Chapter Text
Chuuya had a headache, a terrible awful bang your head against the wall kind of headache, and it was currently residing down in the Port Mafia’s dungeons. He should have known things were going too well, four years without having to deal with Dazai must have used up all the good karma he’d accrued throughout his life and now he had to suffer for it.
It already had been a frustrating enough day, he’d gotten back from a few days trip to another city to deal with some business, only to be immediately informed by a ghost about how Kyoka had almost gotten blown up and had been saved by the Agency’s tiger. She was now in their custody though, which was a matter of some worry for Chuuya. It wasn’t that he thought they’d be cruel to her, but the fact remained that no matter how much Chuuya had used his influence to lessen the amount of missions she’d been sent on, she was still a criminal who’d killed people.
It was unlikely that she wouldn’t be handed over to the police, though hopefully they’d be a little more lenient on her given her age and the fact she hadn’t joined the Mafia of her own free will. He’d still have to figure out a way to help her though, he’d promised her parent’s ghosts that he’d watch out for her and do what he could to protect her.
He hadn’t had time to start making plans however, before he’d learned another bit of information, once from a ghost and once from a Mafia member. Dazai had been captured.
After three years of being Dazai’s partner and four years of having ghosts keep an eye on him, Chuuya was well aware of his ex partner’s capabilities, there was no way he’d managed to get caught off guard and been captured. If Dazai was their prisoner, it was because he wanted to be, not by chance.
After quickly glancing around the hallway in order to make sure there was no one around, Chuuya inclined his head slightly to the side and spoke softly, his lips hardly moving.
“Yoshiki, any idea why Dazai let himself get captured?” Though the ghost next to him hadn’t been the one to inform him of Dazai’s capture, he was one of the ones that Chuuya frequently used to keep an eye on his ex-partner, so he was more likely to know what was going on.
Yoshiki bit his lip, his uncertain look clashing with his punk like appearance. “I’m not sure,” He told Chuuya, “It’s hard to read him, the Agency seems to be up in arms about the bounty on the tiger though, so it might have to do with that.”
Chuuya let out a soft hum, that definitely was a possibility. While Chuuya wouldn’t say that Dazai was an entirely uncaring person, the fact was that he certainly didn’t outwardly show concern often even when he did; from what had been reported to Chuuya though, it seemed like Dazai really did seem to care for the weretiger.
“Oh, there is one more thing!” Yoshiki said, interrupting Chuuya’s thoughts. “Dazai sent a letter!”
“A letter? What did it say?”
Yoshiki paused for a moment, trying to recall the contents. “Um..Should Dazai fall, all your secrets will come to light.”
Chuuya’s eye twitched slightly, even if Yoshiki hadn’t said who the letter had been sent to, he was pretty sure he could guess. It seemed Dazai really was trying to stir up trouble.
“Why didn’t you tell me this earlier?” Chuuya questioned, his tone slightly annoyed. However before Yoshiki could reply, the ghost froze for a second, before turning to look over his shoulder.
“Someone’s coming.” He warned.
Chuuya just kept walking, not showing any indication that he knew anyone else was around until he heard footsteps from right behind him, and an arm was looped over his shoulders.
“There you are Chuuya! Did you hear about Dazai?” The familiar voice of Albatross asked him.
Glancing over at the other man with a neutral expression, Chuuya nodded his head. “Yeah, Piano Man told me.”
Chuuya was pretty sure that both Piano Man and Albatross’s purpose in bringing up Dazai to him was to check his reaction, and try and figure out what he was going to do. If the situation had been back when he’d first joined the Mafia, it might have made Chuuya a little mad; after all he was well aware that Mori had asked the Flags to keep an eye on him in case of betrayal. Currently though, with the years of friendship between them and Chuuya’s high position in the Mafia, he knew that their probing came from genuine concern and not an attempt to check for betrayal.
Dazai was Chuuya’s ex partner after all, and while their rather caustic relationship was no secret to anyone who’d been around the mafia for a while, those close to Chuuya knew how sentimental he could be. It wasn’t surprising they were worried about how he might react, and the possibility that he might do something stupid.
“Are you going to go see him?” Albatross asked, his attempts at getting information not at all subtle.
