The old man flew into a rage at those words.
This was the Mafia! This was his territory!
No matter how great a subordinate's achievements were, those without power were meant to obey those who possessed it! Even the most formidable ability users had to bow their heads before him!
The Port Mafia was his personal kingdom! One of the oaths required upon joining the organization was absolute obedience to orders!
"Asou!! Akiya!!!"
The Boss was hardly the only one who had gone mad today.
The guards hidden in the shadows—tasked with monitoring Asou Akiya and protecting the Boss—were equally shaken. Who could have imagined that a single Skilled Business Permit would cause such a complete rupture between the Boss and the Analyst?
One was the ruler of the Port Mafia.
The other was the talented man who had earned the organization enormous wealth.
If either of them were driven to ruin by anger, it would be a devastating blow to the future of the Port Mafia.
Asou Akiya seemed oblivious to the consequences of provoking the Boss. A strange sorrow surfaced in his expression.
"Boss, you've grown old. You're no longer the man who founded the Port Mafia with your own hands."
"For many years now, I've been watching you from behind, watching as you slowly descended into the abyss, step by step…"
"Time is a force no human being can resist. All we can do is examine ourselves before it."
"Can we say we lived this life without regrets?"
"Can we say we were happy?"
"Can we say that, in this life, we truly lived according to our own will?"
He carried no gun, nor did he possess an ability.
Of all people, he had always been considered the least threatening to the Port Mafia Boss—so unthreatening that even if everyone else betrayed him, no one believed he would ever betray the superior who had personally promoted him.
Anyone who looked back over the Port Mafia Analyst's actions throughout the years would know this: he had his share of conflicts with others, but he was never the one who started them.
Asou Akiya was gentle and reserved, thoughtful and considerate. He was not someone who sought out disputes, provoked conflict, or inspired hatred.
To the female employees of the Port Mafia, he was the ideal boyfriend.
To the ordinary workers in the organization's middle and lower ranks, he was one of their favorite topics of conversation.
His martial skills were unremarkable, and he rarely displayed his marksmanship. Yet his intelligence and personal charisma were undeniably real. The achievements he had accumulated within the Port Mafia were enough to earn everyone's admiration.
When a weak person shines with everything they have, that light is far fainter and gentler than the radiance of the strong.
His strength was the kind that never wounded others.
His reputation was astonishingly good.
Even now, having fallen out with the Boss for the sake of a child, Asou Akiya remained clear-headed. His words were measured and refined, free of bitterness or hostility.
The guards' submachine guns were trained on him, their fingers resting on the triggers, yet none of them spoke.
Unease stirred in their hearts as they waited for the Boss's command.
Who didn't have family?
And even those without one would surely wish for a family member like this.
Before the Boss could utter words that would make reconciliation impossible, Asou Akiya reached out and clasped the other's hand in return.
The old man's hand was dry and withered like a beast's claw, marked by age spots and bulging veins.
Then Asou Akiya did something so abnormal that only he could have done it.
He guided that hand to his own throat.
"Boss, I don't want to betray anyone who has ever placed their trust in me."
"Harming others is a painful thing."
"I'll leave the choice to you. If you can strangle me to death with your own hands, then I'll abandon all resistance."
He had already lowered his head, offering his long neck to the man before him. At the same time, in a voice too quiet for the guards to hear, he spoke to the gravely ill Port Mafia Boss.
"Otherwise, Boss... you lose."
The Port Mafia Boss heard every word clearly.
Including the words that nearly made his eyes split with fury.
"I already control one-third of the Port Mafia..."
"Executive Yagishita is your only man. Executive Colonel's position is neutral. Executive Nishida follows my orders. The Squad Leader of the Black Lizard, Hirotsu Ryurou, is close to me. The Batallion Leader, Randou, is my lover. I once saved Ozaki Kouyou life. The heads of Intelligence, Logistics, and Finance all have financial ties with me..."
"As a mere Sub-Executive, I've reached a position that even many Executives could never achieve."
Asou Akiya's words came out in fragments.
The dry fingers gripping his throat were rough enough to scrape his skin raw. He felt the weak hand suddenly tighten with startling force, as though it truly wished to strangle him to death on the spot.
The Port Mafia Boss could no longer hear anything else.
Only one terrifying sentence echoed through his mind.
["I already control one-third of the Port Mafia."]
The Analyst had infiltrated his power structure!
This had been deliberate!
He had harbored ambitions all along!
He never truly wanted to cure him, he had merely been waiting for him to die!
He wanted to seize his position!
A non-ability user wanted to rise to the top!
"I'll kill you! I'll kill you—!!!"
The Port Mafia Boss had completely forgotten to order the guards to open fire.
