Subtle changes were quietly taking place within the Port Mafia.
Nishida Shibashi took all of this year's paid leave in advance, requested a month-long vacation, and left without a care, dusting off his sleeves as he went to enjoy his break.
A few days later, Kimura Seimei—who had long since vanished without a trace—suddenly resurfaced. He attacked the ability doctor who had come to Japan on holiday and nearly injured Asou Akiya as well, who had been there to discuss the Boss's treatment. Before escaping, he brazenly sneered,
"That old bastard should just hurry up and die!"
The ability doctor had never been much of a fighter to begin with. Terrified by the near-fatal assassination attempt, he fled Yokohama overnight.
A healing-type ability user as valuable as him would be welcomed with open arms by any organization. There was no reason for him to risk his life treating the leader of a mere Japanese crime syndicate.
When the Port Mafia Boss learned that the doctor had fled in fright, his blood pressure spiked with rage that very day.
"Where's the Analyst? Was the Analyst injured too?!"
"Reporting to Boss, Sub-Executive Asou was unharmed. He evaded the attack immediately."
"Kill Kimura Seimei! Hunt him down with everything we've got! I want to see him executed in the cruelest way possible! Whoever brings me his head will be promoted to Sub-Executive!"
This time, the Boss was truly on the verge of losing his mind.
First there had been Asou Akiya constantly interfering with his plans. Then Kouyou refused to obey him. And now a nobody like Kimura Seimei had driven away the doctor he had finally managed to secure.
This concerned his illness.
There was no way he could remain rational.
He would kill them!
He would kill every single person who stood in the way of his treatment!
"Send Yagishita to me."
"Yes, Boss."
Yagishita Kazuyuki, one of the Port Mafia's executives, arrived without delay. After meeting with the Boss, he was given a mission so shocking that even he was taken aback.
Track down the gifted doctor and kidnap him. If he resisted fiercely, kill him on the spot. Leave no survivors.
Yagishita Kazuyuki knew the doctor belonged to an overseas organization. The man had only come after hearing of the enormous bounty circulating through the underworld. Doing this would accomplish nothing except vent the Boss's anger and spark a conflict between two organizations.
Yet when Yagishita met the Boss's bloodshot, crimson eyes, a chill ran down his spine.
He bowed his head and accepted the order without protest.
In Yokohama, the Boss was the king of the darkness. No matter how insane the command, his subordinates had no choice but to obey.
In fact, Yagishita had the distinct feeling that if he refused, the enraged Boss would kill him on the spot without the slightest regard for their past relationship.
After all, a subordinate who refused to obey was useless.
Disguising himself in secret, Yagishita Kazuyuki set out to abduct the doctor.
What happened afterward, no one knew.
After Asou Akiya had fully exploited "Kimura Seimei"'s remaining value, he heard news of the gifted doctor once again.
The intelligence report simply stated that the ability doctor had "disappeared" somewhere in Japan.
Disappeared?
Wouldn't that implicate the Port Mafia?
Asou Akiya made a special trip to the Intelligence Department to privately investigate the organization backing the ability doctor. The man was American, and the name of his organization was remarkably down-to-earth—it was simply called The Club. Akiya had never heard of it before, but its scale seemed fairly ordinary. It was unlikely they would cross the Pacific just to seek revenge.
He continued gathering information on other gifted doctors while reporting his findings to the Boss, hoping to avoid becoming the target of misplaced anger over the incident.
What he hadn't expected was the state which he found the Boss in.
The old man's madness seemed to have deepened. The way he looked at Akiya was no longer that of a person looking at another human being, but at a mere tool. Every trace of mercy had vanished from his eyes.
Terrifying as he was, the Boss still had no intention of harming the Asou Akiya who continued to earn him enormous profits. Instead, he screamed hysterically,
"Raise the bounty! Lure even more gifted doctors to Yokohama! Once they arrive, bring every last one of them to me! I don't care what methods you use!"
Feeling the violent malice radiating from the Boss, Asou Akiya thought he was looking at a demon engulfed in flames. Wrath, greed, pride—the very sins that made up the Seven Deadly Sins were all plainly visible in the old man's twisted figure.
In that instant, he understood what had become of the ability doctor.
The doctor had been captured, the treatment had failed, and somewhere along the way, he had likely said something that provoked the aging Boss.
GG (Goodbye).
Aging and terminal illness—those were the two greatest nightmares for healing-type ability users.
