Bungo Stray Dogs - Volume 7 Chapter 5 Part 3

Chapter 5 Part 3

“Damn…it…,” he grumbled, clinging onto the wet rock with both hands. “This wound’s…deep…”
Chuuya focused on the wound on his back. He applied a weak gravitational force on the dagger and slowly pulled it out, then dropped it into the ocean. The poison had dramatically hindered both his skill and his physical strength. The Sheep knew all too well how to kill the invincible Chuuya. That was hardly surprising. Unlike with Randou, Chuuya never tried hiding his true powers around them. They were friends; he had no reason to hide.
He heard the soldiers shouting something at the top of the cliff, while at the bottom, the sound of sporadic gunfire grew closer. It wouldn’t be long before they surrounded Chuuya again. The Sheep couldn’t let him live, for he knew where their hideout was, where they hid their weapons, along with their criminal records—every weakness they possessed. Chuuya couldn’t help himself from smirking.
“Leader, my ass…,” he muttered under his breath as the waves splashed against him. “I was the one…who ruined…the Sheep…”
He grabbed on to a boulder and lifted himself up to find a nearby slope that was sparsely forested. He walked through the trees, dragging his wet body with each step, until a figure suddenly appeared before him—a small, lanky youth. Chuuya’s face grimly tensed, thinking he’d been surrounded, but he was wrong.
“Hey, Chuuya. Looks like you’re having a rough day. Need a hand?” It was Dazai.
“Dazai…? What are you…doing here…?” Chuuya asked vacantly. “Work. When I told Mori I was gonna join the Mafia, he jumped for joy
and said he was going to give me something nice. ‘Something nice’ being putting me in charge of a bunch of soldiers and a new job I was forced to do.”
That instant, a great number of shadowy figures showed up at Dazai’s command. They were dressed in dark suits with black rifles in their hands. It was a group of expressionless mafiosi—unfeeling, machinelike men who knew nothing of compassion.
“The Sheep and the GSS apparently formed an alliance, so the boss wants to eliminate them before they get too strong…which is what brings me here,” Dazai explained. “Anyway, shouldn’t be a difficult first job. It’ll be over before lunch.”

Chuuya held his wound while panting. “What are…you after…?” He eyed Dazai sharply. “Obviously, runnin’ into…ya here…isn’t a coincidence… You tryin’ to save me…so that I’ll owe you?”
“Who said I was saving you? I think you’re the worst. We just came here to slaughter our enemies, every last one of them.”
“Every last one…?” Chuuya’s expression froze. “You mean…all the Sheep, too?”
Dazai observed Chuuya and smirked as if he wanted to say something.
Several silent moments passed before he offered a loaded reply:
“Yep. That’s our policy. They’re a dangerous organization, after all. But, well…let’s say a Mafia associate—someone with inside info on the enemy
—was willing to tell us how to weaken the enemy without killing them, then I’d consider revising our policy.”
“Help from…an associate…?” Chuuya asked with a stern look.
“Yep. We can’t trust any tips from an enemy, but we could definitely trust one of our own. That’s how all organizations work, right?”
Chuuya remained silent…because he knew exactly what Dazai was trying to say.
“So that’s…what this is about,” Chuuya said hoarsely. “You wanna… make a deal, huh?”
“Hmm… I don’t know.” Dazai smiled, dodging the question. “But I do know that a certain someone lost during our little game at the arcade, so if they do join the Mafia, they’re gonna spend the rest of their days serving me like a dog.”
Chuuya glared at him, still breathing heavily. Despite his trembling legs and the sweat pouring down his face, he didn’t take his eyes off Dazai for a second. He quietly stared at Dazai as if all the answers were written on his face.
Soon, he could hear soldiers’ footsteps and gunshots approaching. He was running out of time.
“Don’t kill…the Sheep… They’re just kids,” he stammered, practically expelling as much air out of his lungs as he could. “They took…good care of me.”
“Very well.” Dazai smiled. “You guys heard that, right? It’s time to get to work. As we discussed earlier, you’re not allowed to harm any of the kids. Let’s go. It’s time we remind our enemies why we used to be called the terror of the night.”
Dazai strode through the woods, his Mafia soldiers following in silence as if they were servants of death before they all vanished among the trees.
Chuuya was watching them go when it suddenly hit him.
“Oh…,” he said. “Even this…was all part of his plan. Ever since he made that phone call at the arcade… He did that to sow doubt about me… among the Sheep…”
Dazai had called Mori at the arcade and asked him to release the Sheep hostages. The Sheep thought that Chuuya would come back to them after that, but he instead prioritized his mission, albeit without telling them his real motive. That was when the Sheep realized that their safety depended on Chuuya’s feelings at any given moment.
Everything went exactly how Dazai had planned it.
He even knew the Sheep would come for Chuuya. Thus, he brought Mori his strategy and mobilized his men. After that, he simply waited until Chuuya could no longer refuse his deal.
“He’s a demon… That son of a bitch.”
Chuuya stood clutching his wound, then glanced in the direction Dazai had disappeared. He seemed to be looking for an invisible sign of what future that spawn of darkness would create. He then growled:
“…Bring it on.”