Mizuki yawns while at the seat of Café Uzumaki.

"Please make this curry spicier." Oda returns the plate to the employee. Mizuki presses a hard hand to Akutagawa's leg.

Oda's vision changes.

"Huh?" Akutagawa furrows his brows as he tries using Rashomon again.

"That's enough," Mizuki grumbles.

"Miss, your udon," The worker slides her the bowl.

"Thank you!" Mizuki breaks apart her chopsticks, and grins. "Ikkadakimasu!"

Mizuki prepares to start eating before Oda's ability is triggered.

"Aku-chan, if you try interrupting me while I'm eating, I will not hesitate to cut you up with your own ability."

Mizuki slurps on her noodles, and sighs in satisfaction. 

Akutagawa pauses in his steps.

Another vision flashes through her eyes.

"Ryuunosuke Akutagawa." Mizuki's voice is stern. "I'm about to give you even shittier lungs if you keep doing this."

"I need to be prepared-"

"Not when Oda and I are trying to have lunch at a dammed Café," Mizuki deadpans, going back to her noodles. "One more death vision, and I will have you crying to leave the ADA."

"I don't mind."

"Oda," Mizuki blinks, mildly bothered. "Keep out of the conversation."

"Yes." He digs into the curry the waiter put on the table. "Sorry, Mizuki."

Mizuki drinks the broth, and Akutagawa stares at her in shock.

"What? Never seen a woman eat?" Mizuki raises a brow.

Akutagawa shakes his head. "It looks good."

"Do you want some?"

He shakes his head.

"It feels weird," Mizuki wipes her mouth. "There was another book written in my early years where Dazai forcibly separated you and Gin-chan. In this life, Gin-chan is working for Dazai while you work for the ADA."

"Just how many books did you write?"

Mizuki counts on her fingers.

The group watches as she moves into the tens.

"Thirteen." Mizuki hums. "Three short ones and ten full-length ones."

"You're insane," Kunikada sighs.

"I'm just a fanatic," Mizuki hums. "who copes by getting lost in my own fantasies~!"

Kunikada sighs and leans back onto the chair.

"I'm not surprised," Oda points the spoon at her. "You always peeked over my shoulder in curiosity when I wrote."

"Oda, your last bit of writing literally broke my heart," Mizuki points her chopsticks at him in the same manner. "You said you wanted to move to a place by the sea. I literally broke into tears from that."

"Sorry," He hums, taking another bite of his curry. "Had I known you could bring the kids back to life, I might've not gone."

"Back... to life?"

"I stole an ability from a European while I was in Europe," Mizuki blows on her tea. "Dickens."

"You stole from who?!"

"Charles Dickens," Mizuki hums. "He had multiple, so I just copied one before I got caught."

"Multiple?"

"Europe's not interested in us, though," Mizuki hums. "I'm kidding. I don't know where the revival ability came from. An knows who I stole that ability from."

She sips on her tea.

"You steal abilities?"

"I thought you all knew?"

"There's a couple of patchy spots in my memory," Kunikada speaks up. "I only remember yelling at you to drop the hero complex."

Mizuki visibly tenses.

"I almost forgot about that part," Mizuki smiles menacingly at Kunikada. "Hm?"

Kunikada sweats.

"I'm kidding," Mizuki shrugs. "I hold a total of three grudges."

Oda glances at her, but doesn't speak up.

"Ah, right," Mizuki thinks. "If you're no longer working for me, what about my unit?"

"It's under Dazai now," Oda hums. "Chuuya's under his hand, and Mori's been managing everything else. They're your people as much as they are his."

"Valid," Mizuki drinks her milkshake. "Ohhh, this is good..."

"Speaking of which, how's the president?"

"Ran-chan's taking care of him today," Mizuki hums. "Ah, how are the orphans?"

"They're fine," Oda smiles. "The dragon's head conflict didn't occur, but Gide did."

"Oh..." Mizuki grimaces. "You're fine?"

"Bullets don't work on me," He hums. "Thank you."

"Mm," Mizuki hums. "How much does funding the children cost anyways?"

"Fukuzawa-san let me borrow one of your empty mansions."

"Sounds about right," Mizuki chuckles. "How... did your first interaction go?"

Oda blinks but doesn't speak. "..."

"I'll take that as something occurred, but I'd rather not talk about it," Mizuki turns. "So, how's working for the agency, Aku-chan?"

Akutagawa blinks. "Hard."

"It's harder to not kill, huh," Mizuki sighs.

"I'm going back to work," Kunikada checks the clock. "Be back in twenty."

"See you!" Mizuki waves enthusiastically. "What was Aku-chan's entrance exam?"

"Bomb."

"As expected," Mizuki sighs. "Why'd it go exactly as I expected it to? I'm getting deja vu."

Oda thinks. "How many other elements did you combine into this world?"

"Atsushi and Akutagawa change," Mizuki hums. Reaching into her pocket, she pulls out her lipstick and mirror. "Ah, right. Has Aku-chan taken care of the orphans yet?"

"He has," Oda hums. 

"Rock me to sleep." Mizuki deadpans.

"?!"

"Do it." Mizuki's eyes dig into the boy's soul. "I haven't gotten a wink of sleep because I've been busy managing the ADA during the day and keeping watch over Fukuzawa at night."

"Wait," Oda pauses. "When you wake up, can we discuss what's been changed?"

"Mm," Mizuki closes her eyes, and Akutagawa rocks her on one of Rashomon's ribbons. "Sure..."

Mizuki wakes up on the couch of the agency.

"What time is it?"

"Four." Kunikada answers.

Mizuki sits up, and she groans. "Where's Oda?"

"He left early."

