Chapter Text
He could sometimes remember a familiar voice. A soft voice that would sing him comforting words, it was a memory that comforted him when he was too busy wallowing in self-pity from not being able to remember his childhood.
''Chuuya~I'm boreddd,” Dazai whines and rolls around the couch.
"I don't care. Do your work for once!" Chuuya reads off the report one of his subordinates handed him.
"Eh? But I have a dog doing it for me" Dazai dodges the remote that comes flying in time for it to shatter against the wall.
Chuuya would rather die than admit he misses those days when he and Dazai would bicker back and forth, throwing any insults they can. But that bastard had to leave the Mafia because one of his friends died. But no matter how much he wants, he can't keep Dazai to himself.
"Watch yourself, lad. You'll walk into someone if you continue to think about him.”
Of course Kouyou would know what's going on his mind.
"Yeah, yeah, I'll keep that in mind.” He waves dismissively but straightens his posture.
Soon, he arrives in front of large mahogany doors and he knocks before entering.
"Boss,” He adresses.
Mori looks up from his desk and smiles at the sight of one of his executives. He slides a large envelope across the desk and the ginger picks it up.
"Inside is a file on Murasaki Shikibu and her ability.”
Chuuya takes out the small stack of papers inside and briefly skims over the first page.
Name: Murasaki Shikibu
Ability: A tale of Genji
Murasaki's ability allows her to suppress and awaken certain memories. She poses as a hippocampus nuerodoctor. Many of her patients have mysteriously disappeared and their family members cannot seem to recall them. Her ability requires skin contact and other factors remain unknown.
The rest of the pages are lists of her victims with not a single one of them having anything in common other than visiting Murasaki's clinic. He thinks about how Dazai would have been able to identify the exact requirements for her ability upon just reading the document.
"With all due respect, is this woman really worth sending an executive after?" He asks and slides the paper back inside the envelope but keeps hold of it. It wasn't uncommon for him to take on solo missions but those were usually more dangerous than...this.
Mori laughs and turns his gaze to the windows that take up an entire wall.
"I heard that you couldn't recall your memories under seven and this ability user seems like she could help. Whether you decide to take this own or not is entirely up to you,” Mori says.
"Is this the only reason?" Chuuya asks because Mori usually has another agenda when it comes to "harmless" missions.
The boss of Port Mafia clutches his chest in mock anger and sinks deeper into his chair. Elise, who was busy coloring on the floor, takes a moment to laugh at him.
"Is it so wrong of a boss to care about his underling?"
....
....
....
"You don't have to take this mission if you don't want to. This was just a chance for you to remember what happened before the Suribachi incident. Consider this..." Mori waves his hand around, as if looking for the right words. "an early birthday present.”
In the end, he accepts the mission for two reasons. One, he does want to remember what happened but he already has the faint idea of how he was probably kept in a lab or something. Second, he needs something to take his mind off of Dazai. The clinic he arrives at is surprisingly convincing and he was the only one in the waiting room. Mori had reassured him that he would be the only patient that day, something about how there would be less witnesses.
"Kashimura Asahi?" A feminine voice calls out, someone who Chuuya guesses is Murasaki.
She leads them into a room with a white bed and a chair behind it. Other than the few floral decorations and other standard doctor equipment, there wasn't anything note worthy about the room.
"If you would please take a seat on the bed, I will be with you shortly,” She said and goes to her computer to type something.
Chuuya does as she asks and lays in the bed. He would have preferred if he knew what were the exact requirements for her ability but if he feels something wrong, he can just throw her off and break her spine before anything truly bad happens.
After a few moments of keyboard pushing, Murasaki takes a seat behind him.
"Kashimura-san, I need you to relax so I can help you.”
"Hm.
Delicate fingers touch his temple and he feels himself relaxing as they begin to massage his head. It isn't as good as when Dazai would massage him but it'll do.
Murasaki smirks as she feels the familiar wave of her ability filling her. This man was just like the rest and soon, she arrives at a pitch black world.
This...was a bit different from all her other patients. But then she is thrown off her feet.
BLOODY RED
PITCH BLACK
GOUGED OUT EYEBALLS STARE AT HER
THE CRUNCHING OF BONES
Then she registers it. The heat that squeezes her lungs and makes her mouth run dry.
A large figure appears before her without form, just a flame of red and black. It envelopes her and she can't see anything other than the blood dripping down that would have been a ceiling. The giant figure flickers before two black holes taking the role of its eyes stares down at her.
"Fool who disrupts my territory" it says and Murasaki can't do anything other than stare in horror. "It seems you have a death wish"
When Chuuya wakes up, he notices the body of Murasaki Shikibu on the floor, unmoving and face pale in shock. Her eyes were still open with terror as the pliers. He bends down to check and notices she's not breathing either.
Sighing, he pulls put his phone and calls on of his underlings. He gets off the bed as he waits for the ringing to stop and for someone to pick up.
"Hello...This is Nakahara Chuuya...Yeah...Yep...just send a cleanup team.” He closes his phone after telling them the location of Murasaki's clinic.
He had his hopes up too.
According to what his subordinates said, Murasaki Shikibu would kill her patients and would sell their organs on the black market. She would then use her ability to get rid of any and all traces. (But she was a fool if she though that something so rudimentary could evade the Port Mafia) He would have been disgusted by the thought of someone posing as a doctor and killing her patients but he isn't a normal person. He commits worse acts. and his boss is Mori of all people.
It was getting late and Chuuya needed to sleep. He was an adult so that meant he can't stay up all night playing video games with Dazai or going along with whatever crazy idea the Demon Prodigy comes up with nor can he drink till the sun come up. He still has a few reports to go over but he can do those in the morning.
Within minutes, he falls asleep.
A familiar patter of footsteps.
Soft, green grass and the warm rays of the sun.
The jingle of bells…
The forest is calm today and it waits. It doesn't understand why it waits but there is someone important so it must wait.
It doesn't like waiting though.
The birds are beginning to chirp too loud.
The river is splashing too much.
How much longer does it have to wait?
"Hello again.”
And like that, the chaos within cools down.
The little flame flicker in acknowledgment and the sound of childish laughter fills the air.
A child with messy brown hair and eyes with flecks of gold stars.
"Arahabaki-san, will you play with me today?"
Chuuya throws the blanket off him as he grabs his chest in panic. He pants violently as he rushes to the bathroom. He turns on the sink and throws the water at his face in an effort to calm down.
What...was that?
He looks in the mirror and what would normally have been his reflection was instead a sinister smile on his lips and bloody splatters on his face.
There are glass shards in his knuckles and blood was beginning to drip down his arm the next second.
Another memory comes to him and it was one from when he had his partner by his side.
"Hey, Chuuya?" Dazai asks as they lean over the rail of a bridge. The sun still had a while before it would sink into the sea.
"Yeah?" Chuuya calls back.
"Do you believe in reincarnation?"