Chapter Text
There were many Soul Mate stories that exist in this world.
Soul Mates born with matching marks on their skin.
Soul Mates born with words tattooed on their bodies of the first thing their Soul Mates would say to them.
Soul Mates capable of using their bodies as canvases to write and communicate with one another.
Soul Mates born with clocks on their body, counting down the time it takes for them to meet their other half.
Soul Mates that shares physical pain and scars.
Soul Mates born with the ability to hear whatever song their Soul Mate was singing.
In all of these Soul Mates stories, there was always one thing similar and it was that these Soul Mates were all destined to meet.
All of these Soul Mates were given clear hints and paths in finding their other halves.
All of these Soul Mates were destined to find their happy-ever-after in each other's arms.
Reality, unfortunately, was not so sweet.
As much as children fantasize about one day meeting their Soul Mates, those thoughts were always crushed after growing into adulthood. The reason was because the concept of Soul Mate was not as sweet as they believed it to be.
With the passage of time, these children will eventually learn the cruel truths behind Soul Mates.
Every human in this world was born harboring two different souls inside them. The first soul being the dominant soul—the soul of the body, and the second soul being the soul of their other half which was what they called a Soul Mate. That was why humans were born with heterochromia eyes—as they say that eyes were the windows to their souls.
Until they meet their Soul Mates, people could only see through their “real” eye and the other eye—the one that belonged to their Soul Mate—would always be pitch black. It was said that the reason they can’t see through their Soul Mate’s eye was because the second soul residing within their body was using it to look into the outside world.
Whenever a person’s life was endangered or was under extreme stress, a strange phenomenon would occur where their personality changed into a completely different person’s.
This phenomenon was called the Switch.
Like the name, the Switch was when the subconscious soul within the body exchanged place with the dominant soul. The Soul Mate will take control of the body while the body’s real soul retreated into the subconsciousness.
It was a self-defense mechanism to protect the body.
During the time the Soul Mate has control over the body, they will be moving and seeing through the Soul Mate’s eye. Once the dominant soul reawakens, they won’t ever remember what occurred during the time their Soul Mate took over their body. To them, it was as simple as closing their eyes for a couple of seconds and reopening them.
Most wouldn’t realize that their Soul Mate had taken over.
The Switch occurs most frequently within children and teenagers since they are extremely emotional and the tiniest thing could cause the Switch to occur. Once that happened, adults would always try to pry as much information as they could on their children’s Soul Mates, but finding the Soul Mate was near impossible.
Even if the second soul inside the body was the Soul Mate, it was a soul that was detached from the original body. Therefore, Soul Mates were unable to gain memories of their original bodies. They won’t know what their names were, or even their own genders. The only thing the Soul Mate can gain was simply knowledge of what its original body has learned.
Due to this, it was impossible for children to find their Soul Mates no matter how hard their parents tried to help them. After all, children all have the same general education and were too young to have a distinctive career. The most information people could get out of children were their Soul Mate’s native tongue and their Soul Mate’s personality. Both were useless in tracking down the Soul Mates.
Once they entered adulthood, they would have a clearer clue as to who their Soul Mates were by figuring out their Soul Mate’s career. If their Soul Mate was a surgeon, then their Soul Mate will have the knowledge a surgeon would know—though the Soul Mate would not know what hospital they work at, or what patients they’ve had. The most they can tell was how to operate certain surgeries that the original body had done.
While this may give more clues to go on, the issue was how to cause the Switch to happen.
Compared to kids, adults have better control over their emotions and temper. The Switch rarely happened to them anymore. The most common way for Switch to occur in an adult was when the body was threatened. When in danger, the Soul Mate will take over the body, but that did not mean the Soul Mate has any method or ways in saving them.
If the host was dying in a car accident and the Soul Mate took over, they will still die. If the host has been kidnapped, the Soul Mate will appear, but that did not mean the Soul Mate would know how to get them out of the situation. On top of that, if their Soul Mate has anger management issues, then the Soul Mate’s appearance may worsen the situation.
In this world, ninety percent of the population will go on with their lives never meeting their Soul Mates. The clues were just too vague for anyone to track down their other half.
Within those ten percent that did meet, there will only be a small two percent of them getting together.
That was because once Soul Mates meet, they will experience excruciating pain of their Soul Mate’s soul trying to return to its own body. The pain won’t stop until the two people bond—or in other words, have sex. It didn’t matter if these individuals had partners or not. If they refuse to connect their bodies to transfer the soul, they will die.
There have been experts examining bodies of people who refused to do the bonding. Their Soul Mate’s eye had popped out of the socket and when they dissected the body, they found the inners all scrambled up, as if something had run a blender through them. No one could provide an explanation of how this happened.
There were too few people that had met their Soul Mates and even fewer to be able to resist bonding despite the intense pain. The only explanation people could give was that the second soul inside the body had done this in an attempt to find a way out of the body.
