Territory of Light (Bungou Stray Dogs X OC)

Episode 35:Truth Above All Lies

"It was D-Dazai...Dazai Osamu...it was him who sent us here." The woman said in panic.

I took a deep breath and sighed.

Seriously...

"Dazai, huh. I get it..." I said in a low tone.

No wonder it's too messed up.

"Dazai, you planned this the moment you got here. From the very beginning, you were planning on taking me back with you, am I right?" I stared to the dagger I'm holding.

"Yuko..." He called. 

"But then you realized that I've already grown attached to Okin-san and Obaa-san, which gave me more reason not to go back. Even if I told you that you can call me with you, you want me to come willingly. But now that I have a family, it's much harder for me to leave this place...you've seen my hesitations. That's why you hired assassins, on the spot to cover up your plans and eliminate Okin-san and Obaa-san."

"You set this up on the tour so that you'll have an opportunity to poison me, or at least dull my senses."

I was still holding the dagger on the woman's neck, looking at Dazai now.

He looked at me seriously.

"You had two calculations. First, if I was completely poisoned, I would've been still asleep by now and you'll lead the assassins to where the house is."

"The goal was to make it look like an ambush. An assassination where I couldn't do anything since I was also rendered useless. If I wake up with my family already dead, and I'm left with nothing again. That way there's no other choice for me but to come with you."

I thought of that because the woman slipped it earlier. She mentioned about me going back to my ditch...that I was a stray.

Only few people know about that, not even Okin-san and Obaa-san. Only the people who knew of my past. And clearly, the woman couldn't possibly be so smart to figure that out on her own.

If someone told them, then that person isn't just random. It's someone who knew me well...

"But then, there's one problem..." I continued.

"You weren't really sure if the poison would completely work on me, or not. Also because I was able to notice them much earlier, you know that there won't be anymore second time for your plans."

"Knowing that there's someone spying around, you know that I won't let this go, right? This plan must only be a one-time strike..."

That's actually true.

If I learned that someone is aiming for the two ladies back home, of course I won't let that slide. Whoever they are, I'll track them down...

"And so if I noticed them, the goal was to make it look like they're after your head first. But since I also figured that one out, they shifted it back to the original plan to cover you up. So that I won't get suspicious of you..."

"You made them believe that I won't hurt them, so that they'll go along with it...you gave them that false assurance."

"But then you didn't really want them to escape, right? Like I said, this is a one-time plan. Letting me know that they're targeting Okin-san and Obaa-san, you knew I won't let go of this. And so to dispose of your pawns...you'll have me do it instead. Not neccessarily kill them, but at least silence them."

"You made me think that you're also their target because you wanted me to side on you. I told you I want to protect you...and by protecting you, it means that I will not suspect you as the mastermind."