Chapter Text
Chuuya was having a terrible day.
First he fights the Port Mafia, then he wakes up as their prisoner, is then ordered to solve the Arahabaki incident because of course there are hostages and now here he is being babysat like some kind of child.
"The man we will be speaking with is called Randou, he's the ability user who detained you earlier," the old man, Hirotsu-san, informed him as they walked. Chuuya was dragging his feet, extremely reluctant to be running errands for the Port Mafia but it's not as though there is much he can do about it. Do it for Akira and Shougo, he reminded himself.
As Hirotsu-san droned on Chuuya zoned out, not think about anything in particular, just wanting to forget his current misfortune.
An explosion went off.
Chuuya snapped his head up, suddenly alert and looking for any enemies. In the distance he saw a house covered in black flames.
"This isn't good," Hirotsu-san mumbled to himself. "That would be Randou-san's house," he explained and Chuuya scowled. Of course it was.
"Well, what are we waiting for," and just like that he was off, ignoring Hirotsu-san trying to call him back.
"Wahhhh! Please don't shoot, I was just passing by when the house exploded, please let me go!"
Chuuya froze as got close to the house. Standing there with a gun pointed at him was some dumb kid, Chuuya couldn't see his face but he heard the fear in his voice. He couldn't afford to get civilian's caught up in these incidents.
"I'm not buying it, who do you work for?" The probably GSS member tightened his grip on the gun.
"I told you," the boy sighed, no trace of his previous fear there, simply exasperation. "I was just passing by," and then he took a step forwards and his forehead must've made contact with the barrel of the gun. "Well~ are you going to shoot, or not? I don't have all day you know~"
Stupid suicidal brat! Not willing to listen to anymore Chuuya launched himself forwards, barrelling into the GSS member and knocking him away from the boy.
"Oi!" He called to the brat who looked at him in fascination. "Are you fuckin' stupid, or something?"
The boy blinked, his eyes wide reminding Chuuya a little of an owl, before his lips curled up into an unsettling smile. "And if I was?"
"Then you should get your suicidal ass out of here," Chuuya frowned, not liking this brat one bit.
"Now why would I do that?" The boy stepped closer to him, not caring much for the body Chuuya's foot was resting on. "My chances of dying are higher here,"
"I don't care-" he was cut off by a group of armed men surrounding them. "Where the hell-"
"He called for back up," the boy shrugged glancing down at the maybe unconscious? maybe dead? body.
"Well great," Chuuya stepped off the body, cocky grin stretching over his lips. "Want to join him in the ground?" He mocked.
"Fire! That shrimp is Nakahara Chuuya, the gravity manipulator!" One of them yelled and they opened fire.
Out of the corner of his eye he saw the kid watching impassively as the bullets flew passed him as though this was a normal Tuesday for him. Who was this brat?
He didn't look like a mafia member, he was wearing a white button up shirt with a grey vest and a thick brown cardigan over the top. He wasn't wearing the usual Port Mafia black and he doesn't think there are any gangs put there with cardigans as a uniform. But the bandages and his general apathy to his life being in danger suggested he wasn't just a civilian.
Either that or he really was just a suicidal idiot.
Once the gunfire stopped Chuuya remembered what the current situation was. "I'm only fifteen," he growled out, preparing to launch the bullets back. "I'm still growing!" He spun and kicked every single bullet, many hit there targets but there was a few still remaining so he swiftly took them out too.
By this point Hirotsu-san was standing next to the brat looking at him with suspicion.
"Old man, you sure took your time," Chuuya landed gracefully from his last attack to face the duo of on lookers.
"My apologies," Hirotsu-san was always so polite. "I'm not as young as you anymore," Chuuya found it hard to hate Hirotsu-san, even though he was a Mafia member, and a long standing one at that, there was just something about him that made him fundamentally impossible to hate.
"They're all dead," the brat said his voice sounding cold but his expression showed a small sliver of interest as his one viable eye locked onto Chuuya. "You're an ability user,"
Chuuya snorted. "No shit,"
"Who is this boy?" Hirotsu-san questioned while the mentioned boy continued to stare at Chuuya like he was a puzzle, a fascinating one at that, that he wanted to solve.
"No idea," Chuuya tried to ignore the look but it was hard. "He was here when I arrived,"
"Dazai, you can call me Dazai," he spoke up, eyes not leaving Chuuya.
"Well Dazai-kun, we shall accompany you home after this," Hirotsu-san smiled kindly at Dazai. For the first time the brunette turned to Hirotsu-san to observe him. Seemingly satisfied with what he saw he nodded. He was creepy, Chuuya decided.
They made there way inside, not that there really was an inside with how only part of the walls was still standing, and Hirotsu-san told Dazai to wait outside for them. The brunette's eye switched between the two before nodding again. He hadn't said a word since he introduced himself which only made him more unsettling.