Once those that met their Soul Mates absorbed their souls back into their body, what came along with their soul was their Soul Mate’s entire life memories. These were memories they had seen through the Soul Mate’s eye. When the transfer was completed, their Soul Mate’s eye will disappear and they will regain their own eye, allowing them to view the world in full sight.
That did not mean their connection was over, however.
If anything, their connections deepened more than before.
When souls were being transferred, the souls would leave a trail—or tracker, on their Soul Mate’s body during intimate acts. This was the soul establishing a connection between the two bodies. After the souls return to the rightful body, Soul Mates will then be able to communicate with one another telepathically no matter where they are. They can even activate the Switch at will.
This was something many people cannot accept.
No one can accept a relationship of exposing everything they do to the other without any privacy. Every waking moment, every step they take and the things they did, their Soul Mates will know. That kind of relationship was simply impossible to last—especially when the other party saw their past and knew who they had dated. They will know their deepest, darkest secrets that no one should know.
This was why Soul Mates that met were considered unfortunate, as there was no way to undo the bond between them.
However, those that never meet their Soul Mates will have to live on fearing that one day they may bump into their Soul Mate or have the Switch activated on them.
Then, there were those whose Soul Mates had died.
When a person died, their body was no longer a cage for that second soul. The Soul Mate’s soul will be freed and will return to their Soul Mate. The Soul Mate will regain full sight from retrieving their half of the soul, but the return of this lost soul will also bring with them their Soul Mate’s entire life memories.
Without having a partner to balance out these memories, these people will eventually be driven mad. They won’t be able to tell apart which memories were their Soul Mate’s and which belonged to them. The most common result was the person believing that they were the subconscious soul experiencing the Switch within their Soul Mate’s body.
This was why Soul Mates were a curse.
This was just a cruel joke given to humanity by God.
At the very least, that was what ordinary civilians think.
The underground world, however, has a different view on Soul Mates.
In the underground, Soul Mates were considered dangerous because they were an enigma—an unknown, a variable.
Deaths were everywhere within the underground world, and deaths can occur at any moment. That was why the occurrence of Switch was extremely common within the underground world. If the Soul Mate was capable, then they will be able to get their host out of a situation the body owner cannot.
If the Soul Mate was also someone from the underground, then knowledge of what the Soul Mate knew could be extracted for information.
And then there were Ability users.
For two souls to exist within a single body, that meant the souls must be compatible with one another. If a person was an Ability user, then their Soul Mates was most definitely an Ability user as well.
“Hah~” A brown-haired boy sighed as he sat on the edge of a twenty stories building.
He gazed down at the battle taking place below. The sound of gun fires has been ringing into his ears nonstop for the past hour.
The stench of blood was so thick that he could smell it despite being this high up.
“Guess it’s time to clean the place up before Mori-san starts nagging…” The boy stood up, stretching lazily before he hops down from the roof. His black coat flew off of his body as he fell faster and faster towards the ground.
If anyone were to see the boy’s face, they would notice how the boy’s eye hidden under the layers of bandages moved. In an instant, crimson light shrouded the boy’s body as he flipped around, landing onto his feet and creating a giant crater beneath him.
This commotion made the battlefield quiet in an instant as all attention was turned to him.
The boy’s lips stretched out into a wide smirk with celeste blue eye gleaming through the gap of the bandages.
If an Ability user undergoes the Switch, then not only does the Soul Mate take over their body, but their Soul Mate’s Ability will also replace the host’s Ability.
That was what made Ability users so dangerous and hard to kill.
Nakahara Chuuya had no idea how many times he Switched, but the first clear indication that the Switch had occurred to him was when he was seven.
Chuuya wasn’t blessed with the luxury to be born into a normal family—or have any family for that matter.
For as long as he remembered, he was trapped inside a laboratory with only a small bed to sleep on. There were always men and women wearing white lab coats around him. His childhood memories were filled with nothing but pain and cold needles. No one ever taught him how to speak, so he never learned how to understand the things being said around him.
He didn’t know what had happened.
All he remembered was the pain of being cut open. He stared at the bright light blinding, being shined over him as the shadows of those people hovered over his tiny body, raising a bloodied knife before bringing it down.
That was the first time Chuuya wished he was dead.
He screamed and cried, but no one cared about him. They just continued to deliver pain to him, over and over.
He cried and cried and then…he just blacked out.
When he came to, he was in a hospital bed and a whole month had gone by since he passed out.
He hadn’t known or understood at the time, but apparently his Soul Mate had taken over his body. Not many details were given to him, as the authorities didn’t know how it had happened either. Somehow, his Soul Mate was able to contact the outside world and called police for help. It didn’t take long for the police to come storming into the laboratory and saved him as well as four other children from experiments.
After that, Chuuya was adopted into a good family. The couples were extremely kind to him, and had a son the same age as him called Shirase. Living right next to them was another kind couple with a daughter also his age called Yuan.
The three of them played together, grew up together, went to school together…
There were no secrets between them. Chuuya never hid his Ability from his two best friends either. He trusted them with his life.
Everything changed again when Chuuya became ten.
