This has literally been unfinished for months. I was gonna delete but then I read it and actually liked the way it was going plus I thought the writing was decent enough so I somehow mustered all my motivation and finished it! Yay!
(I do want to admit that I know that it won't play out like this unfortunately)
. . .
"So, for your end of the deal, I'll be able to choose anyone here to join the Port Mafia?" Mori asked with a sharp smile playing at his lips, simply asking not because he didn't know the answer, but just because he wanted to rub it in Fukuzawa's face.
"Mostly anyone," Fukuzawa reminded him gruffly, "You can't take Yosano for obvious reasons and Kyouka and Kenji stay here for even more obvious reasons."
Mori rolled his eyes, his sharp grin softening into a more playful one, "Of course, Fukuzawa-dono. Though I would like to remind you that they are a bit out of my age range."
Fukuzawa raised an eyebrow at him but said nothing else.
Currently, they were all sitting around the rectangular table in the ada's meeting room; the Armed Detective Agency on one side, the Port Mafia on the other, and a few agents from the Special Abilities Department at the heads of the table simply to supervise and make sure nothing went out of hand between the two formers. Zenki Soukoku sat directly across each other, and everyone else sat at rather random spots. However, it seemed the other generations of Soukoku followed suit subconsciously as Dazai sat across from Chuuya and Atsushi sat across from Akutagawa. Next to Mori on the Port Mafia's side was Kouyou and next to Fukuzawa was his successor, Kunikida.
"That's all the rules then, isn't it?" Mori asked.
Fukuzawa nodded.
"So I can choose the weretiger, illusion boy, your little successor, the only actual detective in your detective agency, or~..." Mori purposely dragged out the 'r' a bit as his gaze slowly turned to one person in particular, "Dazai-kun."
At his words, everyone's eyes snapped to Dazai, but the man himself seemed too engaged in a silent conversation with Chuuya to actually care. Dazai squinted his eyes and raised his eyebrows to which Chuuya hastily shook his head with a serious look on his face. This, however, did not deter Dazai in the slightest apparently, because his lips curled upwards as he tilted his head forward toward Chuuya. The gravity manipulator, then, in response, shook his head in a more resigned manner than earlier and sighed, ending the conversation.
The intriguing scene ending seemed to have brought everyone back to the situation at hand because Fukuzawa's expression quickly became grim again as Yosano clenched her jaw.
"Dazai, is off the table as well, Mori-dono," Fukuzawa said, anger seeping into his tone.
"Really? You can't say that now though, can you? The rules have already been established. I even asked. Not to mention this many rules is a bit too much for me to accept."
The not-at-all-subtle threat of Mori rejecting the other rules Fukuzawa had set up had the special ability agents tensing and the agency members fuming. While, at the time of the deal being made, Fukuzawa had set up the rule of not taking Yosano, the rest of the rules hadn't been set. Mori could easily bring up how he technically hadn't agreed to those and therefore have the ability to overrule all the new rules Fukuzawa had made.
"Don't even try, Mori," Yosano growled, hand already itching to pull her scalpel out of her pocket and stab the man in the neck.
The fact that Yosano's mood was rapidly becoming murderous did not escape Mori as he quickly took notice of her hand hovering over her pocket.
"Yosano... Is that a threat?" Mori asked in mock innocence, though the amused glint in his eye said otherwise.
"Of course not, Mori-san," Yosano's gaze darkened, "It's a promise."
Mori only sighed at the various glares shot toward him from all over the table. Strangely enough, none of them belonged to Dazai. Even Atsushi's pupil sharpened to slits, letting the yellow pigment in his eyes overrun the violet at the prospect of pushing Dazai back into the fold, but the man himself seemed supremely unbothered.
Finally, Mori turned to the head of the table with a deceptively warm smile, "What's your opinion on this, hmm?"
All gazes snapped to the head of the table, causing the said agent to sputter.
"You're here to make sure that conflict doesn't break out between us, yes? So how about you make the final call?" Mori's eyes seemed to almost glow as he pinned his gaze on the unassuming agent.
"I have a bias, though, don't I? You know exactly what I'd say," Ango Sakaguchi, the unfortunate head of the table, responded as boldly as he dared (which was decidedly not very bold in everyone's opinion).
The table fell into silence once more as everyone thought over their next move. It felt like hours had passed without a single word being uttered. There were still silent ones of course. A shared glance between Yosano and Ranpo, a glare between Fukuzawa and Mori, a worried look shot from Ango to Dazai that never received a response. But, even so, not a single word left anyone's lips.
That was until Dazai clapped his hands together, causing almost everyone to jolt at the sharp unexpected noise.
"Well then!" Dazai exclaimed with a close-eyed grin, "No thank you!"
Everyone stared at him in abject horror. What was he playing at?
Ango cleared his throat, breaking the silence once more, "Please specify what you're disagreeing with," he requested, though everyone knew exactly what he was talking about.
"Being put back into the Mafia of course! I reject-"
Mori smiled amusedly, "Excuse me?"
"-And you do too, right?" Dazai finished, his enthusiastic attitude mellowing to one not unlike Mori's; cold and deceiving.
Silence hailed over the table once more as teacher and student glared at one another, the former's amusement now wiped away.
"You aren't planning on taking anyone, are you?" Dazai asked in an unbothered tone that wildly contrasted the sharp glare he was pinning onto Mori, "You just want to wave around the idea to scare us and then leave this meeting empty-handed physically, yes, but have this unfulfilled deal to pull out on us whenever you want."
"I'm sure someone clever as you can see the flaw in that, Dazai-kun," Mori pointed out, "Simply taking one of the agency's members would-"
"-Be just as effective if not more?" Dazai finished for him, a challenging look in his eye as he leaned back in his chair.
