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Sometimes, everything was far too predictable. It was honestly tiring, seeing things play out exactly as he predicts -- but it's not hard to know how Oda will react to losing his children. The way he's found, however, tugs at what remains of Dazai's heart, the redhead on his knees and screaming his throat raw. If his own father had been half as caring as Oda was -- he shakes his head to get the thoughts out of his mind. That man didn't have any right to be on his mind. Not after everything that he put him through.
Taking a step towards Oda, the redhead's eyes still red from crying, Dazai contemplates how it doesn't suit him. Raw emotion looked horrible on his friend's face - he much preferred the almost unfeeling looks he gave everything.
"Odasaku," He begins, trying to think of a delicate way to persuade him not to go to his death.
All it took was Oda looking at him coldly for Dazai to shut his mouth, a deep frown on his face. The look in his eye reminds him of the look he was given by many people growing up. It was known from the beginning that Dazai was different -- too smart for his own good, and he couldn't keep it to himself. To see Oda look at him like that -- like he was a stranger, sent an ache through him.
"..You don't have to do this." The words are quiet, almost pleading, and Dazai's frown deepens. Losing another friend would be far too much -- but he knows it's no use. It was Oda's path to walk, and he was going to walk it no matter what Dazai said to him.
Dazai turned to walk away as soon as Oda himself leaves, ignoring the pain in his chest that told him that he had a heart.
"Let's go." The order is cold, his underlings standing at attention as the young executive heads toward the car waiting for him.
The ride back to headquarters passes like nothing, his legs moving on their own accord to take him up to Mori's office. Though he'd rather not turn in directly to the snake of a man. He owed him, though, for taking him in when no one else would. The suicidal child with blood on his hands -- only Mori would give him the chance to hone his skills. Even though the old man had plans of his own for him, convinced they were the same. Dazai proved him wrong soon after -- though it was too late to turn back at that point.
"Boss." Dazai says the title quietly, a frown still in place. The elder man turns his head to look at him, that insufferable smile already in place.
"Dazai-kun." He hates the way that Mori says his name, like he knows everything. Despite how impossible that is, Dazai still bites his tongue to keep from speaking. "I trust everything is well?"
"Mh." Dazai glances aside for a brief moment, letting his stance relax from the way he was at attention. There was no use to dancing around the turmoil he was facing, but the mafia boss wasn't as predictable as other humans. Or - he tried to pretend he wasn't. Dazai already knows how this will end. "I'd like to set up a taskforce to rescue Odasaku."
The feigned surprise on the older man's face is enough to make Dazai's skin crawl, something akin to anger filling his chest. "Alright, Dazai-kun. May I ask why?"
Why? The question actually has Dazai's brow furrowing. Did he need a reason to rescue him? His gaze darts away from Mori, catching sight of the black envelope on the man's side table. And then it clicks -- Mori has no intention of letting him run to Oda's aid. The envelope contains something that the Mafia has been sorely needing, and if it's his guess, Oda's life is the payment for it.
Clenching his fists behind his back, Dazai turns on his heel to step out of the room. The guns being pointed at him give him a moment of pause -- but he knows Mori wouldn't have him shot. The risk of his idiot guards hitting something vital was too high, and the Mafia's Prince wasn't expendable.
"Dazai-kun." There's something like warning in the older man's voice, and the executive tenses his jaw. "Why are you willing to risk yourself for him?"
The question hits him like a brick wall, his glare intense as he trains it on one of the guards. But there was no way out of this without playing into Mori's hands. Schooling himself into a neutral expression once again, Dazai turns to look at his pseudo guardian. "It's simple," he begins, the quiet words seeming far too loud in the silence of the room. "He's my friend." The smile that Dazai gives Mori is enough -- he sees the micro expressions, the twist of the older man's smile.
He can't leave the room fast enough.
His gait is fast as he makes his way through the lobby once again. Dazai knew he was fooling himself, he can't make it in time to save his only friend -- Mori made sure of that -- but, luck be willing, he could be there to make sure he didn't die alone.
The entire car ride, Dazai's leg bounces, something like anxiety eating at him. It doesn't sit well with him. Oda had a way of slipping past his defenses, making him feel things that he never thought he could -- the thought of him dying alone after everything they'd been through together..
Dazai nearly flings himself out of the car as soon as it starts coming to a stop at the location, running past bodies that he knows are the handiwork of his friend. The dual gunshots ringing through the building are enough to egg him on further, his legs aching with how fast he bounds past the doors and into the room.
"Odasaku!" He yells the name, the jacket on his shoulders slipping off as he more or less slides over to Oda's side. He's already on the floor, and blood stains his hand and bandages when he tries to lift him onto his lap.
"You're an idiot, Odasaku.." There's a broken tone to Dazai's voice as he speaks, something akin to fear painted on his expression. He knew he was going to be too late, but it still tugs at his shriveled heart to see his friend like this. "You're a complete idiot.." The redhead's eyes seem heavy as he looks up at Dazai, and it takes all of the executive's strength to pull him closer.
"Yeah.." The pained way the redhead speaks cuts him as surely as a blade would.
Dazai glances to the side, where Gide is in the process of bleeding out. Oda was too merciful, his death was quick, a stark contrast to the agony that the low ranking member was most likely in. "Why did you go along with what he wanted?" He sounds like a child, the way he's trying to get answers out of him.
"Dazai... There's something I want to say to you." The brunet's eyes flicker back to Oda, his hands shaking as he grips him more firmly.
"No, don't! You might still make it!" His voice booms through the room, and Dazai himself can hear the panic in his voice. "No, you will make it." Logically, he knows there isn't a chance that Oda can make it through this. But he wasn't one to just accept that. "S..So, don't talk like--"
Oda silences him with a hand on the side of his face, gripping his hair as if it's hard to keep his arm up like he is. Which it most likely is. "Listen." The pained tone gives Dazai more pause. He was being selfish, he already knows that Oda has accepted his death -- he probably accepted it the second he'd walked away from him.
