Chapter Text
Yokohama, Armed Detective Agency Building Cafe, 16th July 20XX 10:43 AM
“Why?” Shūji repeated in an incredulous tone, leaning close to the other man again. “Why don’t you ask your beloved Mori?”
Ryuunosuke scowled at him, tensing his shoulders as he leaned back so as to increase their distance, tugging on the grip that was on his wrist, though to no avail.
“What the hell are you talking about?” He spat, glaring right back up at his former mentor. “What does that bastard have to do with anything?” At this point, he was quite literally seething. If it wouldn’t cause a scene, he would have set fire to the building.
“Hah, ‘that bastard,’ huh?” Shuji muttered, letting go of Ryuunosuke’s wrist suddenly.
Ryuunosuke stepped back immediately, massaging his wrist and looking at the other man warily. The freedom to move was relieving and the lack of that cold nullification was, to be honest, similarly better than it being there.
“Strange.”
Shuji muttered, a distant look enveloping his face and his jaw slacking open slightly. Well, to be precise a more distant look, his previous one conveyed an expression that seemed to scream that he was not from this world.
“So very strange.” He repeated, cocking his head to the side like an owl, his eyes boring into the other man.
Ryuunosuke suppressed a shudder at the look, one he had seen countless times before.
After a few moments of this agonizing, lengthening silence, he decided to pose his question to further this interaction along. “What’s so strange?”
Shuji blinked. His jaw tensed and his teeth made an audible clack as he shut his mouth with great speed.
He continued to look at Ryuunosuke, yet this was so very different. All this time, never had he truly looked at his former student, never had he truly seemed to register his existence.
Ryuunosuke didn’t like it. The feeling was gross. Uncomfortable.
“Follow me. This place is too crowded, I don’t want my coworkers seeing you.”
Shuji seemed to glance behind him for the first time in a while, noting the few heads turned in their direction. His eyes flicked over at the clock and he frowned, most likely recalling the schedule of the detectives he worked with.
What an expected thing to say.
“And what if you sell me out to the police?” Ryuunosuke challenged.
“Then the Mafia’s best lawyer is going to get you free anyways. If you don’t kill everyone first, that is.” Shuji drawled, his expression neutral. Like it was the most obvious thing in the world.
Ryuunosuke supposed that it was. He had surely witnessed these things in the dark world of the Mafia.
The brunette followed his words up with a sigh, shrugging as he turned to leave, though not quite starting to walk as he spoke again. “However, if you do not want answers, I have no obligation to help you.”
Silence stretched on for a few moments, in which Shuji started to move away–
Ryuunosuke cursed internally and took off after him, shoving his hand into his hoodie pockets while keeping his gaze firmly on the floor so as to ignore the gaze of the people in that stupid cafe boring into him.
Yokohama, Armed Detective Agency Apartment Dorms, 16th July 20XX 11:03 AM
“I did not expect you to live in such close proximity with others.” Ryuunosuke commented off-handedly while Shuji searched for his keys.
“You are fully aware that the isolation of that nasty shipping container was not by choice.” Shuji replied bluntly, not even bothering to glance back at the other as he turned the key to his apartment door and walked in.
The apartment was actually fairly spacious, with a small kitchen set up on one of the walls and on the opposite side, a door to a bathroom. The two had trudged their way in silence outside the cafe building and back a few alleyways, eventually reaching the building that the Armed Detective Agency housed those who had nowhere else to go. Shuji’s apartment was on the third floor, the topmost one, and presumably was the biggest one, seeing as how the space between the apartment doors were larger.
“I had another one on the ground floor but I set the apartment beside me on fire so they moved me up here, ahahaha, it's more secluded. Only some specific people live on this floor.”
Shuji continued, letting out a hollow laugh as he trailed off, flicking on the lights and making his way over to a bean bag placed in front of a television mounted on the wall between the kitchen and bathroom door, in other words, the one that could be seen straight ahead after entering. Strangely enough, the beanbag was not facing the television, already having been turned around as one might have done if guests were over. Or were coming over.
“Sit.” He stated, not an order yet not a question either, after Ryuunosuke simply stood there awkwardly, not knowing what to do with his body.
Sit where?
There was no other seat there, other than Shuji’s bed itself tucked in the far right corner, though that was too far to facilitate a normal conversation. Besides, Ryuunosuke didn’t want to sit on that disgusting bastard’s bed.
So, with a bit of reluctance– the gaze boring into him was making his anger rise– he relented and plopped down onto the ground in front of the bean bag, suppressing the grimace that had been trying to surface after Shuji had laughed earlier.
….
Silence.
This was stupid. Why was he even here–?
“You’ve changed.”
Ryuunosuke blinked.
“Pardon?”
“You have changed.” Shuji repeated, in such a matter-of-fact tone that his lack of context almost sounded correct. “When I used to make a joke, you used to laugh, no matter how awkward, like your life depended on it.” He continued, leaning back on his beanbag and making himself comfortable. “Though, I suppose that it did in a way.” He mused, a smirk crawling up onto his face.
Ryuunosuke felt sick, yet felt the need to defend himself nonetheless. The dam he had rebuilt inside of him to keep the various memories from his other versions from flooding through was threatening to crack due to his anger, so his emotional stability was a vital need. If the current buzz pulsating through his entire body got worse, he guessed that he may pass out. Frankly, he would rather die than pass out near his former mentor.
“It has been three years, it would be idiotic not to chang–” He started, resting his clenched fists on his laps and speaking in as much of a dignified tone as possible.
The dam was alright.
