Bungo Stray Dogs - Volume 6 Chapter 2 Part 2

Chapter 2 Part 2

It was twilight in Yokohama—the fleeting fiery moment where the indigo and black swap places in the sky. In that moment, all hell broke loose in the Port Mafia headquarters.
Countless armed Mafia soldiers rushed to the lobby at the entrance of the building with guns, grenades, and radios. However, not a single one of them could comprehend exactly what was going on. This was Akutagawa’s plan to sneak inside and make it to the top floor of the impregnable fortress, but nothing about it seemed sneaky at all. Akutagawa simply strode in through the main entrance.
“Shoot! Kill him!”

Numerous shouts rang out as a volley of bullets flew through the air… all because of one unarmed man walking casually through the lobby. Nevertheless, not a single bullet even touched Akutagawa. Each one froze right before hitting him and then fell to the floor.
“Show yourself.” Akutagawa looked ahead sharply with a fire burning in his eyes. “Man in black—leader of Port Mafia—show yourself. Where are you?!”
No one could comprehend what was happening, not even the moment their own head was sliced off.
“Eek!”
“Do not retreat! Shoot him! We can’t let hi—”
Fresh blood scattered like flower petals in the hallway, on the walls, and on the ceiling. Akutagawa’s rage had taken shape in the form of carnage, followed by a cacophony of shrieking and death.
“Where is he? Where is your boss?” he demanded furiously. “Bring him to me. Now!”
The gray fabric had become the claws of a demon, destroying the lobby. Pillars were sliced in half as decorations fell and shattered on the ground. All that was left were spent cases and bullets scattered about the severed guns and mountain of ravaged corpses.
Akutagawa did not even glance at the bodies he created or the destruction he caused. His eyes only looked forward. He climbed up the stairs and walked down the hallway. Before long, the alarm sounded as bulletproof and fireproof shutters sealed off each passageway, but even then, Akutagawa could not stop. His fabric blade hollowed the shutters, allowing him to calmly pass through.
His expression never changed, whether it be a gun or shutter that got in his way. He hardly showed any interest, even when he pierced his foe with his blade and splattered their blood onto the ceiling. The only time he paid attention to his enemies was when he sliced their heads off. Their pained cries and moans were nothing more than background noise. There was no longer anything human about him. He was the bringer of death—a demon of the underworld focused on only one thing: the despicable man on the top floor who had robbed him of his sister.
Akutagawa climbed the stairs until he reached the third floor.
Judging by its appearance, the Mafia’s headquarters, the tallest building in Yokohama, was around forty stories tall, and Akutagawa was only on the third floor. While that was still under 10 percent of building, just a select few had ever made it this far during the building’s long history. Akutagawa walked down the passageway until he came to a sudden stop, where a peculiar shadowy figure stood before him.
It was a petite girl wearing a kimono with black hair and calm azure eyes. Her childlike presence was wholly unsuited for this setting. Most peculiar, though, was the shadowy figure behind her. It was floating in the air; its feet weren’t touching the ground. In fact, its feet were nowhere in sight. The figure wore a smooth, white mask that hid its face. Its long hair fluttered back and forth despite the lack of any wind, and in its hand was a sheathed sword without a handguard. It was clearly not human.
“A skill… Hmph,” muttered Akutagawa.
“My name is Kyouka,” the girl said softly. “I’m an assassin with the Port Mafia.”
She then took a flip phone out of her pocket and placed it to her ear. “Move.” Akutagawa’s voice was rigid and as sharp as steel. “Don’t
think I’ll go easy on you simply because you’re a woman. I shall kill all those who stand in my way to the top floor.”
“That’s fine.” There was even less emotion in her voice than Akutagawa’s. “If I let you pass, you’ll eventually have to fight him. So I must silence you before you can cause him any harm. You will become silence itself.”
Kyouka immediately pressed a button on her cell phone and ordered: “Demon Snow, kill this man.”
The personified skill behind her unsheathed its sword—a silver katana as long as Kyouka’s entire body.
“So this is the first hurdle? Hmph,” replied Akutagawa without blinking an eye. “Very well. Come.”
The silver blade and the gray fabric blade clashed in a burst of light.

