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EP: I Can't Change My Mold, Final

The demon prodigy's voice was quiet yet absolute. Atsushi was lost. He could feel himself spiraling. The thoughts never stopped. He didn't know what Gin said, but Gin was clearly above anger. He couldn't imagine seeing that and being unable to stop it. To defend that special person from their own choices. And Dazai, he just didn't know anymore.

Dazai starts to lecture the members.

Atsushi wished it would move forward, feeling stuck in this recycle. He had to reckon with it and make up his mind. But wasn't his mind already made up? Hadn't he already said this ghost was not the man who saved him? He was exhausted. He kept falling, and all he could hope for was the crash.

"–they say he lacks the guts to kill anyone. It's hard to imagine a person like that being your associate."

Atsushi finally tuned back into the events unfolding on screen. Besides the general anxiety and stress, he also found himself fascinated with every word that the mafiso said. He was trying to parse through it and make it make sense. How could he shoot his apprentice and then go back to being busy as usual? A voice whispered, 'cause it is busy as usual.'

"You've made two errors of judgment," Dazai corrected.

Akutagawa was not in the back row of the Port Mafia section. From this height, everything looked different. The view was good, but the frame seemed smaller somehow... The weight of his failures just seemed to stack up. His eyes drifted down to Dazai and the weretiger. 'He never answered the question,' thought Akutagawa. A part of him wondered whether Dazai had ever intended to... And whether he even wanted to know the truth. It didn't matter now, not when the silence gave him some peace. His sister's presence was nice, grounding him.

"Huh," the grunt said.

Yosano shook her head, her eyes casted away.

"Guts have nothing to do with who we should associate with."

Ranpo could agree with the statement. Not everyone has to be brave and strong to be reliable. Not everyone can be a Kunikida who always did the right thing. Some of us have done the worst and try to do better. Sometimes, just having someone who is willing to lie with you in the dirt is enough. Ranpo guessed this was one of those moments because he didn't honestly disagree with Dazai's actions; he understood them in a sickening way. Someone who was out of ideas and ways to make it better. It didn't make it right, just...

Dazai's eyes sharpened, "The other is a warning. If you value your own safety, remember this."

Atsushi could feel it. Dazai was trying to bury this lingering pain under a calm, clear mindset. To keep it all together, but the cracks were there. Maybe Atsushi was blinded by the demon prodigy to have ignored the stress he was under. Stress manifests in anger and frustration in Akutagawa.

"Don't make him angry..."

Then came Oda, this unknown person that Dazai held in such high regard. It was surprising that he had heard Dazai praise a few people before. But this felt different; it was almost like Oda was a part of him as if they were close yet far away. Atsushi wanted to get to know Oda, the Oda that Dazai praised. He would love to sit down and eat his favorite food together. He wants to hear stories about Dazai and Oda's adventures. He wanted... Something had happened.

"When Odasaku unleashes, he's more terrifying than any port Mafia member. You could never hope to defeat him in a million years."

Maybe Oda didn't feel the same way Dazai did, or Oda grew to hate Dazai, or maybe Oda was not the man he betrayed himself to be. All of this tinged in his head, bouncing around against the walls, inspiring a headache. If Chuuya and the rest of the mafia were here, there is no reason why Ango and Oda aren't. That was not an accident. Screenbro has been intentional with all their actions: the rooms, infirmary, the gym, and everything throughout, precise and meticulous.