Chapter Text
Taking place before the Cannibalism arc
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In the room sat the port mafia executives while the ADA members sat across from them. Everyone's attention was focused on the man standing in front of the monitor, fiddling with the handcuffs around his wrists, eyes darting back. and forth around the room, unsure where to look.
Mori smiled and clapped his hands together, Elsie for once not by his side, "Well, that concludes our discussion, how lucky it is for you that the ADA is here. Usually we have to employ a rather different approach to get our answers but I suppose this works too. Although, Fukuzawa-dono, since this method is your idea, I do hope that you don't have the delusion that we will be testing this wonderful ability on my subordinates. After all, having their past could possibly put the rest of my organization in danger." A smile was fitted on his face, "Perhaps someone from the agency can be the test subject. After all, you are government run, how bad can it possibly be?"
Fukuzawa shot him a look. He himself was a former assassin while two of his members were well known, to many of the port mafia executives at the very least, former Port Mafia members. Government run clearly meant nothing in terms of what everyone did in the past. Quite honestly, the ability to show two of the most publicly known titles of who ever was subjected to it, though the definition of publicly was quite vague, was quite a powerful ability that would make catching criminals a much easier task, or for the Port Mafia, it would be easier to find infiltrators of their organizations and make it easier to distinguish their targets when they are disguised. Mori was correct in terms that some things that are revealed could make it harder for the organizations to exist if word got out.
For example, Dazai’s past was probably best kept hidden and as for Kyouka, whose past is very well known, she was too young to properly consent to such a revealing skill. The same applied for Kenji, and it wasn’t even known if he had two titles that were well known. The only members that were left were Ranpo, who was also probably best left hidden as it could reveal his own past as an assassin, Yosano-kun, whose past will most likely lead to her not consenting to her life being viewed for entertainment and therefore may make it look like the ADA isn’t as close as previously assumed, Jun'ichirō could be an option, but his past, while not really known also may lead to him not consenting, especially since the ability may also but Naomi at risk. Kunikda was also not the best option as his past includes working with many children, who could be put at risk as their identities could become known to the Port Mafia. They could also be used as blackmail against Kunikda. While Mori has yet to pull such a move, with information so freely handed, there would be no chance Mori would say no to such a golden opportunity.
All that was left was… Atsushi, who was the most likely to say yes simply because a superior asked.
However there was one issue, Atsushi was currently on a mission. The only ADA members present were Dazai, Kunikida, himself, and Yosano-kun.
“Kunikida?”
“Yes, President?”
“How long until Atsushi completes his mission?”
Kunikida glanced down at his watch while flipping through his book, “He should be in the middle of it, more towards the beginning.”
Fukuzawa frowned, that could be a problem.
“If you are the one to call him, he’ll probably pick up.”
Fukuzawa glanced over at Dazai, “I could blow his cover.”
“Respectfully Sir, Atsushi is the type of kid who would be more upset if you didn’t say anything. According to how far along the mission is, if he STUCK TO SCHEDULE, then calling him now should be fine.”
“I suppose you would know best. Then, Mori-dono, I will call Atsushi to see if he gives permission to view his past.”
“The weretiger… well the choice is yours Fukuzawa-dono. However, for the sake of keeping everything transparent, I will ask that you video call him and allow it to be put up on the screen. After all, we don’t want to have any doubts about the person contacted.”
“Kunikida?”
“Video calls should not cause any problems sir. However, Astushi may be about to be reaching a point where we won’t be able to contact him if we take any more time.”
“Video calling will be what we do then. I will screen share to the smart board. I assume that it is already activated and will allow me to use bluetooth.”
“Of course”
The phone rang for a tense moment before the call was picked up and the screen expanded, Atsushi coming into view, seeming to be crouched in a corner.
“Boss? Is everything alright? Did something happen with the meeting? Have my mission parameters changed? DID SOMETHING HAPPEN TO KUNIKIDA-SAN?”
“Everything is fine, but I do need your permission to use an ability on you as it will possibly reveal some things about your past.”
“My past? Why do you need to know abo- sudkjhgfusyd” the image of the in the front of the room shakes as it changed to just showing the scaffolding of the ceiling, Atsushi disappearing from view with a muffled yelp. There was suddenly a blur of colors as the phone seemed moved, and the screen went black, with Atsushi’s panting still audible in the background.