His breathing turned ragged, his eyes bulged, bloodshot and ferocious, filled with an obsessive desire to cling to power. His violence had reached its peak.
Acting on pure instinct, he chose the most direct form of human vengeance—
To strangle to death, with his own hands, the junior he had once admired.
Pain finally broke through Asou Akiya's calm expression.
"I was once grateful to you."
"You gave me a stage on which to prove myself. You opened a path for my advancement. You allowed me to avoid combat and escape the life of a bottom-rung member who could die at any moment."
"But the you of today..." His voice trembled with sorrow. "The you of today is unbearable to look at! Why can't you face death for what it is?"
Provoked by those words, the old man roared, "What do you know?! Wanting to live is my right!"
"How could I not understand?" Asou Akiya shot back bitterly. "Death—everyone in the Mafia understands death! I even bought my own grave plot long ago!"
"You're afraid of dying!"
"You're begging to stay alive for the sake of your own selfish desires!"
"You've destroyed every shred of the image you once had! You're no longer the Boss who refused the British man's deal, no longer the Boss who allowed me to distribute supplies to Yokohama's orphans!"
"Look at yourself! You're practically standing at death's door already! Have you become so ugly that you still dare to stand beneath the sun?!"
He had suppressed these feelings for far too long.
Now, with everything erupting at once, the growl that burst from his throat drowned out even the old man's furious shouting.
This era had long since become the world of the young.
"A mere Skilled Business Permit! For something like that—if you'd asked me for it a few years ago, I would have obtained it for you through any number of legitimate means!"
"A single government-issued certificate has clouded your judgment so completely that you're willing to turn against me for it now?!"
"You want to seize it? Plunder it? What do you think the Mafia is?!"
"You're the one who taught me that the essence of the Mafia is to control what is reasonable by any means necessary!"
Asou Akiya's face flushed red. His handsome features twisted with emotion, veins standing out along his neck.
The hand around his throat could no longer strangle him.
After reaching the peak of its strength, it suddenly gave out.
Asou Akiya's accusations struck the Port Mafia Boss like a bolt of lightning. His gaze froze.
For the first time, he found himself unwilling to face Asou Akiya.
It was a feeling born of humiliation and defeat.
Like a madman, he lurched upright. His white hair was disheveled, and he paid no heed to his failing body. Using both hands, he desperately tried to strangle the subordinate who had dared utter such treasonous words.
"Shut up—! Shut your mouth!"
"Damned Analyst! I'll have your entire family buried with you! You'll regret this!"
"You are nothing but my dog! And yet you dared dream of controlling my organization—I'll drag your corpse outside and feed it to the dogs! I'll chop you into pieces and throw you into the sea!"
Asou Akiya no longer felt any respect for this madman.
He shoved the frail old man away.
Covering the dark bruises forming around his throat, he gave a single command.
"Kouyou!"
At that command, two bodies collapsed outside the Boss's office.
Before Ozaki Kouyou herself could rush in to rescue him, the humanoid ability Golden Demon, capable of passing through solid objects, arrived first.
The kimono-clad female specter drew her sword and attacked every guard in sight.
Every hiding place had long since been memorized by Ozaki Kouyou.
Instant kill!
By stalling for time, Asou Akiya had waited for Kouyou's arrival. From the moment the Boss summoned him, he had known there was a chance he would no longer be able to endure it.
Strike first and gain the advantage; hesitate and suffer the consequences.
How could he not understand that?
His unwillingness to act had simply meant the line had not yet been crossed.
"Nishida!"
Executive Nishida appeared inside the room in a way no one had anticipated.
The walls had been melted into heaps of foam. Even the steel plates hidden within their structure had been unable to withstand his power.
He walked forward in the same black coat worn by other Port Mafia executives, a complicated expression in his eyes.
Under Nishida Shibashi's ability, Overflowing Disastrous Bubble, the mechanisms protecting the Boss's office had completely failed.
"Boss, my apologies. Even I can't stand by and watch this anymore."
Nishida Shibashi offered an excuse for his actions.
Or perhaps—
It was not an excuse at all.
He had been looking forward to this kind of "rebellion" for a very long time—he's filled with a strange sense of excitement.
The three Executives had always known the true state of the Boss's health.
It was only the authority and fear he had cultivated over the years that kept them obedient.
If someone appeared and killed the Boss, they would be angry.
But they would not be overwhelmingly grief-stricken.
As Asou Akiya had said, death was something every member of the Mafia had already prepared themselves to face.
Everyone dies.
Anyone can die.
What makes your life more precious than everyone else's?
Nothing does.
Nishida Shibashi's gaze fell upon the bruises around Asou Akiya's neck. His expression changed instantly, triggering the highest-priority command Randou had implanted into him—
Protect Asou Akiya. Kill anyone who threatens his life.
