Chapter Text
Atsushi sat on a chair. Mori stared. Atsushi was screwed.
“So… Atsushi-kun…” Mori said slowly, as if testing Atsushi’s name with his tongue.
Atsushi swallowed hard. He didn’t want to speak. Mori didn’t seem like he was going to say any more, however, and sat silently in front of him, like he was waiting. Atsushi heard the door open and close and then footsteps— all the way up to where he sat.
“Boss.”
“Akutagawa-kun.” Mori’s face split into a… sunny grin?
“Akutagawa.” Atsushi muttered. He’d known he would see his rival/occasional enemy/occasional partner. He was part of this “exchange program,” after all. Fukuzawa seemed bent on accepting Mori’s proposal, although Atsushi had no clue why.
“Was it not once your idea that the Port Mafia and the Armed Detective Agency should work together?” Fukuzawa had countered when Atsushi protested.
Well… the president had gotten him there.
“Jinko?!” Akutagawa’s eyes, trained on Atsushi like death itself, narrowed suspiciously. “Should I dispose of him, boss?” It was said with something close to eagerness and hope.
“What?” Mori laughed. It sent shivers down Atsushi’s spine. “No, Akutagawa-kun. Atsushi-kun is here for the exchange program. Chuuya-kun left an hour ago to go to the agency.”
Akutagawa’s mouth opened and closed and opened and closed again. “He… did?” More gaping. “But Dazai-san—”
“—should not, and will not affect Chuuya-kun’s performance at the agency.” Mori finished, his cold eyes flashing once in Akutagawa’s direction, as if challenging him to say otherwise.
Akutagawa bowed reluctantly. “Then what did you need from me, boss?”
“To show Atsushi-kun around.”
Atsushi couldn’t stop the gasp that escaped from his mouth. Okay… he’d expected to be forced to work with Akutagawa sooner or later— but right now?! He hadn’t even unpacked yet. Or eaten yet… What if he died on an empty stomach?
Akutagawa grunted. “Yes, boss.”
Uh… no, boss . Come on, Akutagawa. You never listen to me, so don’t “yes boss” him!
“Let’s go, Jinko.” He ordered.
“Come see me later, Atsushi-kun!” Mori called after them.
I won’t survive long enough to “see you later.”
Atsushi trailed after Akutagawa, feeling like he was embodying the entity of sadness and given-up-hope-ness pretty well.
“Since Chuuya-san isn’t here, I suppose I don’t need to warn you about the ditch,” Akutagawa thought out loud.
“What ditch?” Atsushi asked curiously.
Akutagawa looked at him over his shoulder in utter disdain. “You don’t need to know.” He paused. “What do you know about the relationship between Dazai-san and Chuuya-san?”
“They’re ex-partners?” Atsushi didn’t expect to be quizzed. He wasn’t sure how to “pass” these two weeks at the Port Mafia, but if he failed his first test and the Port Mafia never worked with the Agency ever again…
“Okay,” was Akutagawa’s only reply.
I think I failed the test.
“You’ll probably be working with the low ranked mafia members for these two weeks,” Akutagawa sneered. “If you’re lucky, Boss will send you somewhere to defeat a gangster or two, but expect to be an errand boy for the entirety of your time here.”
Akutagawa looked extremely repulsed to be talking to Atsushi without any murderous intentions.
“Okay,” Atsushi replied.
Maybe if he was polite, Akutagawa wouldn’t try to murder him in his sleep during these two weeks. Atsushi smiled to himself.
Yes, that might work! He thought.
Akutagawa scowled, “Stop looking at me.”
Nevermind. Atsushi might as well be dead already.
Usually, Atsushi found out, new mafia members would be placed under a certain division, but since Atsushi was an outsider and would only be staying there for two weeks, he was excluded from that practice. That, in his opinion, was not giving him the full mafioso experience. Wasn’t that what this exchange program was meant to do?
Akutagawa had dropped him off (in a quite literal sense) where the low ranked mafia members were shooting targets. This was one of the divisions, but Akutagawa refused to tell him which. Atsushi didn’t know what to do except to just stand there and watch.
Was this what he was supposed to do for these two weeks? Shoot targets until his arms fell off or Akutagawa figured out some way to kill him without getting in trouble? Atsushi sighed and woefully shifted from foot to foot as he watched the mafia members do their own thing. Either they were all choosing to ignore him, or they were just really focused on shooting.
It probably took half an hour for any of them to acknowledge he was there, and even then, it was only because the mafia member accidentally stepped on his foot when going off to the side to get a drink of water. The mafia member yelled in shock, “It’s an intruder!”