“Dazai, we have an intruder,” said Atsushi after stepping into the boss’s office.
“It would appear so,” answered the boss, Dazai, as he gazed out the window in his black overcoat. Atsushi took notice of the window as well. It was electrochromic glass that could tint until it was a black wall with the press of a button. However, it had not even been used once in the past four years. And yet, right now, it was a clear gateway to the vast blue sky and city below.
“The intruder has already broken through levels one and two,” reported Atsushi after returning his gaze to Dazai. “He is highly skilled. He’s already defeated all our guards.”
“You know him, don’t you?” asked Dazai as he turned his back to Atsushi and stared out the window.
“I do,” Atsushi replied with a nod. “I checked the cameras in the security room and saw him. His name is Akutagawa, a skill user I happened to run into at the café.”
“I see,” Dazai responded coolly. “The time has finally come.”
There was neither surprise nor bewilderment in Dazai’s voice. Instead, it sounded as if he was making sure everything was going according to plan.
“Dazai…may I ask you something?”
“Go ahead.” He still didn’t look at Atsushi. “Is the intruder really Gin’s brother?” Dazai remained silent for a few moments. “Yes,” he replied icily.
Atsushi furrowed his brow and showed a hint of hesitation. “So does that mean…you lured him here?”
Dazai didn’t say anything. He simply stared at Atsushi out of the corner of his eye.
“I handed him the letter you gave me at the café, and he fell into a rage the moment he saw Gin’s picture. He showed up here not long after that.”
Dazai listened without moving a muscle.
“Did you mention in that letter that Gin was here?” Atsushi calmly asked. “What I’m trying to say is, did you purposely have that skill user attack our headquarters?”
Dazai turned around, then walked over until he was standing in front of Atsushi without changing his expression. He spoke in a deep, raspy voice that would tear the soul apart of all who heard it: “What if I did?”
Atsushi stopped breathing. It was if all the air in the room had disappeared.
“Imagine that the rain caused a flood and wiped out an entire village or that lightning struck a tree and caused a major forest fire. Imagine the slightest earthquake triggered a tsunami and changed the shoreline. That is precisely what you’re witnessing, Atsushi.”
There was even a hint of kindness in Dazai’s hoarse voice.
“This is a convulsive natural phenomenon created by the massive underground organization the Port Mafia. It isn’t something that a single soldier could stop, let alone even understand. This is a powerful vortex current. Why try to understand a flood’s true meaning?”
Atsushi looked at Dazai. He then saw an illusion: a torrent of schemes produced from a single point in Dazai’s brain that was swallowing this room, the buildings outside, the city—everything.
“So everything was all part of some plan of yours?” But Dazai didn’t respond.
“Does this have to do with the phase two and phase three thing you mentioned a while back?”
Dazai still didn’t respond, but Atsushi saw something far more meaningful in his distant gaze than some eloquent speech could ever have. He immediately straightened up and vowed, “Very well. As captain of the Port Mafia’s commando unit, I promise to return this building to its usual peace and tedium.”
Atsushi then turned on his heel and headed for the exit. “If you’ll excuse me.”

Dazai quietly watched as Atsushi strode out the door. He then faced the empty room and whispered to himself:
“Yes. This is a natural phenomenon.”
There was a slight ring of prolonged exhaustion in his voice.
“Nobody can stop it…not even I. The only thing I can do is love—love the fact that this world is one huge lie.”

The fabric blade and silver katana violently collided, creating a wall of light in the air. The blades stretching from Akutagawa’s overcoat assaulted Kyouka like a shower of bullets. Demon Snow silently swung its sword at the speed of sound, deflecting each attack, but Akutagawa’s overcoat was never going to run out of ammo. Even with Demon Snow’s superhuman speed, there were far too many blades for Kyouka’s skill to ever get a chance to counterattack.
“What’s wrong, Port Mafia assassin?” Akutagawa calmly taunted as he covered his mouth. “Were you not going to silence me? Your blade will never reach me if you keep on defending like that.”
Kyouka quietly watched as the torrent of fabric blades filled the hallway.
Her eyes harbored a darkness within.
“You’re right,” she replied, expression unchanging. “But this is all I have. I am a flower born from darkness. Killing is all I know. That’s why I will kill you no matter what it takes.”
She sprinted forward. “What?!”
Pulling a dagger out of her pocket, she dashed forward headfirst, even passing Demon Snow’s range of defense. Kyouka was met with a barrage of cloth blades, but she deflected each one with her dagger, sending silver streams of light shooting through the air. Nevertheless, Akutagawa’s skill could cut through metal and even space itself. There was no way a physical object such as her dagger could compete. Each hit chipped away at its blade before reducing it to mere ash.
“What’s wrong? Surely this is not all you’ve got.”
“I admit you’re strong, but…he is far stronger. I should know, after all.
He was the one sent to kill me when I tried to escape the Mafia.”
“What?” Akutagawa’s eyes narrowed in rage. “Hmph. Then allow me to end this charade so I can move on to the main performance.”
His overcoat’s blades began twisting together until they formed a large spear and shot forward. And yet, there wasn’t even a ripple of change in Kyouka’s expression. The instant Akutagawa acknowledged the quiet darkness deep within her gaze, he instinctively threw his head back, and

