Bungo Stray Dogs - Volume 6 Chapter 3 Part 3

Chapter 3 Part 3

Akutagawa’s eyes were closed. He felt neither pain nor anguish. Fighting was something far, far away on the other side of a thick membrane, and not even a single particle of light was able to make its way inside the abyss of his consciousness.
He thought about how he was going to die, yet he felt nothing—not a single emotion.
Akutagawa once told Oda that there were two people he wanted to kill. One was the man in black, whom Akutagawa despised for kidnapping his sister and separating them for years.
The other one…was a boy named Ryuunosuke Akutagawa.
A boy who had lost his younger sister because he was shortsighted. Human garbage who said he was going to avenge his friends while indulging in slaughter and wasting his life. He was a cruel, wicked foe.
He was a beast born on that fateful night four and a half years ago—the night the Heartless Dog first experienced emotion.
Akutagawa thought about how Oda was right. How he mustn’t pursue the beast within him. Because he couldn’t win. No human could defeat their own self. But one could force a draw.
The tiger’s claws would surely cut off his head as long as he kept his eyes closed. The fight for revenge would finally be over, and he would at last be able to sleep, free from care.
He, who grew up in the slums with no one to rely on and no one who cared about him—he, who spent his entire life writhing in despair and resentment—could finally rest. He would finally be saved. He would at last be reunited with his friends.
Then what reason do I have to…?

Akutagawa suddenly heard a voice.
“Detectives don’t give up. On your feet, Akutagawa.”
He opened his eyes to find a handheld transceiver right in front of him. It was the one that had fallen out of Atsushi’s pocket only moments ago, and there was a voice coming from it.
“I used a wire gun to break into the security office inside the Mafia building. I’m calling you from there.” Kenji’s voice, the sound of things breaking, and gunfire could be heard in the background. “Get up, Akutagawa. Listen—we detectives become the
strongest people on earth whenever someone needs saving.”
I am not a detective.
Akutagawa tried to speak, but his voice was gone. He thought someone intrinsically evil had no right to become a detective.
“You’re not evil,” Kunikida objected as if he could read his mind. “You just don’t know who you are yet. That’s all. Stand on the side of good with us. I am officially welcoming you to the agency. You’ve passed. From this moment on, you’re a detective.”
Akutagawa’s eyes opened wide just as the claws of the tiger were swinging toward him. The sharp, sparkling white claws looked like snow slowly falling from the sky.
“The moment you believe you’re a detective is the moment you become one. That conviction will give you the power you need. All you have to do is believe.”
“Mmm…mm…”
Akutagawa opened his eyes with a groan.
“Uwahhhhhhhhh!”
Every fiber of fabric on his body burst forth and twisted around his right arm. He immediately stood up, using the momentum to throw his right arm up. As Atsushi’s fist descended, Akutagawa’s fist ascended.
“Rashomon: Dragon Drill Spear!”
Their fists collided. The powerful torrent that resulted created a storm that tore away at their bodies. Concrete began to violently peel off the ground as it cratered.
“Gwah…!” groaned Atsushi as he unleashed his power to its full potential. “Don’t…tell me…they’re expanding…?!”
The group of fabric blades gathered around Akutagawa’s fist swelled even more and transformed.
“Rashomon…”
Akutagawa’s fist glittered white, and his phase-transitioned skill began interfering with the physical constant of the surrounding space as a colossal shock wave concentrated toward a single point.
“…Silver Torrent!!”
The silver wave of fabric that followed Akutagawa’s fist devoured Atsushi’s hand and swept it away.
“Uwaaaaaahhhhhh?!”
Even the choker around Atsushi’s neck was swallowed by the torrent and shattered. The entire rooftop was engulfed by a silver light as the vibrations spread throughout the building, shaking the furniture inside like an earthquake. The cannon-like sonic boom, with its accompanying ray of light, was so tremendous that it could be felt anywhere in the city of Yokohama.
There was not a single thing moving on the ravaged rooftop by the time the impact had calmed and the scattered debris settled.
Atsushi was lying on the ground. A blade of fabric had destroyed his entire body, starting with his right arm. He no longer even had the strength to stand. His ability to regenerate had dramatically suffered through the loss of his choker that controlled the tiger. It was taking everything he had just to maintain a pulse.