It should’ve been obvious since Akutagawa hadn’t known about the “program,” but apparently, Atsushi’s presence at the Port Mafia was not exactly widely known.
Immediately, all guns were aimed at him.
“Hey! Isn’t that the weretiger?!” One of them shouted.
“Fuck! It is!”
“Wait!” Atsushi covered his head, even though logically, he knew that wouldn’t save him from a million bullets flying at his body. “I’m supposed to be here!”
Silence.
“Does he really think we’d believe that…?” A confused whisper came out from the members.
“I’m serious!” Atsushi squeaked.
“He’s obviously lying! Fire at will!” A chorusing war cry rose from them. Atsushi resigned himself to death. At least this would be better than being killed by Akutagawa.
“Stop,” A powerful voice cut through the chaos like a sword. Kouyou stepped out from the mafia lines. “The boy is telling the truth. He’s been sent here on behalf of the truce we made with the Armed Detective Agency. The boss forbids any harm to come to him.” She spoke smoothly and had the tone of a commander— a tone worthy of an executive.
Atsushi held back a scowl at the sight of Ozaki Kouyou. If Kouyou noticed the disdain in his tone as he thanked her, she didn’t show it. The mafia members lowered their guns reluctantly and parted once again to let Kouyou through. She brushed past Atsushi and he tensed up at the ghostly brush of her clothing against his skin. Goosebumps prickled up his arms and he shivered.
Hopefully he would be able to avoid her for the rest of his time here.
One of the mafia members coughed. “Uh…” He hesitated, then came forward with a hand reached out. “I’m Hayashi Eiichi.” He attempted a smile. “I’m embarrassed to ask, but what’s your name? You’re infamous around here, but we actually only know you by ‘weretiger’ and not your name.” He laughed sheepishly, eliciting a small chorus of laughter from the mafia members behind Hayashi.
“I’m Nakajima Atsushi. Just Atsushi is fine.” He mirrored Hayashi’s smile, surprised at how quickly the mafiosos went from threatening to welcoming. But hey, he wasn’t going to complain.
They were cautious, which Atsushi understood, but they didn’t hate him like Atsushi had initially assumed. It struck him that he might’ve been scary to them. Most of these low ranked mafia members didn’t have abilities.
“Want to see the break rooms? We gotta properly welcome you into our ranks. Feels nice to finally get a powerful ability user to do the grunt work with us lowly non-ability users!” Hayashi clapped Atsushi on the back and Atsushi heard more laughter.
“Each division has their own break room, even though we mostly use them freely. Some people around here are really worked up about divisions, but honestly, there’s no difference between all of us at the end of the day since we have no abilities.” Hayashi explained as he led Atsushi towards the break rooms. “We’re Division 2. We’re usually the people who accompany the Black Lizards or go on offensive missions. We… tend to have a high casualty rate as well.”
Atsushi frowned a little, for he wasn’t sure if he should be hearing this. Akutagawa didn’t tell him, so Atsushi had assumed that all these division details were secretive.
Hayashi noticed Atsushi’s confused frown and chuckled. “Don’t worry. We won’t tell you any Port Mafia secrets. Unless it’s gossip…”
“Oh, definitely,” A mafia member piped up. She walked up to them and smiled at Atsushi invitingly. “I’m Kimura Ayame,” She introduced herself.
“Nice to meet you, Kimura-san.” Atsushi said politely.
She laughed. “I’m not going to lie, we all had an image of you as a big scary tiger who eats people all the time. I didn’t expect you to be… nice.”
Atsushi’s eyes widened at her honesty— usually he wasn’t called a “big scary tiger” when making introductions.
“Division 1 usually handles the money and trading. Oh, I forgot to tell you. Sometimes people switch divisions because they either requested it or the boss sees them as someone with potential. Usually people who switch because the boss told them to are ability users. People like us usually stay in the same division.” Hayashi maintained his cheerful demeanor as he belittled himself as a non-ability user. As if it was normal to say such things.
“Will I be staying with you guys the entire time, then?” Atsushi asked.
“Uh… we don’t actually know,” Hayashi said with a small laugh. “How long are you going to be here anyway?”
Oh right. Nobody knows of this “exchange program.” Nobody except the executives, apparently.
Atsushi imagined asking Mori and quickly decided he would rather ask Kouyou instead. But then he pictured asking Ozaki Kouyou about his time here at the mafia, and only one thought came to mind: curiosity killed the cat.
“Atsushi?” Hayashi waved a hand in front of his face.
“Oh! Sorry,” Atsushi rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly. “Two weeks, I think.”
