Chapter Text
Akutagawa coughed, lifting his head to see what exactly happened from his position on the weird, glassy ground. In a span of a second, he felt as though he fell from a very high building, although the lack of physical pain proved it was a mere feeling. He stood up slowly, still coughing softly in his hand.
Tanizaki glared at him, looking annoyed at the sound of coughing amidst the silence. “Agh! Would you stop already?”
Confusion settled in his mind for a second before he scowled at the comment, which only lasted another second as he noticed his ex-mentor yawning in the far back, rubbing his neck in pain.
“He can’t control that.” Kyouka stated plainly, dusting herself, meeting no one’s eyes. She wasn’t defending Akutagawa, obviously, but they had more pressing matter right now than being bothered by their enemy’s unhealthy body.
“Where are we?” Atsushi squinted warily at his surroundings. They were clearly trapped in some Ability-related spherical dimension. It was glowing white, confining them inside a small space with seemingly no way out.
His friends; Kunikida, Kyouka, Tanizaki and Dazai, on one side.
Opposed to them were the famous Port Mafia criminals; Chuuya and Akutagawa.
Chuuya clicked his tongue in annoyance “Clearly inside someone’s Ability.” He glared at Dazai “It’s your stupid fault for getting in our way.”
“That’s my line.” Dazai smirked, swaying as he stood up. “We were this close to catch our guy if you two hadn’t butted in.”
“Your guy? He was on the top of the Mafia’s hit list- why do you think Boss sent two of his best men? We have been tracking him down for weeks!”
“Bluh bluh whatever you say Chibi. Anyways how do we get out of here?”
“How did you get here?”
Chuuya shut his mouth instantly, having planned to retort to Dazai’s insult but that was actually a valid question.
They all turned to look at Kyouka. She shrugged “No Longer Human is always active, right? Whatever this Ability is, it shouldn’t have affected Dazai-san.”
“Unless he is dead.” Akutagawa muttered to himself, unfortunately he was heard by them and they sent a clear “are-you-dumb” look at him, he scowled, irritated, but he never kept his thoughts to himself- unless Dazai spoke over him like he used to do which always hurt, how little his opinion mattered to- no, focus.
“I mean, that’s the only condition in which Dazai’s Ability would stop working.” Kunikida beat him to it.
“I think you two are onto something.” Atsushi nodded. “I don’t know about you but I don’t remember what exactly happened.”
Dazai’s playful smile disappeared, straightening himself. “We were chasing a figure down the streets, two on the ground after him, the rest were parkouring, then we pumped into these idiots over there-” Chuuya’s brow twitched while Akutagawa stared blankly. “That’s the last thing I remember.”
He received an unanimous silent agreement over what transpired.
“So, what now?” Atsushi started but was cut off by a sudden manifestation of something in front of them.
A Hourglass, besides it was a projection screen that blinked into life, showcasing a red skull which started talking in a robotic voice.
“Welcome to The Pure Land.”
“The what now?” Kunikida squinted his eyes at the hologram-like screen.
“Your souls are being held hostages in this space,” It kept instructing, undeterred, “your bodies are left vacant in the real world-”
“Hang on, what?!” Atsushi’s eyes widened in horror.
“You have 60 minutes to unravel the events of the worst day of your life in details to your company, or your souls will extinguish when the time is up.”
“HANG THE FUCK ON-” Chuuya was ignored.
“Any lies, made up stories or mixed truths will be detected instantly and the real events of your “ worst day” shall be revealed on this screen for everyone to see as a punishment.”
Akutagawa’s eyes widened in concealed terror, this had to be some sort of prank-
“There’s noway we will do that.” Dazai’s voice took a darker note, his eyes cold. “I sure won’t.”
“If any of you refuse to come clean, no one here will be released from The Pure Land. All of you will remain dead in the real world.”
The skull cackled before flashing off, leaving them speechless for a second. On the screen, there were 7 names listed in random order, their names.
“It’s starting....” Atsushi pointed at the Hourglass, the sand already moving inside the bulbs.
