Chapter 26: The Double Black

Perhaps Chuuya Nakahara had become accustomed to the two Dazai Osamu switching control of his body from time to time, but for the two Dazai Osamu, this abnormal symbiotic state was nothing short of a slow torture.

Such things can be tolerated in the short term, using mutual scheming, pranks, and indifference as a shield. But what about the long term?

The thought that two souls with the same essence yet completely different exist within this body, sharing the same set of sensory nerves, perceiving the same pain and pleasure, and even... sharing the same possibility of death, made Dazai Osamu feel nauseous and want to vomit.

The thought itself is enough to trigger a physiological aversion stemming from instinct.

Therefore, whichever Dazai Osamu temporarily took control of the body, when the other was banished back to this mysterious space, all he could do was bury himself in the vast sea of ​​bookshelves for what seemed like an endless period of time.

They tacitly agreed to wage a silent war. They relentlessly searched the ancient texts for a method of separation that might not even exist. They would even carefully lay traps in places the other might read, leave misleading annotations, or use the most malicious jokes only they could understand to disrupt their progress.

These little pranks, whether malicious or silly, keep popping up. They know the other person is doing the same thing, and even though they know it's all in vain, they still enjoy it.

This behavior of dragging each other down might seem troublesome and childish to outsiders, but for two people with identical thought patterns who can accurately predict each other's every move, it's a reasonable outlet. After all, in this world, there's probably no one who understands you better than yourself.

Dazai Osamu had long since stopped calculating how long he had lingered in this world. Time was meaningless here; focusing on it would only intensify his gloomy mood, repeatedly reminding him of the absurdity of his own existence and making him clearly aware that he was merely an outsider, that he did not belong to this world.

Occasionally, when it's Dazai Osamu's turn to control the body, he'll engage in some routine dangerous activities, such as swimming. The previous attempt to jump off a building was a test of his hypothesis: whether the speed of soul switching would increase if the body were in danger.

His actions were nothing short of insane. With almost no preparation and only a vague sense of his partner's location, he dared to stand on the rooftop, which had no railings, with the hard concrete floor below and no safety mats. It was, after all, just a spur-of-the-moment attempt. This demonstrated both an almost obsessive trust in his partner's abilities and a blatant disregard for life itself.

The test results showed that the switching of souls remained random, and the souls were not affected regardless of whether the body was in danger.

Moreover, through repeated switching and prolonged coexistence, they gradually realized something even worse: this so-called switching was less a rejection and struggle between two souls against a body, and more a slow adaptation and integration of the soul of Dazai Osamu from another world into the body that originally belonged to [Dazai Osamu].

To explain it specifically, the longer he stays in this body, the longer his soul controls it, just like a parasite living inside a host, drawing nutrients and waiting for the day it completely takes over.

When he realized this, Dazai Osamu felt an unprecedented nausea, almost to the point of vomiting. To him, invading another's body, stealing another's life, and inheriting another's relationships was utterly tedious.

He could abandon his own life without hesitation, so why would he be willing to pick up someone else's things, bear the burdens and shackles that weren't his own, and continue to eke out a living in this unfamiliar world? Even if it were a counterpart, he never thought of replacing them.

However, they haven't found any effective way to solve this problem. All they can do is search through those ancient and obscure texts in that mysterious space, trying to find a solution.

At first, Dazai Osamu didn't dream. Even when he controlled his body to fall asleep, his consciousness would simply sink into complete darkness. There were no dreams, no sounds, nothing at all. But now, he occasionally dreams of bizarre and fantastical things. He finds it hard to say what these things represent; he can't be sure until he confirms them.

Sometimes when he wakes up and opens his eyes, he finds his perspective distorted, meaning he has lost control of his body. Sometimes when he opens his eyes, his soul hasn't been replaced but remains in this body. In such cases, he can only get up and expressionlessly play the role of "Dazai Osamu," handling the affairs of a Hong Kong gangster boss and dealing with familiar yet unfamiliar people.