Kyouka flinched at the blunt disrespect to the Port Mafia boss. Very few got away with cutting him off like that. Ranpo, on the contrary, seemed to be enjoying the show quite a bit. Having already figured out Mori and Dazai's intentions a while ago, he wasn't the least bit concerned about the outcome. He knew exactly what kind of dramatic show Dazai was going to perform before he even started it, and had been eagerly waiting for the moment it'd start since the beginning of the meeting.
"I do have to agree with you on that, I suppose," Dazai's eyes roamed across the side of the table he was sitting at, "Tanizaki, for example, not only has the perfect ability to become an incredibly skilled assassin but also is someone you know has more of a grey space in morals compared Kunikida or Atsushi. And while that isn't a bad thing on its own, being in the mafia rather than the agency..."
He didn't have to finish the sentence for everyone to get the message.
Confused and generally shocked noises erupted from both sides of the table, neither having expected Dazai to sell out his own colleague in such a manner. The Special ability agents simply were just too lost to even say anything. Tanizaki, meanwhile, shuddered at what was supposed to be praise but really came out so wrong. Not to mention Dazai sounded as if he were convincing Mori to take Tanizaki rather than himself at that point.
"But," Dazai lazily raised a finger in the air, effectively silencing all occupants of the table, "You also know they won't accept something like that, don't you? At least not for long. No matter the jeopardy of the truce, Yokohama, or the people living in it; they won't leave behind one of their own."
Mori blinked innocently, "Are you also threatening me right now? Now, now, Dazai-"
"I'm just listing off simple facts, Mori-san. You know just as well as I that the agency has something that the Mafia lacks, whether for the better or not. It's simple, really," Dazai leaned forward this time, for once not looking bored but actually serious.
The entire table held their breaths, waiting patiently for Dazai to finish explaining his train of thought.
"While the Mafia has people distancing themselves from each other, the ada practically encourages being close to one another," Dazai explained, "There are few bonds in the mafia like that, aren't there? You know that the ada will betray you eventually if it's for the sake of one of their people, and you'd never risk that chance. Where the mafia values logic, the agency values compassion."
Not a flicker of affirmation appeared on Mori's face as he and Dazai stared each other down.
"So you were instead planning on using an empty threat so we'd do whatever you wanted if you ever needed it," Dazai concluded, "Am I right?" he asked with so much confidence that it almost sounded like a rhetorical question.
In fact, it seemed the room was treating it as one because no one answered. All of the eyes jumped from Dazai to Mori, eagerly awaiting the latter's answer. At long last, Mori broke off the intense contact and sighed.
"It seems you've figured me out this time, Dazai," He admitted airily.
The half of the table occupied by the ada slumped down in relief at not having to lose one of their members, and the heads of the table holding a few Special Abilities Department members also slumped down in relief at the tense atmosphere of the room finally fading.
"While I would love to continue negotiating this deal, it seems we've run out of time," Mori drawled, looking towards a clock on one of the walls of the room.
Truth be told, it was almost past the time they were supposed to finalize the deal.
Fukuzawa nodded in agreement, "It seems so. We'll have to set up another date to discuss this matter again."
The agents at the heads of the table inwardly groaned in annoyance and exhaustion at the thought of having to do this all over again.
"Of course," Mori smiled as insincerely as always as he got up.
The Port Mafia gave their polite goodbyes (except Chuuya who had resolved to punch Dazai in the face but unfortunately failed), and they were gone. The Armed Detective Agency left next, leaving only the Special Abilities Department behind as the unfortunate agents packed up the records they had taken of the meeting.
Leaving the room felt like a breath of fresh air- which it literally was due to them finally being free form the stuffy meeting room- so the agency almost immediately felt their mood improve. It didn't matter that Yosano's smile looked ever so slightly shaky and Dazai struggled to keep his hands steady. It didn't matter that Kyouka's movements were just a bit too stiff to be considered normal and Tanazaki couldn't shake the twisted praise he had received out of his mind. It didn't matter if Fukuzawa felt as if he failed them all. It didn't matter. Not even slightly.
So Dazai sat on his usual couch, aware of how Kunikida didn't scold him even once for being lazy, Yosano retreated into the infirmary, Ranpo, perceptive as always, following her in, Kyouka managed to find comfort in Atsushi and Kenji's kindness, Tanizaki found all his worries melting away as Naomi squeezed his hand reassuringly, and, later, after Ranpo emerged from Yosano's office, he made a beeline to Fukuzawa's next. Sure, it wasn't always the best way to go about things, but when push came to shove, they all had each other's backs. Maybe, in the end, it did matter, but all that truly mattered to the agency at that point was enjoying the short gap of peace for as long as it'd last.
. . .
"Hey, Ango!" Dazai called right before the man entered his car to drive away from the agency at last, "Let's hang out tomorrow! You know the place!"
. . .
the Dazai & Chuuya interaction translation:
Dazai squints his eyes and raises his eyebrows:
Should I make it ✨dramatic✨
Chuuya hastily shakes his head with a serious look on his face:
Just say it straight up and get it over w/
Dazai smirks and tilts his head toward Chuuya:
Naw now ima do it just to annoy you
Chuuya shakes his head in a resigned manner and sighs:
Ugh, whatever. Just keep me out of it
Fun fact, that interaction between Dazai & Ango was going to WAY longer and have a bit more heart to heart but I felt like it was kinda out of character and ruined the flow of the story so I changed it to the shorter ver you have now. And yes, Dazai's genuinely trying to forgive him rn. Bro's not planning a murder lol