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It had been two years since Mori Ougai took over as the Port Mafia’s new boss.
One might think that after that long of a time, they would be used to the amount of paperwork they’d have to do as boss of an organized crime syndicate, and that might as well be true, but that did not stop it from becoming overwhelming and incredibly tedious.
Mori was going through the seemingly endless stacks of paperwork on his desk. Elise was lying down on the office’s couch, drawing some quite unsettling imagery.
The only oddity from today being that the silence that lingered within the office felt different than normal.
Usually, it would be a tense, professional or, in the rare case, comfortable silence. But not today, something was different, like when a bad feeling is coming to its peak.
It was simply unnerving.
Dazai-kun could be plotting his murder at this very moment. Or could’ve already made the necessary preparations and was just waiting for the precise moment to execute the plan. You never know with the Demon Prodigy.
After all..one does not simply earn such a moniker for no good reason. Even the newly created saying, “The biggest misfortune for Dazai’s enemies, is that they are his enemies,” holds not a single trace of mislead.
It was truly a miscalculation on his part having chosen this child, out of all of his other (rather scarce) options, to be the witness, even though it was the most convenient and effective in the long run. Their unpredictability is not only dangerous, but extremely beneficial for the mafia as a whole. No enemy would stand a chance, even less, now that the recently established Soukoku has stabilized and neither side was in a constant quarrel, but able to communicate non-verbally and more in symphony than ever. Like one soul in two bodies. Though, not even he was safe from his 16 year-old prodigy, and there was also the fact that Elise would not be of any use to protect himself should Dazai-kun suddenly decide to end his life, hence why Mori always carries around scalpels.
But, despite Dazai-kun being such a danger to his safety and continued existence, Mori does not regret inviting this demon into his life.
They have proven themselves extremely useful and do not seem intent on taking his place as boss, for the time being, at least. It is undeniable that miscalculations do not always bring bad consequences. Yet, he couldn’t help but watch his back every now and then. Mori shook his head, put his pen down and stretched his fingers, a short break won’t hurt anyone. He had been doing paperwork for hours on end and his fingers were starting to go numb. Turning his head towards Dazai, he could see them idly staring at the medicine cabinet. He sighs, that is another responsibility that befell onto him when he decided to take the boy in. Fixing any suicide attemps that his protegee tries, at least Nakahara has been very helpful in that regard. Mori only has vague ideas as to their reasoning, why they have such a strong drive to ‘wake up from this oxidizing world of a dream’, as they put it, But, his protegee’s suicide obsession was how they met, after all.
Ah, he remembers it as if it was yesterday.
The day had been unusually calm.
Maybe that should’ve been his first indication that something important was going to happen.
It had been nearing midnight, his shift about to end.
Mori had actually thought he could finish his shift without inconveniences.
As if. The world wasn’t as kind to him.
S uddenly –and very rudely, might he add– the boss threw the door open and walked into the room, followed by a very frantic lady holding a bloodied child with slit wrists.
Mori sighs. He can’t have a good day, can he?
T hen, the boss spoke, “This is my doctor, Mori Ougai, he might be able to help Shuuji-kun.” He pointed at the gurney near the right side of the room. “Just lay her down there, Mori will do everything in his power to keep her alive.” The brunette lady rushed to do as he said, clearly desperate for someone to save her baby.
“Now, could you leave for the waiting room?” She just nodded, the exhaustion of the situation finally catching up to her. “Yes, please,” she sounded absolutely miserable. “Do whatever you need to save my little girl, I'm begging you.”
“I will do everything in my power, miss.”
And with that, she left the room.
" Mori-sensei, make sure that kid survives. She WILL be very useful.” The boss declared and turned around, already walking towards the door.
“Yes, sir.”
Mori couldn’t help but ask. “What should I tell her mother?
“Tell her you did everything you could, but at that point it was inevitable. That she unfortunately passed away.” Mori nodded. “Once she is stable, bring her to me.” “Understood sir.” Then, the boss left.
… Mori started looking over the girl, summoning Elise to be his assistant. She brought over all of his medical equipment, but as soon as his fingertips brushed against the girl’s arm, he heard a loud metal clatter behind him. The sound was accompanied by a glacial flash of blue light, as well as some strings of kanji he couldn’t have read because, as fast as it appeared, it was gone.
When he turned around, he found the clinic void of his ability’s presence. He fully turned his body and once he stopped touching the girl, he felt the rush of his ability running under his skin again. Mori hadn’t even realized he could feel his ability until he had lost it. He turned back to the girl in front of him. Was this why the boss wanted her? Elise had disappeared the moment he made even the slightest contact with the child. Nullification, perhaps? He would have to test the limits later, when the girl awoke.
But he could do that later, for now. He had to make sure this child wouldn’t die.
This proved to be very promising.