It turned out that Shirase’s parents and Yuan’s parents were co-owners of a company they created together. They had unknowingly pissed off someone they shouldn’t have and in just a single night, they were murdered.
The killers that killed their parents went after them as well, but Chuuya activated his Ability and beat them down. Knowing they couldn’t stay in their homes any longer as the assassins will be back, the three children ran off into the dark night.
After that life became a blur for Chuuya.
Shirase, fueled by anger, created an organization called Sheep. He recruited kids their age who were homeless and had nowhere to go, becoming the leader that will lead them all.
As for Chuuya…he became the Sheep’s weapon and shield. Anyone that dared to go against them will be crushed by gravity.
At some point, they just became well-known in the underground world, which was quite an achievement considering how they were just a bunch of brats. Chuuya was even given the title called the King of Sheeps. Chuuya was never interested in stupid things like titles. He wasn’t all that interested in revenge either. All he cared about was protecting his friends.
Though…he realized later that he was the only one thinking of something like this.
It all started when Chuuya voiced his disagreement to Shirase’s idea to expand the Sheep’s territory. After all, no matter how strong Chuuya had proved to be, he was only a human. There was only so much he could do to protect everyone. If the Sheep expanded their territory, not only would it be harder for him to protect the others, they will no doubt make more enemies.
It was the first time Chuuya had talked back to Shirase’s plan.
It was also the first time Chuuya realized how just different the Shirase in front of him was to the boy in his memories.
In the end, the Sheep sold him out.
They sold out their only weapon all because he objected to them once.
Perhaps the moment he voiced out his objection, they remembered that Chuuya was human, not a weapon. He had his own thoughts and will. He wasn’t something they can always control, so they poisoned him when his guard was down and gave him to the GSS as present to form an alliance.
They cuffed him up and pumped him up with drugs so he wouldn’t be able to use his Ability. The GSS had at first planned on making him into their weapon, but that plan quickly fell apart when Chuuya refused to cooperate.
So they went with their second-best option—they sold him into a male whorehouse.
If there was one thing the underground world didn’t lack, it was sick bastards. During his time in the Sheep, Chuuya had made a lot of enemies. All those enemies would dance in glee when they heard how low the mighty King of Sheep had fallen. With his powers suppressed, there was nothing more his enemies needed to fear.
Needless to say, the GSS made a fortune by selling him.
To the whorehouse he was sold into, he was basically the chicken that will be laying them golden eggs. At the tender age of fifteen and with his face, he was unsurprisingly desired by a lot of people. Especially those enemies of his, who would want nothing more than to watch him be ruined under them.
Bounded in chains and drugs coursing through his veins, Chuuya found himself remembering an old memory from the distant past—of when he was strapped onto a table and being cut open.
He was as helpless as he was back then.
In the end…nothing had changed.
It was strange how clearly he still remembered that time, despite having not remembered for so many years. If anything, his time back in that laboratory was clearer than all his other memories of him spending years with Shirase and Yuan.
He was tied to the bed, body lathered with scented oil when he had his first customer. It was a familiar face too. The man was the boss of a small organization he had beaten in the past when they had a dispute with the Sheep.
Bounded with no ways of escape, Chuuya could only lay there and stared at that lump of flesh hovering over him, smearing his sweaty hands all over his skin. His fat lips were parted, leaving out puff after puff of heating air as his saliva dripped down his chin and onto Chuuya’s bare chest.
It was disgusting.
Everything about this made him want to puke. The touch, the man’s filthy words—the stench he reeked of.
Chuuya wasn’t scared of what was about to come.
All he felt as he was bound there was the boiling rage.
The rage of betrayal, the rage of being so helpless…and bitter sadness. The sadness of no longer having anyone around him, the sadness of being alone once again, his freedom stripped away from him.
Chuuya began to wonder if his life here will become as painful as the ones in his earliest memories. The mixture of emotions was so heavy inside him that Chuuya couldn’t breathe. He didn’t even realize tears were pouring out of his eyes as he thought of the only person that had ever saved him in his life.
He thought of his Soul Mate.
As if that could distract himself from reality, Chuuya began to think about his Soul Mate.
What kind of person was he or she?
What do they look like?
Where were they right now?
Chuuya blinked, his vision suddenly engulfed in the pitch darkness. It was a familiar darkness that Chuuya hadn’t experienced for a long, long time. Before Chuuya could figure out what was going on, he felt a force violently pulling him from behind, sucking him further into the abyss. As he was pulled backward, Chuuya didn’t know if he was hallucinating, but he could have sworn he felt a pair of arms wrapping around him, telling him that everything was alright now.
When Chuuya opened his eyes, the world had yet again changed.
He found himself sitting in a large bathtub. Body dipped within the heated water with the surface covered in crimson flower petals. A little dazed, he picked up the soft petal between his fingers and brought it up to his nose to sniff it. There was a sweet floral scent, but it wasn’t the smell of rose like he had expected.
Celeste blue and umber brown eyes scanned around the large room.
