Regressor || Bsd x OC

Chapter 21 - Tinkering

Mizuki stares at Dazai on the bed.

"Alright, I'm going to put you through hell," She pulls on a glove. The latex snaps against her wrist, and she grins.

"As long as I die painlessly."

Mizuki pauses. "The ability doesn't work on you, huh."

"Nope," Dazai grins at her. "Can I go, Mi-chan?"

Mizuki taps her chin. "Bring in Tachihara."

"For this?"

"Mm," She hums. "Alright, go along now."

"I don't understand why you keep Mori's old hospital running," Dazai sighs. "But I suppose that's what makes you you."

Mizuki laughs as the male leaves the room.

"It's not running," Mizuki hums. "It's just a safehouse. Send him in tomorrow! I'll just tinker on a random underground officer for the night!"

Dazai shudders.

Mizuki was by no mean a saint. People do things to survive, and she hadn't raked up a large fortune until she had entered China. Her days in Europe were simple, dancing in the villages, going around to heal villagers. Ability users had been hogged by the aristocracy since the beginning of ages, and Mizuki had almost always been used to steal abilities by the poor. She had stopped stealing after gaining the ability to heal.

"I wonder if there's a chapter in a history book dedicated to her," Atsushi flips through the pages in Mizuki's room in the office.

"We found it once," Chuuya reaches for a book on the top shelf, standing on the ladder. "Ah, here."

The book lands on Atsushi's lap, and he stares at the roughed-out cover. "On the Maiden of the Commonfolk. It's translated?"

"Mm," Chuuya hums. "Odasaku translated it."

"H-huh?"

"Ah, he left when you joined, huh?" Chuuya hops off the ladder, another book in hand. "Did Mizuki-sensei ever talk about her late husband last life?"

"She... avoided the subject completely." Atsushi flips open a page.

"Read this one first," Chuuya hands him another book.

"The epic of Gilgamesh?"

"Do you know what the first ability she devoured was?" Chuuya sits down on the single sofa.

"...no."

"It was the epic of Gilgamesh." Chuuya hums. "her ability itself is strange, but the first ability stolen was this."

"Immortality?" Atsushi flips through the book as Chuuya scrolls on his laptop.

"Another one passed."

"Huh?"

"The Epic of Gilgamesh had a variety of anonymous authors," Chuuya lifts his cup to his lips. "However, all of them named themselves after a character in the book. The oldest authors of the world are getting targeted recently. That's why Mizuki-sensei goes by her name."

"She was named after a character?"

"I don't know the name, but knowing her ability, it was likely she was." He hums. "Enkidu was killed a hundred years back, Humbada died fifty years ago, Utnapishtim died twenty-five ago, and Shamhat died just four weeks ago."

"I thought they were immortal?"

"But they grow weaker with age and children." Chuuya hums. "Gugalanna is under the Iranian government right now. They're willingly being experimented on. They were invincible generations ago, but now after having kids, their skin got pierced."