“Now what?” Tanizaki turned to look at them.
“Dazai-san can’t you nullify it?” Kyouka said hurriedly.
“Our abilities don’t work here. I’ve already tried to slash that damn skull.” Akutagawa gritted his teeth.
“Same. I can’t transform my body into a tiger.” Atsushi was sweating badly, he didn’t want to relive that let alone in front of his enemies-!
Kunikida took a deep breath before adjusting his glasses. “Dazai being here is an evidence of this whole charade being... well, not a charade.”
“I mean all we have to do is recount some events, right? It’s not so bad-”
Tanizaki shut his mouth when he received an onslaught set of glares from both his friends and the mafia guys.
“We don’t have any other choice-” Kunikida tried again.
Akutagawa hid his shaking hands inside his pockets. “We do. Either I talk or we all die and the latter doesn’t really pose a problem for me-”
“Excuse me?!”
“Might have to agree with Akutagawa-kun there.”
Atsushi choked on his breath. “Dazai-San?! You can’t be serious?”
“Why couldn’t he? He’s a suicidal maniac.” Chuuya grimaced, eyeing both his current and past protesting mafia comrades. “ I get there are things non of us want to remember, let alone expose in front of people we hate but there isn’t a choice here. A lot of people are depending on us. We have responsibilities we can’t leave unanswered.”
“If only you get taller the more you get wiser.” Dazai mocked, leaning on the glowing wall behind him, looking too casual for someone who was dooming many people to their fate. “Still pass.”
Akutagawa never thought the day would come where his mentor would agree with him on anything, but he was too busy subsiding the panic inside his head to be shocked over that. He was just thankful he wasn’t the only one against this nonsensical trial.
“Do you understand the situation? You’d be killing us all alongside yourself!”
“I do, Kunikida, but that seems much more favorable to me than spilling my guts for you little angels to laugh at.”
“No one will laugh-”
“You selfish bastard-”
“Enough!” Kyouka raised her voice over Dazai’s partners, remaining calm. “This is getting nowhere. Let’s those who are prepared to talk do it first, maybe it will encourage Dazai-San and Akutagawa to open up later. Time is valuable at the moment.”
Akutagawa’s eyes narrowed at her, she had really grown into expressing herself since she was an emotionless mannequin six months ago.
After a moment of silent stares, Tanizaki sighed and starting recounting the events of his parent’s death at the hands of an Ability user. Kyouka followed suit, for her experience was slightly similar but also tragically different. They both received support from their friends, especially Kyouka after she admitted Demon Snow killed her parents- she was rendered into a self-loathing mess.
Kunikida revealed his biggest regret, the story of Nobuko Sasaki’s death.
Akutagawa discreetly rolled his eyes at that but didn’t comment on anything said. He fought the urge to roll his eyes again when Chuuya related to the poet as he’s always been sensitive to losing comrades, especially those under his wing.
Chuuya then, started talking about the Sheep and their betrayal.
The tension was getting thicker each second passed, it became worse when they noticed how abnormally quiet Dazai was throughout all of it. Usually he would butt in with some unwarranted jokes, but now his eyes were in a haze, like he wasn’t there.
Atsushi gulped when he realized he was next, he glanced at Akutagawa and Dazai pleadingly but they weren’t even looking his direction.
Kyouka reached out and grabbed his hand in a form of support. It calmed him down a bit. If she could do it, he could.
He recalled the time he first encountered Shibusawa, the way he was bound to a metal chair, electric shocks coursing into him- the way he killed him.
This wasn’t news to Dazai, but the others were baffled. The mere idea of Atsushi killing someone was so foreign to them. In spite of that, no judgment was passed on him. Shibusawa, after all, tried to end their city for his own amusement.
Akutagawa felt his skin crawl when the space quietened at last, everyone processing their feelings as they waited for the remaining two to get this done with. Atsushi especially wanted to go home, away from the mafioso. He felt like a hypocrite, always lecturing Akutagawa about how he shouldn’t kill anyone no matter what they have done, only to reveal himself as a murderer.