"You told me that you might find a reason to live if you lived in a world of violence and bloodshed." His words don't have the accusatory tone that he wishes they did -- he could handle that, but the soft anguish in Oda's voice shakes him to his core.
"Yeah, I did; but who cares what I said now?"
Dazai's brow furrows as Oda uses the hand in his hair to tug him down further. "You won't find it." The executive's eyes widen -- Oda always could see the bigger picture when it cane to Dazai. So, to hear him say such a thing.. "You must know that already."
"Whether you're on the side who kills people or the side who saves people, nothing beyond what you expect will appear." The redhead waxes poetic as if he wasn't literally on his deathbed. While, usually, Dazai would find comfort in the enigma that was Oda's mind, this was taking it to a whole other level.
A shuddery breath spills from Dazai's lips, his gaze falling from Oda's eyes to instead stare at the blood steadily pooling on the floor. "Nothing in this world can fill the lonely hole you have." His words.. hurt. Dazai isn't used to being exposed like this, all of himself laid bare and picked apart. Even Mori couldn't do this to him.
"You will wander the darkness for eternity.." Oda seems to have a hard time speaking that sentence, though Dazai can't place if it's the agony he's in, or the hesitance of tearing the executive down.
"Odasaku.." Dazai's own voice sounds wrecked, his throat tight. If he were a weak man, he's sure he'd be in tears. But, still, the only praise he ever wished for was his friend's. If.. if he could live his life in his honor.. "What should I do?"
"Be on the side that saves people." Dazai can hear the weakness setting in Oda's voice, and he stares incredulously down at him. Him, saving people..? "If both sides are the same, become a good man.."
It's as if time stands still for a moment, Dazai searching Oda's face because he can't be serious --
"Save the weak, and protect the orphans.." Dazai can't believe what he's hearing. "Neither good nor evil means much to you, I know.. but that'd make you at least a little bit better." Dazai swallows down the lump in his throat. If agreeing to this nonsensical idea helps Oda rest in peace, he will.
"How do you know that for sure?" He'll play into his hands, let him believe for his last moments that Dazai could ever be a good man.
"Of course I know.. I know better than anyone. Because... I am your friend." The words break him more than he thought anything ever would, the shriveled thing he calls a heart aching.
Dazai can't hide the almost pained expression on his face, his voice soft as he speaks. "I see. I'll do that."
It's almost as if Oda sees past him now, his vision obviously dazed. "People exist to save themselves, huh.." Dazai's stomach drops, realizing all too late how Oda's eyes seem to be all too heavy. "How true.."
Oda looks almost peaceful as he falls limp against him, the hand clutched in his hair dragging his bandages from his eye when his arm falls. It leaves him more exposed than he's ever been, but.. Dazai just feels cold. To think that the one person he thought truly knew him would be so.. wrong. Dazai slowly rests Odasaku down on the floor, a heavy exhale spilling from his lips as he moves to stand back up to his full height.
He can already feel the way he's putting himself at a distance from this.
"Odasaku... I guess you didn't know me as well as you thought." The words leave him quietly, and he stares down at the corpse of his friend for a short time before he's turning on his heel to walk out. He, at least, dips down to pick up his jacket on the way, his expression neutral as he makes his way out of the building and back to the car waiting for him.
"Back to headquarters." His voice doesn't sound entirely like his own, much like a part of him has died. And in a way, that's true.
The car ride is long and silent, and Dazai spends the entire way back staring out the window, watching Yokohama pass him. The city lost a good man today. A good man that should have left the mafia a long time ago.
It takes him a minute to realize when the car stops, a soft grunt leaving him when he sees the look his driver has on him in the rearview mirror. Pathetic -- the worry on the man's face was misplaced. Still, Dazai's legs feel heavy as he makes his way up to Mori's office, stepping into the room like it was no consequence.
He wishes he had a camera to capture the shock on the mafia boss's face. "Dazai-kun?"
Blinking, Dazai stops in front of Mori's desk, tilting his head to the side to play it up. "Yes, boss?"
He can see the hesitance on Mori's face. He must have also been under the assumption that he would go through with the idiotic notion that he could be a good man.
He can see the way Mori's lip twitches, words dying in the older man's throat.
Still, Dazai shoves his hands in his pockets, a blank look on his face as he stares at the mafia boss. He's sure that with both eyes visible, it unnerves the doctor. "Odasaku is dead." He says the words plainly, as if reading off a shopping list. "Along with Gide, and all agents of mimic and the port mafia that happened to be in the crossfire. Crisis averted, boss."
He doesn't miss the way that Mori looks at him, like he's for the first time seeing just how damaged the Mafia Prince truly is.
Giving his boss a little bow, Dazai pulls his hands out of his pockets, turning on his heel to walk out of the room. He's stopped, however, by Mori calling out before he can make it to the door. "Dazai-kun. Are you alright?" Something like worry tints the words, but Dazai knows that if it's worry it's just Mori being concerned that his life was in danger, that the prince will act out some revenge scenario.
Instead, Dazai turns to blink at him again. "Yes. Why wouldn't I be?" The cold hard realization must have hit Mori all over again. Dazai was never just a man. No, he was a beast, with blood as black as the mafia, and he would stay where he could fulfill his desires.
"It's late, boss. You should go home and rest." With that, Dazai exits the room, ready to go home and sleep. It was just another day at the Port Mafia, but tomorrow would be different. No friends, no one to banter with -- the prince would have to remedy that. If not tomorrow, then the day after.