Akutagawa stood completely still. He had lost far too much blood, and staying on his feet was no small task after repeatedly using his skill until he frayed his nerves. Nevertheless, he did not lose consciousness.
Akutagawa somehow managed to drag his wound-riddled body over to Atsushi.
“Kill…me…,” Atsushi repeated while wheezing. “There’s no way…I can keep my promise…with the director now. At the very least…I can atone for it…with my life.”
His expression twisted with an emotion other than pain. He didn’t have the strength left to resist. Taking his life would be a simple task. Akutagawa stood right next to Atsushi and glared down at him icily.
“Very well.”
Akutagawa placed his foot on Atsushi’s throat, then slowly began leaning into it.
“Gw—Ah…!”
Atsushi’s face twisted in agony as the pressure squeezed his blood vessels and respiratory tract, but he didn’t even have the strength to lift up his hand and resist. If Akutagawa continued to shift his weight onto
Atsushi’s neck, he could easily kill him by cutting off his oxygen supply and interrupting the blood flow.
“…ector…” A small tear gently rolled down the corner of Atsushi’s eye. “Director… I’m sorry…I didn’t become…a student…you could be…proud of…”
“…”
Akutagawa looked down at him in silence, his gaze faintly wavering. “Forget it.”
He took his foot off his opponent’s neck. Atsushi immediately started coughing and stared at Akutagawa with evident bewilderment.
“Why…?”
“My job at the detective agency does not include helping those with a death wish,” Akutagawa explained before he began staggering over to the exit. Atsushi followed him with his eyes.
“Running away from your past and being frightened of yourself is a battle of its own… Cough up your blood, Tiger. Spit it out and move forward. One day…should you fall to the ground after your fear and your running conquer you, I shall step over your body and mock you.”
All of a sudden, there was hollow applause. “Congratulations.”
The uneven clapping whistled in the wind over the rooftop. Akutagawa and Atsushi searched for the voice…and promptly found the source.
“Congratulations! Congratulations, you two. That was brilliant. That was just as good as your match on the ship, if not better.”
Standing nearby was a tall shadowy figure whose black overcoat fluttered in the wind. There was something alien about this person, as if only the space around him had been cut out from its surroundings. It was the ruler of the criminal underworld.
“Dazai.”
“The man in black…!”
The Port Mafia’s boss, Osamu Dazai, quietly made his way over to them.
“It appears the boy fueled by anger and revenge for the past four and a half years won.” Dazai walked over with a faint, indecipherable smile. “I’ve been training Atsushi for four and a half years, yet you beat him. It’s hard to believe. Perhaps this is the power of the Armed Detective Agency. Sigh…
This sure puts me in tough spot.”
Dazai continued approaching until he was standing right by Atsushi’s side. Then he said with no emotion whatsoever:
“Atsushi. You’re fired.”
Atsushi’s eyes briefly opened wide in astonishment, but he almost immediately closed them. “…Okay.”
“From now on, I want you to live in the outside world. I’ve arranged for some acquaintances to take care of you. Now, go—to a world of light. Together with Kyouka.”
“Huh…?!” Atsushi lifted his head in disbelief.
“What are you plotting, man in black?” Although staggering, Akutagawa got into stance for battle. “You lured me here today, didn’t you?
…Using that letter and Gin as bait. But if you wanted to simply kill me, there were plenty of easier ways to do so. What are you after? What do those eyes see beyond this battle?”
“‘Beyond this battle’? You’ve got it all wrong, Akutagawa,” began Dazai as he kept walking. “It isn’t just about today. This all started four and a half years ago. Ever since I took your sister away from you, every factor was carefully planned for this moment. Training Atsushi, the Mafia’s expansion—everything.”
“What…?”
Akutagawa was taken aback.
“Are you familiar with the Book?” Dazai suddenly asked while he looked at them. “I’m not talking about books in general. I’m talking about a book that’s one of a kind. It’s a book of blank, white paper where whatever you write becomes a reality.”
“Whatever you write…becomes a reality…?”
