Bungo Stray Dogs - Volume 2 Chapter 3 Part 5

Chapter 3 Part 5

Nobody spoke for a while after that. A bitter silence, more bitter than anything on the menu, filled the air between us.
“So…” Ango reluctantly spoke up since no one else would say anything. “Did you come here to affirm our abiding friendship?”
“As if.” Only the corners of Dazai’s lips curled. “We came to get information on Mimic. You knew that.”
“It’s strange. This is the same liquor I always order, yet it has no taste,” Ango muttered while staring at his glass as if he was talking to himself. Then he turned his gaze to me and asked, “The Division’s surveillance group informed us that you met Gide. Did you see his skill?”
I told him I saw that Gide could predict his enemy’s attacks.
“Even the Special Division for Unusual Powers has no way of dealing with that skill.” Ango shook his head. “The only option would be to drop a massive bomb on him…but he’s elusive. We can’t pin him down. The higher-ups apparently intend to let the Mafia deal with this case. After both crime syndicates take each other out, the Special Division for Unusual Powers can just manage whichever group survives, thus never having to sacrifice one of their own.”
Such a brilliant maneuver would be like killing two birds with one stone for the Special Division for Unusual Powers.
“How convenient.” Dazai tilted his head to the side. “But even the Mafia would have a hard time dealing with that skill.” Dazai then looked at me out of the corner of his eye. “…With the exception of one lowest-ranked mafioso, of course.”
“He’s a military veteran in command of countless powerful soldiers,” I mentioned as I stared at my reflection in my drink. “Besides, our skills merely allow us to see a few seconds into the future. Who wins depends on whoever’s more skilled in battle and with a gun.”

Being more skilled with a gun means being able to shoot your opponent from farther away with more accuracy.
“Odasaku’s marksmanship…” Dazai broke into a meaningful grin. “There’s a lot of uncertainty. Plus, there’s also the problem of a skill singularity.”
“Skill singularity?”
“Did anything unusual happen when you used your skill against Gide?” After thinking about it for a moment, I told him something unusual did,
in fact, happen. I saw multiple futures stacked on top of one another.
“It’s a phenomenon the government has started to research only recently.” Ango’s expression was stern as he spoke. “They’ve observed that when multiple skills interact, on rare occasions they’ll careen off into a completely unexpected direction. The details are unclear, but for example… let’s imagine two people are fighting, but both have the skill to always strike first… Or one has the skill to always deceive their opponent while the other has the skill to always see the truth… What would happen? The answer is we don’t know until we try. Most of the time, one skill ends up winning. However, in some rare cases, it leads to a phenomenon that isn’t initiated by either party. The Special Division for Unusual Powers calls this a singularity.”
Maybe what I saw then was a singularity. Or was a singularity something even beyond that?
“I really wasn’t supposed to tell you any of that,” Ango mentioned. “Even the fact that we met here would be a huge problem if the higher-ups in the Home Affairs Ministry ever find out. I’ll need to go into hiding for the time being.”
Dazai looked at Ango, then beamed as he said, “Oh my. It almost sounds like you think you’ll be able to leave here alive, Ango.”
The air froze. Ango’s expression slowly faded away, but Dazai was still smiling.
“I mean, you know what I’m saying, right? An elusive, secret agency of skill users shrouded in darkness—a group of mythical status that sends shivers down the spines of all criminal syndicates in the country—and one of the members from that organization is here right before my eyes. The amount of information I want out of you could create a tome thicker than the dictionary itself. Am I wrong?”

I naturally asked Dazai what was on my mind. “Do you plan on turning this place into a war zone?”
Ango didn’t even flinch. His face was frozen into an ambiguous smirk.
He stared at Dazai as if his eyes were locked in place.
“It’s my fault,” Ango said as if he had given up. “I made a mistake. I assumed that this place was the one place we could meet that transcended status or rank. I wouldn’t want to cause any trouble here, so do to me as you will. I won’t resist.”
Ango ought to have known just how horrifying Mafia torture was. There was no hope for him to return to the Special Division for Unusual Powers alive. Even if I took Ango’s side there, nothing would change. There was no way to break out of Dazai’s trap around the bar’s perimeter, and the orphans at the restaurant would be killed if I betrayed the Mafia.
“Ango.” Dazai quietly spoke up, turning his hand back and forth as if to inspect both sides. “If I make just one phone call, my men will immediately surround the place. But they still haven’t made a move. Get out of here before I change my mind.”
Ango tried to say something, but he swallowed his words.
“I’m not sad. I knew from the very beginning,” Dazai said. His face was a blank mask now. “It didn’t matter whether you were with the Special Division for Unusual Powers. I always lose the things I don’t want to lose the most. That’s why I don’t feel anything anymore. The moment you get your hands on something worth going after, you lose it. That’s just how things are. There is nothing worth pursuing at the cost of prolonging a life of suffering.”
I stared at Dazai. We had known each other for a while, but this was the first time he’d ever opened up about himself. I could see a thorn the size of a harpoon wedged deeply into his life.
“Dazai, Odasaku, I am no different. As part of an underground organization whose duties must be kept secret, as a skill user who hunts other skill users, I have been engulfed in the darkness of the government for too long. I shall never walk in the light again.” Ango looked at us and continued, “If there ever comes a time when the Division and the Mafia no longer exist…if we’re ever freed from the confines of our work…do you think we can drink here again like this?”
“Don’t say any more, Ango,” a voice said nearby. It was my voice. “Just

don’t.”
Ango shook his head, seemingly hurt. Then he gradually stood from his stool and slowly left the bar, his eyes downcast as if he was listening carefully to the sound of his own footsteps. I figured that was probably the last time I would ever see him. I looked to the seat he had been in to find something placed on the table next to his empty glass. After picking it up, I showed Dazai.

It was the photo we’d taken in that very bar only a few days ago. All three of us were laughing and smiling.

(Chapter 3 end)