"...Understood. I'll double the bounty."
The Port Mafia belonged entirely to that old man.
No matter how much money Asou Akiya earned, more than eighty percent of it would never be his. That was why he had abandoned long-term profits in favor of short-term windfalls, watching with detached eyes to see what the overwhelming power of wealth would do to the Port Mafia.
With money, he had given countless people stability and happiness.
The Port Mafia, however, used that same money to endlessly expand its arsenal, escalating conflicts with ever greater ferocity.
The Boss' madness could no longer be contained.
Returning to his Sub-Executive office, Asou Akiya sat silently in his chair, staring into space for a long while.
Then he pulled open a drawer.
Inside lay a long, elegant gift box.
Resting within it was a luxurious, crimson scarf.
"Don't force my hand."
If he had a choice... He never wanted to be the one who betrayed first.
In the Logistics Division, Ozaki Kouyou came to see the department's deputy director.
Hazama Kan'ichi was no longer the insignificant clerk he had once been in the Intelligence Department. During this period, he had grown tremendously.
Even so, Hazama Kan'ichi had no idea what Kouyou was going through, nor what she was on the verge of losing. Rising to a high-ranking position within the Port Mafia might require a measure of luck, but becoming entangled in the conflicts among the organization's upper echelon was an entirely different matter.
The moment the man saw the young woman arrive, delight spread across his tired, busy face.
"Kouyou-chan!"
Ozaki Kouyou suddenly found herself losing interest in everything around her.
She loved this man.
The moment the thought of defecting had crossed her mind, her very first instinct had been to elope with Hazama Kan'ichi and leave the Port Mafia together.
Only afterward had the second and third thoughts come—questions of what would happen next.
Love blinded people.
Light beckoned to them.
Like a moth drawn into the flames, she chased after those beautiful things, yearning to experience the ordinary happiness that an ordinary girl could have.
But she had forgotten one thing.
Darkness had its grip wrapped tightly around her.
She wanted to pull herself free from the mire, yet the strength of the man reaching out to her was nowhere near enough.
"Good afternoon, Hazama-san."
After taking a brief moment to compose herself, Ozaki Kouyou smiled at him—a smile as bright and unclouded as ever.
Within the Port Mafia, the only people she could truly trust were him and Akiya-san. Even if Hazama-san wasn't as capable as Akiya-san, she could always encourage him to grow. Given enough time, he would surely become an outstanding man.
Mm. I should start nurturing him sooner...
Just as Akiya-san had said, love should exist between equals. One should strive to become beautiful for the sake of the person they found beautiful.
For some inexplicable reason, a chill suddenly ran down Hazama Kan'ichi's spine.
Must be my imagination.
Kouyou-chan is still as lovely as ever!
If only she could live in an ordinary family outside the underworld... if only she no longer had to kill...
She would surely be happy.
"Kouyou-chan, did you come to see me?" Hazama Kan'ichi asked gently.
"I did," Ozaki Kouyou replied. "I want to try writing a novel. I probably won't have much time to visit you for a while, so could you help me gather some real love stories? The more unusual they are, the better."
Hazama Kan'ichi pondered the request.
"Unusual love stories... The Mafia certainly has no shortage of those."
Mistresses, second mistresses, people involved with both men and women...
There were simply too many to count.
"Of course. I'll put something together for you."
"Thank you."
Kouyou expressed her gratitude, deliberately keeping a little distance between them while filling her gaze with quiet expectation.
Hazama Kan'ichi smiled, completely bewildered.
He had no idea that he had come within a hair's breadth of becoming one of the Port Mafia's most extraordinary exceptions.
Running away together...
Only to die.
And through that death, becoming the unforgettable scarlet mark etched forever into Ozaki Kouyou's heart.
...
As the registration deadline at the end of April approached, countless teenagers across Japan were writing with all their might, hoping to submit their work and compete for the first-place prize of 30,000 yen in the Seishun Award.
The prize money didn't seem like much, but in the eyes of minors, it was a considerable sum.
Of course, children from wealthy families were the exception.
Whenever he had free time, Edogawa Ranpo shut himself away in the study, chewing on the end of his pen as he racked his brains. Piles of discarded drafts surrounded him, each page covered with notes that probably no one else could make sense of.
He wanted to write a mystery that everyone could understand!
Every detail.
Every deduction is broken down step by step.
Every piece of reasoning laid out in full.