It took a couple of seconds before Chuuya finally recognized this place. This was the bathtub he was dragged into and washed before they sent him off to his customer!
At the memory of said customer, Chuuya jumped out of the bathtub. Water splashed around him and his foot landed onto the smooth tiles only to slide forward as he slipped. As he was falling back towards the water, Chuuya activated his Ability out of the reflex he had developed in the years and to his shock, it worked!
Chuuya stayed floated in midair for a whole minute before his feet touched the ground. His body didn’t feel weak either, and he could think clearly, without feeling as though there’s a layer of fog obstructing his mind. He checked around his body, finding no suspicious markings on his skin anywhere. All he found were fading bruises around his wrists and ankles—showing how much time had passed since he was last chained up.
Chuuya immediately ran outside—grabbing a white kimono as he did and quickly threw it on. Now that he could use his Ability again, there was nothing he needed to be afraid of. All he needed to do was to crush his enemies like usual and get away from this damn—
“Mama! Dinner has been prepared!”
“Mama! Was your bath pleasant?”
“Mama! Did you like the camellia flowers?”
“Mama!”
“Mama!”
The calls of “mama” echoed throughout the air with Chuuya froze by the doorway, eyelids jumping nonstop at the young boys crowding around him.
What. The. Fuck?
Nakahara Chuuya, age fifteen, has become the owner (mama) of a gay brothel (whore house) within the Yokohama’s underground red-light district.
Chuuya was going to murder his Soul Mate.
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BANG
The sound of gunshot echoed into the night.
The man took a step back in those trembling legs before he fell onto his butt with whimpers escaping his quivering lips.
“M-monster!” He shouted, raising his gun with his finger pulling the trigger again and again.
The bullets shot out, slicing through the air and heading towards the target before ultimately coming to a stop the moment the tip grazed the boy’s black suit.
“Pathetic.” The boy’s voice was silvery was pleasant to the ears, yet the tone and the low growl accompanying that voice sounded completely out of place. Blue eye gazed upon the grown man cowering on the ground, still desperately pulling on the trigger despite already ran out of bullets.
The boy lifted a hand that was wrapped in bandages. With a wave, the bullets that were suspended in midair suddenly whirled around and shot towards the man double the force of when they had been shot out.
The man didn’t have the time to cry out before he fell into the ground with blood pooling around his body.
“Tch…this suicidal bastard,” the boy muttered before he froze in place, staring into the distance for half a second before he blinked.
The boy looked down at the dead body in front of him before turning to walk away, fixing the bandages over his left eye to completely close the small gap that was there. He hummed a song as he left the alleyway and was greeted by a man standing there with his hands tucked in his pockets and a sleek black car behind him.
“…Get in,” the man said and climbed into the driver’s seat.
The boy did as he was told and hopped onto the back. The moment he got in, the man stepped on the gas pedal and drove off.
The ride had been quiet with the man driving and the boy looking out the window with his burnt umber eye. The man driving was constantly glancing at the boy through the back mirror. The silence lasted about ten minutes before the man spoke.
“…How old are you?”
“Does it matter?” the boy inquired, looking to the back mirror to meet the man’s gaze.
The man didn’t look surprised or shrink back from meeting the boy’s dark eye. This was a first for the boy and his eye shone with mild interest. “Hey, what’s your name?”
“Oda Sakunosuke.”
“Position?”
“Not important enough to get one.”
“Hmm…I’m Dazai Osamu,” the boy said in an overly cheerful tone that sounded fake to the ears. He rested his elbow against the car door and leaned his right cheek into his palm. “I look forward to working with you, Odasaku.”
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Chuuya sat on the open windowsill on the third floor of the building. He had one leg on the windowsill while his other leg dangling outside. His kimono fanned out, creating a beautiful wave with the silky material with the opening on the side of his hip, revealing the beautiful and smooth legs for all to see.
He had a large red sake cup in on hand, the inside filled with translucent fluid reflecting the moon in the night sky. Whistles and catcalls came from below, but Chuuya didn’t spare those ants a glance. He was gazing up at the stars from this place that was bathed in crimson light.
It had been six years since Chuuya was sold here to the red-light district.
Six years since he last experienced the Switch.
Six years since he became the house’s Mama.
Chuuya had no idea what kind of drugs his Soul Mates fed the boys here. Ever since then, he just can’t get them to address him normally. The echoes of Mama haunted him in his sleep even to this day.
However, whenever Chuuya reminded himself of what his Soul Mate had done (for him), he just couldn’t get angry.
After all, it was thanks to his Soul Mate that he had escaped the fate of getting raped and forced into prostitution. Chuuya had no idea what in the world happened after he Switched, he had only heard of this from the boys afterward.
According to them, his first customer had charged out from his room shortly after entering. He didn’t have his clothes on properly and was frantically putting them on as he ran out of the brothel. He was red in the face and looked absolutely furious. When the owner of the brothel heard of it, she was furious and stormed into Chuuya’s room with a whip gripped tightly in her hand.
