N. Chuuya X Fem! Reader: The Territory of Gravity

24 - Sunday Tragedy (Part 1)

A month after the Cannibalism incident, the Agency received a birch bow of honour for saving Yokohama from a larger crisis. Atsushi had been training with Kunikida every day, and learning how to use weapons from you every other day. Since you couldn't always see your targets, Kunikida decided it would be best to learn shooting based off intuition from you. So, you trained him, preparing him for his duel against Akutagawa five more months from now.

Sunday morning, your day off.

Or rather, it would usually be your day off.

After something Dazai had mentioned in passing a few weeks ago, he'd also told you that you needed to be in for work on this specific day. While you didn't understand why exactly that was necessary, you didn't question, well aware that he must have predicted something you just couldn't see yet.

So here you were, in the Agency, listening in on a meeting.

"A murder society?" Yosano frowned, surprised.

"Yeah, it's an emergency request from the government," Kunikida nodded, pointing to the pinboard. "First, look at the photos of the victims."

The first picture, was a man whose skin on his upper body was inversed.

"That's terrible..." Atsushi shuddered.

"He was a young diet member from Yokohama," Kunikida continued. "He left a session midway, only to be found five minutes later in this way. As you can see, his skin was removed from the waist up and then placed inside out. The skin was sewn together like a business shirt, complete with tie and cuffs."

"The throat lacerations and restraint marks..." you sighed. "The vic was screaming for most of the torture, by the looks of it."

"How tasteless," Yosano commented.

"The perp's carried out four murders this week," Kunikida added.

"Four?!" Atsushi gasped, standing up. 

"The vice commander of the east guard... has corrosive poison poured over his head that devoured his skin and bones," Kunikida listed. "He died from the shock caused by the pain."

"The secretary of the Government's Chief of International Public Safety, had an air compressor inserted into his mouth, and the high-pressure air blasted the blood and nerves out of his pores. Finally, a top level officer in the military police's Special Ability Crime Unit was injected with a painful South American plant called 'suicide weed' and left in a locked room. He scratched at his skin down to the bones and died from cerebral contusion after having bashed his head against the wall."

"I see," Ranpo hummed. "So it's a message from the Decay of Angels."

"'The Decay of the Angel' refers to the five signs of decline within the Devas or beings who reside in the highest realms of existence," Fukuzawa began, entering the room.

"President," Kunikida greeted, bowing curtly.

"Sign one, 'soiled dress' - clothes that emit an oily filth."

The victim with the skin turned inside out.

"Sign two, a 'wilted flower crown' - the fading and rotting of the wreath on the head."

The victim who'd had corrosive poison poured onto his head.

"Sign three, 'malodor' - an evil stench from the body."

The vctim who'd had high-pressure air blasted through him.

"Sign four, 'sudor' - sweating under the armpits."

The victim who'd scratched at himself for hours.

"So... all these flashy bizzare crimes... they allude to that?" Tanizaki asked.