“Atsushi is everything alright?”
“Yes, President. I just have tuh” another grunt rang out “move before I get caught.” HIs voice seemed to stabilize at the end of the sentence and the image once again changed back to Atsushi’s face. “Apologies, I had to climb up a bit.”
“Are you in a safe location now?”
“Yes boss. However, I do need to get on with my mission. If I wait too long, I won't be able to get the information. Do you know how long the call will take?”
“Kunikida, how long is the mission intended for?”
“Around half an hour”
“That might be a little too much time”
“If it is important to the President, I can speed up the mission and cut down the time to around 15 to 20 minutes. However, I may cause more damage than what was previously intended.”
Kunikida once again started flipping through his notebook, “That should be fine. It looks like this warehouse doesn't need to be kept intact.”
“Mori-dono is alright if we wait until Atsushi finishes his mission so that I can explain the ability in clear terms.”
“We could probably be fine with waiting 20 minutes, but any more than that, then we might not have enough time to make a proper contingency plan.”
“Atsushi, finish as fast as possible. The amount of damage caused does not matter.”
“Yes, President. Would you like me to end the call to keep it live? I most likely will have to put you in a pocket or strapped to my waist or tied to my head.”
“That should be fine. Stay on call.”
“Understood, I am going to position the phone now.”
“Actually… President, would you be able to go on mute? I still need to stay quiet for some parts of the mission.”
“Of course, Atsushi.” Fukuzawa put the phone on mute and glanced over at Kunikida, while the image on the monitor once again started to shake as Atsshi started tying the phone to his body, the camera facing outward.
“How difficult will it be for him to cut the mission short?”
“Already 30 minutes is a pretty short amount of time for the assignment he is doing right now. It doesn't even involve fighting other people, who would have been easy enough to knock out. The whole warehouse is filled with animals and automatons, according to Ranpo.”
Dazai made a face on the side. “I heard that there are a lot of dogs. I wonder if our resident kitty cat will be able to scare them away. Maybe he can go into his kitty instincts and hiss at them.”
Yosano laughed, “That would be fun to see. I wonder if he can purr. Do you think he'll let me do a little thought dissection? I want to see if his voice box will allow the muscles in it to vibrate. Or maybe he’ll have the cartilage that runs up the hyoid bones to the skull. Do you think he’ll be able to roar in his regular form? Ohhh I just want to cut him open~
“Come on Yosano- sensei~ everyone knows if a kitty can roar it can’t purr.” Dazai giggled. “Although maybe you’ll be able to make him cuff. You could probably bribe him with tea on rice too~”
“Oh, you haven’t experimented with the weretiger yet~ I thought no doctor would be able to resist the temptation of someone who regenerates. Especially at the speed he seems to grow back limbs.” Mori let out a low laugh, seeming to enjoy the interaction between his former students.
“Mori-dono I would appreciate it if you didn’t wonder about the medical business of my employees, especially one that has had his limbs cut off multiple times by the Port Mafia.”
"Oh, that's quite old news. Besides, your little beast put one of ours, Akutagawa-kun, on medical support. Had a rather extensive medical report too. Dislocated and broken jawbone, avulsion fractures in the frontal bone and thoracic vertebrae, neck ligament damage, upper arm and thigh muscle ruptures, and first-degree burns across the whole body. Honestly, it was impressive the amount of damage the boy managed to cause without killing him outright. Even put him in a cosmo-state for a bit. Although I suppose that's what he gets for failing his job, just like what I told Higachi-kun."
“Wow~ Atsushi-kun has more claws than I first thought. I suppose it makes sense though seeing it was Akutagawa-kun. He’s been shot at, slashed at and kidnapped numerous times by the Port Mafia and Atsushi-kun just so happens to like Akutagawa-kun the least.
“He still put him in a coma you fucking Mackeral.”
“And Atsushi-kun would be quite dead with the amount of times he has gotten stabbed in the chest and gotten his limbs chopped off. Regardless, it seems pretty even to me. And he woke up within a week so it probably wasn’t that serious.”
Before Chuuya could reply, Atsushi's voice finally came back on the monitor, the phone seeming to be finally tied to his head. “OK president! I’m about to move. I decided the head was best so that the view wouldn't get blocked as often. I will be moving in about a minute.”