Chapter Text
The following statement is true:
the preceding is false,
the middle option does not exist.
Those who think that God has no sense of humor need to think hard. And those who think that God is so far removed from our world that He has no personal interest in His clumsy, misguided, and pathetic children should also reconsider.
Here, and quite clearly, the Almighty has revealed Himself from a completely different side - as a shrewd, tough, sensible figure, able to give as much as is given to Him, as well as a profound expert in human psychology.
If you think that God is not afraid to move the sliders on the sound engineer's remote control back and forth depending on the situation, you are not wrong.
Ogai and Fukuzawa sat in silence for a while, as if waiting for something. Perhaps during this time, Dostoevsky could have disappeared from the face of the earth. But unfortunately, that was impossible.
- So what happened? - Mori broke the silence, leaning his elbows on the table.
- Dostoevsky. - Yukichi answered briefly.
- Did you run into him? Don't worry, he doesn't know that Dazai is your subordinate. So, I have everything under control. - The neurosurgeon spoke in a calm tone. Ogai was fully confident that he was right. After all, it was characteristic of Fedor to get close to patients or staff, luring them to his side and gaining all the trust of those around him. From that, it was obvious, once Dazai let the psychopath know that he could count on his support, Fedor himself would unhook himself from Osamu.
- He knows. Dazai told him everything himself. - Taking deep inhales and exhales, explained the reason for his worries to Yukichi.
- What!!! - Ogai's eyes widened and his eyebrows rose to his forehead. His face froze in either a grimace of surprise or horror. Mori closed his eyes for a moment, leaning back in his chair. - Wait, wait. Explain. I don't understand how this even happened. How did you know about what he knows? - Ogai tried to gather his thoughts, which were flying far beyond the general psychiatric male ward. Alice's condition had worsened considerably and the tumor in her brain continued to grow.
- He told himself. - Fukuzawa's reply was once again short thereby raising more questions.
- Dostoyevsky? Himself? Are we definitely talking about the same person? - Ogai let out a nervous chuckle. His mind refused to believe what was happening.
- We were standing in the hallway outside the break room, talking to Osamu. Dostoevsky appeared to us and bluntly informed us that Dazai had told him about me, and that he was glad to meet me. - Fukuzawa nodded negatively. - Mori, do you realize this won't end well?
- He's harmless. He has no connection to the outside world. - Ogai glanced at Fukuzawa, who in turn watched his interlocutor with contempt and disbelief. - Okay, okay. If you want, I can lock him up in the isolation ward until Osamu is better and discharged? - The neurosurgeon suggested it.
- The terrorist attacks haven't stopped. - Silver Wolf said, barely audibly, as if he was afraid to say it out loud. - Explosions, gun attacks on government buildings and more have continued throughout his confinement in your treatment facility. Given that you've repeatedly claimed that Dostoyevsky has no connection to the world outside the hospital, we've been trying to find other culprits... Those who are really guilty... - Fukuzawa was silent for a moment, unable to believe that he was sharing such information with someone as inhuman as the psychopath.
- So he's not guilty? - Ogai clarified
- He is, that's the point. All the clues and leads lead to the Dead House Rats.
- That's impossible, all his followers died from the poison they were carrying! - Mori objected.
- Yes, but that doesn't change the fact that new ones couldn't help but appear. - Fukuzawa's voice was tired but firm. - Find him sane and he'll be put on death row.
- You're lying, aren't you? You're just trying to protect Osama! There's no way Dostoyevsky is running a terrorist organization from here. There must be someone else involved. - Ogai replied, raising his tone of voice slightly. The neurosurgeon didn't want to let the psychopath go, he had invested too much in him. It wasn't like he was going to give him to Fukuzawa like a cat that was out of foster care.
- Then I'm taking Osama. - Yukichi said confidently, rising from his chair to leave the office, but froze as soon as Mori raised his voice.
- Forced hospitalization.
- You can't do that. - Silver Wolf was indignant, wincing. He crossed the distance between them in a couple of steps, stopping right by the neurosurgeon's desk, glaring at him.
- I do. Such measures are performed on patients who are socially dangerous. - Argued Ogai
- Dazai is not a social hazard. - Fukuzawa protested.
- He's a danger to himself. Or is his body just covered in bandages for beauty's sake to hide the scars and wounds that have just begun to heal normally? - Mori asked, but continued without waiting for an answer. - He hadn't been on antidepressants yet, which meant that if the treatment was abruptly interrupted, he would go into withdrawal, and his condition would not just return to what it was before, but worsen many times over. - Ogai didn't really want Osamu to suffer, much less have his life interrupted after being discharged.
