Chapter 70

The Escape, Part 2 (脱獄記 後篇,) is the 70th chapter of the Bungo Stray Dogs manga.

Summary
Troops from the Special Division for Unusual Powers chase after Atsushi, Kyōka, and Mushitaro. They break down the safe with explosives, only to find that the suspects are not there. Ango is surprised by this and states that they have completely disappeared. In truth, Atsushi, Kyōka, and Mushitaro have escaped by using Demon Snow to shut the door to the neighboring room while they had left the door open to the room they had been in. By the time the troops had gone to investigate the room with Demon Snow, the group had escaped. Mushitaro reveals that his plan has been inspired by Yokomizo's story. As they are walking, Mushitaro also says that he will just have to erase the evidence before they steal a car.

Kyōka suggests that they go through the sewers to get to the parking lot without the police seeing them. Atsushi prepares to go down the sewer when suddenly a tranquilizing dart hits him from behind. A grenade falls, which Kyōka manages to cut before it explodes. However, this is a decoy that results in her also tranquilized. Ango reveals himself to the group, and Atsushi desperately tries to persuade him that the Agency has been framed. He reveals that his ability — which allows him to extract information from the things he touches — has shown him their plan that proves their criminal nature. Ango mercilessly points his gun at Atsushi and shoots. However, it turns out that he has pushed Atsushi down the sewer. As Mushitaro and Kyōka also fall down the sewer, Ango gestures to Atsushi to keep his silence. The troops arrive at the scene, and Ango tells them that the fugitives have gone west. With the troops gone, Ango brings the trio to a car and drives them away.

There he tells them that he has previously sent Dazai's message back at Fitzgerald's base that flashed on the screens to activate the sprinklers, being allies with Dazai all along. He also tells Atsushi that Dazai has a special way of communicating with him while confined at Meursault, which is manipulating his own heart rate. Since Ango works for the government, he can access such information and decode it. Mushitaro still does not trust Ango, thinking him to be part of the Seventh Agency. Ango corrects him that it was merely a lie made up by Dostoevsky to keep them apart.

The group ends up in Anne's Chamber where Lucy aggressively asks Atsushi why he is a fugitive. Atsushi wonders why she is with Ango, who tells him that she had come to them with a very threatening look saying that Atsushi is not a murderer. Mushitaro realizes that Ango is working alone, though he asks Ango whether he has ever employed them. Ango admits having employed them once to erase Dazai's past crimes as atonement for their mutual friend.

Eventually, Mushitaro tells the group about the Decay of Angels and their penultimate goal of eliminating the country. Since there is still a blank side of the page they had used to frame the Agency, they can use it for their ultimate goal. Though Mushitaro does not know their final goal, he tells them about the Decay of Angels' plan comprising four stages: first, the cannibalism stage; second, the frame-up of the Agency using one side of the page; third (and their current stage), mostly terrorist activity; and the final stage, the cessation of the country by writing on the other side of the page at the next full moon in ten days. Though Ango is visibly distressed, Atsushi and Kyōka are pleased by this revelation, giving them ten days to steal the page and write there instead that the Agency has been falsely accused.