Hayashi nodded as if in thought. Kimura hopped in front of them as they approached a maze of complex hallways. She entered the first hallway and turned right. “Come on,” She called. “We’re going to miss the cookies.”
The moment they stepped into the room, Atsushi was knocked down. The Black Lizard surrounded him.
Oh, come on.
Tachihara pinned Atsushi’s wrist down with a foot and examined him. “Has Akutagawa seen you yet?”
Really? That was the first question he was asked?
“Yes…” Atsushi answered reluctantly.
“Hm.” Tachihara lifted his foot and walked away.
The old man sighed. “Please excuse him. He’s just upset that Chuuya-kun got mad at him.”
“He didn’t get mad at me!” Tachihara yelled.
The assassin – Gin – rolled her eyes. Akutagawa’s sister , Atsushi remembered.
Hopefully Gin didn’t bear the same hate Akutagawa harbored for him. Gin tapped Atsushi’s shoulder lightly. “Uh— yes?” Atsushi hoped she wouldn’t whip out her knife and pierce his face all in one motion. Even though that would be kind of cool to see.
Gin reached out a hand. Her eyes were firm and sharpened through years of being trained to be an assassin, and they appeared only the slightest bit welcoming. Atsushi shook her hand with uncertainty, still suspicious. “Nice to see you again, uh…” He wasn’t sure if he was allowed to call her by her first name.
She nodded at him. Atsushi wasn’t sure why, but he was given permission for something , so he relaxed a little.
“Gin-san?” Atsushi tried. Gin nodded again and Atsushi sighed in relief, withdrawing his hand after a quick shake.
“We won’t attack you while you’re here,” The old man promised. What was his name again…?
“Hirotsu,” He said, answering Atsushi’s silent question.
“Uh…” Atsushi didn’t want to point fingers… but Tachihara was right over there , stuffing his face with food.
Hirotsu coughed. “Again, please excuse him. If you have any questions, we could answer them. I suspect the boss and Akutagawa-kun didn’t exactly… fill you in.” Hirotsu’s tone was exasperated— like that of a tired father’s. Or grandfather.
“That would be great, thank you.” Atsushi tried to express his immense gratitude with a large smile.
The corners of Hirotsu’s lips lifted slightly. “Shall we get something to eat first?”
Atsushi glanced back at the lower ranked mafia members, but Hayashi smiled and nodded. “It’s the Black Lizard. You can’t say no.” He whispered to him.
Atsushi turned back to Hirotsu and nodded, mustering his best smile. Hirotsu explained some of the things that Hayashi had covered already, but Atsushi listened closely— you know, in case there was a test on this stuff. He wasn’t going to fail another one of those, who knew what the consequences were? “You’ll be working with many of our divisions for these two weeks. We won’t force you to practice shooting with Division 2, but you might accompany us on one or two easy missions. For the second half of this week, you’ll probably be loading and unloading our cargo for trading with part of Division 1. The second week, you’ll guard some doors with Division 3, but that might be changed so you can work with Akutagawa-kun on a mission or two. You won’t be working with Division 4, because they handle the information and detective work, but you can still talk to them if you like.” Hirotsu leaned in slightly and lowered his voice. “It’s best if you don’t bring up your time at other divisions in front of some mafia members. Some of them are… sensitive about that.”
“Especially Division 1.” Tachihara popped up next to them to add his apparently very strong opinion. Several members close by voiced their agreement.
Atsushi frowned but nodded agreeably at everything Hirotsu said.
“And please, avoid the executives.” Hirotsu glanced around once and looked back at him. “For your own good.”
I wasn’t planning on getting near any of them , Atsushi thought. He’d rather not get sliced into a million little pieces. He was still young and had a lot of life to live.
“Do I have a room? Or will I be sleeping on Akutagawa’s couch? If it’s the second one, am I allowed to sleep in one of these break rooms? Because I’d really prefer not to sleep anywhere close to Akutagawa.” Atsushi blabbered.
Hirotsu coughed to hide his chuckle. “You have a room. It’s already prepared and your luggage is up there.”
“Oh wait— I forgot about my luggage!” Atsushi looked around frantically. “Oh… wait.” He looked back at Hirotsu guiltily. “Sorry. I just heard the last part of your sentence.”
Hirotsu cleared his throat. Tachihara let out a high pitched laugh. “Damn, dude! Are you really the weretiger Akutagawa hates so much? I mean—” Tachihara tugged on Atsushi’s clothing, “—I will admit I’m confused by your fashion choices. And your haircut. But your personality is like 100 times better than his.” Tachihara snickered.
