"L/N-kun, did we have an appointment?" A man with slicked back black hair asked.
"No sir, sorry for the intrusion, but it is an emergency," you informed, lips pursed.
You were standing on the topmost floor of one of the most major offices in Yokohama city, one with beautiful stained glass windows that people could see from miles away. This office was none other than the headquarters of the most powerful criminal organisation in Yokohama, and the man in front of you was the leader of said organisation.
He was Mori Ougai, a doctor who climbed the ranks to becoming a boss. While he may not have gotten it through ethical means, he was certainly a smart and powerful man. And you? You were the lady that backed him up through everything. Without you, the profit the mafia made would be considerably less.
"What is it, L/N-kun?" Mori pressed, now worried.
"Our informant, Sakaguchi Ango-kun has gone missing," you informed. "He knows everything about us, and just cracked a smuggling case last night. Should anything happen to him, we would fall to ruins."
"This doesn't call for a meeting with the five executives, I believe," Mori hummed. "But we likely must trouble an executive to take over. What do you think of Dazai-kun and the Black Lizard?"
"Sir, I believe Dazai is acquainted with Sakuguchi," you reminded. "The opponent might use this as leverage. I suggest we use Oda Sakunosuke, the low ranking officer. Few know of him, and his Skill: Flawless may be useful."
"Is Oda-kun also not good friends with Sakaguchi-kun and Dazai-kun?" Mori asked. "Men who pursue friendships even through the bounds of hierarchy are quality people, and I am aware that my youngest executive is one such man."
"He is, but due to Oda-kun being such a minor figure, I highly doubt anyone outside of the Port Mafia will recognise him," you reasoned. "That in itself is good enough reason to let him use the 'Silver Oracle', I believe."
"I see, I shall take this into consideration," Mori nodded, flicking his hand to an agent. "Call Oda-kun and tell him I require his presence immediately. L/N-kun, you may leave. Thank you for this information."
You bowed politely before taking your leave, heading stright to your desk. However, before you could even catch a breather, a new figure came jogging to your desk.
"Dazai," you greeted, surprised.
"Emergency, let's go," he summarised, pulling you up.
"What's happening?" You hissed, swatting his hand off your wrist.
"Some idiot attacked Hirotsu-San's men," Dazai informed briefly. "We're going over to do crisis management, and I couldn't be bothered to go alone."
"People will get suspicious, Dazai," you reminded.
"Would you rather do hours of paperwork, L/N?" He challenged.
And that was how you found yourself walking alongside the port with your boyfriend, the two of you discussing about the issue at hand. From what you'd been told, the Black Lizard was to wait until you'd arrived, meaning the two of you took your time.
After all, the only time you got to freely speak to each other was when you were either outside, or alone in one of your apartments. The two of you kept things under wraps even around your best friend, for although he knew that the two of you were together, you didn't want him to awkwardly third wheel around you.
"We'll be there any minute now," you informed, glancing at your watch.
"Right," Dazai grumbled, pulling out a video-game console.
This was a habit both of you had formed. Should you ever be going anywhere, the two of you would spend most of the journey talking. However, as soon as you were nearing your destination, one of you would pretend to have been doing something else instead of spending too much time talking.
At the end of the forest, the two of you saw a man with gray hair, flanked by seemingly hundreds of people wearing black suits.
The man was none other than Hirotsu, one of the oldest mafia members.
Hirotsu took out a gold pocket watch and checked the time.
"One of our executives will be here any minute now. Finish learning everything you can about the victims before he arrives," he ordered.
"Morning, everyone!"
Hirotsu's orders were almost immediately followed by a voice coming from the man-made forest. Everyone turned around, looking tense. From appearances alone, the young man who greeted them could have easily been mistaken for a child. He tottered over to the group, his hair unkempt and his head, neck, and arms covered in bandages. The young man was one of the Port Mafia's five executives—Dazai Osamu.
By his side, was none other than you. From your behaviour, one could have mistaken you for someone older. It was only when one took a glance at your appearance, that one would have realised that you were of the same age as the young man by your side.
Hirotsu promptly put out his cigar before tucking it away in his pocket ashtray. All the men in black suits placed a hand on their chests and respectfully bowed.
"Gimme a second, okay? I'm about to clear this really hard level— Oh, crap! He passed me! Eat this! ...Ack, he dodged it!" Dazai groaned.
The two of you walked closer, Dazai struggling with a handheld video game. He was so focused on the screen that he would have face-planted if he had stepped onto even slightly more uneven ground.
"Ugh. I can't beat this level no matter how many times I try! This curve here is the tricky part. Every time I go around it, I—Gah! He passed me again!"