Even an idiot should be able to follow it!
Nakahara Chuuya peeked through the study door and found Edogawa Ranpo so utterly absorbed in writing that he couldn't pull himself away. Quietly, he eased the door shut again, careful not to disturb him.
Then Nakahara Chuuya went off to do something appropriate for someone his age—
Like his homework.
No matter where you went, homework was impossible to escape.
In the master bedroom on the second floor, Asou Akiya leaned against the headboard. Hearing the bathroom door open, he turned his head—and the moment he saw Randou emerge in a white bathrobe, he couldn't help but laugh.
Randou's appearance was astonishingly "modern."
His hair was wrapped in a conditioning mask, and a facial sheet mask covered his face. Fresh from his bath, the skin visible beneath his snow-white robe looked flawlessly hydrated, faint wisps of steam rising from him along with the soft fragrance of body lotion.
Even without seeing his face, anyone could tell from his appearance alone that he was an exceptional beauty devoted to skincare.
"Randou, if you go outside looking like that, you'll scare the kids."
"I'll go out later."
Akiya had rekindled Randou's love of beauty, and he no longer resisted these routines. For the sake of a Frenchman's good looks, he absolutely refused to age faster than Akiya!
Randou sat down in an armchair in the bedroom, cradling a cup of hot water and taking small sips.
Asou Akiya had already finished today's lessons.
He wasn't tired. Pulling out a pair of silver handcuffs, he quietly crept over to Randou.
Click.
With a crisp snap, he cuffed together the hands that were holding the cup.
Randou blinked.
"...?"
What exactly are you trying to do?
Asou Akiya beamed as though presenting a treasured discovery.
"I learned a new trick today. Let me show you!"
The black-haired young man produced a thin metal pick from his sleeve. Without using a key, he inserted the needle into the keyhole of the handcuffs, fiddled with it for a few moments—
And with a sharp click, the cuffs sprang open.
"Pretty impressive, right?" he said, grinning from ear to ear as he proudly showed off.
This was a brand-new skill he had just unlocked!
Back in his previous life, he'd always envied those master lock-pickers in anime. Dazai Osamu, in particular, had looked really cool whenever he picked a pair of handcuffs. The sight had captivated the law-abiding citizen he used to be.
Randou promptly confiscated the lock pick.
Then, without another word, he snapped the handcuffs around Akiya's wrists instead.
"Go on," Randou said. "Open them. Do you have another way?"
"...No."
Asou Akiya was dumbfounded.
Without the pick, what was he supposed to use to unlock them? His head?
"When people capture you, they'll search your body," Randou said, drawing on the experience he'd gained in the Black Lizard. "It won't be easy to hide a lock pick like this. You'd be better off spending more time learning hand-to-hand combat."
Akiya replied weakly, "They wouldn't perform such a thorough search on office personnel, would they...?"
No one had ever searched Dazai Osamu in the original story!
That made no sense!
Why was no one brave enough to frisk Dazai, yet everyone would dare lay their hands on him?!
Randou looked at Akiya with his wrists bound together. A gentle warmth welled up inside him, and his gaze softened as he spoke in a quiet, tender voice.
"Let me search you myself and see whether you're hiding anything dangerous. If you can conceal the lock pick well enough to fool me, then I'll admit your lock-picking skills are truly exceptional."
The moment he heard that, Asou Akiya knew exactly what just happened.
He'd accidentally awakened Randou's playful side!
"Finish your face mask first, Randou."
"Give me fifteen minutes!"
Fifteen minutes later, Asou Akiya wore the expression of a man who had completely given up on life. His wrists were cuffed to the headboard of the bed, suffering the "humiliation" of becoming a prisoner's captive after failing to pick the lock.
Well...
He'd ended up using his own body to "break through the enemy's defenses."
"...Phew... By the way... it's Chuuya's birthday at the end of this month. Have you prepared a present for him, Randou?"
"For his gift?" Randou replied. "I'm thinking of buying him a custom-made skateboard. I've seen children riding them lately, and I think Chuuya-kun would like one."
"That's... not what I expected."
"What about you, Akiya?"
"If we're matching the skateboard..." Akiya thought for a moment. "Then a set of skate clothes and a nice pair of protective goggles."
"Goggles? Are they really necessary for skateboarding?"
"I'm worried he'll end up riding that skateboard at motorcycle speeds considering his ability..." Akiya suddenly cried out, "Randou! Stop tormenting my poor waist already! Undo these handcuffs! You should be washing the conditioner out of your hair by now!"