“And yet you still sat like the obedient dog you are.”
The dam broke.
Instantly, sharp black blades emerged from Ryuunosuke’s hoodie and stopped right in front of Shuji’s throat, who seemed bored, even with that conniving smirk on his face.
Ryuunosuke’s jaw twitched, glare enough to send anyone other than the man in front of him a step back. He feared that if he moved even one inch, the thoughts currently consuming would finally end his life, or more specifically, allow his weakness to show which in turn, would cause him to die from shame.
As if it was attempting to break through his skull as a tangible entity, the electrically frigid fire slammed against his head, presenting visions and memories that he had no will to see. Memories of his other versions dying due to a misstep eerily similar to this, challenging their mentor and paying the price for their insolence. It didn’t matter if they had prepared tirelessly for the battle, for the assassination in the middle of the night, for the betrayal, almost each and every time, they failed.
Almost.
There were memories, very specific memories, where Ryuunosuke had the upper hand. Where Ryuunosuke was the mentor, where he was the older one, where he held the power. Where he watched a brunette man, his former mentor’s other version, jump off a tall building, off a cliff, off a house, off a school roof–
He had died so many times, but never completely due to Ryuunosuke’s own power. Never due to his strength.
Infuriating.
That could change.
It seemed that, frustratingly, Shuji knew exactly what he was thinking.
“You cannot kill me.” He stated blankly, that crude smirk dissipating in an instant.
“And why is that?” Ryuunosuke countered, the razor-edged claws of Rashoumon still pointing directly at the other man’s throat. Truthfully, he knew that with his ability, he could not kill that demon disguising himself as a human. After all, upon contact with his skin, it would dissipate immediately. It wasn’t like Ryuunosuke couldn’t try to physically assault him, but he was well aware that with his frail body, he would lose the upper-hand in a surprise attack in a matter of seconds.
“It’s simple. Don’t tell me you do not know, A-ku-ta-ga-wa-kun.” Shuji gasped in mock surprise, moving his hand onto his chest and accentuating Ryuunosuke’s name in an exaggeratingly disgusting way.
Ryuunosuke was furious, his blood was boiling, but he had to remain calm. He had to , or else he would be giving into what this man wanted.
“You are infuriating.” He managed to push out through gritted teeth. “ You must know. Out of the estimated–” His words were cut off by a sharp migraine pulsating through his head, but he simply clenched his fists tighter, deepened his glare and continued. “Out of the estimated five thousand alternate realities I have seen, I have bested you in two hundred. While not the best odds, it goes to show that my victory against you is nowhere near impossible.” Concluding with a snarky tone, Ryuunosuke was confident that he had finally come up with something that could not be responded to.
“Overconfidence causes casualties.” Shuji had said, years ago, right before shooting Ryuunosuke’s leg.
“How confident.” Shuji mused, idly raising a hand to poke the sharp blades of the other’s ability, causing it to disappear immediately, like water evaporating into thin air.
Ryuunosuke didn’t move.
“I suppose this confirms my theory, though. I wondered why you hadn’t gone entirely mad yet. I am only walking here due to…” He trailed off, a distant look in his eyes. “Nevermind. In any case..” Leaning closer to the boy on the ground, the bastard smiled. “You are incorrect.”
“Pardo-”
“No, hush.” He shoved a finger on Ryuunosuke’s lips, clearly telling him to seal them. “Really, I wonder what your expression will be when I tell you..”
At this point, it seemed that he was talking to himself more than anything, a dull laugh reverberating in the barely decorated apartment.
But still, Ryuunosuke listened. A knot of dread was forming in his stomach, what was he going to tell him?
“You see, I also counted around two hundred times you gained the upper hand against me, and well, that strange other version of me.” He leaned back in his seat, resting his hands on his lap elegantly. The same way Ryuunosuke did. The reason Ryuunosuke had started doing so in the first place.
“Yet, my pool of memories is larger. ” He breathed, that same dazed look crossing his eyes again.
“Oi, isn’t it funny?” There he was, talking to himself again.
“You saw five thousand or so total. Two hundred may seem like good odds among that, but…” He paused, gaze flicking over to Ryuunosuke as if finally realising that he was there in the first place.
“What about ten million? Two hundred out of ten million, it might as well be impossible.”
“What– What are you talking about?” Ryuunosuke breathed, finally seeming to finish processing all the information.
“Don’t you understand, Akutagawa-kun?” Shuji leaned closer again, to which Ryuunosuke responded with leaning away from him, getting ready to leave–
Shuji grabbed his chin, harshly, getting so close into his personal space that he was practically almost off his beanbag and could touch noses with the mafioso.
“You have no chance. ”
No. No. No. No–
“Why did you bring me here?” He wheezed, trying to pry the older man’s hands off, but to no avail. He wasn’t so frail that he couldn’t defend himself physically even a little bit, hell, he could see countless memories where he had been able to use some really fancy technique to take down an enemy, yet…
He was still weak.
Especially against this man. This wolf in sheep’s clothing. The devil. Shuji Tsushima. Osamu Dazai.
“Good question.” The grip tightened. “Maybe I wanted to see for myself if anyone else could have lived through what I did. I was wrong, of course, no one else could.” He rambled on, his gaze returning to one that seemed to look right through Ryuunosuke.
“Or maybe.” He added quietly after a particularly large shove by the younger boy that still ended in failure.
“I wanted to pass this suffering onto you. Maybe I wanted to kill you. ”
Red alarm bells were blaring in Ryuunosuke’s head.
He had to get out.