- So you and Dostoyevsky are on the same page? - Fukuzawa changed the subject, returning to one of the main issues.
- God forbid! - Ogai exclaimed. - I offered you an alternative. You saw Fedora's isolation room, he can't do anything from there, unless he can teleport.
- If Osamu loses a hair, you're on your own. - Surprisingly to himself, Fukuzawa accepted Mori's terms. But only until he could find another solution after thinking it over. After all, he couldn't send Dazai to another hospital. After all, the main privilege of being in Mori Ogaya's mental hospital was confidentiality. The patients had their medical records, but that was only at the Ogai Hospital.
If the neurosurgeon was approached by high-ranking personalities or those who did not want to lose their jobs because they might be taken for insane even after the disease was cured. In such cases, Mori entered a fictitious first and last name and date of birth into the general database. In other hospitals, it's no longer Dazai Osamu, but Hideyoshi Hanyu. In other hospitals, especially public ones, this was impossible.
Given that Osamu has a history of multiple attempts to end his life, suicidal behavior on a regular basis, and now diagnosed depression. And with a list like that, Dazai would no longer be able to continue working as a detective, squandering the remnants of his already lousy reputation.
- He is not a strange man, he is an amazing man! - summarized Rampo, sitting on the bed in Dostoevsky's room and munching on a candy bar.
- Strange? - asked the psychopath, sitting down on a chair by his desk.
- Don't mind him! - Dazai intervened.
- Quite right, but I was wondering where you lost your superior? - Dostoevsky changed the subject.
- We didn't lose him. He left with Ogai. They had some business there. - The suicidal man shrugged his shoulders.
- You must go, – Fyodor said sternly, walking to the door and opening it.
- Why? What's wrong? - Osamu was wary, a growing sense of unease rising in his chest out of nowhere.
- You... - Dostoevsky wanted to repeat himself, but he was interrupted by Ogai, accompanied by Fukuzawa.
- Fyodor is absolutely right, it's time to talk to him alone. - Ogai patted the psychopath on the shoulder. A half-smile played on the neurosurgeon's face.
Dostoevsky chuckled quietly, as if he had expected such an outcome. He did not resist. On the contrary, he even left the room first, but he did not go to Ogai's office. He went straight down the corridor, without looking back, to the communal showers. Opposite them was his place of confinement and solitude.
- Ije bo ascendethѧ, humblethѧ: and҆ humblethѧ́ѧisѧ ascendeth.¹ – the psychopath whispered, first kissing his cross and then hiding it back under his hospital shirt.
Osamu's inner anxiety was growing into irritation. He didn't like not understanding something at all. The suicidal man first cast a glance at Fukuzawa, then shifted his gaze to Mori, who placed his right hand over his heart, bowed his head, and walked away after the psychopath. Leaving Fukuzawa to deal with and explain everything on his own.
The thoughts in his head were confused. Where to start? What was the right way to ask? Would he get a truthful answer? No, no, and no again. However, that never stopped Dazai.
- Fukuzawa-san, you look worried, is something wrong? - Rampo asked. The young detective was not used to seeing his boss in such a state of mind.
Fukuzawa Yukichi was a man of strong character. He wasn't afraid of any case or situation. A character in whom Rampo saw not just an uncle of a security guard, but a figure of his absent father.
- It's all settled now. - Briefly threw the director of the detective bureau. - There is no cause for concern.
''Something is definitely not clean here. Fukuzawa's mood immediately changed after meeting with Fedor. However, he tried not to show it. But then he involved Ogai, who took Dostoyevsky when he himself kicked us out the door after learning that Fukuzawa had gone to Mori. Something doesn't add up here..." - Osamu sank into his thoughts. The key to everything seemed to be right in front of his eyes, but he couldn't see it....
- What's wrong with Dostoevsky? - Dadzai asked bluntly. He certainly liked riddles and digging into such things. But there was no time for mind games.
- What was wrong with him? - Fukuzawa answered question after question as he stood in the doorway of room number eight.
- Fukuzawa-san, I appreciate and respect you very much. However, one would have to be a complete idiot not to realize that things are not smooth sailing here. - Suicidal voices, no, now he was once again a detective who had been led astray.
- Dazai, I know you're smart. However, your condition and your mind are not pure. You see things that simply aren't there. - Silver Wolf assured him.
- So now I'm crazy? Ha, fine. I'm more sane than everyone here put together. - resented Osamu. - Okay, okay. I have a private consultation with a doctor, too. It was really nice to see you.
- Dazai! - Yukichi called out to Dazai, but he ignored his boss and left the room, heading for Yosano's office.