Mizuki checks her phone.

Your office.

Mizuki opens the door. "Kunkikada-san, you're in charge of closing!"

"WAIT-"

Mizuki skips down the stairs while whistling.

She claps twice.

"Ah, you're all here," Mizuki smiles.

"What are we discussing?"

"Changes in timeline in this life." Mizuki hums. "Atsushi is sixteen, Akutagawa is eighteen, Dazai and Chuuya are both twenty. Everything is progressing early by two years."

"Mm," Chuuya nods. "By that logic, if the Moby Dick hits in two months-"

"The guild isn't coming in this life," Mizuki shakes her head. "There's no bounty over Atsushi's head. I erased that while writing. Our only goal is to utterly destroy the Decay of Angels before they destroy us."

"That's it?" Dazai raises a brow. "Do any of them have memories of their past life?"

"Fyodor," Mizuki hums. "However, he only has patches. Think of them as dreams. He might be able to reason that they were real, but he has no evidence."

"I see," Oda hums. "I have no idea who they are."

"Are we killing off the Dogs?" Dazai glances at Mizuki under his lids.

Mizuki taps her chin. "We'll see. For now, as long as they-"

"They remember the past," Oda sips on his whiskey. 

"They do?"

"Ranpo told me," Oda hums. "They recall the past, and you left it so that they could act however they wanted to. They only recall it after the whole event starts."

"We have around a year to lounge around, another to plan, and then we're going to fight for our lives," Mizuki sighs, leaning onto the glass table. "I really pray this doesn't fuck anything up."

"What was the ending of the book?"

Mizuki stares at Oda. "There was no end. The pen was in my hand, and after we defeat the Hunting Dogs, life is relatively peaceful until we all pass. Europe won't mess with us as long as I'm here."

"Why not?"

Mizuki stares at Dazai.

"Do you think... a mere author could possibly destroy a piece of literature that's thousands of years old?" Mizuki's eyes burn into Dazai's.

The air around the four chills.

There was no denying that the better and older the literature, the more powerful they would be, but the mere fact that there was a living person over thousands of years old was a terrifying feat. There was no telling when or how she would act. No one understood a person's mind better than her, and there was no limit to the greed her ability had.

"Even Christie wouldn't be able to destroy me," Mizuki hums. "She tried her best in our last life."

"When we all passed?"

"I had a nice battle with her in Parliament," Mizuki hums, drinking her whiskey. "I nearly lost a limb."

"You can get cut?" Dazai raises a brow.

"It's very limited, but certain materials can, in fact, pierce my skin." Mizuki hums. "I don't know what the factor is."

"Shall we just throw anything at you?" Chuuya offers.

"How about you throw me a nice dose of cyanide-"

Dazai laughs. "I WANT A CUP TOO!"

"You can think about dying after we prevent everyone else from it," Oda hums. "There's nothing that comes after death. Both of you know."

"I guess it depends," Dazai sighs. "I ended up possessing a crow's body."

"WHAT KIND OF FANTASY NOVEL BULLSHIT IS THAT?!" Chuuya hisses. "I WAS WANDERING AFTER DEATH IN ENDLESS BLACK."

"I got to see the kids again," Oda hums. "I ended up somewhere white."

How ironic. Mizuki chuckles dryly. "How fitting."

"Mi-chan, you never died, huh?" Dazai hums. "You just go back to life in my case."

"I guess you didn't reach nirvana," Mizuki finishes the last of the liquor in her glass. "Having to live again... AS A CROW NO LESS!"

Mizuki leans back in laughter.

"I hope you die."

"I've tried," Mizuki wipes a tear. "Trust me; I've tried."

Date: XX - XX - XXXX

Mizuki has lunch with the ADA and drinks with her PM counterparts.

Fukuzawa opens his eyes, his head much clearer. Staring to the side, he thinks about the coldest memory he had.

"I'M GETTING MARRIED!!" Mizuki cheers. "WAHHH!!!"

"Married?" Fukuzawa raises a brow. "Is that what you came here for?"

"No," Mizuki grins. "Of course that's why I called you both to drink, smh. I came to rub it in your face that I'm getting married."

"Are we going?" Fukuchi asks.

"Of course," Mizuki grins, cheeks flushed from the alcohol. "You two are my beEEeeSSt friends after all."

She slurs the E.

Fukuzawa feels something break.

"Say, Mizuki," Fukuchi hums. "Did you ever have a crush on anyone in Japan?"

The drunkard's words are a sober man's thoughts.

"Hell yes," Mizuki sighs. "I was in loooOOOove with Fukuzawa! That man has the emotional capacity of a rock, though."

"Are you just into tall people?" Fukuchi laughs.

Mizuki pauses to think, and she squints at the air. "Yes... I think."

"Why didn't you just ask him out?"

"He seemed busy," Mizuki leans back on her chair, throwing an arm around him. "It wasn't like he liked me or anything. Do you think he liked me?"

"I'm sure he did." Fukuzawa's voice is uncharacteristically soft.

"Then I'll find him when he reincarnates," Mizuki mumbles, eyes flutter shut. "Since the tale in this life didn't end up well."

"Who's your new husband?"

She's asleep.

Fukuzawa gets up from the bed, a little lightheaded.

"You're awake?" Ranpo hands him a glass of water and a handful of vitamins.

"Mm," The president takes it all. "Where's Mizuki?"

"Your wife is discussing stuff with her unit under Port Mafia," Ranpo hums.

"Ah, Fukuzawa-san," Yosano smiles. "You're awake? I'll bring some food."

"I want some too!!" Ranpo calls after her.

Fukuzawa stares at the glass in his hand, and then at the two adults.

A smile graces his face.