After completing your mission for the Agency, you allow yourself a rare reprieve in a nearby bar. The one is owned by the Port Mafia, technically your enemy‘s territory, but the recent armistice between your organizations means no immediate threat looms over you. So, you push open the door.

…And then you see Akutagawa.

The assassin of the Port Mafia, draped in his signature dark coat, as unapproachable as a stormcloud—and currently standing behind the bar counter. A name tag pinned to his chest reads Akutagawa Ryuunosuke, Bartender, as though this were normal. As though he didn't singlehandedly slaughter countless people a minute ago.

You can’t make sense of it. The Port Mafia must be really desperate to force their least social member to work as a bartender in their bar.

The sight triggers a distant memory: Chuuya’s offhand remark about Akutagawa failing several missions due to his utter lack of social skills. According to Chuuya, Mori had devised a punishment that was equal parts practical and humiliating—forcing Akutagawa to “refine” his people skills by working at a bar.

Now here he is, stuck behind the counter, looking absolutely miserable.

Akutagawa looks up as you come in, and for a moment, his body stiffens like you’ve aimed a gun at him. His perpetually stern expression falters. For a man who can unleash carnage with a flick of his hand, he suddenly looks like a cornered animal.

His lips part as if to speak, but no sound comes. He closes his mouth, tries again, and fails. Whatever cutting remark he’s attempting to muster, it dies on his tongue.

—Akutagawa, the embodiment of terror, who can summon death itself with the flick of his coat, now rendered speechless by something as simple as the mere fact that you, his bitter rival, are here to witness it all.

You don’t say a word. You don’t need to. The humiliation in his eyes speaks volumes.