Bungo Stray Dogs - Volume 6 Chapter 2 Part 6

Chapter 2 Part 6

“Ahhhhhhhhh!”
I shoved the director and straddled his body as he lay on the ground.
I punched him. Over and over again. Copious amounts of blood splattered onto the floor. Even though I could feel his skull crack and break, I didn’t stop punching. Only when there was nothing left to punch and my fist slammed into the hard floor did I stop. Just then, I caught a glimpse of the wooden box out of the corner of my eye. The lid had fallen off and what was inside had rolled out. I looked at it.
It was a watch.
Next to the watch was a sheet of paper with the following written on it:

Happy birthday
What?
What is this?
Why is this written here? Why is there a watch inside the box? “Owning a clock is proof of a strong, independent will.”
It was a brand-new watch. It must have been hard for a run-down orphanage like this to afford such a high-end piece.
“It’s something you need to graduate from here.”
That was when I finally managed to process the director’s final words to me:
“Yes… Just like that.”
The director had held his arms out wide before me…like a father embracing his child. The truth was clear. But no matter how quickly the truth pierced my heart, my brain simply wasn’t trying to understand.
The director was dead on the floor. Never would he say another word.

That was the moment it suddenly hit me. No matter how much stronger I got or how much I grew, no matter how proud I was of myself, he would never be able to tell me “good job” or say “I’m impressed” ever again.
There was a possibility he would’ve said that. One day. If he were alive. But he didn’t say anything. I would never be able to hear the one thing I
wanted the most in this world.
Because I’d killed him. “Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!”

Looking back, there were a few things that didn’t add up. I had no idea I was a man-eating tiger. The orphanage director and the others kept it a secret from me. There was a fiendish white tiger who ravaged the orphanage and hurt people. And this tiger hadn’t appeared only a few times, so at the very least, my teachers at the orphanage surely knew that it was me. And yet, nobody ever told me.
It wasn’t until much later that I found out why.
There was a researcher who came to the orphanage to secretly investigate the tiger, but it killed him. He had long hair the color of white mist and eyes as red as apples. Had his death gone public, the military police would’ve intervened and killed the dangerous tiger—me.
But the director covered up the accident. He threw the researcher’s body into a river and burned his belongings. He then got the teachers together so they could coordinate their story: “No researcher ever came here.” Then, after checking if I had any memory of what happened when I was a tiger, the director locked me in a basement cell. He continued handling the aftermath every time the tiger went berserk going forward. He locked me in the basement in seclusion so there wouldn’t be any victims—so I wouldn’t hurt anyone.
That was why I always believed that the tiger was a savage beast that came from somewhere far, far away. The director knew me better than anyone else. He even understood that I wouldn’t be able to bear it if I knew that I was the tiger. And he knew that he had to continue protecting me, keeping me from going into the outside world, until I was old enough to be able to control the tiger and accept what I am.

“That emotion…is guilt,” wheezed Akutagawa as his shoulder was pinned against the wall.
“Ah…” Atsushi’s eyes lost their focus. “Ah… Ahhh… Ahhhhhh… Ahhhhhhhhh…!”
He screamed and threw Akutagawa into the air. Akutagawa’s body bent into unnatural positions until it hit the ground; then it bounced once more before rolling by a window near the corner of the building. Atsushi landed on his body as he lay faceup. He straddled Akutagawa tightly with his legs and punched him over and over with both hands like a meteor shower. The floor under Akutagawa slowly cratered as concrete scattered in every direction. Akutagawa was no longer even attempting to use his overcoat for defense. It was absolute destruction, far more than any human could take— like a planet being engulfed by countless meteorites.
“You’re wrong, you’re wrong, you’re wrong, you’re wrong!” bawled Atsushi as he punched Akutagawa. “I didn’t know! I didn’t know…any other way…!”
“A common excuse used by weaklings,” Akutagawa suddenly mumbled.
There was a dull sound. Atsushi’s arm was severed at the elbow, leaving a trail of blood as it rolled across the floor.
“…?”
Fabric blades wriggled around Akutagawa’s body as if they had sprung back to life before immediately piercing Atsushi’s shoulders, stomach, throat, and thighs like a spear, pinning him against the wall.
“Gwah…!”
Akutagawa slowly stood up like a ghost. Blood was dripping down every part of his body, but he walked with purpose.
“How…?” muttered Atsushi while gurgling blood. “After…all…that…” “I slit open my own skin before you punched me. I then created a tear in space itself to prevent your attacks from reaching my muscle and bone,” revealed Akutagawa while rubbing his skin. “This was my trump card. My final line of defense. I certainly wasn’t expecting to use it so soon, though.”
The blades piercing Atsushi’s body began to twist and expand, causing him to scream as the fabric raked his flesh.
“A skill user fueled by fear and atonement…,” began Akutagawa as he approached Atsushi. “It’s not difficult to imagine your fear. Nothing in this world is worse than regret. Living one’s life always wondering ‘If only I had done that instead’ is pure hell.”
Atsushi’s face trembled with fear. Akutagawa continued approaching him with a razor-sharp glare.
“However, at this moment, all you are to me is a barrier between me and my sister. I never wish to regret again. That is why I must cut you down and continue forward.”
Akutagawa’s blade turned into a guillotine and rose into the air right before Atsushi’s eyes.