Chuuya hummed thoughtfully, letting his face twist into an uncertain expression. “I’m not sure. I wouldn’t mind going to laugh at him, but I don’t know that I really want to see that traitor’s face.”
It was a total lie of course, Chuuya had always planned on going to visit Dazai in the dungeons, and he wasn’t really that angry at him for betraying the Mafia. How could he be, when he knew what had happened with Oda. He could hardly explain all that to others however, so dishonesty was his only choice.
“Probably better if you don’t.” Albatross advised him, “He always ends up just riling you up, you’ll just end up mad.”
Chuuya had to put effort into keeping his lips from twitching, it was true that no one could make him mad like Dazai; the man just had a talent for ticking people off and he wasn’t afraid to use it. What most people didn’t know however was that Chuuya’s reactions to Dazai’s provocations were somewhat carefully calculated; while the annoyance Dazai caused was entirely real, Chuuya was well practiced in staying calm and not showing reactions when necessary. If he so wished, it wasn’t that hard for him to just not openly react to whatever Dazai did.
In the beginning when he didn’t know Dazai well, he hadn’t seen any reason to hold back in yelling at him, not realizing that his reaction would just make Dazai want to annoy him more. Later, once he’d realized how troublesome Dazai really was, he’d been unsure if suddenly showing no reaction might just end up making Dazai try harder. In the end, he’d just decided it was better to just go with things, and use the situation to make people underestimate him; no one expected someone with such a short temper to be capable of scheming against them.
As a result, it was well known within the Mafia that if you put Dazai and Chuuya in the same room, you were likely to end up with a yelling match.
“It’s not my fault he’s such a pest.” Chuuya grumbled, deciding to humor Albatross’s attempts to discourage him from going to visit Dazai. Once he’d placated his friend enough that he went away, he could just sneak down to the dungeons without anyone knowing. It would be better to do that anyway; then if Dazai escaped, as Chuuya was sure he would, no one could try and claim Chuuya had let him go.
“Ugh, just thinking about him makes me angry.” Chuuya growled, and Albatross patted him reassuringly on the shoulder.
“Just avoid him then, it’ll be better that way.”
“Yeah, you’re probably right.” Chuuya agreed, “I’ll wait and not visit unless Mori tells me to.”
Albatross’s face lit up in a smile at Chuuya’s agreement, looking very proud of himself for managing to convince him not go to the dungeons.
“Alright, well I’ve got some things to take care of, so I’ll see you around.” Albatross told him, before sauntering his way down the hall away from Chuuya.
Watching him go, Yoshiki had a disbelieving look on his face. “He doesn’t really believe you’re not going to go to the dungeons, does he?”
Chuuya shrugged, “He probably does.” Really, it was quite lucky that Albatross had been the one to come find him and not someone else. While Albatross was a fun and outgoing guy, he wasn’t the sharpest tool in the shed; it would have been much harder to convince one of the other Flags.
“Anyway, let’s get going before anyone else comes to find me.”
As he continued through the Mafia’s headquarters, Chuuya made use of ghosts to help him avoid anyone whose paths he might cross. He really didn’t want to get delayed by anyone else who was concerned about his reaction to Dazai’s capture, and even running across new members of the Mafia could cause problems later on if they realized where he was headed.
Thankfully he was able to reach the entrance without any incident, and he paused for a moment before heading down the stairs.
“I really hope Oda’s here.” Chuuya muttered to Yoshiki. Over the past four years the former assassin’s ghost had spent most of the time following Dazai around, only occasionally visiting Chuuya for a chat or to give updates on how Dazai was doing. He’d be the most likely to know what was going on with Dazai and his reasons for getting captured, and as long as he didn’t think Chuuya intended any harm, he’d probably be willing to rat him out.
As Chuuya descended the stairs, he suddenly realized that he was actually somewhat nervous about seeing Dazai again. Even if he’d kept tabs on him over the years, this would be the first time they were meeting face to face in over four years, and Dazai had no reason to believe Chuuya didn’t hate him for betraying the Mafia.
He wasn’t about to tell him that though, Dazai wouldn’t believe him anyway and there wasn’t really any reason to. Just because he didn’t hate Dazai, didn’t mean there weren’t other things he was angry about and he had no intentions to have things go back to the way they were before.
As the dungeon came into view, Chuuya shoved all those thoughts into the back of his head and pasted a cruel smile on his face.
