Will This Night Be Endless?

Chapter Three - Thursday's News

  The train arrived late leading to Dazai and Kyouka to look for a hotel room at twelve am, and once they found one it wasn't the nicest place but the little girls guardian decided it'd woke until morning.
  Upon entering the room Kyouka immediately went to bed, but Dazai didn't and instead went into the bathroom and curled himself up underneath the sink.
  "You look down, Dazai."
  Jumping up from where he sat beneath the sink, the suicidal man allowed his eyes to look around the small bathroom and out the cracked door. He could still hear the fourteen year old snoring from outside the cramped room and figured he was just getting delusional. In his defence, he hadn't slept in three days.
  "You've never not wanted to talk to me."
  Now Dazai was plain afraid, he turned to look in the bathroom mirror. It was dusty and anyone looking at it could tell it hadn't been cleaned for a while. Inside the mirror Dazai found his eyes were bright blue and he was sweetly smiling. "It hurts when you don't even say hello, you know."
  Dazai has thought he had been sitting under the sink the whole time, or that his hands were currently over his mouth, but deep inside his mind, he knew that all along he'd been looking into that mirror.
  It all made sense now, Dazai felt hollow and looking around himself, he saw he was in the same position he found himself in when the Amalgamation took over. He was merely a spectator, watching as his body moved all on its own.
  He shook his head and glared at where the entity stood in the mirror. "This has never happened before! This shouldn't be happening, I take on abilities I don't gain their personalities. Even the Amalgamation doesn't just randomly kick me out!"
  The blue eyed reflection laughed softly, "that's true, but seeing me die probably triggered some kind of break down up in your noggin. We both knew that your ability would have side effects, Pandora's Box is like a virus. I always knew it'd be the end of you."
  Dazai leaned on the sink and looked down, Sakunosuke never acted like this when he was alive. He bit down on his tongue. He could still remember his lover's strawberry red hair, the hair he'd run his hands through or the light skin he'd touch whenever he'd hold his hand.
  "What are you? Is the Amalgamation toying with me? What'd I do to make it mad?" His hands could have made holes in the sink as he gripped it tighter, looking up at his reflection, he felt weak. "Why are you here?!"
  God, it even sounded like him.
  The reflection seemed to lean forwards, "I'm here because you are having a nervous breakdown caused by trauma and no sleep. And of course it's angry," the reflection's eyes flashed as it smiled smoothly, "you let its prey get away."
  Dazais eyes widened as he raised his fist, shattering the mirror. He blinked a few times after doing so and then looked down at his hand, it was trembling, red, covered in many small glass shards, and his index finger was broken. "Dazai?" He turned and realized he'd woken the girl up, "what happened?"
  The question of 'are you okay?' lingered for a moment but it was never spoken out loud, the answer to that was clear. "I'm fine, I don't know what happened. I'll just wrap my hand and then go to bed, is that okay?"
  The girl with pigtails didn't believe him. "I know how your ability works. It's hurting you, isn't it? I could hear two voices."
  Biting his lip he looked down, "we'll talk more in the morning." Realizing that was the best answer she'd get, Kyouka retired leaving Dazai to look into the broken mirror for a long while. Maybe if he'd look at it for enough, he'd show up again and he'd get to hear his voice again.

