Bungou Stray Dogs: Fifteen -Phase 01
He looked at the documents, smoked sitting on the chair, stretched, looked at a series of numbers, ran his fingers between his hair and kept glaring at the documents.
The smoke forming a meaningless geometric figure disappeared before his eyes.
“This is… nothing can be done…”
Black hair that reached his back, worn white coat. Sandals with torn edges. A stethoscope hanging from the neck.
He is a doctor and besides that, he was in a messy clinic.
Medical records, books on the shelf. On the wall in front of the desk, there is a light emitter to hang the X-ray film and analyze them.
He was just like a doctor in his office.
But he wasn’t really a doctor, and he wasn’t in a doctor’s office.
This place is further from the hospitals that are known in this world.
“It has been two weeks since the deadline for the supply of contraband weapons. If we continue like this, soon all my subordinates will be reduced to fighting enemies using kitchen knives. And not only that. There have already been three cases in this month where the police have been sent to the city. It seems that I am losing control over the members of the organization”
The man said while looking at the stack of documents.
The man’s name is Mori Ougai.
He is the leader of the powerful illegal organization, Port Mafia, and a new leader who has just taken office only a year ago.
“Cancellation of commercial protection contracts, intensification of conflicts with other organizations, reduction of territory… What a problem. A year has passed since then, there are many problems for someone who is in the highest position of the organization… What could I do? What do you think, Dazai-kun? Are you listening to me?“
The person who answered Mori’s question was a boy who was sitting on a bench for patient use.
His black hair was messy, white bandage around his head. A thin young man of short stature, with a black coat too big for him.
Dazai Osamu… age fifteen.
”It happens that everything Mori-san says is boring!“ Dazai said as he fiddled with the medicine bottles. “You have been repeating it as a Sutra all these days. There is no money, no information, much less trust from your subordinates.
You even knew all that from the beginning”
”That’s right but…“ He put his hands to his head as if he were in trouble. ”Dazai-kun, why are you trying to mix medications for high blood pressure with medications for low blood pressure in the medicine cabinet?“
”Hey? I was thinking that if I drank it all, something incredible would happen and I would finally die”
“That won’t kill you!” Mori snatched the medicine bottle. “How did you open the medicine cabinet?”
“No, I want to die!” Dazai waved his hands. “I want to die, I want to die! I want to die as easy and fast as possible!”
“If you behave well and you are a nice and friendly boy, I’ll tell you how to mix the medications”
“Liar! You always say that and you make me work hard, you gave me horrible memories a year ago and in the end you didn’t show me anything! If this continues, I’ll betray you and join an enemy organization!”
“Stop saying things you’re not sure of, be a good boy. If you betray me, you will not die so easily” Mori had no choice but to laugh.
“Oh… this is boring. How is it possible that this world is like that?”
Dazai swung his feet, from the bench where he was sitting. Dazai is not a subordinate of Mori, he doesn’t even work for the mafia. Of course, there are no words that describe Dazai’s relationship with Mori; more than a child being a patient of Mori.
If you want to express the exact words, they would be… “they are in the same boat”
”First, Dazai-kun…“ Mori sighed. “You are the only person who was in the place when I assumed the position of leader, you are the witness of that will. So if you die… ”
A year ago the two had shared a common destiny. The two, Mori as the chief’s private doctor and Dazai, involved in this, was nothing more than a patient who had attempted suicide; they colluded, and carried out a certain secret plan.
Assassinate the head of the port mafia and forgery of the will.
“This wasn’t what you expected”
Dazai said in a strangely clear voice.
“You even made an excellent choice in having a patient, who has tried to commit suicide, as an accomplice. But even after a year, I’m still alive. Because of that, the traces of restlessness have not disappeared”
For the moment, Mori felt as if a bucket of cold water fell on him.
”… What are you talking about?“
”You know what I mean. The seeds of restlessness, mean, the restlessness of wondering if the murder leaked abroad”
Dazai’s expression is still illegible inside. It is as cold as an ice lake.
“What do you mean, this is not what I expected?” I died with her eyebrows as if to justify her misunderstanding. “None of this is contrary to my expectations. I think you and I were making a great strategy. A year ago“
”The mission is not complete“ Dazai said with a cold look. ”The strategy is not complete unless the mouth of who is involved is sealed“
Emotions stirred violently inside Mori.
The child’s gaze penetrates gently into Mori’s. As a medical device that looks through the human body.
“In that sense, I was a good accomplice, because nobody doubts. After my testimony, you became the next leader. Even if I killed myself for unknown reasons…”
The doctor and the boy exchanged a silent look for a moment. The room was full of the spirit of an angel of death and a prisoner.
In Mori’s mind, a single word echoed like an alarm for an indefinite time.
You made a wrong calculation.
You lost the optimal solution.
