chuuya did every morning. It’s something that’s uniquely his, and he has allowed no one to intrude on this moment, ever.
Sheesh, you’re like a mother hen protecting her eggs, Chuuya.
Shirase could go and screw himself. Nothing he or Yuan said would ever convince Chuuya to give this up, the only thing he hasn’t given to the Sheep.
He’s grateful for what the Sheep has done for him, when he’d woken up with no memories and no home, but sometimes it gets overbearing, being the person to hold the trump card, the power, and trying his best to live up to their expectations.
This was the only place where he could truly be himself, where his responsibilities didn’t matter. It’s his favourite time of the day.
The sun continued to rise, golden rays spreading out like a warm cocoon over Yokohama’s foreign settlement.
And Chuuya continued to watch. Until the sun was fully up in the sky and he could hear the rowdy shouts and bustling of Suribachi’s inhabitants.
“I’ll come back tomorrow,” he whispered, a silent promise to himself and this space of his, before hopping off the stone and turning to look back at the crater he called his home.
Something’s different today. Chuuya could feel it with every inch of his being. It’s not malicious, and definitely not the entity that’s inside him - come to think of it, the crazy god has been strangely quiet since he woke up this morning - but it felt like something was about to happen.
Chuuya grinned, eyes sharp and anticipatory. It’s been a while since anything exciting has happened. Whatever comes at him today, he’s ready.
Time to start the day.