Everyone could hear her screaming at first but then became eerily quiet.
About an hour later, the owner walked out, pale in the face as she hastily returned to her room. She never returned to see anyone—even regular customers. No one knew what exactly had happened in Chuuya’s room that night.
All they knew was that the very next day, everything changed.
The organization that was backing this brothel had a fight with another organization. No one knew the reason behind it, but whatever it was it had to be a big deal. The two organizations got into such a heated battle that they wiped each other out in just a single night. Or to be exact, the moment the two organizations got worn out from their fight, a third organization jumped in and massacred both sides.
And unsurprisingly, the boss of the organization backing this brothel was the very same man that had almost raped Chuuya on his first night here.
The owner of the brothel fled a couple hours after hearing this news, taking with her all her belongings and the money the brothel had made over the years. In a single night, the brothel went from number one within the district into poverty.
When the staff learned of this, they all packed their things and ran. Even the older prostitutes got whatever valuables they had and fled from the place. They knew that very soon, someone or some organization would come to claim this brothel. They had to escape while they still can now that they’re free.
The only ones that ended up being left behind were the young boys who had been bought into the brothel not long ago. These boys got no home or people to return to. They were all slaves sold in here, must like Chuuya himself.
These boys were the ones that began calling Chuuya “mama” after Chuuya took them in.
With a black debit card (which Chuuya later learned was the card of the guy that tried to rape him), his Soul Mate organized the entire brothel to be remodeled and turn into a Teahouse. That was the night Chuuya regained control of his body. The plans for the remodeling were already finalized and paid.
For the next month, Chuuya and the boys were living on the first floor as construction workers began tearing the place apart and turning it into a traditional Japanese building with tatamis and wooden hallways. They tossed out all the furniture and replaced them with ones his Soul Mate had ordered…along with all sorts of glamourous kimonos.
Once the construction was finished, Chuuya used the card left to him to get a checkup for the kids. Fortunately, as all of these remaining boys were from a new batch, they hadn’t had the chance to receive their customers yet. This was ironically the reason they were able to stay behind, for that they had not yet experienced despair in this place. They were too young to understand anything or make decisions for themselves.
Aside from being a little malnutrition, there were no big issues.
At first, no one came to their Teahouse despite the grand opening and discounts. After all, who would come to the red-light district to have tea? But very soon, people started coming in one by one, curious as they were the only Teahouse around.
They eventually became quite popular since it’s a rather refreshing place compared to the other houses selling naked men and women. Sometimes, even scums get tired of seeing bare skin flaunting in front of their eyes and preferred seeing something more…clothed.
And what’s more, seeing beautiful boys dressed in kimonos were always a bonus in these modern times. Unfortunately for them, Chuuya had set up a strict policy against his boys being touched. He didn’t care if it was consensual or not. As long as they were in his property, touching was prohibited. Those that broke the rules were all thrown out of the Teahouse by Chuuya. When they tried to come back for revenge, they would only get further beaten down by the gravity manipulator.
As strange as it was, such rules didn’t put down those scums at all. Their popularity continued to soar and Chuuya found that many came to their place to exchange information as the Teahouse wasn’t affiliated with any organization. With Chuuya standing guard, the Teahouse has been on neutral ground.
Larger organizations wouldn’t bother with a tiny Teahouse when they had their own information resources in the red-light district. Smaller organizations that tried were all torn into shred by Chuuya. So as time passed, the Teahouse only became more and more popular.
With the new information network under the palm of his hand, Chuuya wasted no time making use of it. He called over the boys, hoping to train them to gather intel but to his shock, these boys were way ahead of him.
Apparently, his Soul Mate saw this coming and had already taught the kids how to observe and memorize information in that short week. It was also then that Chuuya realized that perhaps these boys weren’t the ones that stayed behind, but rather the ones his Soul Mate had kept.
This also reminded Chuuya how his Soul Mate definitely wasn’t someone normal. Just who in the world would have that kind of ability?
Chuuya knew he wouldn’t get an answer and perhaps he never will.
For now, he was just grateful for everything his Soul Mate had done. The only thing he could hope for was that he—the other half of his missing soul—could return this favour.
The first thing Chuuya did with his network was to find out what happened to the Sheep. He knew he was being stupid, but despite everything, he still didn’t want anything to happen to them.
They were all just kids.
They all make mistakes…
Unfortunately, the result wasn’t what Chuuya had hoped to see.
The Sheep’s alliance with the GSS lasted only a short week before they were attacked by the Port Mafia. It was only natural. After all, the Sheep had been an unorganized group with Chuuya as the center. By banning together with the GSS, they’ll become a complete organization, one big enough to stand against other large organizations.
There was no way the Port Mafia would tolerate that.
And so, they were all wiped out.
There wasn’t a single survivor.
Chuuya spent only an afternoon sitting in his room, reminiscing about the past before he let it go and move on to this new life that he will live.
“Chuuya-san.”
Chuuya lowered the red sake cup and licked off the slightly bitter fluid staining his lips. He turned, looking across his room to see a boy with uneven cut white hair poked his head in.