But the guy seemed barley there with them.
“Akutagawa? It’s your turn.”
Black eyes snapped to him, they reminded Atsushi of a bottomless, dried well. He frowned when Akutagawa’s lips remained sealed.
“Come on now, time is almost up.” Tanizaki gritted his teeth. “No one cares for your story, believe me. It will be forgotten the moment we step out of here.”
Chuuya shot him a warning glare. “Watch it, snow boy.”
Tanizaki faltered but the memory of Naomi’s bloodied body and the pain he felt as Rashomon tore through his back was still fresh in his brain. He hated the mafia with all his heart and no sob story was going to change that.
“Look,” Kunikida started patiently. “I promise whatever happened to you won’t leave this space. Nobody will bring it up again and nobody would judge you for it.”
They (minus Dazai and Tanizaki) stared at him hopefully, nodding in encouragement- some more sincere than others- but Akutagawa couldn’t talk. His throat was clogged, the itch to cough was so strong yet his mouth won’t open. To others he appeared motionless, not even registering their words.
“Akutagawa-kun,” Dazai spoke for the first time, startling them. “If it has anything to do with me, feel free to talk. They already know I was a mafioso.”
Oh, how considerate to give him permission. Akutagawa wanted to laugh, not that he would ever be able to laugh at Dazai. Something almost compulsive inside his head making sure he would not. Ever.
Atsushi frowned, trying to make sense of why would Akutagawa’s worst memory be about his mentor based on whatever information he knew. Akutagawa once stated the director was crueler than his own mentor. He never gave much thought to it, chalking it up to the guy’s unrequited obsession with Dazai.
Kunikida raised a brow. “What do you have to do with Akutagawa?”
Dazai shrugged. “I was his mentor.”
The usage of past tense didn’t go unnoticed by Atsushi, Akutagawa visibly tensed. He almost felt bad for him, almost.
“WHAT?!”
Tanizaki, Kyouka and Kunikida were the most shocked.
“Y-you mean you trained HIM?!”
“He was your student?!”
Dazai didn’t dignify their questions, instead he glanced at his former protege. He knew he did some real damage to the boy, especially on the mental and emotional forte, it was done purposely to both control and push him towards his best self. He honestly regretted nothing, even if he admitted he was being awful to the boy, and still is.
It was necessary violence, no different than what the director did to Atsushi. Unforgivable but effective.
He surely didn’t expect or want forgiveness from Akutagawa.
Feeling scrutinized under his mentor’s gaze, Akutagawa forced his mouth open, preparing to tell the truth but the only thing it did was tell an obvious lie to those who didn’t know what else happened on that day.
“The worst day of my life is the day I met you.”
Atsushi rolled his eyes. “Nobody believes that! You are way too obsessed with him for it to be your worst-”
The screen flashed.
Akutagawa froze, his eyes widened fearfully when he recognized the video playing on it.
“How many times did I tell you your Ability’s activation is really slow?”
Dazai’s unnaturally cold voice caught their attention.
“Your enemy won’t wait for you to cough, catch your breath and launch an attack.” He taunted, glaring harshly at the bloodied child on the ground. “You would be dead by then.” He took a fistful of black hair and yanked him up to his feet. “How exactly do you intend to survive in the mafia with this body?” A kick to the stomach, blood droplets stained the ground. “It’s completely useless without Rashomon.”
Chuuya felt his anger flare, mixed with confusion and a great deal of betrayal thrown into the punch. Was this what happened behind closed doors? How dare he? He always heard rumors of Dazai’s attitude towards Akutagawa but they went over his head. Because Dazai, after all, was proud of his protege.
His heart sunk when he saw Akutagawa shaking slightly next to him.
Dazai’s punch sent him to the wall, the crack was so loud, but the man didn’t spare any sympathy. “Not that your Ability is much to flaunt either. It’s current range is pathetic, slower activation than a snail and you don’t know the first thing about defense.”