Chuuya and Hirotsu-san listened to Randou's story intently and by the end Chuya was ready to call the entire thing pointless. Behind them was the sound of rubble falling and a crash, all three spun round preparing for another fight. What Chuuya didn't expect was to see Dazai laying flat on his face, clearly just having tripped on some of the rubble.
"Dazai-kun? Are you alright?" Hirotsu-san was already making his way over to help him up. Dazai took his hand and stood up, face blank before shifting to a smile.
"I was wondering how much longer this was going to take~" He explained but it was very clearly a lie, one the entire room saw through. He most likely over heard their conversation and Chuuya had a feeling the Mafia wouldn't take kindly to a civilian hearing about Mafia matters.
"Who is this boy?" Randou wondered, looking confused at the sudden addition to the group. Chuuya inched closer to Dazai, he may find him a creepy weirdo but he sure as hell wasn't about to let the Mafia harm an innocent.
"Just a civilian who happened to get involved," Hirotsu-san sighed."Dazai-kun-"
He was gone. The group had taken their eyes off him for a second and he had disappeared. Not even Chuuya had noticed him move, he was stealthy enough to escape three trained, well two trained and one with incredible instincts, fighters.
"We'll have to look for him, we can't have him spreading Mafia information," Hirotsu-san sighed. Chuuya didn't like it but it's not as though he could protest. Not with his friends being held hostage.
After searching for two hours and still turning up empty handed, they had given up. Hirotsu-san said he'd have to report to the Boss and a team would be sent out to look for Dazai.
"Hmmm..." Hirotsu-san frowned, searching his pockets. "My phone is missing," Chuuya heard him mumble to himself as Hirotsu-san finally left him alone.
So Chuuya finally had a few hours to himself. He shoved his hands into his pockets already planning to go get a late lunch somewhere, he was starving, when he felt something in his pocket that was not there earlier.
Curiously he pulled out a note.
Warehouse XX at 4 pm.
Was this likely a trap? Yes. Was Chuuya going to go anyway? Also yes. There was very few people who had gotten close enough to him to plant this, and most of them being Port Mafia members which already had leverage over him so it was unlikely this would be a trap to harm him.
Well he still had a couple of hours before the specified time. Lunch it was.
.......
Dazai was waiting at the warehouse, bored out of his mind.
This incident had been the most interesting event to reach his ears in a while, so of course he set off to investigate. The only problem being now that he solved it too easily and it quickly became boring. Well at least he still had confronting the culprit to look forwards to.
It was just before 4 pm that he heard footsteps enter the warehouse. Perfect, exactly as he timed it.
"Hello there~" He waved as Randou-san entered the building. "It was Randou-san, correct?"
"You're the boy from earlier, I believe you were called Dazai-kun," Randou looked at him in surprise. Dazai beamed at him.
"That's right, wow what good friends we are~"
"Forgive me, but are you the one who called me here?" Randou looked around as though he was expecting someone else to jump out at him.
"That's right~" Dazai pulled out the phone he stole from the old man, he never actually got his name, to show to Randou-san whose eyes lit up in realisation.
"So? Is there a reason for this meeting?"
"I was interested in this whole Arahabaki thing for two simple reasons, 1. I was bored," Dazai started holding up one finger as he spoke.
"Boredom can be rather dangerous," Randou nodded as though Dazai's reasoning was perfectly sane. Dazai grinned.
"And reason number 2. I was curious if the dead can really come back to life," Dazai spoke, his tone excited. "Imagine my disappointment when it all turns out to be a cheap trick," he immediately changed his tone to sound bored and cold.
"A cheap trick?" Randou repeated.
"You already know what I'm talking about, Randou-san," Dazai sighed. This really was rather boring. Luckily it should be getting more interesting soon. "You are the one behind these black flamed explosions after all,"
Randou blinked at him in surprise.
"Do you have anything to say?"
"My apologies... I'm not sure how to respond here, I've never been accused of being a criminal before," Randou replied awkwardly. Dazai smiled again, this was more fun than the last time he played detective like this.
"That's alright, everyone has a first time," he he responded energetically. "As a freebee I'll throw in the criminal's response," he cleared his throat before continuing. "You'll respond like this, 'that's nonsense!'" Dazai even made sure to get the facial expression right, like he truly was the criminal being accused. "Or maybe even, 'quite the funny joke, Dazai-kun,' and then I'll respond with, 'there's not mistake, you are the culprit,'"
Dazai was putting on a performance. A masterpiece worthy of a detective novel. Randou watched on seemingly intrigued where he would go next.
"Next you'll try to appeal to my emotions, 'I'm a proud member if the Port Mafia, why would I ever plot a scheme to start a civil war and destroy the Mafia?'. So far so good, Randou-san?" Dazai smiled innocently at Randou-san.