Occasionally, to dispel some loneliness, he would use these brief moments of body control to play an extremely boring yet endlessly enjoyable game with Chuuya Nakahara: "Guess Who I Am." Of course, if a wager was added, the most exciting part was watching the irritable Gravity user jump up and down in frustration after guessing wrong, his cobalt blue eyes burning with resentment, like a cat whose tail had been stepped on.

Chuuya Nakahara displayed a variety of expressions due to his teasing, which was quite amusing. However, when these kinds of teasing games ended and his consciousness was pulled back to that mysterious space, he would sometimes be confronted by Osamu Dazai's gloomy face that could drip water.

Without a doubt, this guy witnessed the entire thing from within the spatial dimension and was extremely displeased that his dog had been so thoroughly mocked by another consciousness. Unfortunately, at that time, control of the body was in Dazai Osamu's hands, and [Dazai Osamu] was unable to do anything due to certain constraints.

However, if, after Dazai had finished teasing Chuuya, control of the body swiftly and conveniently fell back into Dazai Osamu's hands, his sarcastic tone as he faced Chuuya, who had just been tricked by Dazai, was so sickeningly sweet it made your teeth ache:

"Waaah~ I'm not dead yet, Chuuya?" [Dazai Osamu] drawled, his iris-colored eyes swirling with undisguised malice and a deeply hidden possessiveness. Why was Chuuya making such a cute face at another man? I'm clearly your true master!

At this moment, Nakahara Chuuya was angered by his inexplicable words and retorted, "Huh? Wasn't that you just now? What trick are you playing now, you bastard?!"

When he saw the gloomy, denial look on Dazai Osamu's face, he would get angry again, "That damned bastard Dazai, how dare you lie to me?! You're all the same kind of bastard!" He was so angry that he almost spoke without thinking. Just thinking about how stupid he was to have believed the lie, he couldn't even imagine how that bastard was laughing behind his back.

"Huh?" [Dazai Osamu] immediately put on an exaggerated expression that mixed disbelief and grievance, his eyes wide open as if he had been greatly wronged. "I haven't done anything yet! Why are you scolding me too? That's so unfair!"

"How dare you say that? And when did I ever show any cute expressions to anyone, you bastard!" Chuuya Nakahara glared angrily at the other person, his hands in his pockets. From Dazai Osamu's perspective, he looked like a squeaking, short-legged cat, its tiny body almost completely hidden from view if the line of sight was leveled.

This imagery somehow tickled Dazai Osamu's funny bone, causing him to burst into laughter without warning, his shoulders shaking uncontrollably as he laughed until he could barely breathe.

"Hey! You bastard, what are you laughing at all of a sudden?!" Nakahara Chuuya was baffled by his laughter, his anger mixed with confusion.

"Oh dear, who's speaking?" [Dazai Osamu] barely managed to suppress a laugh. He wiped away non-existent tears from the corner of his eye, deliberately feigning a blank look around, his gaze intentionally passing over Chuuya's head. "Is the voice coming from below? I can't find anyone there."

These words struck a nerve with Nakahara Chuuya. Upon hearing this, Nakahara Chuuya's anger flared up instantly. He smirked and spat out the words "Dazai the bastard," simultaneously launching a flying kick straight for Dazai's abdomen. However, Dazai easily dodged it with a twist of his waist, his movements as fluid as if he had rehearsed them a thousand times.

"Looks like Chuuya hasn't been drinking his milk on time either." He steadied himself, sighing in an extremely irritating tone. He even stretched out his hand, first gesturing to his chest, then deliberately moving it slowly to the top of Chuuya's signature top hat, his fingertips intentionally pressing down. "Otherwise, how come your height is about the same as when we first met four years ago? We're still like this—"

He paused deliberately, then uttered a word that Nakahara Chuuya hated most: "Little...nothing." The tone rose slightly at the end, almost like flirting, but Nakahara Chuuya didn't notice.

[Dazai Osamu] shook his head, looking heartbroken: "As expected, if you don't drink milk properly, you won't grow tall like Chuuya. Luckily, I secretly drank milk to supplement my nutrition back then." He deliberately emphasized the word "secretly".

