But in the End

Race Against Time

Ten days.

We have ten days before the second side of the page is written. As my father went to relay the information to Dazai, the rest of us began to plan on how we can take the page before that day comes.

That was two days ago.

Meeting up with my father in a secluded part of town, it was decided that since the Agency are wanted criminals, the three of us are to make use of Lucy's ability 'Anne of Abyssal Red' to stay in until infiltrating.

No doubt Dazai thought all this through after receiving my father's message. The man is scarily accurate with planning and the outcomes. Which in turn, leaves no chance of doubting the mission's turnout.

As Lucy makes her way into the Sky Casino, we will be inside her room until the time comes. Luckily we didn't have to wait too long before Lucy opened the door, telling us the coast was clear to come out.

Stepping out of the room, I noticed that we were in one of the hotel rooms the Sky Casino offered to its guests. I took a seat on the couch, Kyouka coming to sit beside me as Atsushi sat down on the bed.

"Well, we got this far." I spoke up, glancing over to Lucy. "I'm assuming you had no issues so far?"

Lucy looked at me as she sat against the table on the other side of Kyouka and I. "No, it was fairly easy if I say so."

"Uah!" Atsushi gasped out, causing the three of us to look at him. "I hear fighting. The Hunting Dogs are on the move again."

"Means they're onto us already..." I mumbled out, glancing at the ceiling above me. "Those bastards really live up to the name Hunting Dogs, huh?" I let out a chuckle. "They're like damn bloodhounds."

"As the first stop in stopping this terrorist attack, we'll have the Hunting Dogs discover the coin bombs and while they're busy, we'll take control of the Comms Room." Atsushi recalled the discussion we went over about the plan. "By working with the Hunting Dogs to stop a terrorist attack, we'll prove once and for all that we couldn't be the terrorists. And we capture Sigma, who's a member of the Decay of Angels and knows where the page is. That's exactly how Dazai's plan will work."

"Yeah, it will." I replied, resting my face into a serious one. However, the one pulling the strings is Fyodor, a man who is also insanely intelligent and is able to send orders to those on the outside. I picked my head back up, glancing to the door of the hotel room. No doubt there'll be complications in this mission.

I let out a chuckle. In the end, it's a battle of wits and who will come out on top. We are just pawns on a chess board. I have no doubt we will win.

With a nod, the four of us began to put the plan in action. Atsushi, Kyouka, and I ran out of the room and began running down the halls of the building.

As we ran through some of the halls, we began to encounter guards of the Casino. Not wasting any time, the two of us opted to take them down and continue to move.

"Kyouka! (Y/N)!" Atsushi exclaimed, causing the two of us to stop running, turning towards him. "I can hear fighting below us, it's starting now. Must be the Hunting Dogs."

"Meaning, we need to hurry this up." I placed a hand on my hip, glancing at the guards Kyouka took out. "It'd be easier if these bastards weren't all over the place."

I snapped my head up at the sound of glass breaking. Glancing over to the window, I saw Kyouka used her Demon Snow to cut it open. "You ought to be able to scale down the building to the bottom floor using your tiger claws. You should go!"

Hearing footsteps, I turned my body completely, holding a hand up and activating my ability to weaken the guards. "We don't have time to waste!"

"Leave this to me and (Y/N)." Kyouka added before Astushi could refuse.

Knowing the two of us were right, he made his way out of the window, scaling down the side of the building. "We should move too." I told Kyouka as she joined me in taking the guards down as more came.

After a few minutes went by, we finally came to a hallway that was empty, taking a moment to catch our breath. I went to the corner and flushed myself against the wall, glancing to see if anyone was coming or not.

"(Y/N), can you hear me?"

Diverting my gaze to my pocket, I pulled my phone out, nodding my head. "Yeah, what's going on?"

"You and Kyouka need to group back up with Atsushi and Lucy. The plan failed."

I furrowed my eyebrows in confusion as my father told me this. "What do you mean 'it failed'?"

"Sigma fell and is now more than likely dead and one of the Hunting Dogs saw Atsushi attempting to save him."

I let out a sigh. "I see. Well, alright then. The two of us will head that way now."

...

"So then... what are you going to do now?" Lucy asked all of us. I glanced down to the floor, unsure myself.

"We have to start looking for more clues." Atsushi spoke up. "We might've missed something small. I'm sure... if we all work... together... we'll find some-"

"Atsushi!" I exclaimed as he fell to the ground. I bent down beside him, seeing he fell unconscious. "He's out cold..." I glanced around, seeing a couch. "Kyouka, help me get him on the couch."

Nodding, Kyouka came over and helped as the both of us threw one of his arms around our shoulders, dragging Atsushi over to the couch and lying him down on it.

"I-I can get a wet cloth to put on his head!" Lucy exclaimed, rushing about to do exactly that. Kyouka and Lucy knelt down beside Atsushi as she placed the cloth on top of his head. "He won't wake up."

"Any idea what happened?" I asked, Lucy. "Did you see anything when you retrieved him earlier?"

Lucy shook her head, a concerned look on her face. "No idea... I didn't see the fight."

I let out a sigh, crossing my arms. "Wha-?!" I gasped out as Atsushi suddenly rose up into a sitting position.

"Atsushi!" My father gasped out, surprised as well.

Atsushi opened his eyes, turning to look in my fathers direction. "Ango I... I know where the missing page is."

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Published: 09/09/2024