Episode 48

Jailbreak (脱獄記,) is the 48th episode of Bungo Stray Dogs anime series and the eleventh episode of the fourth season. It aired on March 8, 2023.

Summary
In his confinement, Mushitaro writes a letter to his deceased friend Yokomizo, telling him about his life there. Suddenly, Kyōka comes bursting through the ceiling along with Atsushi. The latter says that they have come to rescue him to seek his help in proving that the Agency has been framed. Mushitaro initially refuses, as he does not want to share the information he has on the Decay of the Angel with the Agency, and he is also no longer interested in the outside world. However, Kyōka brings up the word "manuscript" as previously instructed by Ranpo as a sort of blackmailing tactic against Mushitaro, making him agree to the escape.

On the way out, Mushitaro tries to get the Agency members captured by nearby soldiers by making a scene for various petty reasons, but Kyōka always manages to scare him silent. Atsushi looks outside the window and notices Ango standing outside with troops from the Special Division for Unusual Powers. Mushitaro starts freaking out and reveals that Ango is in fact the head of the criminal group known as the Seventh Agency, which was created by the government. The said agency is responsible for cover-ups of political crimes and illegal tactics, as well as for hiding scandals. Mushitaro states that if Ango catches them, he will be imprisoned until he dies and that Kyōka and Atsushi will be made to disappear.

Mushitaro comes up with a plan to get away confidently, slipping through camera footage using his ability. However, in the end, the three are nearly surrounded along their route when Atsushi notices Ango and his soldiers coming towards them. Knowing the suspects' respective abilities most likely due to his ability, Ango instructs the troops to establish a perimeter to avoid the suspects from escaping.

Desperately thinking of a plan, Mushitaro recalls Yokomizo and his locked room stories — wherein criminals disappear like mist in a room with no exits — which Yokomizo believed to be such great mysteries. As a result, Mushitaro takes inspiration from Yokomizo's words and becomes determined to escape their pursuers in their situation.

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 being 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 — have 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 room 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 the Angel 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 the Angel's 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.