Demon Snow’s silver blade immediately thrust right past where his head had just been.
“…?!”
Demon Snow had blended into the wall next to Akutagawa and thrust its sword out in a surprise attack, cutting a few hairs off the top of his head and faintly slicing open the bridge of his nose. Kyouka had used herself as a decoy while Demon Snow slipped behind the wall. Demon Snow would not miss its chance to strike the moment Akutagawa lost his balance, so it kept close enough to strike with its katana. Its barrage of sword thrusts was far too dense for any human to slip by and escape. Akutagawa didn’t even have a moment to cut through space itself and defend. He was managing to deflect the blows with Rashomon’s fabric, but Demon Snow was simply too close.
“Tsk!”
Akutagawa thought back to Oda’s advice:
“Your skill is powerful, but your lack of physical strength is always going to hold you back when it comes to a battle of endurance.”
“Then I’ll just have to make this a battle of skills once more…!”
Akutagawa pierced the floor with his overcoat while using his leftover fabric to cover himself, then immediately hurled his body in the opposite direction of Demon Snow to create some distance between them. Demon Snow’s whirlwind attacks tore into the walls, floor, and ceiling as Akutagawa spun down the hallway until landing at one of its ends. Without a moment of hesitation, he promptly turned his overcoat back into blades and took a defensive position. Akutagawa had the greatest advantage when he was at an intermediate range from his opponent, since his physical capabilities wouldn’t hinder him in any way. The scales had finally tipped back in his favor.
…Or so he thought.
“I won’t let you hurt her.”
A fist slammed into Akutagawa’s face, launching him through the air like a rag doll. A pair of claws appeared before him. Akutagawa flew down the hall as his body helplessly ricocheted off the walls and floor.
“Are you okay, Kyouka?” Standing there was Port Mafia’s White Reaper…Atsushi Nakajima. “I came to save you.”
“Damn…you…,” grunted Akutagawa as he sat up at the other end of the hallway. He panted, trying to catch his breath in between coughs. Atsushi, wearing his black combat overcoat and massive collar used to control his skill, cast an unfeeling glance at Akutagawa.
“He can still stand after that…? I thought that’d break his spine,” Atsushi remarked with a slight frown. “Oh—he must’ve used his skill to cover his body with his overcoat and cushion the blow the moment I punched him. That’s not some sort of technique or a thing you learn through training. It’s more animalistic, like the instincts of a beast… This guy’s strong.”
Atsushi quietly stood in the hallway without even the slightest opening. All he did was stand there, yet the air around him was chilling and tense. Kyouka silently walked over to his side.
“I felt it in my gut,” she explained while touching Atsushi’s hand. “I felt that if I didn’t defeat him, you would be his next opponent, and if that happened…it would be a battle to the death with only one left standing. I’m sorry…”
“It’s okay, Kyouka.” Atsushi gently held her hand. “I’m not going to die.
I’m here for you. I’ll never again leave you to drown in the dark alone.”
Kyouka’s pale, delicate fingers slightly tightened around Atsushi’s hand as if she were grasping on to her last lifeline amid an endless abyss.
“I’m not afraid of the dark…,” she began softly. “Not as long as I’m with you.”
Akutagawa squinted as he observed them. He was having a hard time against one of the Mafia’s skill users, but now it was two versus one, and to make matters worse, he was in their territory. Nevertheless, his voice showed no signs of dismay.
“Two bloodthirsty killers with hearts of gold, drawn to each other through a criminal organization,” scoffed Akutagawa with a subtle laugh. “How touching. However, I looked into you both on my way here. ‘Port Mafia’s White Reaper…’ ‘The Thirty-Five-Man Killer…’ Such detestable titles. No matter how long you hold the other’s bloodstained hand, you will never be able to share each other’s warmth.”
“You’re probably right,” replied Atsushi, his eyes never wavering. “But that means you and Gin will never be able to share each other’s warmth, either.”
Akutagawa’s hair stood on end.

“Damn you…!”
His canines audibly gnashed together as the fabric twisted around him like a pit of giant snakes.
“If Gin’s hands are stained with blood, it’s only because you bastards kidnapped her…!”
Akutagawa’s overcoat gradually amassed into the head of a wolf. The beast violently roared as Atsushi simply watched in silence.
“You can’t beat me. I have Kyouka, but you’re all alone. Nobody’s going to help you. You lost because you chose solitude,” Atsushi explained. “…Kyouka.”
After he called out to Kyouka in a monotone voice, she nodded back softly and brought her cell phone to her ear.
“Demon Snow, kill the enemy and protect us,” she quietly ordered into the phone.
However… “…?”
Demon Snow wasn’t getting into stance with its weapon. It wouldn’t even move. It simply floated behind Kyouka and flickered as if it was not of this world.
“Demon Snow?”
Kyouka looked at Demon Snow, then down at her phone. The screen was black—its battery had run out.
“What was that about ‘nobody’s going to help’?” came a voice from out of nowhere. “Because he has plenty of help—and from the most powerful organization of skill users in Yokohama, to boot.”
All of a sudden, an invisible hand swiped Kyouka’s phone away, and a gentle snow began falling upon the corridor seemingly out of thin air.
“Akutagawa! Break through the floor and run! We’re getting out of here!”
A shadowy figure suddenly appeared behind Kyouka, but the moment she realized it, Akutagawa’s wolf roared as it tore through the floor. Countless flashes of light violently clashed in the hallway.