"You are spot on, I have nothing to add," Randou-san nodded. "It's true my thoughts match up with your words, so what counter argument comes next?"
"I'll say," Dazai previously innocent smile twisted into a smirk and his eye darkened to the point no light could possibly reflect in it. It was simply a never ending pool of darkness. "This had nothing to do with the Port Mafia, you're goal was something else entirely," Randou-san's expression didn't change but the air around him did. "Well? You wanna tag in soon?"
"Uh? I'm still confused, it's rather troubling to be accused, but it's not as though doing this benefits you in anyway... right... so what is your reasoning? This has entirely been conjecture so far,"
"The idea that I'm the mastermind isn't founded in anything logical," Both Randou-san and Dazai said in perfect sync.
"Just like that! You're getting the hang of it, Randou-san!" Dazai exclaimed once again excited. "But would I really go accusing you without proof?"
"I suppose not, although I can't imagine what it would be,"
"You sure are eager! I guess I can't leave you waiting any longer," Dazai was finding this all so amusing. "You made a mistake earlier when explaining to the shortie and the old man, a very basic mistake," Dazai almost laughed. "When I say it, you'll be hitting yourself,"
"What mistake was this?" Randou-san inquired.
"The sea," Dazai said. "You said when you saw Arahabaki and the black flames; 'all that was calm was the sea in the distance,'" he quoted.
"I did say that because that is what I saw," Randou-san frowned, still not understanding. "What about it?"
"Don't you want to figure it out on your own?" Dazai teased.
"No, I can't quite figure it out, please tell me,"
"Alright, you ready?" Dazai voice then lost all emotion and he stared at Randou-san with a completely blank face. "If this all happened in the centre of Suribachi city, which is a hemispherical basin formed by the explosion eight years ago, which would mean-"
"Oh!" Randou-san finally understood. "Oh I see!"
"You shouldn't of been able to see the sea," Dazai continued. "No matter what, if you are in a pit nearly 2 kilometres deep it would be out of sight. Now why then would you say you saw the sea? The rest of your testimony was true, you're description was so convincing I believe you did indeed see the sea, that's why you made the mistake, you must've seen the sea from Suribachi city long ago, before the destruction which can only mean, you were there, you bore witness to the disaster eight years ago, the massive black explosion,"
Randou-san looked shocked and Dazai found himself on a roll with no choice but to continue laying out his reasoning.
"That was the oldest confirmed rumour after all, you must've seen it up close, close enough that any normal person would've been burnt to a crisp-"
Before Dazai could continue that warehouse wall burst open and a flash of red crashed into Randou-san.
"Oi," Chuuya was left standing after the dust from the debris had cleared. "We're you the one who sent me that note?" He scowled at Randou-san.
"Wrong~" Dazai sang, skipping over to the redhead. "It was me silly~"
"Hah? What are you doing here?" Chuuya screamed looking at him in shock. "This guy is dangerous!"
"I know, I was confronting the culprit before you interrupted," Dazai pouted, he hadn't gotten round to explaining Randou-san's motivation yet. "How did your tiny brain figure it out anyway?" Dazai was genuinely curious, he hadn't expected Chuuya to be sharp enough to figure it out.
"Everyone else said they saw the Previous Boss," Chuuya shrugged. "Only this guy claimed to see Arahabaki itself,"
"So since you decided Gods aren't real, you concluded I was lying?" Randou-san was back up on his feet, staring at the duo curiously. Dazai had to admit he was disappointed. It was rather boring logic that was easily flawed.
"No the opposite," Chuuya denied the statement. "It's because Gods do exist,"
Dazai watched on, for once having no idea where this was going. It was odd, for he was usually in control of a situation, he had never been so lost before.
"Chuuya-kun, do you know where Arahabaki is?" Randou-san asked. Chuuya's scowl deepened.
Why does everyone want to meet it? It doesn't have the power to raise the dead, it doesn't even have a mind or a personality, it's like a typhoon or an earthquake,"
"It doesn't need a personality," Randou-san replied. "Great destruction, that power is enough for me, tell me Chuuya-kun, where is this thing beyond human comprehension?"
You really want to know?" Chuuya calmly walked over to Randou-san. "Arahabaki...
...Is me,"
"What?" Dazai had not expected that.
"I had a feeling you were," Randou-san grinned.
Chuuya then proceeded to explain how he didn't have any memories from before eight years ago because his life only began then. He accused Randou-san of being the one to take him form the lab, to which Randou-san confirmed he was.
"Where did you find me?" Chuuya demanded. Instead of answering Randou-san used his ability to attack.
Chuuya went flying back into the wall of the warehouse.
Dazai watched on, curious at how the events will unfold.
Randou-san then used his ability to surround all three of them.
"A sub space, huh?" Dazai concluded, after observing the ability.