“Atsushi,” Chuuya called the boy’s name.
The boy was the only one that actually referred to Chuuya by his name, since he had only came here a year ago.
Chuuya could still remember that night when he met the boy. It was pouring as Chuuya walked down the street with a crimson parasol. The boy looked like a wet cat, completely soaked and shivering as he was dragged along by chains. The sight wasn’t common here in the red-light district. The boy was going to be sold here as a new merchandise, that was how things would go.
The redhead didn’t know why he stepped in. There were new people sold here every day, and Chuuya wasn’t kind enough to stick his nose into every single problem he came across. Perhaps it was how pitiful the boy had looked—or perhaps it was just his stomach growling so loud that Chuuya couldn't ignore it.
In the end, Chuuya brought this boy back with him and as his luck would have it—the kid turned out to be an Ability user.
“Is it time already?”
The boy nodded.
Setting his sake cup aside, Chuuya hopped down from the windowsill, landing gracefully onto the tatami as he walked across the room. Atsushi stepped back for him to get out before closing the shoji carefully behind the man.
Chuuya was heading towards the back of the teahouse when he heard a commotion. He narrowed his eyes and walked over to the railing, looking down to see some men on the ground floor making a scene.
“What’s going on?” Chuuya shouted, his voice filled with authority and instantly silenced the entire place.
“Chuuya-san.” A man with blond hair and glasses dressed in a blue kimono looked up to the redhead. He had been in the middle of jolting something down into his notebook when Chuuya called.
Seeing the man there, Chuuya flipped himself over the railing and dropped towards the ground. He only activated his Ability at the last moment, stopping his fall before his feet touched the wooden floor. Atsushi hurriedly followed, his legs under his white and black kimono morphing into furred paws and hopped down.
“What’s the damage this time, Kunikida?” Chuuya questioned. He walked over to his companion with an irritated look on his face.
“The usual.” The blond-haired man looked equally annoyed as he tapped his pen against his notebook. “Two tables, a chair, five plates, four bowls, and a couple of our new cups.”
“My Teahouse is not a whorehouse,” Chuuya snarled, murderous glint flickering through those blue and brown eyes as he turned to the unwelcomed guests. “If you’re that desperate, go across the street! I’m sure they’d love to entertain you there!”
“This is the red light district!” One of the men shouted at him. “Who do you think you are, acting so high and mighty—”
“Hey Kenji, throw them out,” Chuuya said flatly, not even interested in listening to these idiots.
“Yes, mama!” The blond-haired boy in green kimono shouted happily with a hand raised—like a kid raising his hand at being called out in class.
He spun the metal mop around in his hand. Chuuya noticed that the mop was already wearing out and the handle deformed from constant beating. Looks like it’s time to buy a new one for the boy.
Chuuya seriously needed to find time to teach the kid some self-control or hand to hand combat moves. However, when he looked at Atsushi, he pushed that way back in his schedule. When it comes to training, his priority was this kid first, considering his issue of being unable to control his power.
“Come on, Atsushi.”
Atsushi blinked, looking away from the fight to see Chuuya already walking away.
“I’m coming!” He gasped and ran to catch up to his boss/mentor.
The two of them arrived at the back of the Teahouse and into the open air. The garden of the Teahouse was completely empty except for a large sakura tree at the very back with tall wooden fences surrounding it.
They will have privacy here and even if anyone hears anything, no one would be dumb enough to crawl over the fence to look.
“Now come at me,” Chuuya ordered. Though he says that, he didn’t take any particular stance. He just stood there casually, waiting for the kid to make the first move.
“Yes!” Atsushi used a red string to tie his sleeves up. Then, his arms and feet began to morph. White and black fur covered the skin as the muscles underneath thickened—turning into tiger paws.
Atsushi kicked off the ground, leaving a deep paw print in the dry ground as he appeared in front of Chuuya in a blink of an eye.
However, Chuuya wasn’t the slightest bit fazed. He grabbed the claw that was slashing down at him and with a twist of his wrist, he flipped Atsushi around in midair and slammed him into the ground, knocking the air out of the boy’s lungs.
“Is that all? I haven’t used my Ability yet,” Chuuya taunted.
Atsushi quickly scrambled up and charged at Chuuya. Chuuya easily deflected a couple of the boy’s attacks with his hands before kneeing the boy in the gut. Then with a roundhouse kick, he sent him flying across the yard.
All this happened in a second’s time. Chuuya’s movement was so fluid and smooth that there wasn’t a single opening the boy could find. The moment Chuuya’s feet touched the ground, he charged towards Atsushi, smashing his fist into where the boy’s gut would be if he hadn’t rolled away in time.
“What’s wrong, we’re just getting started and you’re tired already?” Chuuya thrust his foot out and Atsushi scrambled to block it with his morphed arm. Despite successfully blocking it, the force of Chuuya’s kick still threw him back a couple of meters as Chuuya slowly pulled his fist out of the ground.
