Bungo Stray Dogs - Volume 7 Chapter 5 Part 1

Chapter 5 Part 1

A month had passed.
Day turned into night and night into day. Tragedy turned into fortune and fortune into tragedy. The Arahabaki Incident was treated as a solo crime committed by Randou alone. After he betrayed the Mafia, his house was burned down, and his possessions were thrown into the ocean. It was common procedure for the Mafia to punish the traitor’s family as well, but Randou had none.
His body was left outside to the elements for a week before being buried in a rural public cemetery.

A thick sea breeze blew through that cemetery, a deserted graveyard far from town, nothing more than a cluster of blank, nondescript tombstones protruding from the cliffside. Just below the cliff was the ocean, and each tombstone leaned dismally to one side from being exposed to the strong sea breeze day after day.
Seated atop one tombstone was a single boy.
“Tsk. Still a pain in the ass even after death,” Chuuya muttered to himself with an annoyed look on his face. “The Mafia threw away all the records you collected when you were alive, so I’m having a hard time investigating. Now I don’t have any leads on what that military facility was that you snuck into eight years ago and why Arahabaki was there.”
He was staring straight at a new white headstone. It was chipped in several places, procured from some old stone from who knows where. A tiny lone dandelion mournfully grew at its base, swaying gently in the wind. “Eh, not that you would’ve told anyone about that stuff even if you were
alive…”
Chuuya kicked his legs forward and hopped onto the ground. He then shoved his hands in his pockets, turned his back to Randou’s grave, and walked away.
“See you again soon.”
As he headed down the pathway facing the cliff, a boy suddenly appeared before him.
“So this is where you were,” the boy said. “I was looking all over for you, Chuuya.”
“Shirase…”
It was the silver-haired Sheep who’d been searching for Chuuya at the arcade the other day with two friends.
“Did you need me for something?” Chuuya asked.
“I just wanted to apologize. That’s all,” Shirase answered with a shrug. “We got into a little fight the other day, right? Y’know, at the arcade. I felt really bad after that. I realized that we shouldn’t get in the way of your freedom all because it’s inconvenient for us. You really wanted to catch that criminal, yeah? But here I was tellin’ you to put us Sheep and our rules first… Anyway, I was wrong. It was our fault for not coming up with another way to protect ourselves. We relied on you way too much.”
Chuuya appeared surprised as he listened to his friend.
“I’ve got a good grasp of where the Sheep’s problems lie,” Shirase mentioned with a faint smile. “So we all got together and came up with a solution. Want to hear it?”
“You did, huh?” Chuuya said, a note of bewilderment in his voice. He then started walking off. “Sure, tell me about it.” He passed his friend, sighed slightly, and continued, “I’m still kinda exhausted from everything that happened, so I’m all for havin’ a few extra days off to rest… Let’s chat while we walk. What kind of solution is it?”
Chuuya started sauntering down the cliffside path. The sea breeze blew a touch stronger, rustling the weeds in the graveyard.
All of a sudden, something slammed into Chuuya’s back with a thud. He stumbled forward.
“This kind of solution.”
Chuuya slowly turned to face the silver-haired teenager pressed against his back.
“…Shirase, you…”
The teen retreated; Chuuya lost his balance and fell to the ground.