“That’s...” Atsushi swallowed a sour taste in his mouth, because what the hell? “Dazai-san...?!” He sent an inquisitive, unsettled look at his mentor who shrugged, unbothered.
“I was a little rough during my teen days.”
“A little rough.” Kunikida repeated, dumbfounded. He could barley wrap his head around the fact Dazai was a mafioso, but beating up a kid like that as a form of training?
“More like torturous!” Chuuya stood up, fists clinching angrily. “What the fuck is even that degrading speech? You always spoke so highly of Akutagawa and how he was going to become the best mafia Ability user!! What the fuck?! Do you have a split personality or something?!”
Akutagawa blinked in surprise, Dazai spoke highly of him? He couldn’t believe he did. He never would.
“How old were you?” Kyouka addressed him quietly, a pit growing in her stomach as some things started to make sense.
“He was fourteen!!” Chuuya yelled in contempt on his behalf. “A little kid!” He turned to Akutagawa, “why didn’t you ever say something about this?”
Akutagawa looked genuinely confused. “It was just training.”
Tanizaki gaped. “Are you for real?”
Atsushi stared in horror, pieces clicking together in a speed he couldn’t keep up with. Akutagawa’s insecurities, believing he was weak, that he was helping Kyouka with his words and actions, his desperation for Dazai’s approval, his obsession to prove his strength....
No wonder he was so unhinged.
Akutagawa was getting increasingly uncomfortable under the pitying stares, he glared at them. “I don’t mind it, I’m not so weak to complain about an effective training method.”
“Obviously you do if it’s chosen as the worst day-”
“It’s not about the training.”
Dazai contemplated those words. He was confused why Akutagawa’s worst memory was a mere training session. That was basically his everyday life since he joined the mafia.
“What is it then?”
Akutagawa avoided his gaze, making a ting of worry blossom inside his chest.
When the silence regained, the video resumed.
Akutagawa cradled his arm, staring on disdainfully, Dazai leveled him with an unreadable glare before dramatically putting his arm up in mock defeat.
“I quit, you win!”
The boy blinked, not following. It just made his mentor sigh.
“Verbal instructions do nothing for your brain, let’s try another method.” He approached Akutagawa slowly, stopping in front of him. “Would you take your clothes off for a moment?”
“WHAT?”
Dazai winced at the sudden yell. “I meant for him to take Rashomon off, obviously.” He pretended to be hurt. “Who do you think I am?”
They heaved a sigh of relief.
Akutagawa’s face on the other hand lost whatever color it usually possessed, he slid helplessly against the wall and closed his eyes in resignation.
This definitely wasn’t about training. Was taking Rashomon away from him for few days too much? Dazai wasn’t stupid, he knew Akutagawa like the back of his hand. Physical injuries wouldn’t make him shake in fear and shame. He would always come back on his feet and try again.
“I could live without seeing him naked...” Tanizaki muttered to himself.
Shock overtook the boy’s expression, he gritted his teeth.
“I refuse.”
Dazai tilted his head, smirking. “Oh? I apologize. I must have given you the wrong impression.” His hand caught Akutagawa’s in his when he tried to use Rashomon to escape. “This wasn’t a request.”
Then he worked his way slowly through the few layers of clothes Akutagawa had on him.
The boy’s struggles were futile, a mere brush of Dazai’s fingertips was enough to nullify Rashomon, soon enough he was shirtless. His coat and white dress shirt discarded on the floor.
In rising panic, he grabbed Dazai’s hand when it touched the zipper of his pants.
“Don’t.”
Dazai stared him down, eyes simmering with amusement at the unintentional pleading tone.
“I can’t watch this...” Atsushi cringed. Memories of the director flooding back his mind.
“Fucking bastard.” Chuuya averted his eyes. He felt a sense of violation just watching, God knows how Akutagawa must have felt back then- what he was feeling now.
Kunikida surprised himself by mentally agreeing with the criminal, no, not really. The Akutagawa on the screen was Kyouka’s age. A mere kid being groomed to be a killer by one of his friends, his damn partner. He could have been redeemable back then.
