The End Of It All | Akutagawa Ryunosuke x Any! Reader

{Chapter 14}

A tense feeling filled the evening air. Even within the building in which Y/N sat researching the Guild members they could feel the shift in pressure. Looking down, they saw their notes on Steinbeck and Lovecraft. Steinbeck's page was filled with many useful facts to the Mafia; however, it seemed Mori was correct when he said little was known about Lovecraft. After hours of searching the dark web for illegal files and birth certificates, all that Y/N had found about Howard Phillips Lovecraft was that he had a morphing ability, just like the boss had told them. There seemed to be no record of his birth whatsoever. It was like he didn't even exist. As if he were born on a different planet or just appeared out of thin air.

Deciding that their research was finished with, Y/N stood up and walked out of their office towards the boss'. Today the boss hadn't ordered anyone to look over Y/N due to all of the mafia members being ordered to defend the headquarters or research where Q may be. There were two guards stood outside the boss' door.

"Name and business." One of them said. Very rude of them to not even say please.

"Y/N L/N. I have information to give to Mori-san." The guards looked Y/N up and down before knocking on the door beside them.

"Sir, we have a Y/N L/N to see you."

"Send them in." Upon walking in, Y/N saw paperwork strewn across Mori's desk and the floor. "Ah, Y/N. Apologies for the mess, I assume you have the research I asked for."

"I do. You were right about Lovecraft. There isn't even any record of his birth."

"How strange." The sun was beginning to set, turning the room a bright orange due to the countless windows which Mori had along the wall of his office. The strange feeling in the air returned, making the hairs on the back of Y/N neck stand on end.

"Rintaro? What's that on your neck?" Turning around to face the boss, Y/N saw Elise pointing at a purple handprint on Mori's neck. Screams began to emerge from the streets of Yokohama outside the window. The boss turned to face Y/N as fear began to fill up within the young mafioso. Blood streamed out of Mori's eyes and Y/N knew that Dogra Madra had been put into motion.

"Shit." Suddenly, Mori came hurtling towards Y/N, intent on killing them. Searching about their person, Y/N found that they must have left their gun in their office which presented even more of a problem for them. This was now a hand to scalpel battle. After they began punching the boss as means to keep his sharp weapons away from them, it occurred to Y/N what they should do.

'I'm going to die ' they thought, repeating the words in their head. In reality, they thought they could have probably survived if they had managed to find a way to escape but they had to feel hopeless in order to channel this skill. 'I'm going to die.'

The next time mori came towards them, they grabbed his arm, causing a familiar feeling of rush energy serge through them. Letting go, they saw Mori stood frozen in the position he was in to attack Y/N. They grinned gleefully to themself, amazed that they had finally been able to activate this skill consciously. Hopefully, this conflict wouldn't last more than an hour, otherwise there may be a problem.

Sprinting out of the office, Y/N saw the two guards dead on the ground, a distressed Higuchi standing next to them clutching her pistol in two hands.

"Do you have a spare gun, I don't have time to get mine." Y/N asked her. She just nodded and threw it to them along with two packs of bullets. "Thank you, I'll repay you if we both survive." With that, Y/N began again to sprint down the corridor and into the foyer where Chuuya and Hirotsu were battling multiple of Q's puppets.

"Y/N! WE NEED YOU TO ACTIVATE YOUR SKILL!" Chuuya cried after noticing the mentioned person entering the room.

"I can't, there are too many people I would have to unfreeze and I don't have the relative time to do that before my skill would release." Chuuya let out a frustrated outcry before returning to attacking his victims.

Multiple mind control victims came towards Y/N, attempting to get their hands on them and slaughter them. Using the gun that Higuchi gave them, they shot most of them in the head and only used their time freeze ability on them if they got too close too fast. Soon, all of the opponents within the headquarter building were eliminated, leaving a slight quiet which was only disturbed by the screaming civilians beyond the doors. Chuuya came towards Y/N to see the damage which they had inflicted. He took deep intrigue in the frozen figures dotted around.

"That's new."

"Not been able to control it until today. It only lasts for an hour though so we better finish this before they reanimate." The three in the foyer ran out of the building, shortly followed by Higuchi a few seconds later. They were greeted by flames and smoke billowing out of multiple cars and the odd building in the close vicinity.

"Orders to everyone - protect Yokohama." The words which left Chuuya's mouth sparked inspiration and determination within the members of the Port Mafia. Running down the street, the four found Gin and Tachihara fighting another group of what could only be described as zombies. One had knocked Gin's dagger from her hand and was now holding her up by the neck. Upon seeing this, Y/N quickly rushed to within range and shot the man who dared attack her. Higuchi followed this up by picking up the dagger which had been released from Gin's grip and handed it over to her. As a form of gratitude, Gin tipped her head towards Y/N and Higuchi before going back to fighting another mind control victim which was sneaking up behind her.

Without warning, a loud gun shot took Y/N's attention off the attack on their beloved city. From the sound of it, it came from above and so clearly wasn't from one of their comrades. Above them, they could see the Moby Dick flying low over Yokohama; however, there was someone parachuting out of it. A figure which seemed to be slowly morphing into a white tiger.

Their focus was soon taken off the falling figure as one of the Dogra Madra victims grabbed onto Y/N and began attacking them. A grip around their neck lifted them onto their tip toes and soon off the floor entirely. In an act of pure adrenaline, they gripped the cold metal in their coat pocket, pulled it out and shot their attacker straight between the eyebrows. Gravity took hold of them and they collapsed to the floor, pain shooting through the knee they landed on. A hand reached out to Y/N and they grabbed it. When they stood up, they were facing Tachihara.

"Thank you." The pair then ran to continue to protect the city. More loud gunshots from the Moby Dick resonated through the surrounding buildings and Y/N looked to their right to see Atsushi running towards a child in a crater. Running out, he handed it to Tachihara, apologising before running off down a side street. Looking at the boy running into the distance, he was holding Q's voodoo doll, clearly trying to find Dazai.

Another person came running towards Y/N before, suddenly, they stopped in their tracks.

"I-I'm sorry." They apologised before running off.

Silence.

Relief took over every member of the Port Mafia, the spell had been broken and Yokohama was free. Looking around, Y/N's breath hitched at the sight before them. The city was filled with smoke and cracked roads. But at least they were safe. Only two questions remained.

Where was Q? And what was Tachihara going to do with that child?