Meeting Nishida Shibashi's emotionless stare, Asou Akiya turned away and bent over, coughing.
His throat burned with pain.
It felt as though he had swallowed something unbearably spicy, only to have grains of sand lodged in his airway.
The black-haired young man struggled to steady his breathing. His brain swam slightly from lack of oxygen. Every breath reminded him of one thing—
How desperately the Boss had wanted to kill him.
All the goodwill of the past was gone.
Ozaki Kouyou stepped forward and supported him.
"Akiya-san..."
Between painful dry coughs, Asou Akiya said, "I'm sorry, Kouyou-kun. This time, I've dragged you into it."
Ozaki Kouyou shook her head.
"Let's defect together."
A trace of moisture gathered at the corner of Asou Akiya's eyes.
"No."
"Nishida, stop."
At Asou Akiya's hoarse command, Nishida Shibashi halted mid-step.
On the hospital bed, the Port Mafia Boss was drifting in and out of consciousness. His trembling hand reached for the button beside the bed, trying to call for help from others.
"You... all of you... want to betray me..."
Nishida Shibashi sneered.
"Don't tell me you don't have the guts to kill him?"
Asou Akiya had kept his back to the old man the entire time.
Hearing those words, however, he slowly turned around. Passing by Nishida Shibashi, he reached out and pressed down on the old man's hand before it could reach the button.
The Port Mafia Boss's pupils were unfocused. The succession of blows had pushed him to the brink of madness. He had begun to stammer, unable to form coherent sentences.
Yet despite that, a sharp sense of danger still prickled at Asou Akiya's back.
Because the Port Mafia Boss was also an ability user whose ability remained unknown!
"Boss, you'll regain your health. You'll recover your sanity. I promise you—you'll sit upon the throne of the Port Mafia Boss, wield authority, and continue giving orders to everyone else—"
Asou Akiya's soothing voice was like a switch thrown in the mind of a madman.
The danger was shut off.
The Port Mafia Boss's pupils dilated completely.
Using the dagger he had casually taken from Nishida Shibashi, Asou Akiya drove the blade into the old man's chest.
The old man experienced a final burst of clarity before death.
"You... you..."
A trace of the gentleness he once possessed lingered on Asou Akiya's pale face as he forced out a faint smile.
"Rest well."
Avoiding the ribs, he twisted the blade deep within the old man's heart.
"Allow me to see you on your way."
There was no reason to wait any longer.
Should he wait until the man descended into complete madness?
Wait until he ordered the deaths of every red-haired boy in existence just because a red-haired boy had scribbled graffiti on his car?
It was better to end things cleanly here and now, at the moment neither of them could tolerate the other any longer.
He pulled the dagger free.
"Nishida, you understand what I'm about to do, don't you? If there's anything you want to say to me, say it now and let me hear it. I promise I won't treat you the way I treat everyone else."
"..."
Nishida Shibashi watched the manner of the Boss's death.
How could he possibly fail to understand?
Leaving the body intact was for the sake of "revival."
Between him and the Boss, only one could continue to move freely.
With a self-mocking smile, he said, "Forget it. Life or death, it doesn't matter anymore. I've already profited enough by getting to enjoy this much time. Thank you for not treating me like an hourly worker."
"Your clothes are stained."
The nearly thirty-year-old Nishida Shibashi removed his black overcoat and set it down somewhere clean, where neither dust nor blood could touch it.
Beneath it was the powerful physique of a close-combat fighter.
"Wear this from now on, and carry on the abilities I taught you."
"And one more thing—"
Nishida Shibashi give a faint smile.
"You've gotten pretty good at stabbing people."
His figure wavered.
Then the existence of a grown man vanished.
Just like his ability...
No matter how catastrophically overflowing the bubbles became, it would eventually dissipate.
Ozaki Kouyou's beautiful eyes widened, the carefully applied eyeliner around them clearly visible.
"What just happened?!"
She tightened her grip on her dagger, wary of an attack.
At the doorway—
Another person entered.
It was Randou.
Unable to find Akiya in the office, he had opened Illuminations and followed its guidance all the way here.
Randou was wrapped up from head to toe in layers of clothing.
He wore earmuffs over his ears, a scarf around his neck, and insulated gloves on his hands.
This classic image of chronic frailty and extreme sensitivity to cold had become deeply ingrained within the Port Mafia. In the entire organization, there was no second man as afraid of the cold as Randou—someone who would gladly spend twenty-four hours a day basking in sunlight if he could.
He slowly stepped into the Port Mafia Boss's chambers.
Covering his mouth, he took in the scene with an understanding gaze and an indifferent expression, already having formed a rough idea of what had happened here.