Meanwhile Tanizaki watched in morbid fascination. He would never admit to the satisfaction he felt seeing that bastard put in his place by one of their own.
“Oh, would you rather help me?” He wrenched his hand free when no respond was received. “Didn’t think so.”
In a quick succession of studied movement, Dazai cuffed both of Akutagawa’s wrists and chained them above his head to the wall behind him after pushing him down. His pants and underwear were ripped off easily, so did his shoes.
“Better.” The executive sighed in boredom. “Man you are still as scrawny as you were two months ago when I picked you from the slums.”
Akutagawa glued his eyes to the ground in humiliation.
Surprise pushed down the building resentment Atsushi was feeling, he couldn’t look at Dazai right now but he had to ask, yet his lips wouldn’t move. Was that fear he was feeling? Ridiculous. He had nothing to be afraid of. Dazai never hurt him before- He wouldn’t. This Dazai on screen seemed like some evil twin from a western comic. Mafia or not, he wouldn’t be so cruel without reason. Akutagawa must have done something to deserve it.
“You were the one who got him into the mafia?” Kyouka, the life saver, voiced his thoughts. As a former mafioso who was trying to redeem herself, her vision wasn’t so black and white. It didn’t help the bubbling anger in her stomach, for she could easily see herself in Akutagawa’s place. Only Akutagawa never tried to strip her clothes off.
“Yes.” Dazai answered evenly. His eyes fell on the man in mention, Akutagawa wasn’t looking at the screen, hands in his pockets, body hunched forward. “I invited him to the mafia alongside his sister.”
Kyouka sighed. Like teacher, like student, huh?
They shifted their gaze to the screen when the video continued, trying not to focus on the kid’s exposed body.
Dazai’s cold smirk widened when Akutagawa’s face flushed in shame. It didn’t help he had no mean of covering his private parts.
He kneeled before him, fingers brushing Akutagawa’s right ear-lop. “Do you get it now? I don’t need No Longer Human to deal with your ability, I could just take it away.”
A chuckle escaped his throat as his protege squirmed away from his offensive fingers. He could be cute at times, honestly.
“Once you lose your coat, you are basically defenseless and could be easily taken down by any weakling ability user. Without clothes however,” he eyed him up and down, making Akutagawa’s skin crawl, “you are a normal human, a weak one at that.” He leaned closer, “I could do anything to you. I could beat you up, keep you locked forever.” His voice took a coyer tone as he whispered; “I could even use you for my own pleasure, and you wouldn’t be able to do anything about it.”
Dazai smiled innocently when outraged and betrayed expressions shot at him. “In my defense-”
Chuuya punched him square in the face with all his might, breathing heavily. His ex-partner fell backward, hitting the ground with a loud thud.
Akutagawa lifted his head at the commotion, he cringed when he saw what part was playing on the screen, and regretted looking up when his eyes locked with the weretiger, they were full of pity (because what else could it be?). Everybody else seemed to share that sentiment towards him. It made him sicker than he already felt.
“As I was saying,” Dazai used his elbow to raise his body in a sitting position despite the ache, “I never followed up with that threat.”
“You-” Chuuya couldn’t begin to verbalize or demonstrate how ashamed he was of knowing this person at the moment. “Is that seriously your excuse? You threatened to rape a child. One under your ward... how... how could....?”
Maybe it was the judgmental stares of his friends, the betrayed and confused look still lingering on Atsushi’s, or Chuuya’s unnatural low voice that made Dazai allow himself a second of self-reflection.
He never really did much of that when it came to Akutagawa as the results were speaking for themselves, thank you very much.
“I know it sounds fucked up-”
“It IS fucked up-”
“But it was a valuable lesson.” He justified, ignoring Kunikida’s seething. “I needed to make him truly understand how weak he was without his ability so he’d focus more on learning how to use it to defend himself.”
His words hung in the air for a minute, nobody believed what they were hearing.
