Marie walked the stairs that brought her to Verlaine with growing concern.

It didn't seem Verlaine hadn't taken it out on her after she used her ability, but nobody granted her he hadn't changed his mind.

Or that he hadn't decided to make her pay the affront.

That unsettled her a lot.

She was really afraid.

She found him reading a little notebook he put back the moments he walked through the door.

He motioned for her to join him.

Marie sat down hesitant, at a safe distance from him.

She didn't ask anything. She simply waited for indications from her mentor.

She saw him taking another notebook and a pen.

"Umi to Dokuyaku."

He said without giving explanations.

Marie wasn't surprised.

From what she had understood of him he was a man that went straight to the point without beating about the bush and with no mind games.

"Do you remember the first time you activated it?

She went pale.

She didn't expect such a direct question.

She nodded.

How could she ever forget that day?

Verlaine noticed her sudden change and for a few seconds he didn't say a thing, almost sure that a simple question was enough to trigger her ability.

That meant the psychological element had to be quite important.

He wrote this cam remark on his notebook.

"Would you tell me what happened? It could be useful to understand."

He didn't get an answer.

He tried not to puff.

Why couldn't he get a simple answer?

Marie noticed his impatience.

"It was similar to what happened yesterday."

She replied evasively.

She remembered every detail of what Happened that day and she'd do anything to avoid repeating them out loud and going through that heel again.

"Your ability really seems to be connected to things that unsettle you. Has it always showed in similar circumstances?"

She nodded.

Verlaine sensed that that day he wasn't getting many details.

"Maybe if I can't use it yet at 20 it means there's no hope for me."

She whispered bitter.

"Maybe yes. Maybe not. No one can say."

"I don't think there's much hope for me."

"Don't worry. You're in good hands."

In that moment a strange feeling went through her body.

It took her a while to understand she wasn't sitting anymore on the couch, but that her body has been lifted.

She was floating in the air.

She panicked.

What was happening?

She saw Verlaine's mask turning into an amusing expression.

"Considering that yesterday I was subjected to your ability..."

Marie took a deep sigh of relief sensing she was back on the couch.

"Your ability?"

Asked Marie trying to understand what kind of supernatural power he had.

"Gravity manipulation." He answered with a half-smile.

"It's not the first time I'm using it with you, you know?"

She collected her thoughts trying to remember all their training until she remembered their first meeting.

Her memories were confused, but then she remembered a detail to which she hasn't given much importance before.

The incredible strength that was keeping her against the wall.

Now that she thought about it Verlaine had pinned her down just with his hand.

"The first time...?

She asked hesitant.

"Exactly. On that occasion I've also used my ability to hold you.

I should have known I didn't need to push myself that much with you."

Marie lowered her gaze.

"Not knowing who I was facing..."

She saw a genuine smile on Verlaine's lips.

"Also, my little brother has the same ability as mine and mow he's reached unattainable levels."

Marie couldn't help but notice how his tone had changed the moment he mentioned his brother.

His icy eyes seemed to have more feelings than usual.

She grew curious.

"Your brother?"

"Yes. Chuuya Nakahara. Another Mafia's executive. Maybe you've already heard of him before. Who knows, when you've become a skilled assassin, you could be under his command."

Maybe she has already heard his name, but though her father was the Mafia's boss, he hardly made her part of what was going on within the organization.

Regarding the second statement... she doubted it was going to happen.

She wasn't going to stay there willingly, and her father has promised her freedom once she would be able control her ability.

Mori Ougai was an unscrupulous individual at the top of the most dangerous criminal organization of Yokohama, but of one thing you could be more than sure.

He kept his word.

"Chuuya Nakahara?"

Asked Marie confused. Could it be the two had a different father, but the same mother?

"Oh. It's a complicated story." Remarked Verlaine.

"But, you see, formerly my powers exceeded his."

He went on.

"It's also true that back then Chuuya was just a brat, while I had had lots of time to exercise my powers. I guess it counts. Anyway. When my powers were at their height, I almost succeeded in eliminating the entire Mafia. The boss had to use almost everyone to stand up to me.

A little bell rang in her head.

She unblocked some memories of six years ago and she asked herself if they were related to what Verlaine was telling her right now.

She remembered how it seem that World's End has come.

A chill ran down her spine understanding the true extent of Verlaine's powers.

What was he?

Some kind of monster?

That day of six years ago Mori unexplainably insisted she went with him to the Mafia.

