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The ‘demonic prodigy’ was more of myth than man within the mafia. You could liken him to a sort of ghost story mothers might tell to a misbehaving child. Nobody lower down on the hierarchy knew anything about him: what he looked like, how he acted, how old he was. Instead, information would be spread; extremely unbelievable information, that would make you wonder how anybody could possibly think this at all. I mean, really?... the demonic prodigy controlling his heart beat in morse code? Kage had struggled not to laugh in his colleague’s face when he had first first told him that.
It wasn’t like Kage didn’t fear the prodigy, quite the contrary. Some of the stories he had heard were downright horrific, and too detailed to be anything but real. But those were just passing whispers- until he saw physical proof of this so-called ‘prodigy’ in action, he would not cower down in fear due to some horror tales.
Which is why, when he received the email of a promotion into a higher squadron of only ability users like himself, led by the ‘demonic prodigy’ (as stated on the email- seriously no name or anything!), he jumped at the chance. Kage smirked to himself, finally, they were recognising his strengths! He had been stuck as a grunt for too long, a stray dog fighting and clawing for scraps at the bottom of the barrel. Being personally led by the demon prodigy himself, meant nobody could look down on him again, right? They all wouldn’t dare. The additional pay coming with the role was the cherry on top of the cake, it was almost too perfect.
A day later and it was time for the team’s initial meeting. Kage had read through the email a few times, and had been trying to collect information about the other recruits he would be working with. He didn’t really know anyone on the list, perhaps just said a brisk ‘good morning’ to a few in passing. They were all ability users though, which meant that he couldn’t underestimate anyone. Being an ability user in the mafia was a rarity, the vast majority were just ordinary people. Those blessed with them usually were positioned higher up on the food chain. Kage’s own information extraction ability, whilst not combative, was useful for gaining leverage over prisoners. Through a simple touch, he could see the echoes of a past conversation they may have had, and whilst lasting only for a few seconds and being sporadic in nature, it did have its uses.
Glancing down at his watch, 17:30. He wanted to be right on time to make the best impressions. It would be beneficial to befriend a few of his colleagues, and impress his new commander, and therefore being punctual was necessary. Controlling his somewhat shaky hands, he pushed open the large wooden doors and entered the meeting room, making sure his posture was apt as he walked. There were a few people already seated and a few coming in behind him. Nobody was talking to each other, which meant the room was coated in a thick tension that was almost unbearable. The demonic prodigy was not here yet, which Kage supposed meant everyone had time to simmer in their fear. He was nervous too, all the stories he had heard coming to the front of his mind. Did the demonic prodigy really shoot his own subordinates on the spot if they stepped out of line? No, ridiculous, he reminded himself again.
To distract himself in order to survive this torturous wait, he turned to the woman he was seated next to and began striking up a conversation. Starting to acquaint himself with everyone was a good idea.
Kage had no idea the conversation would have to go on so long. The demonic prodigy was a whole 15 minutes late and was still yet to show. So much for being punctual! At least everyone in the room had been introducing themselves to each other, so it wasn’t completely awkward.
Another 5 minutes passed and finally, finally, the door swung open, hopefully signalling the arrival of their new commander.
What Kage did not expect however, was for a mere kid to enter the room. He looked to be about 15-16, dark messy brown hair, and bandages all over, like some sort of walking mummy. Kage’s brow furrowed in confusion, did someone's kid get lost and somehow manage to stumble into the wrong room? He didn’t look in the slightest to be scared, or show any indication that he had ended up in the wrong place. Instead, he practically skipped to the desk at the front before collapsing dramatically into the chair that was supposed to be for the demon prodigy.
Did this kid have a death wish?
Kage glanced around at the others and saw similar confusion to his own on their faces. Perfect! He thought. A perfect opportunity to establish himself within the group. To save this poor innocent boy from the wrath of the demonic prodigy and take command over the situation.
‘Hey kid! This is an important meeting, adults only, eh? You lost? Need some help?’