“Well, isn’t this a nice sight.” He drawled, pausing halfway down the stairs. “This place really suits you Dazai.”
Although it was far from being bright in the dungeons, there was more than enough light for Chuuya to see Dazai chained to the wall and the disgusted expression on the man’s face at the sight of him. Nearby, Oda looked much more happy at his presence, giving a wave in his direction before being tackled by Yoshiki in a hug.
The two ghosts had latched onto each other pretty quickly after meeting, Oda having a natural tendency to parent people and Yoshiki having never had a decent father. Chuuya knew that Yoshiki’s existence wasn’t enough to erase the pain caused by the loss of Oda’s other kids, but he knew it had helped some, and so he was happy for them.
“Yuck.” Dazai complained, staring at Chuuya in disdain. “This is inhumane torture even for the Mafia.”
Chuuya rolled his eyes, descending the remaining stairs in one leap and walking over to stand a few feet away from Dazai.
“I see that annoying personality of yours hasn’t changed in the slightest.” Chuuya complained, taking a moment to look over Dazai. “Looks like your fashion sense has gotten slightly better though.” He couldn’t help but wonder if the tan coat had been chosen in an attempt to emulate Oda, whether consciously or not.
“And I see you’re still as short as ever, and still have that tacky hat.” Chuuya bristled slightly at Dazai’s words; his height was a sensitive topic, he’d hardly grown at all since he was a teenager, and that bothered him more then he knew it should. It was the mockery of his hate that annoyed Chuuya more though.
Rimbauld had originally made the hat for Verlaine, a bit of protection to keep anyone but himself from using a code to set off his ability; however he’d never gotten the chance to actually give it to him before their last mission. As a result, it had ended up among Rimbauld’s possessions at the Port Mafia headquarters, and almost caused Chuuya to have a heart attack when Mori had given it to him as a welcome gift for joining the Mafia; it was only after careful observation that Chuuya had determined Mori hadn’t given it to him because he knew his secret, he was just a weirdo who thought the belonging of what was technically the first man he’d killed for the Mafia, made a good gift.
He’d offered to give it to Verlaine, but both he and Rimbauld had agreed it would be more useful for Chuuya to keep it. In the end, it had come to serve somewhat as a symbol of the connection the three of them had.
Dazai knew none of that though, which was why as annoyed as he was by the mocking, he wouldn’t throttle Dazai for it.
“I don’t want to be criticized by a walking waste of bandages.” He informed Dazai, ignoring the way Oda was facepalming over their fighting in the corner.
“Well then you shouldn’t have come!” Dazai cheerfully told him, “Why are you here anyway?”
Chuuya raised an eyebrow, placing a hand on one hip as he titled his head slightly to look at Dazai with a serious expression. “I think I should be the one asking you that.” He stated, continuing on before Dazai had the chance to say something stupid like how he was ‘just a prisoner’. “You and I both not you’re not incompetent enough to captured if you didn’t want to be, which means you have a reason for being here.”
“He wants to know who’s after Atsushi.” Oda helpfully piped up from the corner, confirming the conclusion that Chuuya had already come to. Given what had been going on lately, it was the only thing that really made sense.
“It’s the weretiger isn’t it? You want to know who’s after him?”
Dazai’s eyes narrowed at Chuuya’s statement, before widening again as he smiled. “I see Chuuya’s still the best information gatherer in the Mafia.” It was as good as admitting Chuuya was right, much to Chuuya’s relief; he hadn’t really wanted to spend minutes beating around the bush until Dazai finally decided he was ready to reveal his purpose.
“It’s an American organization known as the Guild.”
“What?”
Chuuya took great delight in the sudden look of confusion on Dazai’s face upon being just given the answer to his question. He was sure the man must have had plans for how he was going to manipulate Chuuya into helping him get the info, and most certainly hadn’t expected it to be freely given.
“The people after your tiger, they’re called the Guild.” Chuuya repeated, giving Dazai an expression that said he thought he was an idiot. “Have all your suicide attempts damaged your ears or something?”
Dazai stared at him suspiciously, no doubt trying to figure out just what game Chuuya was playing. “Why Chuuya, have you decided to betray the Mafia as well? I didn’t think a loyal dog like you had it in him.”
