Chapter Text
A tale of two sides: justice and injustice. On one side, lawyers work to uphold the law; on the other, criminals break it. Yet, one cannot exist without the other. Without criminals, lawyers would have no purpose. These two groups lead vastly different lives. Criminals often face hardship, while others, far removed from that world, live in peace. But what happens when these two worlds slowly begin to merge? Who will triumph? Who will find peace?
No matter what, Dazai Osamu always got what he wanted. Most of the time, he didn't even have a desire; everything he did was for the Port Mafia, and he would not allow anyone to disrupt his order.
It was Tuesday, June 24th, and the air in Yokohama was thick with heat. The suffocating warmth weighed on everyone, yet people persevered, most of them being working individuals. Even the Port Mafia members felt the same way.
Atsushi rushed up the stairs and knocked on his boss’s door. Once he was granted entry, he quickly stepped inside, dropped a few files on the desk, and took a deep breath. "Boss, you need to look at these files urgently!" he said, his sweat-drenched appearance suggesting that the heat wasn't the only reason for his state. Dazai, the boss of the Port Mafia, turned to Atsushi, his eyebrow slightly raised. "Good morning, Atsushi-kun. Is something wrong?" he asked calmly. He took the files and began to scan them. "Well, boss, how should I put this... there's a problem involving Natsume-sensei. The documents are about him. He also wants to have a meeting with you today at 2 PM." Atsushi’s voice was tinged with fear and apprehension. As Dazai read the files, he began to understand Atsushi's reaction. One of the trades made at the port involved weapons Natsume had acquired, which were supposed to be delivered to him via the port. However, they had been seized halfway there. To make matters worse, one of the men involved claimed he was threatened with a gun and filed a complaint. This case had been assigned to Prosecutor Mori, with that same man as the plaintiff. Dazai sighed and looked at Atsushi. Taking a deep breath, he said, "Arrange a meeting for 3 PM. And call Oda; I want him to come here." "Ah, of course! Right away!" Atsushi said, leaving the room in a state of frightened haste.
"So, the plaintiff's lawyer hasn't been determined yet?" Odasaku asked. "No. Maybe we can arrange for an acquaintance to be his lawyer and ensure he loses the case," Dazai replied. "Even if that's the case, you're not thinking of having him as Natsume's lawyer, are you? If you were, he'd be Natsume's lawyer." "Yes, I know. That's why we need to find someone useless." "Good. By the way, the meeting is about to start." "Don't worry, Odasaku, he'll be here soon." Just as Dazai said, there was a knock at the door. When Dazai gave permission, Natsume entered with his bodyguard. The bodyguard stayed outside while Natsume took a seat across from Dazai. "Dazai, thank you in advance for your help," Natsume said. "It's nothing. We're happy to help an important client like you. Besides, this matter concerns us as well. Shall we begin?"
"Yes, thank you very much." Natsume’s gaze fell on the man sitting next to Dazai. He was probably the person everyone talked about—Dazai’s most important and closest friend—because he was the only one allowed to attend such meetings. "Now, Natsume-san, we will send you a good lawyer. The person who filed the lawsuit against you doesn’t have a lawyer yet, and we plan to give him a useless one. The only thing left will be to clean up the mess you left behind." Natsume breathed a sigh of relief. 'Consulting Dazai was a great idea,' he thought. "But we have one request: you must not get involved in anything until the case is over," Odasaku said. "Odasaku is right. Don't get involved in anything until the case is finished, and I want you to know that if it were anyone else in your place, they wouldn't be so lucky. So, don't mess this up," Dazai said, his words stern and making it clear that the man had no other choice. Natsume took a deep breath. Even though the man was younger than him, he was chilling. "Of course, Dazai-san, I will not deviate from your instructions in any way." "Good. Then I will arrange for your lawyer today, and we will arrange for the opposing side's lawyer as well."
The meeting ended, they signed the contract, and after Natsume left, Dazai and Oda continued to discuss what to do next. "Dazai, I'll go talk to him. If I ask, he'll accept." "Of course he will, Odasaku! I have no doubt! But that doesn't mean he'll be obedient. You know he's 'not very obedient.' That's why I'll talk to him and make sure he can't make a wrong move. And if you have time to arrange for the other lawyer, I'd like you to help me." "No problem. I'll talk to the plaintiff and arrange it." "Thank you very much, Odasaku."
When Dazai arrived at the restaurant he had arranged, the other person was already there. He sat down across from him.
"What do you want from me, Dazai?" the man said. "Of course, a very simple request. I need you to be the lawyer for one of our clients. You wouldn't refuse an old friend, would you, Ango?"
"Ugh, I'm not getting involved in your dirty business, Dazai. Go find someone else!" "Is that so, Ango~? Hmm, actually, it's been a long time since I've had the chance to get involved in any important Mafia business, so I haven't had much opportunity to beat people up. But since I have an old friend here, I can probably warm up, right? After all, you owed me. You betrayed the Mafia, you betrayed all of us, and you hurt Odasaku. I should just kill you, huh? What do you say? Which one do you choose?" "You're still the same. You've never changed, and you never will. So, tell me, what's the case about? And what do I need to do?"