You shouldn’t have chosen this child as an accomplice.
Dazai can’t be understood. It is shown from time to time, as an enigmatic nightmare. The observer eye The creepy intelligence that could hardly be found even in the nest of demons known as the mafia.
”… I’m kidding. It’s fun to bother people with ideas that I’m not serious about. It is my most recent entertainment”
Dazai suddenly changed his expression.
Mori watched Dazai silently.
When he began to consider it complicated, that intelligence was immediately erased.
Immediately after all he seemed to be in sight, he became an ambiguous and incomprehensible suicide enthusiast, confusing the people around him.
He hadn’t imagined this until he became a leader, but his words and actions made him think of a certain person.
“I know someone like you” Mori said unintentionally.
Without answering Dazai’s question, Mori smiled slightly.
“Either way, don’t make fun of adults. What do I want to seal your mouth? No way. First, if I had that intention, I would have done it a long time ago. It is as easy as breathing. How many times do you think I stopped your suicide attempts since last year? That is very hard work. Once, to deactivate a bomb tied under the chair, I even had to do things that are worthy for a movie protagonist”
Because if that happens, the followers of the predecessor who are still in the organization will begin to complain that “the change of leader was a conspiracy”.
Since the beginning of this year, two members of the organization that follow the predecessor had been attempting murder plans towards Mori. Of course, the traitor was executed, but he couldn’t imagine how many followers of the predecessor there were.
That’s why … That Dazai could not be killed.
And… He has another reason to keep Dazai on his side all year and not let him die.
“Dazai-kun, if you want to die so much… I can make a medicine that makes it easier for you”
Mori said, pulling a piece of paper from the desk drawer. And he wrote with a pen.
“Instead, I’d like to ask you for an investigation” Mori said as he wrote. “It is not a big thing. There is nothing dangerous. But I can only ask this of you”
”Suspicious“ Dazai looked Mori in the eye.
”Do you know Cone Street, near the Yokohama settlements?“ Mori said ignoring Dazai’s words. “Near the area, rumors have been spread about the appearance of a certain person. I want you to investigate the truth of those rumors… This is the Silver Oracle, a document that guarantees you authority. If you show it, the mafia subordinates will listen to you and help you. Use it as you wish”
Dazai looked at the piece of paper and then Mori’s face. And he said: ”Who is that person?“
Dazai sighed. ”I don’t want to think“
Dazai looked at Mori with dark eyes for a moment and then spoke heavily.
“… This has to be a joke. The supreme authority of the mafia should not worry about the rumors of the city. It is not as if they were important and impossible to ignore… So, perhaps, the most important thing is not the person itself, but prestige, as those rumors are treated while using the Silver Oracle. Rumors whose veracity must be verified and whose origins destroyed. Rumors that would cause harm only with spread. And if there is a reason why you are using me and not professionals or your subordinates of excellence, then you can only deal with one person. The one that has appeared is… it’s about the predecessor, right?”
”That’s right“ Mori said confidently. “There are humans in the world who should not get up after death. That’s because I confirmed his death with this hand, and we gave a great funeral”
Mori touched her fingertips. The touch of that moment still remains.
It felt like a big tree would be cut. Until now, it has operated many people at work, but there has been no operation that has left any effect.
The predecessor’s throat was cut with a surgical blade. He then performed an operation on the throat airway because the seizures, as a result of the complications, had created the need to ensure that the airway of the throat
throat was open.
In front of the eyes of a fourteen-year-old boy… In front of Dazai.
”A human who shouldn’t get up from the grave, huh…“ Dazai said.
And then silently for a while, he stood up and sighed for something that seemed inevitable.
”It is true that you cannot ask this of anyone else“ Dazai took the piece of paper that had been handed to him. ”Medicine. It is a promise. Is it all right?”
Mori laughed and said: “This is your first job. Welcome to the mafia”
Dazai walked towards the exit and stopped.
“By the way, a while ago you said… that you knew someone like me. Who?“
Mori smiled a little. And with a vague expression of sadness he said: ”It’s me“
Mori thought he needed an assistant. A secretary, a confidant, a right hand.
And more than that, as a city doctor turned into a traitor who had usurped power, what he needed were subordinates in what he trusted.
Subordinates with those who did not need to keep secrets.
Subordinates who could understand it, even while waving a lonely flag in the
tip of an iceberg.
Mori had made a mistake in inviting Dazai. But, a simple mistake is not always bad.
The rock that had been collected to be discarded after use turned out to be a diamond incredibly big.
"Dazai-kun?” Unconsciously, a question arose. “I don’t know if I can understand it, but why do you want to die?“
Dazai looked back at Mori with a serious face.
He really didn’t know what the other person was asking.
And, with the eyes of an innocent child, he said: “It is I who must ask… Do you think that is there really something to live for?”
