Suribachi's vagabond (english vers)

Chapter 3.1 : A new commissioner.

It had been a few days now since Toru had joined the ranks of the mafia. After the Kenzaburo incident, the mafia destroyed all of the organization's premises and rendered them unusable for any future purpose. Haru, on the other hand, was offered a position in one of the mafia's weapons storage hangars to continue taking care of his younger brother, who had been transferred to one of the mafia's hospitals. Indeed, once he had played his role and "delivered" Toru to Dusk, he could only leave with his younger brother, who ultimately had not undergone surgery. Toru would have much preferred if she had been able to slip through the mafia's nets instead of accepting this job. Although it might seem like a good thing for her, it was primarily evidence that Mori was keeping an eye on Toru. It wasn't difficult to understand that recruiting Haru was only a way for Mori to keep him under her mercy and to use him against Toru if she were to act, in one way or another, against the mafia. She thought she would just have to behave herself to avoid any problems for him. She was far from wanting to see someone from her circle suffer or die because of her again.

She was therefore quite docile but did not hide her aversion to Mori despite behaving quite respectfully towards him. As for her direct superior, Hirotsu, she did not find him unpleasant, on the contrary. He was a rather calm and respectable man. The only thing she could perhaps reproach him for as a superior was the constant smell of cigarettes emanating from him.

Since she had been injured during the fight against Kenzaburo, Toru had been entitled to a week's rest, during which she was only in charge of various paperwork in her new office at the mafia headquarters. Given her past experience in a port office as an assistant to a reporter, she had the required qualities for these tasks. From her injuries, she only kept a scar that ran along her right forearm after she had been burned in Dusk's premises. She kept it bandaged and her hand gloved since then and took advantage of this week of tranquility. It had been an eternity since she had been able to stay in the same place without having to constantly move to avoid being targeted. She couldn't bother with a lot of personal belongings either, which would only have cluttered her during her travels. She therefore only had the bare essentials, which contrasted greatly with what she had access to since joining the mafia. Her office and the apartment that had been assigned to her were much more equipped and supplied than what she had known over the past four years. The desk she was sitting at was quite imposing, arranged in a fairly spacious room, not as much as the boss's but still enormous to her.

The boss was absent for the week for a business with one of the mafia's allied organizations and was accompanied by Chuuya, who was his close guard. Hirotsu had a little more supervisory work than usual, and the same was true for Dazai, to whom Mori was increasingly entrusting responsibilities. It was quite obvious to Toru that Mori was trying to make Dazai the future boss of the port mafia. The more she thought about it, the more she wondered how he had managed to get him into the mafia... She thought about it while she was sitting at her desk, staring into space towards the window. She had finished her work some time ago and took the opportunity to stay seated at her desk. That's when she heard a knock on the door.
"Ah..."
She looked in the direction of the entrance before answering.
"Come in."

The door opened and she saw Hirotsu entering the room. She then stood up, placing her hands behind her back and bowing respectfully.
"Hirotsu-san."

Hirotsu stood in the room before speaking.
"You've already finished the tasks I gave you, haven't you?"

Toru nodded before answering.
"Everything has been done, indeed."

Hirotsu seemed curious about one thing.
"May I know why you've been holed up in your office all week when you had already finished your work? No one has been after you since the destruction of Dusk."

Toru shrugged.
"I feel good here, that's all. It's been a long time since I've had the opportunity to not move for more than two consecutive hours."

Hirotsu nodded before heading to the door, lighting a cigarette. He stopped at the doorstep, holding the handle as he was about to leave.
"Since you're free and I have nothing else for you to do, you'll be placed under Dazai's orders for the week, he said he needs someone to accompany him on a mission."

Toru seemed surprised by this announcement, however, she simply nodded before bowing again, as a sign of respectful greeting.
"Understood."

_____________________________

Later in the day, Toru headed to the floor where the quarters of the five captains were located, looking for Dazai's. She finally found it and knocked on the door before entering the room.
She found him lying on a couch in front of the desk, reading a book that he held above his head, one hand behind it and his legs crossed. She tilted her head slightly.
"You read that kind of stuff?"

Dazai looked over his book before springing up from his legs to sit down as Toru stood in front of the closed door. He held a book on military strategy, which surprised Toru enough.
"Mori asked me to read it..."
He sighed dramatically before speaking again.
"It's so boring with his books all more boring than the others."

He threw it to the side before getting up and stretching his arms. He then put his hands in his pockets before his expression turned more serious as he looked up at the ceiling.
"Anyway. I wanted to ask you..."

Toru: "hm?"

Dazai looked at her before starting to smile again.
"Have you had time to watch the news recently?"

Toru: "No... not really... why?"

Dazai grabbed a remote control on the couch to turn on the screen that was at the back of the room.
"Watch this."

The screen turned on and displayed a press conference paused. It showed a man being questioned by journalists in front of the police headquarters.

Toru: "Who's that guy?"

Dazai, who was also looking at the screen, started the broadcast of the recording with the remote control.
"The new commissioner of the city."

The screen then showed the speech of this new commissioner, who introduced himself as one Yasunari Kawabata, the new commissioner of the city since the previous one had recently been arrested after a corruption scandal by the mafia. He seemed rather bold and confident in his convictions, almost presenting himself as a savior. In terms of appearance, he had nothing special, apart from a ridiculous brightly colored tie.

Kawabata: "The portrait of our beautiful city is only too tainted by the crime that reigns here and the poison that is the mafia, circulating in each of its institutions, including the police."

He made a lot of analogies with art in his speech... surely he was quite sensitive to such things... In any case, his speech was clear: he would put an end to the mafia's actions as soon as possible.

When the press conference was completely broadcast, Toru spoke, crossing her arms.
"He's really ambitious... After all, that's probably how he managed to climb the ranks so quickly and take over the place of the former commissioner..."

Dazai nodded before sighing dramatically and starting to complain theatrically.
"Yes... and the boss charged me with taking care of his case in his absence. He took Chuuya with him and I thought I could enjoy my week of tranquility... but then this idiot decides to ruin everything by wanting to play the hero."

Toru looked at him before raising an eyebrow.
"So you want me to help you finish this faster and have more free time, right?"

Dazai suddenly started to smile, nodding his head.
"Exactly."

Toru sighed.
"Why me?"

Dazai's expression then turned to an enthusiasm still as theatrical.
"Because you are someone trustworthy who can be counted on when help is needed?"

Toru blinked, her expression still dubious.
"And the real reason?"

Dazai's expression fell a little but he still kept a slight smile.
"Hirotsu was tired of seeing you holed up in your office all the time and thought that someone your age would surely convince you to go out a bit..."

Toru: "Ah..."
She sighed again... she won't get anything more out of him even if it seemed quite obvious to her that it wasn't the only reason.
"Where do we start?"

Dazai: "Well... one of our agents found out where Kawabata is frequenting right now. We're just... going to try to talk to him a little..."