  Ranpo carried a bouquet of red, white, bright yellow, and pink roses as he walked through the hospital, his shoes clicking on the cheap tile. When he got to the front desk, he cleared his throat to get attention and then looked down when the woman looked up at him, "ugh, what room is Fukuzawa Yukichi in?"
  The woman smiled at him, "relation?"
  Still refusing to look up due to his red, puffy face, he slowly answered, "I'm his son." As he said this, Ranpo couldn't decide if it was a statement or a question, but the lady obliged.
  "We moved him yesterday, he's in room 304."
  Ranpo looked up slightly, "why'd you move him?"
  The woman picked at her nails and murmured something under her breath before responding, "he's no longer responding to chemo, so we had to move him to another sect of the hospital."
  The bouquet he had fell to the floor as he sprinted towards Fukuzawa's room. He had hoped his ability, Pomegranate, had been wrong, and now he feared it wasn't. Ranpo of course knew otherwise, but he just couldn't let himself dwell on it for too long.
  Yesterday when Yosano found him having a seizure beneath his desk, and she had given him his injection, she demanded to know why he'd activated his ability without notifying anyone.
  "I had to know if the president would be alright."
  "Will he?"
  He stayed silent and gave her the answer she'd needed.
  Remnants of his visions lingered as he ran through hallway after hallway. Sakunosuke saying it smelled of death, a giant '13', red paint turning black, and the sound of a flatline.
  He rounded the corner on the ball of his foot and barged into the hospital room, panting. The man looked up from The Sleepwalker's Death and smiled, "hello Edogawa."
  The detective was indignant and shut the door behind him before placing his hand on the wall to steady himself, "why didn't you tell us?"
  Slowly closing his book, the silver haired man sighed and frowned slightly. "I didn't want to worry you."
  "Worry us?" Ranpo opened his eyes and smirked, "bullshit! Complete and utter bullshit! You're in the last leg of life and instead of warning us, or-or at least telling me of all people, you stayed silent and sat in here reading?" His eyes were wet and shone in the dull hospital light. "You can't go yet." He sniffed, "Kunikida-san will be an amazing leader, but not yet. His time hasn't come yet, and neither has yours."
  Fukazawa's lip trembled slightly as he looked at the book again, "the reason I love this book, is because you wrote it. Your writing sure wasn't what it is now, but it still gives insight into the mind, among other things." He chuckled. "My time has come, Edogawa. It was decided the minute I came in here and my test results came back positive. I had a good run, I got to change so many lives, and I got to meet you." The man smiled sweetly and looked back up, his eyes too getting wet, "I thought I would live forever when I was your age. Can you do something for me?"
  Ranpo balled his fists, "yeah?" His voice cracked as Fukazawa grabbed The Sleepwalker's Death, a pencil, and wrote a quick message in it. "First off, make sure to only activate your ability near Yosano-san, secondly, read this when you get into the car. Sound good?"
  "That's all? That's all you can say to me?! I loved you like a father and now that you're dying, you throw me the fuck aside? Why am I not allowed to care, or stay here, or try and find a way to help?" His voice got slow and low as he tried to control the feeling building in the back of his throat, "it's not fair, I don't just want a book, I want you to come back to work and to help us longer. Is that too much to ask?"
  Placing the book on the table beside him, saying Ranpo could grab it at any time, Fukazawa leaned his head back but his eyes stayed on the younger man in the room. "I'm not throwing you away. It's just that I've suddenly discovered that I have known the world, and that's why I don't want my son to watch me die. So if you could, please honor my last wishes." He held out his hand, "you come here a minute?"
  His breath shook, but he walked forwards and took his hand as the sounds in the hospital got less and less easy to hear. "This isn't meant to be fair, Edogawa. Once Sakunosuke-kun came to visit and I could tell he wanted to cover his nose by the way his hand twitched, I figured my life was coming to end.
  "You would have made an amazing leader if you stepped up to it, but we both know you belong here, in the field. You are here to help people, not to rule them. So go and help them, guide Kunikida-kun the best you can and do what you can out there. What happens in here has already been determined. So take the book, and change the world, like we said we would when we formed our Agency. Okay?"
  Ranpo shook his head and blinked to keep the tears at bay, "I'll do that. I'll do that, but just so you know, the moment your condition gets bad, I'm getting into this hospital room one way or another. It's a horrible thing to die alone."
  The two soon gave their goodbyes and the book was taken from the side table. Closing the door, Ranpo began to sniffle and as he looked around the empty hallway, he opened the book:
" 人は、子供が生まれ、その中で世界を見て、その子供と一緒にそれを保持できるようになるまで、世界を知ることはできません。"
  The book toppled from his hands and Ranpo slowly sunk down to the ground, he prayed no one could hear him while he hid his face in his hands, and whimpered.