“Are you sure the rape threat was part of the oh-so-important lesson?” Tanizaki narrowed his eyes, earlier satisfaction dissipated to a hollow pit in his abdomen. “You sounded like you enjoyed-”
“Can you all be quiet.” Akutagawa stated, they couldn’t help but notice how tired he sounded. Dazai never touched him like that, he didn’t want to entertain the idea of him sounding like he meant any of it.
Atsushi took few steps forward. “Are you okay?”
Akutagawa stared at him blankly, “I am. Just get this over with.”
Nobody pointed out he was a flimsy liar, they settled back, respecting his wishes.
Akutagawa glared at him for a moment before butting his head in Dazai’s face. It was too abrupt and unprofessional, it actually managed to take his mentor by surprise, his nose bled ever so slightly from the impact.
“I hope that clears my answer to you since verbal refusal does nothing for your brain.”
“My,” Dazai’s dark chuckles were muffled by his hand. He would be lying if he said he wasn’t unprofessionally mad at the bold act of defiance. “You sure still has a lot of energy brimming inside you. And here I was worrying you would pass out on me.”
He stood up, sent a bone-chilling glare at him. Akutagawa expected the usual punch, and maybe few bullets but Dazai merely folded his clothes and headed for the door.
“Dazai-san?”
“Reflect on yourself, Akutagawa-kun.” He gave him a final side glance before leaving the door wide open after him.
“I fail to understand how was that your worst memory.” Dazai interrupted the video, brushing off the agitated comments from his company. “This wasn’t even the worst training session we had. You are barley hurt here.”
If anybody threw an appalled comment about how worse it could get, Dazai tuned them out. He focused solely on his ex-mentee, which was something Akutagawa yearned for so long. If only he did that in a better occasion.
“It’s not the training...”
“So you said. But I was off on a mission after this for two weeks-”
“It’s not about you!” Akutagawa snapped at him, shocking both of them, he never raised his voice over Dazai’s before. He expected retaliation but Dazai just nodded with a calm “okay”, fixing his eyes on the screen again.
Atsushi didn’t think he’d be able to cut the tension surrounding them even with Kokko Zessou.
“Now, then.” Dazai punched few numbers on his phone. Soon, two bulky men walked down the hall, bowing in respect. Dazai tossed a key and a pile of clothes at the blondie one and instructed without looking back as he passed past them. “I have a mission to get to. Make sure to free Akutagawa-kun in two days, no food or water allowed.”
“Yes, sir!”
“What’s the point of starving someone who spent his entire childhood in the slums?” Atsushi thought to himself, recalling all the starvation he had to endure. He felt something ugly tug at his heart knowing the same person who saved him from starvation, starved another kid to prove a point.
The two men in black suits entered the room their boss’s protege was chained in.
He glanced at Akutagawa, his stomach sunk when he caught the hidden horrified expression on his face. It wasn’t just him, Dazai’s indifferent mask formed into something akin to worry, but unlike himself, his eyes had a foreboding knowing glint into them.
“Ha! Look what we have here.” The brunette cackled when he saw the state Akutagawa was left in. The boy tensed, not expecting company.
His friend whistled at the nakedness before him. “I always wondered why a great man like Dazai-san would bother taking the slums’ rabid dog under his wing,” He leered. “Seems like he found some use of you outside of killing and being a punching bag.” He crouched in front of him, twirling the white ends of the kid’s hair. “Say kid, does the size of his dick live up to the rumors?”
Dazai’s eyes widened in realization. Knowing what was going to come after this.
Nobody dared to utter a word, they couldn’t even if they wanted to.
Akutagawa glared coldly. Choosing to bite the offending hand instead of hurting his scratchy throat with words. The man hissed in pain when blood tickled down his fingers.
“You filthy dog!” He punched him hard. “You sure live up to your title.”
The blondie behind him chuckled mockingly. “Don’t get punked by this kid now, without his clothes, he’s a harmless puppy.” He joined his friend on the floor, rubbing his hand against Akutagawa’s inner thigh, forcing his thin legs apart.
“That Dazai, he sure has a sloppy taste. What did he see in you? Do you even eat at all? I think your leg would break if I pressed hard.”
