“We’re getting out of here.”
“What do you think you’re doing?!”
He resisted, but I hoisted him up on my shoulder and made a dash for an exit route. Akutagawa was as light as a tree branch. Someone that thin would bleed out and turn into a mummy in no time. In an instant, I was welcomed by the concentrated fire of the Mimic soldiers’ automatic rifles. Having already seen the attack in a vision, I dived to the side, still holding Akutagawa, and avoided the line of fire. Akutagawa groaned in pain as his wound opened, but I was in no position to comfort him at that moment. I ran away as quickly as I could while firing warning shots at the enemy. Then, right as they took cover, I broke for the man-made forest.
While I heard orders being yelled behind me to pursue, I sprinted through the artificial forest of sparsely planted larches. The trees here should give me a little protection from their attacks, but there was no guarantee this wouldn’t lead us to a dead end.
“Sorry, but I’m gonna have to put you down. Can you run?”
I lowered Akutagawa to the ground. He knelt onto some thick underbrush as fresh blood dripped out of the wound on his stomach.
“I’m Sakunosuke Oda, a friend of Dazai’s. I came to help you escape from this hell.”
I extended a hand, but he simply clutched his abdomen without moving. While his skill was powerful in both offense and defense, I heard he was rather frail physically.
Out of nowhere, I had a vision. After it was over, I lunged backward in response to what I had seen. Then, like a flash of darkness, a blade swung right through where my head just was.
“I’ve heard about you. You’re nothing more than a lackey,” Akutagawa said, panting. His eyes glowed with outrage as if he was going to pounce at me any second.
“Yep.”
“You’re ‘Dazai’s friend’?”
His penetrating gaze shot right through me. It was as if something had set his heart ablaze with utter darkness.
“Yeah,” I replied.
“Dazai told me something once. He said I could train a hundred years and still wouldn’t be able to defeat you.” Akutagawa’s murderous rage swelled and burst forth. “He wouldn’t lie, which is exactly why I can’t forgive you. I’m inferior to even you, the lowest-ranking member of the Mafia? Why? Why? Why?”
Three strips of black fabric soared toward me. Having already seen his attack in a vision, I rolled to the side and dodged. The tree behind me was sliced in two before falling down with a loud crack.
“We don’t have time to fight between ourselves. The enemy will be here any moment now.”
“Why?! Why did Dazai…?!”
I lowered my head until it was almost touching the ground. After cutting down a few trees, the black fabric behind me swung back right over my head. Immediately, a few more trees collapsed.
What a frightening skill. It had extraordinary range and speed. What was more, the blades sliced through everything they touched, making it one of the most powerful skills in the Mafia. The idea of someone this talented at this age was spine-chilling. I could see why Dazai wanted to keep him by his side to train him. However, now wasn’t the time for admiration.
As I shot my pistol at Akutagawa, he sliced the space before him with the black fabric he had apparently been storing by his side. The bullet then sank into the cut space and stopped. However, I already knew about his defense mechanism, so I used that opening to slide to his side and kicked his injured arm with everything I had.
“Gah…?!”
The excruciating pain forced Akutagawa to writhe and fall unconscious. He was already mentally drained from using his skill over
and over again and from guarding multiple times with a technique he wasn’t yet accustomed to using. The kick to the gunshot wound was enough to send him over the edge.
He was barely conscious regardless.
I’d heard that Dazai’s Spartan training style was relentless, but no matter how effective it was in producing fast results, Akutagawa was still a kid. Mentally, he was already exhausted from battling the Mimic soldiers, its leader, and me all in quick succession. No one would’ve been surprised if he’d passed out on his own. Just where did that tenacity come from?
“Why?! Why did Dazai…?!”
When he’d let out that anguished cry, I caught a glimpse of something faint—something other than anger—hidden behind his expression. I couldn’t get it out of my head.
“I had a feeling…that I would find someone in this country with that skill.”
“What are you talking about?”