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Ep 9: The Man in Black, Part 3

Dazai just smiles back at him, though it was clear how annoyed he was getting with Akutagawa's grandstanding. "That so? Just look at you now..."

Akutagawa's eyes furrowed as Dazai's tone started gleeful and growing mocking by the end: "You were so difficult to train when you first started out! You were such a slow learner! And you could never follow directions!"

"Says the guy that never completes his paperwork."

"Paper work is not important."

Most in the audience yelled back. "Yes, it is!"

The camera did a close-up on his face, the way his mouth turned up as he landed his final blow. "Then, there's that useless ability of yours..."

'Shit...' Dazai forgot one key element, which was his mocking of Akutagawa. He could tell that his younger was not pleased at all by the little speech he gave to the older. He closed his eyes.

"Useless..." The weretiger whispered as he mulled it over. Akutagawa was a force all of his own. The man had made his life a nightmare. Atsushi took a calming breath. "Dazai?"

Dazai eyed the weretiger and then pointed at Akutagawa in the most immature voice he could muster with his finger, pointing at Akutagawa. He loudly proclaimed, "He started."

"Are you kidding me?"

"But he did, he punched me. I'm still in so much pain." He held his injured face.

Atsushi wanted to punch him. Dazai was the demon prodigal. He was cold and manipulative; everything was a means to an end for his own betterment. His words were used to break another's armor and he was nothing but a Spector. Further, when he was winning that cold smile graced his face. That's why he smiled when he was punched because that was when Akutagawa lost all his power.

Akutagawa, to his credit, only clenches up with anger, "Your bravado will last only a few more days. In that time, we will obliterate the Agency and capture the weretiger . Once you learn of your co-workers' demise, you'll be nothing but clenched teeth and fists. Then, your execution will follow..." He turns around in finality.

"Okay, I have a question. Has anyone seen Dazai even like that, void and lost." said Haruno.

"There have been moments despite how little I like saying this... He is human. He was my partner but I never saw the thing that 'cause all of this." Chuuya side-eyed Atsushi, who was shocked by the statement.

"You think you can pull that off, really?" Dazai's tone is dry humor at the concept of pain that Akutagawa's promised.

Dazai took a moment to try and take his shot at becoming a chair.

"Osamu's got a point boy. He wasn't an executive for no reason. You know that." said Kouyou.

"Well, eventually the student becomes the master." Akutagawa replied.

"My new apprentice is superior to you in every way imaginable." And finally, he got the look he wanted from his former apprentice.

"But I don't think it will be you." Kouyou turned to Akutagawa with an all too pleased smirk.

Atsushi stood up and began to pace. Dazai wanted to comfort his apprentice, but he knew if he did it would just piss him off more. There seated on the stairs was that cat, staring holes into him.

"What is the difference between him and me?"

Dazai hastily turned his head toward the now still weretiger. Once again he was shocked by Atsushi's question. Not by the question itself but the response he needed for such a question. His face went blank, trying to find the best answer for this question. The brunette required an explanation that the boy would accept, he needed honesty. The mad dog found himself curious as well what was it that made him so inadequate?