N. Chuuya X Fem! Reader: The Territory of Gravity

10.9 - The Dark Era

The blue Mafia headquarters building towered over the center of Yokohama's most prime real estate. On the top floor of the building was an office. Mori sat at his desk, resting his chin on his hand.

"'Nihil admirari—help the man mentioned above without hesitation in the face of any and all trials'... Hmph."

Numerous documents were scattered over his desk—loss reports of Mafia-ruled territory. On top of the clutter was the Silver Oracle that Ougai had once written. It had been recovered from the Western-style building after the conflict had ceased.

He listlessly picked up the document and stared at it. The subordinate standing to his side spoke up.

"Boss, it has already been two weeks since our executive Dazai went missing. We should probably gather all the executives for a meeting to decide his successor..."

"Yes... I suppose so," Mori replied indifferently while creasing the document in his hands. "We won't have a meeting. I'm going to leave Dazai's spot open."

Mori stared at the scattered reports on his desk. The organization had received an item of great value, something that more than made up for the total pecuniary damage and loss of talented subordinates. That included Dazai's disappearance as well. Logically speaking, the results couldn't have been better. Everything was going according to plan.

Mori folded the document into a misshapen paper airplane. Then, with his chin still resting on his hand, he threw it. The deformed plane almost immediately crashed into the floor.

"Things sure are going to get boring around here..."

As such, the days went by, with more and more people getting used to the lack of Dazai's presence. His subordinate, Akutagawa took it especially hard, unable to fathom the idea of never being able to impress his mentor.

The talk you promised to have with Dazai was long forgotten as well, and with it, your first and last conversation with the mystery known as Dazai's friend. Your best friend didn't take the news well either, and drank himself half to death that night. Not that anyone could blame him, of course. After all, he'd worked with Dazai as his other half, forming the most powerful duo known as Double Black. 

The two of you were barely able to look each other in the eye after that, splitting up the responsibilty over Akutagawa. All three of you had lost one of the most important people in your lives. A mentor, a close friend, and a boyfriend. Still, you knew that he wasn't dead, since the timing of his disappearance was too close to that of Oda's death to be disregarded as a coincidence.

To distract yourselves from him, the three of you threw yourselves into work. Akutagawa trained until he passed out, Chuuya would only transition between drinking and taking on missions, and you disappeared for months on end due to dangerous undercover missions. During the few times when you were at headquarters, you were often found in the armory, practicing your aim.

"Hey, I'm not going to ditch this place," Chuuya muttered, watching you hit bullseye yet another time.

"I know," you mumbled, reloading your gun.

"And you're not either," Chuuya continued.

"I know," you nodded.

"So what are you so worried?" Chuuya asked.

You hesitated.

"That, I don't know," you sighed.

The only good thing that came out of this, was that Chuuya and you somehow got even closer as the months went by.

"L/N-kun, you are needed in the Americas once more," Mori informed, handing you an envelope which entailed all the information. "It's a general summit, but we are expecting a massive trade-off on smuggled goods."

"Got it sir," you nodded, leaving the office.

"How long will this one take?" Chuuya asked, catching you before you left.

"Three months, expected, might go longer though," you sighed. "We'll go out for dinner after I come back, alright?"

Chuuya smiled and nodded, waving goodbye to you as you left. Just as planned, the mission took a little over three months, and you returned with a multitude of smuggled goods that would benefit the mafia. Of course, you didn't carry any of them on you, due to safety reasons, but that didn't make you any less prone to attacks.

By the time you neared the headquarters, you had already been so slashed up, that you were desperately trying to stop any blood from gushing out by applying pressure with your solid constructs. Seeing no other way out, you dialed a number on your burner phone.

"Who is this?" Chuuya asked.

"It's me... Y/N," you rasped out. "I don't think... I can make it to dinner... I'm sor..ry.."

"Where are you?" He panicked immediately. "Stay put, I'm coming there."

But you were too weak to answer any of his questions.

"Y/N?" A familiar voice called, crouching next to you.

You glanced at the figure, only to see the man who'd run away from the Mafia half a year ago. He looked sick, and even more skinny than you remembered him being. But then again, perhaps he'd died already, and this was the afterlife. Who knew?

"I've got bandages, I'll clean this up," he mumbled, to which you nodded.

Dazai gently dressed your wounds, before picking you up and taking you to the place he was staying at. It was a small cottage, one he lived in for the functionality rather than the glamour of it. It wasn't long before you dozed off, the familiar sense of comfort washing over you once more. When you woke up, Dazai explained everything to you, including what he was doing and why. It made a lot more sense, now that you heard it from him directly instead of being left to speculate what could have possibly happened.

"That's lovely, but I promised Chuuya I'd come back for dinner last night already," you sighed. "He told me he'd come looking for me as well, so I really must head back."

"You're not going to join me?" Dazai asked. "This could be a new start for us, one in which we could be best friends instead of jumping the gun and dating. No hierarchy either, not many responsibilities. Join me?"

"You're not leaving either," Chuuya's voice rang in your mind. "Right?"

You looked down at Dazai's hand, and then back up at Dazai.

"We'll be miserable together, won't we?"

But you didn't want to be miserable anymore. You knew why he did it, and while it had come at the price of leaving you behind, you didn't want some guy holding you back.

So, you took his hand.

A/N: woooo 2nd Light Novel finished

the dark era holds a special place in my hea