"So… you let the newcomer fall into the Guild hand?"
"…"
At the agency office, a heavy atmosphere lingering in the small room as Atsushi prostrated, heart full of regret against a particular man, who clearly expressed nothing much in exchange.
After coming back from the building, Atsushi quickly informed Fuuzawa about the whole thing, as he then bowed before his request for punishment…
"Yes…"
Atsushi answered Fukuzawa's vague question with a heavy tone, not daring to look at everyone. The guilt of letting a comrade get captured after the fight is too much for him to bear, but he can't also let him be relieved from it.
After all, he has let them escape right before his very eyes, and worse, letting him get the newcomer without doing anything in response. He has let himself too comfort to pay attention to the surroundings, despite having the most combat capability out of the 3 at that time.
"I… have no excuse."
Atsushi slowly speaks up with a voice filled with guilt and sorrow, as his confidence in himself slowly plummets to rock bottom.
On the other side, the ADA president looks down on Atsushi with an indifferent look, as everyone else just keeps staring at both of them with varied expressions, mostly concerned for Atsushi. Only Dazai and Ranpo keeping a straight face about all of this, even joking with each other about the whole thing.
"… I won't punish you, Atsushi."
Letting out a sigh, Fukuzawa slowly spoke down to Atsushi with a clear voice along with a straight face, not showing any sign of anger.
"After all, as a newcomer, you have a long way to go. Consider this a valuable lesson, Atsushi."
With a calming voice, he enlightened Atsushi which earned a slight twitch from him, and he then slowly left the office as everyone else looked at his back with mild concern. And still, despite Fukuzawa leaving, Atsushi's still in the position, feeling himself being more irresponsible than ever.
He failed to protect both Kyouka and the newcomer, failed to even do anything in the end, and he's even let them get away with the newcomer. If he's still in the orphanage house, death will still be a mercy for him for this mistake.
And because of that, he can't bear to stand up again, since he has basically been useless while everyone else has risked his survival, for the one that is worth less than a dime…
He thought he could protect someone, to gain their acknowledgement, to escape the haunted past with his own hand, to belong to somewhere… And yet, in the end, he couldn't protect a single man.
And on the other side, standing alone in a corner of the office, is a little girl wearing a red kimono with a complicated expression.
Kyouka slides her finger on the katana hilt, thinking back about what the newcomer said with her just before the capture, doubting whether what he's said is true or else… After all, she's been believing in the fact Demon Snow killed her parents, and all of this is her fault only.
She's been resentful of her own power, her own self, as her life seemingly haunted by its very presence. Just because of this thing, she was forced to indulge her hand with others' blood, as she was forced to witness every single death caused by her own hand.
And yet, today, another person has told her otherwise, that her power isn't a curse or a burden but actually the last gift from her mother, which started to waver her belief.
From that moment on, despite not fully trusting his word, she started to have doubts about the whole thing. She's been trying to get rid of such concern, but her doubt just keeps getting bigger with each passing second.
Kyoua slightly clenched her hand on the hilt, frowned in anger as remembering the moment the newcomer disappeared right in front of her. She has let his conviction to blind her judgment, letting those fools easily get him away inches before both her and Atsushi.
Even if his story is false, the fact that she, a trained assassin, has allegedly failed her mission is still there. How can she live through the fact knowing she herself have failed the very first mission in the Agency, albeit not official, and changing her life around?
Even worse, throughout the whole thing, she didn't even do any significant things despite being the most experienced in the group.
The only thing she did in the whole conflict, however, was to use her uncontrollable ability to deal with both of them, which was done with the hand of the newcomer, who had her phone, the only thing that can control Demon Snow, at the time.
And yet, in spite of everything, she failed the easiest thing of watching over the two enemies, and let them escape while also getting the newcomer anyway…
"That's enough."
A quiet sound echoes through the whole office, gaining the attention of both Atsushi and Kyouka. It was a young man wearing a long coat, looking down at both of them with a thoughtful look.
"Do you guys still want to sit here and groan about the whole thing…"
He pauses, looking at both of them to check for attention, and continues.
"… Or you guys wanted to save him?"
Immediately, Kyouka and Atsushi approached Dazai, with a hint of hope glittering in their eyes.
"Please, Dazai-san, tell us how to save us."
"Dazai-san! Do you have any plans to retrieve him back from them?"
Dazai let out a faint smile with how energetic they are, compared to how lifeless they were a few moments ago, and answered them with a cheerful voice.
"Of course ~ !"
"…"
Everyone looks at Dazai with a complicated face with a hint of distrust, except Ranpo who's still acting all goofy, as Dazai starts to explain his plan for both of them…
And while all unfold, at a luxury hotel near the port side, a young man started to regain his consciousness.
"Ugh…"
After feeling a bit dizzy and slowly regaining my composure, I took a look at the surroundings. The first thing that falls into my view is all the expensive objects lying around the room, with a whole glass wall showing the outside right in front of me.
Hm… based on how luxury this damn place is, combine with what I remembered right before waking up, which means—
"Hello, young man."
I slowly turned around the direction of the strange yet confident voice, and I immediately wanted to facepalm myself if not for being handcuffed right now.
Standing on the side is a young man, wearing an expensive-looking tuxedo with blonde hair and a handsome face, now bears a confident grin. He slowly comes to the sofa right opposite of me and sits down, not even lifting his eyes out of me for even a second.
Yep, this is the Guild mastermind, the one who basically funded the whole organization, the one and only Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald.
In all honesty, I don't hate him with how he acted in the manga, especially after knowing his backstory, but seeing him directly in the flesh like this… feels weird.
Now, the real question here is how to act in front of this guy…?
The fact that he personally came here means that he valued his time with me more than his business, so playing dumb would be out of the equation.
He also would have already looked for my information, which is closer to 0 than anything, which would doubledown his doubt on me and make my word harder to get through with him.
So the only way out for me in this situation, ironically, is to be honest, which honestly could be a bad move considering the Guild's eventual conclusion…
… Goddammit, if only I paid a little more attention to the duo earlier…
"I take it you're the mighty… Fitzgerald?"
Let out a silent sigh, I asked the opponent with a faint smile, which earned a surprising expression from him.
"Oh my, so you do know my name…"
"Of course, how could I not remember such an ambitious yet talented man like you sir?"
I greeted with some compliments, which is honestly what I thought about him for most of the time, as the guy's expression became more relaxed.
"And I have to say, your mission is as impressive as your whole life, sir. To travel all the way from the US, you must be really eager to get your hand on that particular novel work right sir?"
"… I see…"
For a slight second, less than a moment to be exact, I can clearly see his facade drop off, letting me see a hint of discomfort deep behind his eyes.
Well then, if this comes to this, might as well ball'ed with this to the end.
"So they were right… you do know the future."
"Ho?"
Know the future… I see, so those 2 have heard what Kyouka was talking about at that time. Not that would harm me in any way, though.
"You knew where the thing was, right?"
With a gentle yet brilliant smile, he asked me with a soothing voice, one that could make the opposing loosen their guard against him. And yet, to me, that doesn't work in the slightest.
"… Not exactly."
I squinted my eyes and staring him down, the smile in my face gradually disappeared. Although, on Fitzgerald's side, his smile isn't exactly faded like mine, quite contrary, his face begins to bright up once more.
"So you do have information about it…"
With the brightest smile I ever seen, the guy hung his hand toward me, which could only mean one thing…
"How much can I pay for the information?"
… In that he will try to get the information from me by any means necessary.
I look at his hand still hanging right in front of me, as I slowly let out a silent smile.
This situation… is exactly what I wanted…!