The boy turned to face Kage with one big, dark piercing eye, his brow furrowing and unfurrowing just as quickly. ‘No, no. Don’t mind me, I'm exactly where I’m supposed to be,’ he said with a dismissive hand wave.
‘It was a rhetorical question. I advise that you leave now or things won't be pretty.’
‘Ah! So scary!’ the boy said with a dramatic toss of his head. ‘Please don’t hurt me Mr Mafia-San!’ He cried before yawning, kicking his legs up onto the desk, and pulling out some sort of games console. A blatant sign of disrespect. Kage’s jaw clenched.
‘Listen, I’m not going to say it again,’ hand moving towards his gun holster, ‘leave.’
There were murmurs of approval behind him and panic. Seriously! The demonic prodigy could walk onto this scene at any minute. What a bad first impression that would be, Kage thought. Did parents really not teach their kids any manners these days?
The sounds of some sort of driving game(?) from the boy’s console was all he needed to hear to understand that the boy was clearly not going to take his advice. Shooting some random kid was not on his agenda today, but the boy was so stubborn. Instead, he thought that if he pulled out the gun, perhaps the kid would be scared off.
‘Why don’t you wait a moment for me to finish this game before you shoot, hm Kage? Ack! He’s getting away- ah, take this!’
Kage rolled his eyes, this kid seriously did have a death wish. Him focusing on the game whilst a literal was being pointed at him was almost laughable. He felt obliged to give into the kid’s request- even though he wasn’t actually going to shoot.
‘Sure, finish up your game and th-’ his blood ran cold. The kid had said his name. There was no way he should possibly know it, he wasn’t there whilst conversing earlier and Kage didn’t exactly go around advertising himself. Unless-
The boy raised his face up from the console with what could only be described as a devilish smirk.
Kage knew he had seriously fucked up.
He had unknowingly been playing a game of cat and mouse, and was caught right in the carefully laid trap. His palms began to sweat, the gun heavy in his hands, but his arms were paralysed, locked in place. First day of his promotion and he was pointing a gun at the infamous demon prodigy himself.
A bang and the metallic taste of blood had Kage reeling backwards from where he had been standing, his own gun clattering onto the floor. A bullet had nicked straight along the side of his face before embedding itself in the wall behind. Somehow, he didn’t even see the gun being pulled on him, everything was too fast. There were gasps of shock behind him; tension in the room so thick that you could cut through it with a knife.
‘You know,’ the boy said with that singular dark eye, wide and glaring, ‘it’s unbecoming for a grunt to point his gun at an executive.’ The smirk had disappeared from his lips, being replaced by a slight frown tugging down at the corners. Kage felt completely frozen. Forget his own information-extraction ability, the executive seemed to be able to read his very soul with that dilated pupil of his.
This was the demon prodigy.
‘Mori-San told me that unfit subordinates should be disposed of ASAP.’ he said with a wag of his finger. ‘This is so embarrassing for you, having to be scolded by a ‘mere’ kid! If I were you I would just kill myself on the spot! So much for respect- ne?’
Kage tried to speak, to apologise, to say that he’d leave and never show his face again, or go back to being a dog, work himself to the bone. But his throat felt too thick, too clogged up, he couldn’t even make out a single syllable.
Instead, the room just fell into complete silence for what was probably only a couple minutes, but to him it felt like hours. He was going to die. This thing was going to kill him.
Before suddenly. ‘Just kidding!’ the executive said, ‘Go, sit.’ he ordered with another dismissive wave.
‘My name’s Dazai Osamu, and I'll be leading this little group. You’ve certainly given me a good introduction Kage- perhaps this will be less boring than expected.’ He added on as somewhat of an afterthought. ‘But don’t mess up again, got it?’
Kage gave a vigorous nod, finally breaking out of his trance and using the back of his hand to smear the blood off his face. He didn’t know if his survival was just a pure stroke of luck or something else. Whatever it was, he wasn't complaining.
‘Good to hear!’ Dazai said with a wide smile that didn’t quite reach his eye.