Elise had been very annoyed when he had finished treating the boy and finally let go of them to summon her back. Though, she had, admittedly, grown fond of the child. He didn't want to know what that meant for himself.
Wait- he was getting off topic.
“Dazai-kun,” Mori said aloud, making the aforementioned turn to face him and slightly tilt their head to the side in question..
“Care to share as to why you’ve been so quiet?” he eyed the other suspiciously, they were always quiet when plotting. The bad feeling from earlier, which had been pushed to the back of his mind in favor of reminiscing, was suddenly violently shoved to the surface tenfold.
Dazai’s eyes met his own, an indescribable look in them that would take more time than what he had currently to decipher flashes through those depthless black holes.
Mori’s eyes widened, he could only stare in shock as his protegee stuck out his tongue at him. But that wasn’t what made him run over to the other, “Dazai-kun!” but rather the incredibly sharp razor blade that laid carelessly on their tongue. "Don't swallow that!" He yelled as he ran in his protegee's direction.
He tried his damn best to get there before Dazai did anything else. Yet, by the time he had ran across the office he could only watch in horror as Dazai swallowed the blade whole, as if it was just a piece of candy. It took Mori a few embarrassingly long seconds to react to what just happened as he stared down at the hellspawn looking up at him, eyes void of any light, like two gaping wounds on their face. He tried to grab Dazai to make him spit it out, but the other reacted faster and easily slipped from Mori’s attempts at grabbing them and rapidly made their way to the door.
“Bye-bye, Mori-san!” they said in such an innocently cheerful tone –befitting only to those who have never done a single wrong doing in their entire existence– as they gave a little wave and closed the office doors. Leaving Mori to stare horrified at the spot where Dazai used to be sitting. As he was trying to recollect his thoughts, Elise’s maniacal laughter echoed through the room.
“Shitty Dazai sure got you there, Rin-ta-ro~” she managed to say through fits of crazed giggles.
But Mori wasn’t paying attention to her. Those two would often play elaborate pranks on him when they were bored, they even included Yumeno sometimes, they got along pretty well despite not being able to touch each other. What he was more focused on, were the consequences that swallowing a blade would bring to his mentee’s already fragile body.
Mori sighs again. He can never catch a break, can he?
Dazai kept a straight face, devoid of any trace of emotion, as they walked towards their next destination.
To them, it came very easily to prevent emotions from showing, seeing as No Longer Human already muffled them to a certain degree. They could still feel, just not as strongly as the other human beings. Except for hunger and exhaustion, those sensations were completely absent. Some days, they would just…forget to sleep for days on end, or eat for nearly a month straight and end up passing out. Chuuya would usually scold them for being so careless and self-destructive. Concern disguised as annoyance, since he would be the one looking after Dazai when he collapsed. No one asked him to, Chuuya just did it on his own free will. That is something they never understood, how feelings came so easily for others. Maybe that is just further proof of their lack of humanity, hence the name of their ability.
They had confided that tiny detail to Chuuya once, and he had been teaching them everything he knew about emotions, despite being troubled with his own. Their bond was undoubtedly growing stronger. Even if neither dared to admit it.
A few strong coughs interrupted their train of thought, one expelling the blade from their throat. It made them pause, they held the blade up to the dim light of the hallways, no blood was visible. Satisfied, they tucked it away in their vest and continued their walk towards Chuuya’s office to fetch him so they could leave work and go back to their shared home.
Well- technically it was Chuuya’s penthouse. But they spent most of their time there after the incident with Verlaine and the Dragon Head Conflict, Chuuya didn’t want them to go back to their shipping container. He had claimed it to be because he ‘didn’t want to have to waste his time caring for a damn mackerel when they inevitably get sick’, though it was clear as day that it was a lie, neither mentioned it. Such was their dynamic. They couldn’t deny it made them feel slightly tingly and weird inside. It was not a feeling they recognized, they could look into it later.
But now was not the time to be thinking about the amount of books they would have to read to understand this. They would ask Chuuya, but they didn’t want to bother him every time they felt something new.
Eh, they’d think about that later.
For now, they had a slug to drag home.
‘WHAT…
THE…
FUCKING…
HELL?!’
Were his eyes deceiving him? Had he finally gone insane?
…Had he just seen a child, no- THE Demon Prodigy –they were no child, he doubts they ever were one. Something as inhuman as them could not possibly, EVER, be called something usually directed to such innocent beings– spit out a diamond sharp…razor blade…
…Completely unharmed….
Fuck this shit!
He’s had enough of the mafia for today!
Heck- the whole month!
He’s never been so glad to be one of the lowly grunts, since it meant he wouldn’t be tasked to care for that demon and executive Nakahara.
He just wants to go back home to his wife and enjoy a nice meal accompanied by a warm cup of coffee.
He never wanted to deal with demons, it was simply not in his plans.
Nuh-uh.
He was going home.