"I talked to Kyusaku Yumeno. I pretended to be someone who had heard about this and had a lawyer acquaintance. I even said we wouldn't charge him since he's around the same age, but he refused. He even said he had already chosen a lawyer. I asked who it was, but he didn't want to say. To avoid looking suspicious, I didn't ask anything else, but I can investigate who he is later, and we can offer him a bribe, Dazai," he said, delivering bad news but recovering at the last second. "What? He's already chosen a new lawyer? Why didn't I get any information about this? At least I found out because of you, Odasaku. Also, don't worry, I'll ask Yosano to investigate. Thanks for telling me." Dazai was angry. Was there missing information? But Atsushi wouldn't dare to do such a thing. He should have investigated every last detail. If that's the case, but the lawyer's information was kept secret, that would be very strange because then it would lead to one conclusion: they knew what they were going to do and kept this information secret. But since they thought Odasaku was a normal citizen, they told him. Of course, if not, Atsushi's job wouldn't just be terminated. Dazai rubbed his forehead and sighed deeply. He reached for the phone on the desk, called Yosano, and briefly told her what to do. Then he ordered two coffees. He had to endure it. He would finish this job quickly and breathe a sigh of relief. All he had to do was find out who the lawyer was. The rest was easy... right?
This was not going to be easy. Three days passed, but not a single piece of information about the lawyer was found. They even had the child followed, but they couldn't find the lawyer at all. Dazai was on the verge of killing someone. Fortunately, Odasaku stepped in. "Dazai, relax. I'll take care of this. It's better than doing nothing, right? You focus on your other work. There was going to be a trade with an important client soon, wasn't there? Don't let your mind get clouded." As a close friend, he was always good for Dazai; he was like a brother. In fact, you could say he was Dazai's weak spot. "I swear, Natsume-san is an important client who earns us a lot of money, and he helped us a lot during tough times. If it were anyone else, I wouldn't even bother with this job. It's really a hassle, but you're right. I'll hand this matter over to you. I'm sorry." "I was the one who asked. Relax, the hearing is tomorrow anyway. We'll see that lawyer no matter what, and we can offer him a bribe after the hearing." "That's right. If not, we'll have to use force. Although you're enough on your own, Odasaku, Natsume-san is an important person, so I guess I'll attend tomorrow's meeting just this once." "Good. I won't force you to do anything else," Odasaku said, making sure the man's burden was lightened. It seemed like tomorrow's hearing was going to be a little problematic, but there was no need to mention it.
Around 1:37 PM, Dazai and Odasaku were driving toward the courthouse. Ango and Natsume would arrive there soon as well. Three minutes later, they arrived, got out of the car, and walked toward the courtroom. When they got there, they saw the child and his legal guardian, but there was no sign of the lawyer. Seriously? Why was the lawyer such a secret? Dazai and Odasaku went to Natsume and started talking to him. Ango, who was next to them, seemed to prefer staring at the wall instead of talking to them. Did Natsume really have to take a child and try to turn him into a psycho who's good at using guns? 'Now we're paying the consequences,' Dazai thought, although he himself hadn't done anything very different, but there was no need to mention that. When Natsume's and the child's names were called, everyone started to go inside. To avoid attracting attention, Dazai and Odasaku sat in the back. Everyone was in their seats, but one seat was empty: the lawyer's. Had the child been bluffing about the lawyer? This made Dazai angry, and he was filled with the urge to rip the child's heart out, but he pushed those thoughts out of his mind for now. Prosecutor Mori Ougai had already taken his place, but he was looking at the child. He noticed that he didn't have a lawyer and did the right thing. "Hmm? Where is your lawyer? If you don't have a lawyer, we'll send you one from the municipality right away." "Ah, no, no, um, my lawyer is..." the child said. The man interrupted him, or rather, before he could speak, the courtroom door opened, and someone entered. Before Dazai saw the person, he felt a strange sensation and immediately turned his head toward the person who had entered.
The person who entered had long orange hair, part of which was long and went down to his left shoulder. He was sweating, and his ocean-like eyes were sharp. He was wearing a jet-black suit, quickly straightened himself out, and went to his client. Dazai's face briefly turned to Ango. The man was frozen, his eyes wide open. Although Dazai was curious about the reason for this, he turned his head toward the orange-haired person.
"I apologize for being late, but I was dealing with another client." Dazai was surprised when he heard the man's voice and felt that sensation he didn't understand again. His voice was much softer than he expected, somewhere between a gentle and serious tone. It was clear that he was a determined and courageous person.
"I am Nakahara Chuuya, the lawyer for Kyusaku Yumeno." The entire room fell silent, and Dazai felt that sensation he couldn't understand again, this time to his bones.
And Dazai finally understood what the sensation was.
It was a shiver.