"That's right, my apologies Dazai-kun but you know too much, you will have to die along side Chuuya-kun," Randou-san told him. Dazai merely smiled at him.
"No problem, this does seem like an interesting way to die after all," Dazai shrugged.
"I see, I will make this quick then,"
"And painless too,"
"I will do my best,"
"Oi, fuckers, don't forget about me!" Chuuya barked at them. He was rather like a dog, a short angry dog.
"We wouldn't dream of it~" Dazai sang. Chuuya couldn't defeat Randou-san's ability, it was impossible, not without Dazai's help anyway, and Dazai didn't feel like giving that help.
He observed for a while as Chuuya was beaten again, and again, and again. Still the redhead jumped back up each time.
"I'm rather occupied here," Randou-san sighed, pointing at Chuuya. "Dazai-kun I hope you don't mind me giving you a different opponent,"
Dazai tilted his head curious as to what the meant. He didn't have to wait long for an answer as he spun round just in time for the scythe to slash across his front.
It hurt. Dazai hated pain. He hated it.
This was no longer any fun. Not only was he in pain but he was also forced to see a face he'd rather not.
"Hey, boy, how have you been?" The Previous Boss asked, mocking in his tone.
"You look well for someone whose been dead," Dazai chuckled slightly. This really was the worst. The scythe wasn't an ability so No Longer Human didn't work on it. This really was awful.
Randou-san then proceeded to explain how his ability can reanimate a corpse he has stored in his sub space and how he plans to use Chuuya in that way after he kills him. It was disgusting. None of this was fun anymore was what he'd thought when the Previous Boss first showed up.
"This is interesting," Dazai clenched his wound, a smile spreading across his lips. He was wrong, this was fun. Adrenaline coursed through his veins. "Chuuya," Dazai called out to his now temporary partner. "Let's kill them. Together,"
"Hah? What can you even do?" Chuuya frowned at him like he was crazy. Maybe he was. Why else would he have the urge to live in this world any longer? "Besides don't you want to die?"
"Not yet," Dazai muttered. "I want to see how this ends first,"
"So, the suicidal maniac wants to live?" Chuuya taunted him.
"I figured it would be worth a little longer, that's all," he smirked back.
"That is unnecessary," the former dead man slashed at Dazai who ducked down out of the way. "It's death time for kids,"
"Oh really?" Dazai dodged to the left and then down again before sliding past and running towards Chuuya at full speed. "Hey, chibi, launch me to the edge of the sub space!" Dazai yelled out.
"What, why?" Chuuya yelled back confused.
"Just do it!" As Dazai ran, Chuuya cupped his hands together and gave Dazai a boost up and he shot through the air towards the edge of the sub space. With one touch the ability was nullified.
"What?" Randou-san was shocked as he started to fall once his ability was nullified. Chuuya wasted no time and used his ability to slam his to the ground hard enough that there was no way to survive. Not without his ability anyway.
Dazai gave the Previous Boss a punch before he could disappear feeling mildly satisfied at finally being able to punch his gross face.
"What did you do?" Chuuya turned to Dazai.
"It's my ability, No Longer Human," he shrugged. "It nullifies any ability I touch,"
"Then why didn't you use it sooner, you know like while I was getting beaten up?" Chuuya screamed at him. Dazai shrugged.
"I didn't feel like it,"
"You-"
Their fighting was interrupted by Randou-san, who then explained what happened eight years ago and about his partner. He then gave Chuuya some hope in his humanity before passing away.
Randou-san didn't mean much to Dazai but it was clear his words meant a lot to Chuuya.
While Chuuya was contemplating his words, Dazai snuck away.
He couldn't be caught by the Port Mafia after all.
....
By the time Hirotsu-san arrived Chuuya was still caught up in his thoughts.
"Did you defeat him?" Hirotsu-san spoke, bringing Chuuya back to reality.
"Yeah," Chuuya spoke quietly, his voice softer than usual. "With a little help from that bandaged bastard,"
"Chuuya-kun, there's no one else here," Hirotsu-san looked around but they were alone.
"What? That fucker disappeared again!" Chuuya screeched.
.....
"A boy covered in bandages you say?"
Hirotsu-san was reporting his findings to the Boss, not that he had much to do with how the incident was resolved. He simply retold what Chuuya had already informed him.
"Yes Boss," Hirotsu-san nodded. "Apparently he had a nullification ability,"
"A nullification ability?" Mori frowned. "It seems no one in that family is capable of staying dead,"
"Boss?"
"That description sounds like the Previous Boss' son, Tsushima Shuuji," Mori said. "He was reported to for committed suicide two years ago, if it is him then..." Mori trailed off. "You're dismissed,"
Hirotsu-san bowed and left the room.
.....
Chuuya joined the Mafia to protect the Sheep and like that three years passed, no one ever saw Tsushima Shuuji, or Dazai, ever again.