Then he saw the blood on Asou Akiya.
To be honest—
It looked very good on him.
Even the gentlest person would eventually kill when pushed too far, when protecting their family.
Randou, whose life had been nourished by his lover's affection and who spent his days leisurely coasting through assignments in the Black Lizard, let out a soft laugh.
"Akiya. You finally did it."
Asou Akiya released his grip in front of Randou.
The dagger that had taken a life fell onto the bed, mingling with blood and a corpse to form a tableau of betrayal.
The subspace created by Illuminations enveloped the entire floor, severing communications and surveillance for five minutes.
When the Port Mafia Boss appeared again, his complexion had already recovered.
The grave consequences of this act of "betrayal" were successfully redirected.
The culprit behind all the chaos became the vanished traitor, Nishida Shibashi.
Asou Akiya rubbed his aching throat.
The bruises from being strangled would not disappear anytime soon. He would need something to cover them.
What had happened today perfectly illustrated a simple truth:
Even a rabbit will bite when cornered.
After gaining control of the new humanoid ability, Randou found a first-aid kit in the Boss's office and treated Akiya's injuries.
He gently blew on the bruises forming on the other's skin, hoping to ease the pain.
"Do you want to wear bandages?"
"No," Asou Akiya murmured. "Bandages are too conspicuous."
Then, with an indifferent gaze, he named something else.
"A red scarf."
The red scarf that symbolized the Boss's trust in him.
He had not worn it during winter, yet now he would have to wear it in summer.
Sometimes life felt like a joke.
Asou Akiya looked toward the old man sitting in the Boss's chair with vacant eyes.
Just moments ago, Randou had "revived" him and ordered the Port Mafia Boss to clean up the aftermath of everything that had happened.
Ozaki Kouyou had already left. She had promised to keep the secret, though the expression she wore made it obvious she had been badly shaken.
The more terrifying Illuminations was, the less Asou Akiya wanted to rely on it.
If only he had been a little more ruthless...
If he had simply disguised himself as an ability user and seized an opportunity to rise to power the way Mori-sensei once had...
Perhaps none of this would have been so troublesome.
Randou's fingertips, freed from his gloves, brushed against his skin.
As if reading his thoughts, he said, "Don't think about things you dislike. I've told you before—leave it to me. I'll help you unconditionally."
Asou Akiya stopped the intoxicating promise before it could go any further.
"I've never forgotten my true goal. Becoming the Port Mafia Boss in the public eye was never what I wanted."
If he took that position, he would become a target.
He would no longer be able to leave.
He would be permanently bound to the ship that was the Port Mafia.
And because Randou loved him, he would become the personal bodyguard of a Mafia Boss, losing his freedom in the process.
Worse, once Randou eventually recovered his memories, he would be far more likely to believe that Akiya had been using him all along.
His true goal had always been to make Arthur Rimbaud fall completely in love with him and help him survive the crisis that awaited a few years in the future.
Besides, there was a high chance Verlaine would one day attack the Boss's office at random, just as he had in the original story. Akiya could not spend every day here.
"To remain behind the scenes is what I want."
Asou Akiya pressed a light kiss to Randou's cheek.
The touch was fleeting as a dragonfly skimming water, yet it sent ripples through the other's heart.
"We can finally be together freely now..."
Everything they had done.
None of it had been for power.
Power was merely an ornament adorning the flower of their love.
You clear away disasters for me, I shield you from trouble, and together, we protect this home.
Asou Akiya had never cared about the Boss's seat.
Joy shone across Randou's face.
"We can go on business trips together, work together, and become Executives together!"
Asou Akiya smiled.
"Mm."
He cast one final glance at the Port Mafia Boss, who had become a humanoid ability.
There was neither resentment nor hatred in his eyes.
Only complete indifference.
The feelings accumulated through years of acquaintance had vanished without a trace.
The Port Mafia Boss, Inayama Kigoro.
He had always avoided thinking of that name. Years ago, he had already prepared himself to stand on the side of the next Boss.
He had never expected that the person who killed the Boss would not be Mori-sensei…
But himself.
Holding Randou's hand, Asou Akiya picked up the black overcoat Nishida Shibashi had left behind.
The two of them departed together through the private elevator, leaving behind the Port Mafia Boss—restored to perfect health and burdened with countless implanted commands.
When he regained full awareness, he stared after their retreating figures in disbelief.
The Port Mafia Boss had obtained the health he had long dreamed of.
But he had lost something far more precious.
"What... did I do while I was alive?"
A false puppet.
Even when he wanted to feel grief, he could not help but wonder whether those emotions had merely been programmed into him.
If he were given another chance, would he regret it?
Even the dead could not know.
For between life and death lay a terror beyond imagination.