Marie had tried to protest, but her father's aura was particularly threatening.

She found it strange her father was insisting on taking her with him, but what surprised her the most was the state of the building.

It seemed there was no one and that she and Mori were the only ones wondering through the corridors.

Her father had brought her in his office, the one on the top floor that towered over the city of Yokohama.

Her father invited her to sit next to him while it seemed he was enjoying the view.

After a while she did the same.

Unlike him she never had the chance to admire the city from the top.

It was a really wonderful sight.

A sight that turned soon into something darker and sinister.

On the horizon, away from the city, it seemed as if the Apocalypse was breaking out.

The sky was turning red, and clouds of fire were raising from the forest.

That sight unsettled her and didn't bode well.

She had looked for her father's gaze, but he didn't seem to be worried.

Could it be it was something normal?

It wasn't too long before her father's phone rang.

"That's my boy."

He answered to the phone.

"I can see the attack from there." He said calmly. "It seems there are happening horrible things there, isn't it?"

Marie's thoughts were right, something was happening.

"Do you know why I am the boss?"

Marie was asking herself with whom he could be on the phone.

"..."

The little girl wondered who that Chuuya could be, but it was also true she only knew Dazai.

"..."

The more the conversation continued the more she asked herself how he could stay that calm.

She couldn't hear the interlocutor's voice, but the answers of her father were enough.

"..."

The father continued in the same tone.

After a while he placed a finger on his lips, as if he was evaluating what to say.

"..."

After a while Marie felt the click that ended the call.

"The connection with Dazai stopped." Sighed Mori.

Marie looked back at the horizon.

So Dazai and that Chuuya were going to defeat that monster her father was speaking of?

Were just them going to be enough for this?

"If everything is going as planned, I'll get two new diamonds to add to my collection.

Marie didn't answer.

Usually, Mori was the only one who could understand his plans.

Now, six years after, she was in front of the one who has caused it.

What was going on in her father's mind to make him think that keeping a monster like him in the basement was a good move?

Then, on second thought, she realized it wasn't a bad move.

He had a trick up his sleeve.

"Despite this it still seems I've been pardoned by the boss and so I'm here, but this is another story. This isn't the thing."

Verlaine's voice brought her back to reality.

"Something happened after that event and my powers seemed to have been vanished into thin air.

It was impossible for the girl not noticing the change in Verlaine's tone.

He looked grim.

"To be honest at the beginning I didn't even care if I had my powers or not, but I was used to live with them. So, after a long dark period, I've tried to really use them again. At the beginning I was disappointed 'cause it seemed I've lost them forever. For a certain time, I forced myself. Then I've understood that also my approach was wrong. I've always been used to have everything at once and I didn't like that situation at all. I've tried to recognize my limits and I've worked on them.

Gradually I've started using them again. They're not as effective and powerful as they were back them, but I get away with them. Do you get what I mean?"

"With time and practice... I can get better." She stopped to think.

"But before this... peculiar phase, you did know how to use them... unlike me."

Verlaine grunted impatiently.

"Of course, if you don't believe even a little in yourself, you won't get better. Think about it. It's true, we can both say you're in a pitiful state, but your ability can bring you everywhere if you use it.

At the end also Mori doesn't have an extraordinary ability, and yet he's the Mafia's boss and nobody in their right mind would go against him."

Marie didn't like the comparison.

"If you'd master your ability, you could easily become the next boss."

She like it even less than the previous.

She had no intention of following her father's footsteps.

"I don't care." She replied dryly.

The man ignored her comment.

"Nobody could stop you, if you only wanted it."

"Except for Dazai."

It was just a faint whisper, but Verlaine heard it.

"Dazai." Growled Verlaine.

Marie jolted, never expecting a similar reaction.

"That piece of shit." Hissed the man.

The girl remained motionless without adding nothing.

She didn't want to make things worse asking the reason of such a reaction.

After a while she felt Verlaine's inquiring gaze on her, and the girl realized what she had just said.

She had mentioned Dazai because of his ability that allowed him to nullify other's abilities. Ana to know his ability she had to know its possessor.

A possessor known to have been Mori's right arm since the beginning of his career as a boss, plus known as the youngest executive in the Mafia's history.

Four years ago, he had left Mori's nest and now he was a member of the organization ruled by Fukuzawa, but that didn't erase his past in the Mafia.

Marie understood soon what Verlaine was asking himself.

"How do you know Dazai?"

27/04/2024