  Giggles laced the air as Junichiro walked through the doors of the Port Mafia to tell the new boss why he arrived so late.
  In the corner of his eye, he could see someone with long black hair following him and he immediately sped up. A ghost of a hand brushed through his short orange hair as a voice said, "you used to love it when I did that, He Who Takes."
  "You don't exist anymore." He answered, closing his hazel eyes tightly as he pushed the elevator button. Opening his eyes he just about fell backwards, a girl in her late teens stood in front of him, she had the same light skin and smile, but her eyes were silver and she had a beauty mark under her left eye.
  Tippy toeing, she smiled, "you need to get in here. The elevator may leave without you." He ran his hand through his short, curly orange hair and stepped into the elevator. The teenager stood close to him, her hands folded behind her back. She hummed a tune he couldn't quite make out and she bounced on the balls of her feet. "What you did was quite stupid you know."
  The girl was still smiling and there was still a hint of laughter in the air, "what's that supposed to mean?" Junichiro asked, looking at the girl out of the corner of his eye. As of late, he's been seeing her everywhere, her black hair flowing in the wind or her sneakers thudding against the empty hallway floors.
  "So you'll actually talk to me if I sound cryptic? Isn't that a little bit harsh, older brother?" The orange haired teens stomach hurt, he hated talking to her, seeing her hurt, hearing her voice hurt. "Whatever the reason, you shouldn't have left the ADA. That was very irresponsible."
  Turning all the way around, he put the emergency stop on the elevator and shoved the girl against the wall, "you can't tell me what to do anymore, Naomi. In case you haven't noticed, you're dead."
  She laughed. "You obviously don't think I am. Otherwise you wouldn't be looking at me right now, and you won't be here, in the bed of the enemy, trying to kill the only people who would have understood you. Last time I checked, you're the only dead one here, He Who Takes."
  And just like that, his little sister was gone, and the elevator was moving again.

  Chuuya tapped his pencil against his desk, looking towards the door with a blank stare. In the corner of the room, the boy-doll found himself curled up, rocking himself for comfort. A mimic of breath left him as his chest rose and fell quickly, his head felt light and his stomach hurt. Why did his stomach always have to hurt?
The tapping of the pencil stopped as Kenji looked up at the door which opened slowly, "sorry it took me so long to get up here, boss." The boy-doll's eyes widened as he nuzzled his face into his legs. It was unbelievable, rumors had spread around the Agency saying that the remaining Tanizaki sibling had joined the Port Mafia, but the young man had never wanted to believe it.
  "So? Are the Dazai's dead?" Chuuya asked softly, looking back down at his pencil in thought. "Even one would be enough, they'll go mad without the other." Silence hardened in the air as the new boss of the Mafia slammed his pencil against the desk and sat up to look Junichiro dead in the eyes. "I expect an answer, pretty boy."
  Gulping, the teen nodded. "Sakunosuke Dazai is dead. Omasu escaped; however, I couldn't quite escape the Amalgamation." Rolling up his jacket sleeve, the Tanizaki revealed a black hand print that was branching out on his forearm like a spider's web. "I believe he's left town."
  The orange haired man growled and covered Junichiro's arm again. "Kenji." He snapped his fingers and to the horror of both the blonde haired puppet and the new Assassin, he stood and walked over. "I want you to get Tanizaki here the address to the house where Sakunosuke kept the orphans. When you get there, kill them all."

  A certain bug-eyed man gripped his safety buckle and the dashboard fiercely as his car ripped around the street corner and only increased in speed as it continued through traffic. "Atsushi-chan, I'd feel a whole hell of a lot better if you'd slow the fuck down."
  The light turned red and the two of them came to a screeching halt. Both of the young men in the car lurched forwards before the world started to get eerily quiet. "He's dead, Ryunosuke. Both the Dazai's are gone and Junichiro is gone, and Kenji's that P.O.S.'s slave. I can't do this anymore. I can't stay in this city, in this job, I want to run away. I don't care if it's selfish, I feel like I'm dying."
  Placing a hand on his chest, Akutagawa laughed breathlessly, "tell me about it, make my heart palpitations worse, why don't you?" Taking a few deep breaths he grabbed the ablino's hand, "how about this. We finish this case, we'll have our last one be this one, the Dazai's deserve to be avenged, right? They were our friends and mentors and we can't just leave it here. So, when all of this is said and done, we can go and live in the country and get a cat or something."
  Atsushi laughed and placed his forehead on the steering wheel. "Okay. Okay."
  "You should probably go..." Akutagawa said as the honking of the cars suddenly became auditable. Muttering out a curse word Atsushi pressed down the gas pedal causing the bug-eyed man to shrink back into his seat. "Please don't speed!"