Gin pinched the bridge of her nose and sighed audibly. The entire situation was undeniably amusing and it reminded Atsushi of the agency’s own daily antics.
Besides Akutagawa, everyone has actually not been bad to him, Atsushi realized. He’d always assumed that the entire Mafia just hated his guts. Or hated the Agency. But they were just following orders. Most of these people worked this job like a 9 to 5. Atsushi brightened at the revelation. These 2 weeks might actually not be so bad…
He was called into Mori’s office immediately after settling down in his room. “This used to be Kyouka’s room,” Hirotsu had told him, “Akutagawa suggested for you to room here.”
Either this was some kind of sick joke, or Akutagawa genuinely thought that placing Atsushi in the room where Kyouka had spent the worst time of her life in would make Atsushi feel more at home. It was most likely the first one.
Atsushi sighed and got up from the bed after hearing about Mori’s call. He exited the room and suddenly realized that he didn’t know where Mori’s office was.
I mean… it’s somewhere at the top? So I need to get on an elevator, right? But where’s the elevator?
Atsushi spent a good 20 minutes searching for the elevator. When he found it, he finally went onto his next problem: figuring out which floor Mori’s office was in. There was a convienient inscription underneath one of the floors.
Boss’s office , it read.
Atsushi let out a sigh of relief. Thank god .
He walked around for a little while before happening upon a large door with a sign above it that bore the same inscription. When he walked inside, however, he was met with a dozen guns to the face.
Come on. Again?
How many times was that going to happen to him?
“I’m— I don’t mean any harm!” Atsushi squeaked. “I was just searching for Mori— the boss’s office. He called me there to talk!”
“Likely story,” One sneered, gun still pointed dangerously at his face.
“Wait.” Someone stepped forward. “He’s the weretiger. Nakajima Atsushi. I heard from Division 2 that he really is supposed to be here.”
“Do you really trust Division 2?” Another person muttered.
“Cool it.” Someone else walked forward and nodded at Atsushi. “Sorry for that. I’ll take you to the boss’s office.”
Atsushi sighed in relief for the hundredth time that day. “Thank you.”
The man led him back to the elevators (Atsushi had forgotten where they were already) and pressed a few buttons at the same time. The elevator started moving. Atsushi groaned out loud.
“What is it?” The mafia member asked.
“Nothing. It’s just… this place is very big.” Atsushi felt a headache coming on already.
The man laughed. “I’m Takahashi, part of Division 3. I look forward to working with you, Nakajima-san.”
“Just Atsushi is fine,” Atsushi replied hastily.
Takahashi chuckled. “You remind me of someone. Very powerful but still nice to us lowly non-ability users.”
Once again, Atsushi saw a non-ability user belittle themselves like it was a normal, everyday thing to do. In a large organization like this, with ability and non-ability users alike, was it normal to favor the ability users? In the Agency, although people like Naomi didn’t have an ability, they still helped the members behind the scenes— digging up information and evidence. Without them, the Armed Detective Agency wouldn’t be nearly as successful with their cases. But there was even discrimination of divisions in this place.
Will I really be able to survive here? Uhh, probably not.
Atsushi accepted his fate for the umpteenth time since Fukuzawa told him he was going to the Port Mafia.
“Most of the low ranked members don’t know how to get to the boss’s office. Most of them don’t even know what he looks like. Honestly, I’m not sure I would recognize him if I saw him on the street. I’m just lucky that Chuuya-san took a liking to me, for whatever reason.”
“I assumed that Chuuya-san worked with Division 2.” Atsushi admitted.
“Division 2 and 3 often work close together,” Takahashi explained. “Division 2 is more about offense while Division 3 is more about defense. Chuuya-san has worked in Divisions 1 through 3 upon the boss’s request.”
Atsushi nodded, trying his best to follow along. “So then… how do you know how to get to the boss’s office?”
Takahashi paused. “Okay let me explain the executives’ subordinates. Usually, executives keep a few subordinates close — people they trust, basically. These subordinates usually come from a division they oversee. Executives can oversee multiple divisions and divisions are often overseen by multiple executives.”
They arrived at the floor and Takahashi began leading him to the office, all the while continuing to explain. “Chuuya-san is one of the more social executives. His subordinates are larger in number and vary in divisions. Beyond that, Chuuya-san is close to his subordinates. I can’t be sure about other executives, but….” Takahashi seemed hesitant to say, “I think all of us would choose Chuuya-san over the boss, should a coup ever happen.” He whispered. “But Chuuya-san is too loyal to the boss, so even if one did happen, we would probably end up on the boss’s side.”
