Count me out

Chapter 3

Hirotsu tapped the ashes of his cigar off. After everyone had settled down into their seats, the president filled them in on what was happening.

".. You need our help with settling the gang organisations in the Suribachi slums?" Kunikida questioned with a raised eyebrow, "Surely this could have been sent through an email instead of such a dramatic meeting"

"While the Port Mafia does wish to limit contact with the Detective Agency, the reason for why we are delegating such tasks towards you is something we can't say via an email"

Hirotsu looked around at the members, he stubbed the cigar on the table due to a lack of an ashtray much to Kunikida's furious indignation.

"The boss suspects that there is a mole running around the Port mafia, or at the very least, someone not loyal to him."

"What makes you think that?" Yosano said with a perfectly arched brow. Ranpo sat next to her, his feet propped onto the table, lazily interjected.
"Something must have happened for them to start getting panicked, Yosano. That is right, no?" Ranpo's eyes flicked towards the elderly man before him.

"It is. I am not allowed to say what happened but recently an event has occurred. One of our executives, who had went on a expedition mission into the slums found a message targeted towards the mafia."

Dazai scoffed," You and I both know that slum kids hate the mafia. What message was written in the slums that was so different from the countless other graffiti in there?"

Hirotsu sighed; a deep, heavy heave. The man furrowed his eyebrows in uncertainty as he seemingly mulled things over in his mind. There was a tense quiet as everyone waited for him to speak. He sat up slightly and faced Dazai.

"I wouldn't normally tell you Port Mafia business but given the circumstances..." Dazai leaned forward, he wasn't the only one. Hirotsu single handedly had all the members gripped.

"The message was aimed at one of our executives. Chuuya Nakahara."

"The gravity manipulator? Why on earth target an executive? Especially him" Yosano said confused

"I get what you mean" Hirotsu nodded "Chuuya san is not known by the public. The boss made sure that not much was known about him and that any information of him couldn't be accessed. I'm sure, you only know of him and his ability due to Dazai's personal experience with him"

"Kinda. That explains why he was surprised when we knew about him during our battle" Yosano agreed.

"However, the grafiti was personally targeted towards him with threats and such. Akutagawa, who was there, reported that it seemed to be in a non territorial area"

"Which means?" Atsushi questioned worried, looking at the president for answers. The president looked back "It means that it wasn't a gang from the slums that did so. It was an organisation or gang entirely separate, which means it's more of a threat than impoverished children in a gang"

Atsushi sat silently. He tried to think about the information that had just been loaded into his brain. An organisation that seemingly knows and hates the Port Mafia's right hand man, was beginning to make threats. He internally sighed, he was hoping for just one period without any conflict.

"So you want us to start investigating what is happening, because if the Port Mafia does it, then the mole will find out or start relaying the mafia's plan of action back to their organisation.." Kunikida summarised "What makes you so certain that you have a mole, though? You haven't mentioned anything that might allude to a mole being in the mafia."

"That's because I'm not supposed to tell you anything. Mori-dono believes a mole is running around due to certain events that has been occurring. We found the message in the slums a month ago and ever since then, there have been attempts against Chuuya-san."

"I don't understand. What do you mean by this?" Fukuzawa asked seriously

"I wish I had more time to speak" Hirotsu said "however, I need to leave now. I promise you though, if any there is any information that comes forward, I will relay it towards you guys. I suggest you just try and find out what the organisation is and it's intentions towards our executive. Please don't try and make sense of this, because if you start sniffing around you might get hurt."
With that, Hirotsu stood up, standing tall and poised shoulders. He nodded towards the members. "If you cannot listen to me, then ask your questions to Dazai, as I have no doubt he'll manage a way to get them to me. I thank you for your cooperation. All information about this case will be delivered to you soon. Goodbye."
With that, Hirotsu left the room which was silent with the thought of another dangerous organisation looming over them.