"Aww... I'm still not satisfied."
Reluctantly climbing out of bed, Randou summoned the golden cubes of Illuminations to unlock Akiya's restraints. One of the tiny golden cubes sliced cleanly through the handcuffs, finally allowing Akiya to get up.
After cleaning himself up and rinsing the conditioner from his hair, Randou returned to Akiya's embrace.
He reached out and poked Akiya's firm waist with a fingertip.
"Get stronger."
"..."
Black lines practically appeared across Asou Akiya's face.
"Our sex life isn't even as frequent as it used to be," Randou said tearfully.
"There, there." Akiya patted his head while shamelessly lying through his teeth. "I'm learning ancient martial arts. Once I've improved my physical condition, I'll be able to spend an entire night with you. I'm thinking about our future, you know. Endure it for now, so we can enjoy a lifetime of happiness in the second half of our lives."
Randou believed him.
Blushing, he said shyly, "Akiya, you're so wonderful."
Asou Akiya looked silently toward the heavens.
Does ancient martial arts really have that kind of effect?
He'd ask next time.
As they lay together in bed, Asou Akiya pressed a kiss to the smooth, delicate side of Randou's neck.
"Next month, let's serve as judges for the Seishun Award together. We'll evaluate the submissions ourselves."
With his eyes closed, Randou quietly enjoyed Akiya's affection.
"I'll make sure to tear that person's work apart."
"It's anonymous judging," Akiya reminded him.
Randou cracked one eye open and looked at his sly lover.
"Anonymously, then." He huffed. "I refuse to believe he'll be lucky enough to win first place."
Most of the irritation from last time had already faded, but he still added stubbornly,
"If the novel he writes is complete trash, you're not allowed to take him as your student. I don't want someone with such poor literary ability becoming your disciple."
Akiya agreed without hesitation.
"Deal."
April slipped by in the blink of an eye.
At the end of the month, Nakahara Chuuya put on a new outfit that matched his skateboard, fastened a pair of protective goggles over his eyes, and wore the baseball cap Ranpo had given him. Carrying his skateboard under one arm, he happily ran outside to play.
His eleventh birthday was carefree and joyful.
A child free to laugh to his heart's content.
At the beginning of May, Shibusawa Tatsuhiko sat in his study with dark circles under his eyes as a servant reported the results of their investigation.
"Young Master Tatsuhiko, a total of three hundred and twelve people have entered the Seishun Award. Fewer than twenty of them have prior publishing experience. Your novel has already been submitted to Stewed Pigeon Publishing, and you've successfully signed a publishing contract. After negotiations, you've also secured direct entry into the preliminary round of the Seishun Award."
Shibusawa Tatsuhiko asked absentmindedly,
"Who is my biggest competitor?"
The servant handed him the information they had gathered on Oda Sakunosuke, the author of the short story Prison.
Shibusawa Tatsuhiko studied the file in silence for a while before saying coldly,
"Make him withdraw."
The servant hesitated.
"...I'm afraid that won't be possible. Your teacher is one of the judges for this competition. The list of entrants has already been finalized, and all the manuscripts have already been submitted."
"..."
Competing with abilities was one thing.
Competing through writing was another matter entirely.
Shibusawa Tatsuhiko thought back to the novel he had painstakingly written through countless sleepless nights. Judging it honestly, it was hardly the sort of story an ordinary person would call a novel. It was filled from beginning to end with references to and research on black magic, faithfully adhering to the theme Asou Akiya had assigned him.
His vacant gaze drifted into space as he finally experienced what it meant to rack one's brain until it was empty, with no way of seeing what lay ahead.
Schemes?
They were useless.
Predictions?
How was anyone supposed to predict how readers would judge a work of literature?
...Could he win?
If all else failed...
Would it be acceptable to simply make the other contestants disappear?
If there were no opponents... then the winner would naturally be him…
"...Young Master Tatsuhiko?"
"..."
Shibusawa Tatsuhiko could no longer keep his eyes open. His body slumped sideways on the sofa, and he quietly drifted off to sleep.
The sleeping face of the white-haired boy was beautiful enough to seem like an illusion.
He looked utterly harmless.
Exhausted.
The servant hesitated, still holding back one important piece of information—
Everyone else had submitted short stories, but you entered with a full-length novel!