Dazai replied brightly, as if reciting poetry. “Yes. But ‘whatever you write becomes real’ isn’t exactly how it sounds. The Book is more or less the origin of this world. In this Book you’ll find an infinite number of potential worlds that can branch out into an infinite number of different paths depending on the choices made and conditions set. And the moment something is written on a page in the Book, a world tailored to what was written is ‘summoned.’ The potential world inside the Book and the real world change places.”
Both Akutagawa and Atsushi were stunned and at a loss for words. The scale of this event was far too large for anyone to comprehend. There was only one thing they both understood: Dazai would neither lie nor joke around under these circumstances.
“Simply put, the term world refers to both the single physical reality that exists outside the Book and the infinite possible worlds that are tucked away inside the Book,” Dazai explained nonchalantly as if it were common sense. “This world is a possible world. In other words, it’s merely one of infinite worlds inside the Book.”
Akutagawa and Atsushi were paralyzed with shock, but Dazai’s eyes were rigidly serious and shining with intellect. He wasn’t lying. This wasn’t something they logically understood but knew in the deepest chamber of their minds.
“But reality is still reality. This world holds just as much weight as the outside world. The fact that the Book—which is something like the world’s origin—exists in this world as well proves as much. But this world’s Book is a drain, so to speak. Orders from the outside world can rewrite this world or even destroy it… And very soon, several powerful foreign organizations will begin invading Yokohama to steal the Book.”
“How do you know that?” Akutagawa instinctively asked.
“Because I’m a skill user who can nullify all skills, and I used that trait to create a point of singularity, which forced the worlds’ fragments to connect. After that, I successfully managed to read the memories of the me who exists outside the Book—that is to say, the original me.”
“…?!”
Read memories? Of the other—the original Dazai?
It was such a bizarre concept that they couldn’t keep up.
“The Guild, the Rats, and numerous other powerful organizations are going to come in droves to get their hands on the Book. You two must defeat every one of them and protect this Book at all costs because if they write something, this world will be overwritten and cease to exist.”
“I don’t understand,” Akutagawa claimed with a note of confusion in his voice. “Suppose what you’re saying is even true…what does that have to do with stealing my sister away from me? It doesn’t make any sense at all.”
“Because I needed both of your help,” declared Dazai. “I needed the singularity created when both of your skills merge, and I needed that certain something that goes beyond power—something that only comes to life when your souls meet. But in order to do that, I needed to have you fight. I needed you two to face death to get you to understand each other.”
Dazai walked over to the edge of the roof. There was no fence or wall to prevent him from falling. All that was before him was the sky. There would be nothing standing between him and the surface if he were to fall.
“Dazai,” pleaded Atsushi, his voice trembling. “That’s dangerous.
Please come back.”
“I need to warn you of something, though. You can’t tell anyone what I just told you. You two are the only ones who can know. If more than three people know the truth, this world will destabilize, and it becomes all the more likely to disappear without even using the Book. That’s why…I’m leaving the rest to you two.”
Dazai took a step back, hanging his heel over the edge and in the sky. “‘More than three people’…?” Atsushi’s eyes opened wide after
counting the number in his head. “Dazai, wait. Don’t tell me you—”
“The time has finally come.” Dazai slowly smiled as he basked in the breeze blowing at his back. “We’ve finally reached phase five, the final phase. It’s a strange feeling, really. It feels like the night before you go back to your hometown.”
“Man in black.” Akutagawa squinted and asked, “Answer just one thing for me. Why would you go this far? Why are you so fixated on saving this world from disappearing?”
“True… I honestly don’t have a lot of interest in this world. I don’t care what happens to it. At least, I’m sure the me from other possible worlds would say that. However…”
Dazai closed his eyes and grinned almost nostalgically.
“This is the only world where he’s alive and writing novels. I can’t let that world disappear.”
The wind grew stronger, beckoning him, and Dazai slowly leaned back. “Yes… Yes… Yes…” His eyes were closed and his smile dreamy as he
spoke. “The time has finally come. This long-awaited moment. I can’t wait. I truly cannot wait… But I do have one regret: I’ll never be able to read that novel you complete one day. That’s the one last thing I wish I could do.”