Atsushi blinked. Again, he was shocked by the differences in the mafia versus the agency. They were prepared to choose if the mafia split apart. Such a thought had never even crossed Atsushi’s mind at the agency.
“Anyway,” Takahashi nudged him with a grin as they approached the doors to the real office. “You don’t have to worry. People will warm up to you.”
Atsushi mustered a smile that he hoped looked confident and knocked on the door.
Takahashi nodded at him and left him there. Atsushi waited. And waited. The door opened and a blonde haired little girl leveled her judgmental stare at him. “Well? Come in.” She let out a noise of disapproval and Atsushi hurried to follow her inside.
Mori was sitting in the same position behind his desk. “Atsushi-kun. I trust that you have been informed about everything you need to know, so let’s move on to talking about your partnership, shall we?” It wasn’t a question. “You only have 2 weeks time here, and you won’t be spending every minute with Akutagawa-kun, but…” Mori smiled. Even without the eyes of someone trained to see masked expressions, Atsushi knew instinctively that it was fake. It was calculated, just like everything else about Mori Ougai.
Be careful. He knows you better than yourself, Dazai had warned him. Do not, for a single second, leave yourself unguarded. Or else, he’ll destroy you.
“The point of this switch is to prepare for threats against this city. Your partnership with Akutagawa-kun is vital, so I ask you, during these 2 weeks, to seek him out.” It wasn’t a request, it was an order.
“To… to do what?” Atsushi dared to speak.
“Why, have fun, of course.” Mori smiled again.
I don’t see how that’s supposed to strengthen our partnership, Atsushi thought.
“Trust me,” Mori said.
That’s one thing I can never do.
Mori’s smile made Atsushi greatly uncomfortable. He didn’t say any more, but his close lipped smile said: “I have experience in powerful partnerships. Dazai-kun got you two started. I just need to… polish you up a little bit.”
Atsushi wanted to leave as soon as possible and since Mori seemed pretty much finished with his speech, Atsushi took a few steps backwards toward the door.
Mori’s eyes sharpened dangerously. He didn’t voice his disapproval, but Atsushi knew he had done something wrong.
You are not dismissed until the boss dismisses you , Atsushi realized too late.
“May— may I take my leave? Boss?” Atsushi asked hesitantly.
Do not hesitate to adapt to their practices. The only thing that matters is that you remain safe and in one piece . Kunikida had looked so worried, Atsushi had found it hard to protest.
The sharpness in Mori’s eyes morphed into something more similar to curiosity than anger. “You may.”
Atsushi bowed quickly, lowering himself to the exact degree he’d seen Akutagawa bow, and left, hoping he didn’t seem too happy as he closed the door behind himself.
He put a hand to his heart— feeling for his heartbeat.
Observe and adapt , Atsushi told himself. He can’t afford to make more mistakes in front of Mori. On paper, Mori had promised Atsushi would be unharmed during his stay, but he trusted Dazai’s word. If he left himself unguarded, Mori would rip him apart.
Atsushi returned to his room after a lot of searching. He flopped onto the bed and sighed as he stared at the ceiling. The room felt eerie, like the tears and sorrows of a teenage girl remained painted into the gray walls. Atsushi sat up and brushed a finger on one of them and sighed. He missed Kyouka already.
There came a knock on the door and Atsushi’s immediate reaction was to hide under the covers. The knocking was persistent— like the tick-tock sound of a clock.
Fine. If today is the day I die— Fuck, I don’t want to die today.
Atsushi got up and walked over to the door, opening it with great, great reluctance. Gin stood at the door, a tiny box in her hand. Atsushi really hoped it wasn’t an explosive, but then Gin lowered her mask.
“My brother cleaned the room before your stay, but he’s not very good at cleaning. And he did nothing to remove the smell.” Gin pushed the box into Atsushi’s hands.
It was an air freshener, Atsushi realized with relief. “Thank you, Gin-san.”
Gin’s mouth quirked up in a smile. “Besides my brother, you’re kind of the only other person who actually knows I’m a girl. The only other person I can talk to, that is.” Her voice was soft and melodic— a stark contrast to her deadly skill and the way she wields an assassin’s knife.
Atsushi smiled too and nodded gratefully. “I would be happy to talk to you— uh… as long as Akutagawa doesn’t kill me for it.”
Gin’s eyes only bore the purest amusement as she shook her head. “Goodnight, Atsushi-san.”
And then she was gone. Atsushi was left in his room with only the comfort of an air freshener clearing up the stuffy bitterness of a fourteen-year-old girl.
At least one of the Akutagawas liked him. That’s all he could ask for, really.