“No!” The boy shouted through his teeth as he struggled to recover from pain in his stomach.
“Then come at me like you mean it!” Chuuya shouted, crimson kimono fluttering around him as he threw his leg out again, aiming at the boy’s face.
Atsushi leaned back to dodge before he charged at Chuuya again. They’ve fought like this for a good hour.
As usual, it was a one-sided beating.
It wasn’t that the boy was weak. If anything, he was improving at an incredible speed. Despite how easy he seemed to be making this to be, Chuuya couldn’t afford to let his guard down. One wrong move and Chuuya could suffer broken bones from the monstrous strength of the boy’s attack. However, as they continued to fight and the more blows Atsushi received, Chuuya began to notice the boy’s demeanor changing. His attacks were becoming wilder and most importantly—that golden eye of his was morphing into slits and becoming that of a beast’s.
“An hour and thirty minutes huh?” Chuuya muttered and swiftly jumped back to keep a certain distance between them.
“Argh…!” Atsushi cried out as he began clawing at himself. “Uaaaaaagh!”
“Looks like you’ve set a new record again.” Chuuya watched as blue rings of light shrouded the boy. His scream turned into something inhumane…more animalistic.
Chuuya didn’t give the newly appeared beast any chance and activated his Ability.
With a swing of his fist, he smashed the newly transformed tiger's massive head into the dirt, creating a large crater in the ground. Through experiences, Chuuya knew how resilient the beast was. He shrouded the animal in his power, lifting the beast up into the air before smashing him deeper into the earth.
The tiger roared in rage and its claw shot out, but Chuuya skipped to the side and kicked it in the gut—the exact same place where he had hit Atsushi before. The tiger roared in pain as it tried to snap its giant jaw at Chuuya.
Chuuya huffed and brought his knee up, smacking the tiger right below the jaw—forcing it to snap its mouth shut.
“You’re a hundred years too early if you think you can eat me,” Chuuya snorted before he kicked the beast into the dirt again. Not giving the tiger the chance to get up anymore, Chuuya slammed his fists repeatedly into the tiger, smashing it into the ground until they were in a hole two meters deep.
Chuuya only stopped when a flicker of white tendril passed by his eye. He hastily used gravity to pull himself out of the hole just as blinding red light covered the white tiger’s raging form.
“About time,” Chuuya snickered, feet touching the ground just as the shadow of a person shot out. Chuuya dodged the white and black tendril-like things stabbing towards him before he shot out like a crimson arrow, closing the distances as he arrived in front of the white-haired boy.
With his fist coated in his power, he smashed it into the boy’s stomach again. The boy’s kimono moved as if coming alive, gathering around the boy’s stomach to block the attack. It would have been a perfect defense if Chuuya’s punch wasn’t too heavy for the clothes to withstand.
Just like that, the boy was smashed back into the ground. He let out a pained sound that was a mix between a grunt and a scream.
“Not bad,” Chuuya complimented, shaking his hand to let his blood circulate. “If only the kid is improving as fast as you.”
The redhead watched Atsushi slowly got back up. His left hand was clutched around his gut as he glared at him through the silvery eye instead of the usual golden one. Without a word, those white tendrils shot out of the boy’s kimono like spider webs, surrounding the entire yard before sharp spikes aimed towards Chuuya from all directions. It was also at that moment that the ground under Chuuya erupted with additional tendrils coming out from below.
Chuuya smirked and activated his Ability.
Atsushi was then sent flying across the yard at a speed faster than his attack. The tendrils were forced to be pulled along as the boy was flung into a rock in the corner, completely shattering it into pieces.
Chuuya walked up to Atsushi. Each step he took the ground under his feet cave in from the force. He stopped in front of Atsushi and stared down at that silver eye glaring back at him.
“Your way of fighting is reckless and rash,” Chuuya told him. “Whoever taught you to fight, they’re an asshole.”
With that, Chuuya raised his feet before bringing it down to the boy’s head. A loud smashing sound was heard, but people in the red-light district went about their night, too used to the sound already.
Chuuya stood in the ruined backyard as he stared at the unconscious boy. He reached down and grabbed the boy’s wrist, easily pulled him out of the crater he had made. He tossed the boy over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes and began heading back towards the Teahouse.
“I should get Kunikida to make some chazuke,” He muttered to himself while gazing up at the full moon hanging in the night sky.
Yes…today was just another ordinary night…
Chuuya assumed that their lives would just pass by peacefully like this...but he soon realized out how naive that thought was.
“…What did you say?” Chuuya stared dumbly at Kunikida who was sitting across from him. The redhead had a bowl half raised to his lips. It was early in the morning with the first light of dawn spilling over the red-light district. He was in the middle of his dinner when Kunikda dropped the news on him.
“This was slipped through our front door.” Kunikida held up a red card and tossed it across the table.
Chuuya furrowed his brows. He set his miso soup aside and opened the card. He only got to the first two sentences before he jumped out of his seat, causing the legs of his chair to scrap against the floor as it was pushed back.