"Dazai, sir." Hirotsu timidly spoke up on behalf of the others, since they were unable to say anything. "Thank you for coming all this way. The armory guards were shot, and as of now—"
"It's been a while since anyone's been crazy enough to target a Port Mafia armory! How'd they do it?" Dazai asked, still focused on the video game.
"Our men were killed instantly after being hit with around ten to twenty 9mm rounds each. Then the intruders stole various firearms from the armory: forty submachine guns, eight shotguns, fifty-five pistols, two sniper rifles, and eighty grenades. They also took a total of eighteen kilograms of detonator-type high explosives. The electronic lock was opened with the passcode. How that code was leaked is still—"
"Let me have a look, then. Here, take care of this for me," Dazai requested, handing you the console.
"No thanks," you scoffed, passing it on to Hirotsu.
"Huh?" The old man gaped.
"Consigerie's orders," you smirked.
Hirotsu's expression turned stern as you handed him the game system.
"The trick is in the timing. You use a booster item once you reach the straight path in the middle of the course," you explained. "So where are the bodies?"
"Oh, uh, they're lined up by the tetrapods— Wh-what buttons am I supposed to press?"
Dazai skipped off to the concrete blocks and ignored Hirotsu, who was holding the console upside down in a fluster. There lay three bodies, each wearing sunglasses and black suits. They were very tough men—up until yesterday. Soaking in the ocean for a few hours had caused their skin to swell, but they would have been in far worse condition if they had drowned; all three of them had bled out almost completely before being tossed into the ocean to sink to the bottom.
"Hmm."
Dazai gazed disinterestedly at the corpses.
"Their weapons are still in their holsters. Well, that's just sloppy. Also...most of the gunshots have exit wounds...which means they were fired at close range, from a submachine gun. You'd have to be pretty skilled to get this close without being noticed. I'm getting my hopes up. What about the warehouse's surveillance footage?"
Dazai turned to Hirotsu, who simply gazed forlornly down at the game system in his hands and revealed a totaled car on the screen.
"I am deeply ashamed of myself...," Hirotsu mumbled.
You stared at him curiously, as if you had already completely forgotten that you'd passed the game to Hirotsu.
"Hirotsu-San," Dazai's eyes narrowed.
"I... I'm sure if you just give me one more chance, I could—," Hirotsu pleaded as he gripped the game system once more.
"Anyone in the lower ranks who causes problems over narcotics should immediately be cut loose," Dazai suddenly said.
"Narcotics?" Hirotsu turned pale. "No, nobody is involved in anything like that...including my subordinates. My men are top caliber—"
"The gun at your waist."
Dazai pointed at him. Hirotsu swiftly covered the gun tucked away in his suit belt with his hand, although not on purpose; it was merely a natural reflex.
"Hirotsu-San, you don't usually carry a gun with you, right?" You hummed. "Plus, you're the kind of person who takes very good care of their weapons. And yet, the sloppy way you've tucked it into your belt leads me to believe that it is neither yours nor merchandise. Judging by the condition it's in, it belongs to one of your men. Am I right?"
Hirotsu stood in silence as you continued.
"You have around twenty subordinates under your wing. Did you borrow that gun from one of them?" You asked, only to answer the question yourself. "No, you didn't. There was no reason for you to use a gun at this time of the morning. You took it. Why? Because the grip was lightly stained with blood and some white powder."
"But there is neither powder nor blood on you, Hirotsu-San," Dazai continued. "One of your subordinates must have caused some trouble over drugs. Judging by the bags under your eyes, I'm going to say it happened last night. So you tied your subordinate up and took his gun because who knows what he'd do if you didn't."
"That's—," Hirotsu uttered in a muffled voice, but you kept on speaking and cut him off.
"That subordinate is ignoring the syndicate's policy, Hirotsu-San," you reminded. "Selling drugs makes a lot of money, but it also brings a lot of problems along with it. The Special Division for Unusual Powers, narcotics agents, the MP's criminal-organization watchdogs... Government organizations are champing at the bit just waiting for us to make any sort of mistake that would give them a chance to strike. Simply taking your subordinate's gun isn't going to do anything."
"But..."
"Hirotsu-San, I don't know why, but I was given the lofty position of executive, and when you're an executive, you get subordinates whether you want any or not," Dazai sighed. "But I can't produce results with a bunch of sloppy flunkies. That's why I cut the bad ones loose early. You should do the same."
"...I am deeply sorry," Hirotsu mumbled, his voice strained.
In the Mafia, "cutting the bad ones loose" means killing them. Refusing executive orders is treated as betrayal and dealt with in the same fashion. Hirotsu apologized but said no more after that. Dazai fixed him with a piercing gaze, a deafening silence ensuing.
It felt as if time had frozen in place.