// chaos incarnate // osamu dazai //

Chapter Six

"My name is Shimizu Shikin. My ability is called Broken Ring."

Everyone's eyes turned to Dazai, who was staring at her, his eyes lit up upon the mention of her ability. He had always found a vague intrigue in her ability. It was strange, and something that could rival Chuuya's. "Would you like to do a demonstration, mother?"

There was a sadistic smile on his face, and she just watched him. "I always knew you had a couple of screws loose, but this is ridiculous. They will lose their ability forever, or can you not comprehend-"

"They'll be fine," Dazai interjected, his cold eyes surveying the room, his mind calculating something. "Mori, how do you feel about being a part of the theatrics?"

"Don't make me regret placing trust in you, Dazai." He warned, and Dazai just shrugged in response. He had no rebuttals. When had he ever failed them before? "Akutagawa, release her."

Akutagawa released her, grumbling something under his breath, and her eyes were on Mori, curious. "Why your leader?"

"His ability is the most expendable, plus he would be more willing than Kouyou. So, it was the natural choice." Dazai offered a small insight, and Mori just glared at him. "Don't give me that look. It's not my fault your underlings have better abilities than you, is it? Now activate your ability."

They all looked at Elise, who suddenly appeared beside him, complaining about something or other. Shimizu didn't seem impressed. "This is your ability? A girl?"

"Isn't she the cutest? I just bought a new dress for her, and I bet she would look adorable in it." Mori cooed over her, and the entire room sighed.

"Don't start." They all said in unison

Mori let out a small cough, his eyes glancing over Shimizu. "Let's continue with the demonstration."

She threw a ring at him. "Put it on."

He stared at the ring, naturally suspicious. It was just a plain silver ring. It looked like nothing special. Mori put it on. "Now what?"

Shimizu put her hands in her pockets and the ring exploded, breaking into pieces. Elise walked over to Shimizu, only sparing a glance at Mori. "Try commanding your ability."

"Elise, I need you to scour the area," Mori commanded, but she was silent - unresponsive. A lost cause. "What have you done?"

"My ability allows me to take the ability of any male ability user, as long as the ring I give them breaks by my own hands. And then they won't get it back." She replied with a small shrug, and you could sense that Mori was seething.

"Dazai." His eyes turned to the former executive, a small smile on his face. He was trying to act calm when he was far from it. His eyes were brimming with anger.

"Don't worry about it. Pass me the ring pieces." His mother gave him a weird look as Mori passed him the pieces of the ring, and Elise seemed back to normal the moment all the pieces were in his hand. Mori's anger quickly dissipated as he started cooing over the young girl, his eyes full of admiration. It brought the room down significantly.

"What did you do, Osamu?" Shimizu asked as Dazai turned the ring pieces around in his hand. They were just like how he remembered. Except that this time he could actually touch them, instead of pretending he didn't have an ability. His eyes turned to his mother as a small smile was planted on his face.

"You call yourself my mother and yet you don't even know what my ability is. That is unbelievable." Dazai passed the ring pieces to Chuuya with unsaid instructions. He glanced at Dazai before crushing them in his hand.

"You don't have an ability. I would have been able to take it if you did." She said, scowling at the "young" man as he just hummed in response, getting more amusement out of this situation than he should be.

"That is strange. Care to guess what it is?" Dazai watched her, and all she could do was shrug. The room was tense as they all watched the scene in front of them unfold. "My ability is called No Longer Human. Its ability nullification. But you knew that. It wouldn't take anyone with more than five brain cells to guess."

"You are infuriating to deal with." She went to walk over to him but was quickly restrained by Akutagawa's ability once again.

"You think so? From what I've heard, I'm a delight~" He gave her a sickly sweet smile, and the lack of a reaction seemed to get under his skin. It was the one thing that everyone seemed to hate with a burning passion - they wanted to knock that smile off of his damn face. So, when she just watches him, with her eyes devoid of such emotion, something within him stirs.

"Oi, you waste of bandages, why did you never mention your mother? I thought she was dead or something." Chuuya grumbled, tempted to peel back the bandages just to see what was underneath. It was something he thought about a lot. How much did this man hate himself? What damage had already been done? Could he heal the most broken man in the history of Yokohama?

"I hoped she was dead, but it seems an angel might have been on her side. Or God just hates me; both viable options at this stage. I wouldn't be surprised if it were both." Dazai shrugged, standing up, and picked Chuuya up by the back of his shirt.

"Hey! Put me down you piece of crap!" Chuuya whined, attacking the taller male. Dazai paid no notice to the ongoing assault and instead smiled at Mori.

"I'm gonna need short stack here and the walking identity crisis, wherever she is. Do you mind getting Watson in to deal with the events of today?" Dazai asked, and Mori only nodded in agreement. "Thanks a lot, Mori~ Kouyou, be a dear and fill him in while you're at it. I'll be back soon, Mother, so don't hold your breath on that little escape plan of yours."

"How did you-? What the hell?" You could sense the anger in her, and it was justified. He had a strange way of reading people. No one understands what keeps that little head of his scheming, why he doesn't just sit there and wait for death. He's an enigma, an undefeated God, and he always will be.

Dazai only shrugged, slinging Chuuya over his shoulder like a rag doll, who mumbled and grumbled, but no one listened to him - he wasn't of interest to anyone. "You were easy to read. You let your guard down in front of me, and that is the biggest mistake of all."

"There's a saying in the mafia," Kouyou piped up, her gaze fluttering across the room, staying on Dazai for a little too long before turning to Shimizu. "The biggest misfortune of Dazai's enemies is that they are Dazai's enemies. I think you should keep that in mind when you try and go toe to toe with the suicidal God whose partner has just as much power as he has smarts."

"Double black, was it? I'm not impressed. I don't fear either." She proclaimed, rather boldly, and the entire room was watching her, judging her. They all held a sense of contempt in their eyes. She obviously hadn't seen the horrors the rest of them had.

Kouyou let out a short, sweet laugh, almost mocking in nature. She knew that feeling all too well. She knew how quickly her ideologies came crashing down when she was faced with the wrath of two Gods in their respective area of field. One was a tactician, capable of toppling any plan with such ease. The other was a soldier, capable of destroying everything in his path. Together, they were an unstoppable duo. "Then you'd be an idiot playing a fool's game."

She had always taken a strange pride in the two of them - even Dazai, who for the most part she had deemed as a worthless good-for-nothing. They gave her something to live for in a world that was trying to kill her. Dazai waved at the room and walked out, giving a passing glance to Kouyou as he left. It was a promise to protect the shorter male if anything ever happened. She knew he meant it.

"See you all in hell or whatever." Dazai proclaimed, a bored expression on his face as his eyes wandered around, wondering if he could make some sort of attempt on his life in between plans, but it seemed he wouldn't get a chance.