Like petals being scatted by a gust of wind, Dazai's body flew backwards. Dazai fell through the zinc roof, and the wooden hut broke into half. Smashing into the fence of the well, Dazai rolled down towards the centre of the crater.
"It's The Sheep!" Hirotsu's shout was suddenly far away. "Dazai-san!"
Rolling down the slope as if the ground's being jumbled, breaking through the barn with dust and pieces of the building thrown in the air - finally it all stopped. Dazai landed on the roof of simple building with plaster walls.
There was something resting on Dazai.
"Hahaha! This is good!" that person laughed. "A kid! You're so short on people that it makes me want to cry, Mafia!" the figure said.
It was a small figure. Like a crow in the dark, it was a boy wearing a green riders jacket. He was about the same age as Dazai.
"It hurts," Dazai replied comfortably as he lay on his back. "I don't like pain."
"Let me give you a choice, brat," the boy in the riders jacket said with his hands in his pockets, "do you want to die now, or die after coughing out your information? Choose the option you like."
"Those are two good choices. I'm excited." Despite having his torso attacked and being hit by the floor and buildings, Dazai's voice was even. "Okay, kill me now."
The figure fell silent for a moment.
Then, he looked upon Dazai as if he finally realised that he was talking to a person with character. "Hmph. I thought you going to cry and escape, but it turns out you're a kid with spirit."
"You're a kid too."
"It's true that everyone who fights me says that at first. But they soon realise that's a mistake. I'm not just a kid. I'm different from you." The boy in the riders jacket clenched his fist tightly. "Now, start talking. Your investigation on Arahagaki. Everything."
The boy stamped on Dazai's injured fist. The back of his shoes caused friction between the bones in Dazai's fist.
"... Ahh... Arahagaki, huh? I see... Arahagaki, right," Dazai said as he looked at the fist that was stepped on as if it belonged to someone else.
"You know something, right?"
"No, it's the first time I'm hearing this," Dazai said calmly.
The boy grinned and promptly kicked up Dazai's body. His toes struck Dazai's bones, causing them to creak.
Dazai groaned in pain.
"Alright. Do you want to challenge the record? The longest was nine times. Any more than that and there hasn't been anybody up till now who could even continue putting on a brave front."
Dazai grimaced at the pain he felt in his bones as he said, "If I give you the information... would you release me?"
"Yeah, sure. Because I'm nice to weak guys."
Dazai fell silent as if he was contemplating this matter. Then, he stared at the boy and, with a serious face, said, "alright... I'll speak." In a serious and nervous voice, Dazai said, "You should drink a little more milk. Since you're short."
The boy's kick struck Dazai's body.
Dazai rolled across the ground and crashed into the fence of a building.
"It's none of your business, you bastard!" the boy shouted. "I'm only fifteen and I'll continue to grow!"
"Haha... then I shall curse you. I'm also fifteen but I'll keep growing and you won't."
"Don't make such an annoying curse!"
The boy approached Dazai and kicked his face. The bones in his neck creaked sharply.
"It... hurts," Dazai said with weak laughter. A trail of blood dripped from corner of his mouth as if the inside was cut. "But thanks to that, I remembered something. The Sheep... a group consisting of underage kids who help each other to establish a major force in Yokohama. I've heard that the group's origin can be traced back to a group of boys and girls gathering together to create a self-defence group to resist things like looting and fighting and human trading. The group adopts an exclusively self-defence policy as its main strategy. However, up till now, there has been no one who went against The Sheep. The reason is simple - those who invade The Sheep's territory will definitely be faced with a terrible retaliation. Dealt by the leader of The Sheep, just one boy... that's right. You're that gravity manipulator, King of the Sheep, Nakahara Chuuya."
"I'm not a king," the boy who was identified as Nakahara Chuuya said with a hard voice. "I just have a trump card is all. A trump card called power. I'm just carrying out the responsibilities that come with it."
After saying that, Chuuya fell silent before looking down upon Dazai and said, "Aren't you terribly well-informed of what goes on inside The Sheep?"
"I was invited to join The Sheep in the past. Though, obviously, I rejected it."
"That was a good judgment. If you were in the same organisation as me, I would have kicked you to death within five minutes of you joining."
"Before that, I would have assassinated you."
The two stared at each other.
Eventually, Chuuya took a few steps backwards away from Dazai.
"Fine. It won't change your fate of being kicked to death within five minutes anyway. Either way, it's not as if pulling some information from a kid would amount to much. I'll send your head to the Headquarters of the fucking Mafia as a declaration of war."
"You won't be able to kill me." Dazai didn't even stir; he just looked at Chuuya evenly in return. "Can't you hear the sound of footsteps?"
"Sound of footsteps?"
