Chapter 18

Flowers and Red Leaves, Snow and Gold is the 18th chapter of Bungo Stray Dogs.

Summary
Kouyou is about to kill Atsushi, but Kyouka decides to go with her at the last minute in order to get her to spare his life. It turns out that Kyouka was actually using the opportunity to stab Kouyou, who blocked the dagger. Kyouka decides to use Demon Snow to defeat Kouyou. In another part of town, two Guild members had crashed their pickup truck into a post, and decide to walk to their destination, mentioning a package that will be arriving soon. Meanwhile, Kyouka's and Kouyou's demons fight. Kouyou tells her that as an assassin, no matter how much she wants to go to the light, she can ultimately only survive in the darkness. She refers to a time when she was younger when she tried to escape the Mafia with an older man, but he was killed. She tells her that her true nature will never change, since she's using Demon Snow, who killed her parents. This shocked Kyouka so much that she went with Kouyou without a struggle. A bunch of people from the Mafia also show up, and they prepare to get rid of Atsushi. Luckily, he is saved by Kenji and Kunikida at the last minute, who had tracked Kyouka's phone. As the Agency and the Mafia prepare to standoff, the two Guild members from before, Howard Phillips Lovecraft and John Steinbeck, show up. Immediately after, the rest of the Guild: Nathaniel Hawthorne, Margaret Mitchell, Herman Melville, and Mark Twain drop down from the sky. The Mafia shoots at them. Afterwards, the Guild leaves, leaving the bodies of the Agency and the Mafia behind. At the Mafia headquarters, Mori looks worried as he is told about Kouyou and her squad.