“Speaking of hard, wanna test that theory on something better than a leg?”
Alarms set off in everyone’s brains.
“Fuck-!” Tanizaki cursed, covering his mouth.
Kunikida immediately hid Kyouka’s face into his chest. “No matter what you hear, don’t look.” She could feel the harsh pounding of his heart, but nodded obediently.
Dazai shut his eyes regretfully, how couldn’t he seen this coming back then? He basically handed a naked, helpless child to them. What was he expecting to happen? Why didn’t he think this through? Was he blinded by anger? He couldn’t tell. These kind of days were too uneventful to remember.
Well, clearly not very uneventful for somebody.
Upon opening his eyes, his heart ached at the sight of Chuuya blocking Akutagawa’s view while fruitlessly trying to calm the man’s panic-mixed coughing fit.
He always had weak lungs, and he made sure to aim his kicks at his chest the most....
Calmly, Dazai stood up and made his way to his former student. He crouched before Akutagawa, ignoring Chuuya’s warnings and a lot of “It’s your fault” - though, he couldn’t tell if those originated inside his head or coming out of Chuuya’s mouth.
Probably both.
Unsurprisingly, Akutagawa didn’t flinch away when he placed a hand on his back, rubbing it in circles. Chuuya stuffed his complaints back as he heard the shallow breathing slowly returning to normal. It didn’t stop the coughing but it helped.
It took Akutagawa long minutes but the itch ceased eventually, leaving a burning sensation in his throat and lungs. He felt- a lot of things that made him wish he never learned how to feel after meeting Dazai. But mostly it was shame, it was so strong, it made him want to cry but he didn’t possess such human capability.
“You have nothing to be ashamed of.” Dazai spoke softly, pulling him to his chest. Chuuya still couldn’t comprehend how Akutagawa found him comforting after what he saw on the screen. “It wasn’t your fault, rather it was mine. I should have realized this would happen.”
Akutagawa gritted his teeth, pushing away from the hug. This wasn’t what he wanted to hear.
“I don’t need you to apologize for how weak I am.” His voice dripped with venom. “You don’t need to play a changed man with me. You never did, all those years since you left me behind without much of a warning. You don’t get to start now over watching me being assaulted by low-class nobodies whose opinion you agreed with.”
Dazai didn’t mean to insult his strength or pretend to pity him. He never pretended with Akutagawa after his defection. No silly modes, or fake tooth-rotting smiles and playful jokes to sell his non-existent good will.
It’s hard to play a good guy with someone who saw the worst of him.
And it’s hard to convince Akutagawa he meant nothing of those cruel words his month spout every time he faced him- how it was all a plan in motion.
Then again, at some point, it became a habit, one he liked. Knowing there was someone powerful under his thumb, basically worshiping him whether he was good or evil- it was satisfying.
Dazai was a lot of things, dumb was not among them. He knew there might have been another way to lead Akutagawa, keep him alive and striving. Hell, he could have gotten him away from the mafia if he tried.
It was just easier not to, the results he aimed for would be the same, so why bother making it easier on his mentee?
Dazai knew he wasn’t being completely truthful when he said. “I left you hanging on my approval because earning it was your reason to live. Without it, you would lose your drive to be stronger, I couldn’t afford that. Not when the city’s safety depends on it.”
While this statement eased something inside Akutagawa’s heart, Chuuya felt like he was losing brain cells the more he listened.
The pause gave reason for the video to click resume again.
Dazai instantly pulled Akutagawa to his chest when he heard the man suck in breath, Chuuya and the other adults blocked it from his line of sight by closing in.
All of them gave their backs to it. But as if mocking them, the whole space became some sort of projector, they could see what was being shown even if they looked away or closed their eyes.
“You sure you wanna do this to that Demon Prodigy’s property?”
“Oh, please, like he’d care.” His eyes glinted, daring the kid to correct him. “Or know. Right, kid? What would your mentor think of you if he knew how weak you were against non-ability users like us?”
Dazai’s grip of his student tightened.
They moved over.