Suribachi's vagabond (english vers)

Chapter 1.3 : Double black !

As soon as she heard that charging roar, Toru looked up at the sky, her green eyes wide open in astonishment. When she realized who they were dealing with, she leaped backward suddenly, narrowly dodging the impact of the one charging towards them. The three assailants who were still alive, however, all bore the brunt of the impact and were completely knocked out, lying unconscious on the ground as the smoke from the impact dispersed and revealed them, along with the one who had initiated this powerful intervention.

Toru, in her sudden dodge, landed not far from the young brunet who had appeared earlier, and whose expression seemed much less amused than before at the sight of the one who had landed so abruptly in front of them... he seemed almost... annoyed? The young girl, on the other hand, looked on in astonishment at the scene unfolding before her. "Impressive... to say the least," she thought to herself. The boy next to her sighed before stepping forward toward the second. He was small and red-headed, those being the first two things that caught Toru's eye before she also noticed the hat he wore and seemed intent on keeping on his head at all costs... She found it particularly ridiculous, that hat.

"You always have to draw attention with your overly loud entrances, Chuuya... Playing the 'look at me' doesn't make you any more visible and doesn't compensate for anything at all with your-"

"Shut up, Dazai! You should have taken care of it yourself if you're not happy!" Chuuya cut him off with a more than annoyed voice... as if the cliché of small, nervous guys wasn't so far-fetched after all... He then went to a corner before leaning against a wall, arms crossed, growling and shooting murderous glances at Dazai the whole time... the latter ignored him royally.

However, when Dazai had moved away from beside her, she wanted to seize the opportunity to get out of here quickly. She turned and began to walk calmly in the other direction.

"And where are you going like that?" Dazai asked as he crouched in front of one of the bodies on the ground, trying to find some evidence on it while waiting for the man to regain consciousness... He wasn't even facing Toru but he knew she was leaving now that his back was turned. Toru stopped, sighed, and turned around to answer him.

"I have nothing left to do here, and none of this is something I want to be involved in anyway..."

This made the young man smile as he stood up and turned to face her, his expression amused... yet despite this facade, it was clear to Toru that this guy was absolutely not to be taken lightly.

"Well... the problem is that despite it not being your intention... everything points to you being hired to serve as bait and lure these guys here right into the mafia's trap."

Toru didn't have much to say to that. She had already figured it out... yet at that moment, something else bothered her.

"I know... however... I would like to know why one of the two members of the Double Black bothers to warn me."

He let out a little laugh before responding.

"So you already know who we are? That's quite impressive, even though I imagine everyone in the underworld must have heard of us in reality. Gathering information about its main players is basic for anyone who's part of it. Anyway... that doesn't answer your question. Let's just say I'm not really trying to warn you or anything, but I think it would be better for you to reconsider your choices of 'neutrality,' Toru. After all, you took care to keep these guys alive... I'm pretty sure no one in this new organization would take that as anything but clear evidence of an alliance with the mafia."

Toru raised an eyebrow, curious to know what he was insinuating. At the same time, she noticed that he had already called her by name and understood that he was already informed about her... had he planned from the beginning to use her as bait? How could he have done that? It's not like he could have predicted that Toru would wake up after a nightmare that night...

"How did you know I was going to come out at this exact time?"

Dazai's smile didn't leave his lips... He crossed his arms, the gleam in his eyes intensifying as he stood in the only beam of light illuminating the area, the moon's blueish light shining bright that night.

"Well... to be honest, I planned to wake you up using explosives in a more distant area or something like that. So that you would come out to check it, basically."

Toru frowned.

"But... if you had really opted for that solution, those guys from the other organization wouldn't have stayed in the area for their sort of street kid hunt for-"
Toru's eyes widened when she understood... before laughing nervously.
"I see... they didn't attack me by chance... I wasn't a target for them to take organs from... they were after me from the beginning... so it didn't matter if you had triggered an explosion farther away. Their objective was in a specific area."
"How did you know they were after me specifically... and why are they?"

Dazai's expression showed some surprise at Toru's quick deductions before he started smiling again, this time with a more amused, almost taunting air.

"I can unfortunately only answer your first question... It was quite simple actually. The first thing we did to try to counter this organization was to find its weakest links and observe them without intervening and try to glean some information... Well, one of them was spotted by our spies and he seemed quite determined to let you know about this affair."

Toru immediately understood who he was talking about and clenched her fist in frustration. She not only understood who, but also why this person had joined this organization.

"Tsk... Haru... he's an informant... well, given the quality of his work, I'm not sure we can refer to him as such. The last time I saw him was when he told me about this organization... He said he had 'followed the leads' without further details. I was skeptical, but I didn't ask any further questions. If these guys are organ traffickers then I imagine they must have promised him something to effectively treat his sick little brother."

Dazai tilted his head slightly to the side, his eyebrows raised and his expression full of curiosity.

"So you think he would have sold you out to save his sick little brother. It's plausible... Anyway, he probably expected you to do something that would lead you to confront this organization and fall into a trap."

He then smiled again, this time with a more amused air, almost taunting her.

"Meanwhile... I guess you've realized we won't let you go easily. It's clear and obvious that organ trafficking is just one facet of this organization and they have a much bigger goal. You are the only lead we have to know what it is."

Toru sighed.

"You're not giving me much of a choice, I guess... and I don't stand a chance against you two, that's for sure. Anyway... I'm not exactly thrilled to have to go along with you."

Dazai chuckled softly.

"Oh, make no mistake, it's not just about accompanying us... or at least not only for

this matter."

At that moment, Chuuya broke the silence, his expression calm but cold as he addressed Toru, standing up from the wall he had been leaning on.

"The boss wants you to join the mafia... in return... we won't kill the informant or anyone else. That's what he asked us to tell you."