It was the Mafia headquarters’ central control monitoring room on the thirty-fifth floor. Gin opened the door to the dimly lit space and rushed inside, trying to catch her breath. With heavy feet, she tottered over to the wall near the monitoring control board and placed her hand on it. Immediately, her knees gave out, and she feebly dropped to the floor into a sitting position.
“Ryuunosuke…”
She leaned her head against the wall while clutching her knees as if she was stranded all alone on a snowy mountain. The room was empty. Dim. Only the myriad monitors displaying every room in the building illuminated the space, but there was no warmth in their light. Akutagawa and Atsushi could be seen on one of the monitors. Akutagawa, who had Atsushi pinned down with his skill, was about to take his life.
“Ryuunosuke… That’s enough,” she insisted, her voice hoarse. “You’ll never be able to make it out of here alive if you kill any more…”
Gin was trembling but not because she was cold. She staggered to her feet and approached the control board.
“I don’t care what kind of person you are.”
She weakly turned the control key and pressed the numbered switch. “All I want is for you to live.”
She picked up the intercom on the desk and placed it to her ear. “Ryuunosuke, stop,” Gin said into the intercom. “Go home.”

“Ryuunosuke, stop.”
Gin’s voice echoed throughout the hall that Akutagawa and Atsushi were in.
“Go home.”
“Gin.” Akutagawa looked around to see where her voice was coming from. “Gin, where are you?”
“Just forget about me and go home.” Gin sounded like she was trying to hold back her emotions. “Don’t you understand? I could’ve gone to see you anytime if I
wanted. I wasn’t kidnapped four years ago. I decided on my own to accept the boss’s—that lonely man’s—invitation. The reason why I never went to see you was because you’re not capable of having loved ones in your life.”
“What?” Flustered, Akutagawa looked up in the direction Gin’s voice
was coming from. “What is that supposed to mean?”
“The way you destroy things is different from how the Mafia does it. The Mafia’s destruction has rationality and purpose, but you don’t. Even those you love get dragged into your violence as you destroy everything around you. Even yourself. Because…”
Gin paused. Her voice was silent as if she were breathing in the courage
she needed; then she confessed, “Because you were born to do evil.”
Akutagawa’s arms dropped to his sides lifelessly. His face was like that of a lost child who got separated from his parents.
“Me? Evil? Is that why you won’t come back with me?” asked Akutagawa in confusion. “That doesn’t make any sense, Gin. Nothing does. What are you saying? I don’t understand.”
There was no reply.
“Gin, answer me! What do I lack? What can I do to get you back?” And no reply would ever come.
The intercom system had already been shut off. “Gin, answer me! I beg of you! Gin…!”
The wall suddenly shattered into pieces, scattering bits of concrete and dust into the air. But before Akutagawa could even look back, Rashomon’s fabric was torn off. A beast roared. It wasn’t Atsushi, though. It wasn’t even human.
“What?!” Taken aback, Akutagawa’s eyes opened wide. “A white tiger?!”
A beast the size of a small car charged into him until they crashed into a window together, shattering the glass and breaking right through it. All that awaited them now…was an empty sky.
Akutagawa and the white tiger fell out the window of the Mafia headquarters.