Enemies

Kidnapping

"Why is he calling me?" Ren sighed to herself as her phone rang.

"Hi Ren, I've got some news." His tone was more serious than it usually was, causing her to pay more attention.

"What is it, Dazai?" She asked in a business-like tone.

"Atsushi-kun has been kidnapped. Kyouka said there was a fight between him and Fitzgerald, then he managed to kidnap Atsushi-kun, and Nathaniel Hawthorne is currently in hospital."

"We fought him recently and killed Mitchell so that's probably why. Do you know where they've taken Atsushi? Or have you not asked Ranpo yet?"

"They're in this ship thing, the Moby Dick which is also Herman Melville's special ability. Maybe try get some more information on Hawthorne's ability through Akutagawa. What does he think of you anyway?"

"He thinks of me as you." Dazai stayed silent for a few seconds.

"Ok. Well, that was the update on the current situation. I think Atsushi will be fine. I have faith in my subordinate. Bye Ren."

"Bye." She hung up and kept working, and Chuuya knocked on her door. "Can I work in peace for five minutes?" She muttered to herself as he let himself in.

"Do you know where Akutagawa went? I heard from Higuchi that he went to the Guild's hideout, which is this Moby Dick thing. Should we bring him back?"

"This is Akutagawa we're talking about, though the main concern would be him beating the shit out of Atsushi. They're both gifted with powerful abilities, but Atsushi is currently with Fitzgerald. We might supervise the situation to make sure they don't do anything stupid or reckless out of hate. I hope to not get too involved in the situation. I'm not specialised in this kind of field work." She said without skipping a beat. 

"You're pretty good at it though. I have a proposal. We go investigate but stay out of the actual fighting unless it is absolutely necessary."

"Fine. But do not bring me along to your little shenanigans when I'm trying to catch up on paperwork because Kajii destroyed a ship. Look for someone Akutagawa is more afraid of next time." They strode out of the building and toward the Moby Dick, standing in front of the ship flying in the bleeding sky.

The sun had begun to set, and a few figures stepped out and seemed to be fighting. They looked tiny, but the brief flashes of coloured light made it obvious that they were ability users. A figure whose tall demeanour seemed to resemble Fitzgerald was with the two others, and it soon became clear that they were Atsushi and Akutagawa. Ren raised an eyebrow.

"At least they're getting along for now." She said softly as she watched them.

She didn't want to doubt their abilities and knew they were capable enough. She herself wouldn't have stood much of a chance with Fitzgerald other than relying on her stamina to chip away at his seemingly endless pile of wealth. On the surface, abilities seemed to make people almost seem omnipotent, allowing them to do things no normal human could do, or on the level of God, but there would also be people trying to research and dissect them, and their ability could easily harm a lot of innocents who had nothing to do with them. It was all a matter of what the person chose to do with their abilities. Some let it define their life, making it so that it was their only trait, and without it they'd be nothing. Others had it as an accessory, a booster that allowed them to achieve greater heights without degrading their personality.

Akutagawa seemed overly obsessed with being strong and calling others weak, but that would've had to do with the way Dazai treated him. She'd attempted to not seem like she would be the same to Akutagawa, but if he hadn't seen Dazai in her, he probably wouldn't have been so afraid and at least have made more attempts to injure her with Rashoumon. He tended to rely on Rashoumon for most of his combat skills, so she found it harder to gauge his physical strength by itself without any help from his ability.