This time, Chuuya didn’t rise to Dazai’s provocation at all, but simply stared straight at him with a calm expression. “I’m doing this for the Mafia, I don’t like this situation.” He kept his voice mostly even as he spoke, only letting the slightest hint of the worry he was feeling slip through. It was important that Dazai believe him, but if he seemed too eager to share things, it would make him suspicious.
“There’s other groups backing them, so it can’t be for a simple reason that they want the tiger. Even if his ability is strong, this is still a little too much. Until I can figure out just what it is, it’s better if the Port Mafia doesn’t get too involved with them.”
His words were a mixture of truth and lies; it was true that there were other groups backing the Guild and that he was wary of the Port Mafia getting involved with them, but it was a lie that he still needed to figure out what they were after. People might check for bugs or spies before having a secret conversation, but it would be the rare person who even considered the idea that there might be ghosts spying on them.
It had taken some work, and a lot of messages sent from ghost to ghost, but he’d managed to get in contact with the ghost of one Frances Fitzgerald, the daughter of the Guild’s leader. It was from her he’d managed to get more of the story; it seemed the Guild and other associated groups were looking for something known as The Book, a book that supposedly made anything written in it become reality, and the white tiger was supposed to be the guide to it.
For Frances’ father, his goal was to bring his daughter back to life, but Chuuya highly doubted the leaders of the other organizations had such benign goals. Chuuya knew he himself was no saint, but he still felt sure the Book would be much safer in his hands then theirs, which meant he had to find it first. To that end, he had kept the information about the Book secret from even Mori, and hoped to use the conflict between the Guild and Agency as a distraction to buy him time.
It was possible that such a plan might get him in trouble later, sooner or later people would find out about the Book and he doubted Mori would believe he hadn’t known, but he’d cross that bridge when he got to it.
“You’re planning to use the Agency as a shield.” Dazai commented, removing the shackles that had chained him to the wall with a snap of his fingers. It was clear by the casual way he did so that he could have escaped anytime he wanted, anyone who’d really thought he’d stay trapped in the dungeon was an idiot. “That way you can investigate while everyone else is distracted.”
Chuuya had to admit he found it rather annoying how easily his former partner could guess at his plans, even without knowing all the information, however he merely shrugged in response. “Don’t act like you wouldn’t do the same in my situation.”
Dazai hummed slightly in agreement. He had in fact done similar things in the past. “What organizations are backing the Guild.”
Chuuya frowned, however unbeknownst to Dazai, it had nothing to do with his question but rather the fact that Ayumi had just floated through the wall of the dungeon with a panicked expression on her face.
“Boss! Akutagawa caught the tiger, and he’s shipping him out!”
It really was not Chuuya’s day. Still, he forced himself not to give any reaction, other than a slight tilt of his head to acknowledge he’d heard, before replying to Dazai’s questions.
“The Clock Tower and Rats in the House of The Dead. And before you ask, no, I don’t have much information on them and even if I did, I wouldn’t tell you. I’m not going to do all your work for you.”
Dazai placed a hand on his chest, looking at Chuuya with an offended expression. “Chuuya, I’m hurt. When have I ever not done my own work?”
Chuuya just stared at him with a deadpan expression, thinking of all the times during their partnership that Dazai had dumped his responsibilities on him. “We don’t have time to list all that.”
They really didn’t have time for it, Chuuya had already spent long enough in the dungeon considering he hadn’t been given permission to be there, so he needed to get going before someone wondered where he was. “Alright, you got what you came for so now get going. It’s much better here when you’re not around.”
He turned and started heading up the stairs, not bothering to wave goodbye to Oda before doing so, since he knew the ghost wouldn’t be offended. As he exited the dungeon he let out a sigh, that was that done with, now he just needed to figure out what to do in regards to Akutagawa.
He hadn’t gone more than a few hallways away when a familiar voice called out to him. “Ah Chuuya, would you mind coming up to my office for a bit.”
Turning around, Chuuya saw Mori standing there, a smile on his face that made it very clear he knew just where Chuuya had been.
Inwardly Chuuya sighed, he’d known there was a possibility that Mori would figure out he’d gone to the dungeons, but he’d thought he had a little more time. There was nothing he could do but go along with it though, so simply nodded slightly in agreement.
“Of course.”