“Is this a joke?!”
“Afraid not,” Kunikida replied solemnly. “I’ve confirmed it myself. The Port Mafia wants to book the entire Teahouse this Sunday.”
An entire booking of the Teahouse…that was something they had never done with any organization before.
For the past six years, this Teahouse had been sitting on neutral grounds. If they allow the Port Mafia to book the whole place, then other organizations will think that they’re being taken by the Port Mafia. If that happens, then Chuuya can already imagine the troubles they’ll have with the other organizations.
Worst of all, anyone targeting the Port Mafia will be targeting them first.
“You’ve heard of the new Port Mafia boss.”
“Yeah, Arahabaki.” Chuuya pulled his chair back up and sat down. He clicked his tongue in irritation. Not only was Port Mafia the largest organization with Ability users, their boss was the worst amongst them all. There was no one in the underground world that hadn’t heard of the Demonic Prodigy—the Arahabaki of the Port Mafia.
He was the youngest in the history of Port Mafia to become an executive—and was also the youngest in history to become the boss of Port Mafia.
When Mori had died, everyone thought the Port Mafia was going to end from there, but Dazai Osamu had taken the reins and within just one year the Port Mafia flourished like never before.
What’s more, Dazai’s Ability was also known as the strongest Ability. They said that he could take down an entire organization within a single night. Wherever Dazai Osamu went, he only left behind a wasteland with his destructive power.
Even now, no one knew for sure what Dazai’s Ability was. Those who witnessed it close up all perished. The highest speculation was psychokinesis, as there have been people who claimed they’ve seen him control objects and move them with his will.
While everyone knew of Dazai’s name, no one but the Port Mafia knew what he looked like. There wasn’t a single picture of that crafty man. The only information Chuuya had on the man’s appearance was like anyone else’s.
All they knew was that the man was always wrapped in bandages—whatever the hell that meant.
“You think they’re just going to quietly drink their tea and leave?”
“Impossible,” Kunikida replied.
“Yeah, I didn’t think so either.” Chuuya threw the card back onto the table. “We need to get Atsushi out of here immediately.”
Kunikida’s eyes narrowed. “You think they’re here for the kid?”
“Why else would they come here?” Chuuya snorted.
When Atsushi’s Soul Mate first appeared before Chuuya, the redhead began to search for that person’s whereabouts. With an Ability like that, surely it wouldn’t be hard to find…and Chuuya was right. Atsushi’s Soul Mate’s Ability matched exactly with a man that was quite famous amongst the underground.
Akutagawa Ryuunosuke—the mad dog of Port Mafia.
Considering his line of work, Chuuya has no doubt that Akutagawa has more than enough experience with the Switch. If he was able to find him so easily, then the same could be said for the Port Mafia who got an even wider network in Yokohama.
“You’ve seen Atsushi’s Ability.” Chuuya picked up his miso soup again and took a small sip. “What do you think?”
“…It certainly is a strong Ability.” Kunikida frowned. After all, the power to turn into a tiger and instantly regenerate was powerful, but was it so strong that it warrants the Port Mafia’s attention?
“From what I see, that kid got the strongest Ability,” Chuuya answered. “And what’s more, his Soul Mate—that Akutagawa’s Ability matches up perfectly with his.”
“What do you mean?”
“On the surface, Akutagawa’s Ability seemed like an offensive type, but when Atsushi went through the Switch, I’ve seen how Akutagawa used his Ability to wrap around his body to power himself up. What do you think would happen if he uses that power on someone else?”
Kunikida’s eyes widened, beginning to understand where Chuuya was going with this.
“You think the Port Mafia wants to use the kid together with Akutagawa?”
“If the two of them are together, I can’t think of anyone that can stand up against them.” Chuuya clicked his teeth. “Kunikida, take Atsushi and leave tonight. I will have Kenji take the rest of the kids and go somewhere else…just anywhere away from this place.”
“What about you?” Kunikida questioned. When Chuuya didn’t respond, the blond stood up and slammed his hand into the table, causing the bowls to shake. “You’re planning on staying behind? Are you crazy?!”
“Do you see any other way?” Chuuya snapped, slamming his hand against the table just as hard. He stood up to meet Kunikida’s stance. “This is the only option we have! I can buy enough time for you guys to get out of here!”
“Not even your Ability can take on the whole Port Mafia! Even if you can, do you think you can go against Arahabaki?!”
“Like I said, this is the only option! If you and Atsushi can get away—”
“Go where, exactly?!” Kunikida snapped. “There’s nowhere for us to go! We’ll be captured before we can even leave Yokohama!”
“Then what do you propose we do?!” Chuuya snarled, leaning dangerously close to the blond who just wouldn’t back down.
“We stick together and fight them head-on, of course!” Kunikida roared back.
The two adults were panting as they glared at each other.
After a long while, Chuuya was the first to look away. He fell back into his chair and ran his fingers through his wavy locks.
“Fuck…” he muttered quietly, feeling so tired and defeated.