"Huh?!" Chuuya Nakahara's anger instantly flared up to a new level, his ears turning red with rage. "You bastard! You always said you didn't like drinking milk, were you lying to me?" He instinctively retorted, "Besides, I do drink milk on time!" As soon as the words left his mouth, he regretted it; it was practically exposing his own weakness.

"Whoa—!!!" [Dazai Osamu] immediately let out an extremely exaggerated exclamation. He pulled out a palm-sized black notebook from some corner of his body and began to write quickly, his face beaming with the excitement of discovering something new. "Shocking secret! The strongest gravity user in the □□, Nakahara Chuuya, is actually secretly drinking milk in order to grow taller! I must write this down carefully."

He looked up and gave Chuuya Nakahara, whose face was ashen, a wicked smile. "And Chuuya actually remembers that I said I don't like milk? By the way, I really didn't drink any, I was just kidding~"

"What nonsense are you spouting, you bastard? And what are you writing?!" Nakahara Chuuya's attention was instantly drawn to the suspicious notebook in Dazai Osamu's hand, and his intuition told him that it was definitely not a good thing.

"Oh, this?" [Dazai Osamu] shook the notebook, his smile widening. "It has nothing to do with China, does it? You care about me that much?"

"Who cares about you, you bastard! I suspect you're writing bad things about me, let me see!" Nakahara Chuuya couldn't hold back any longer and lunged forward to snatch the notebook.

【Dazai Osamu】easily dodged every grab from Nakahara Chuuya. The notebook was skillfully moved by his fingers, darting left and right, and no matter how hard Nakahara Chuuya tried, he couldn't even touch the edge.

"Chuuya~ Don't be so narcissistic, okay?" He said lazily while nimbly dodging, "Why would I use a notebook specifically to record you? That would be such a waste." But in an instant, the notebook disappeared from his hand, hidden somewhere by someone.

"What were you writing just now?!" Chuuya Nakahara stared intently at the other person with his cobalt blue eyes.

[Dazai Osamu] feigned surrender, sighed, but a sly glint flashed in his eyes. "Alright, actually, I am recording your secrets." He deliberately dragged out the words. "That way, if I make any demands of you later, like buying you the latest game or treating me to super expensive crab, Chuuya will have no choice but to comply because I have the evidence against him, right? It's quite amusing to think about~"

Chuuya Nakahara suddenly felt a strong sense of crisis! He racked his brains trying to recall what he might have done to the other party. Could it be that he was caught for accidentally breaking the leader's beloved antique vase last week and then secretly gluing it back together? Or was it that he had over-reported the meal allowance in his mission report last month and was discovered by this guy? Or was it something outrageous that he did on a drunken night some time ago...?

Countless thoughts flashed through his mind. Looking at Dazai Osamu's confident expression, Chuuya felt a chill run down his spine and a slight unease.

"Damn it, hand over the notebook!" Chuuya Nakahara lunged again, this time almost using fighting techniques to try and subdue the man and search him. Since he couldn't figure it out, he figured it would be more reassuring to just get his hands on it and look at it.

However, Dazai Osamu's physical skills were equally superb. The two exchanged blows in the narrow alley, like two felines tearing at and entangled with each other. In the end, Nakahara Chuuya still couldn't touch the corner of the notebook. Instead, Dazai Osamu grabbed his wrist and pinned him against the wall.

"Wow, Chuuya is touching me so enthusiastically..." [Dazai Osamu] leaned closer, his warm breath almost brushing against Chuuya's ear, his voice low and carrying a chillingly ambiguous accusation, "Could it be... that he's using the excuse of looking for doujinshi to do something shady to his poor partner? Is Chuuya such a pervert?"

"You—!!!" Chuuya's face instantly turned bright red, half from anger and half from embarrassment. He abruptly broke free from the other's grip, jumping back several steps as if burned, pointing at Dazai Osamu and stammering "you" for a long time, unable to utter a complete rebuttal. He had no idea how things had developed like this; he was clearly the one who had been tricked, yet in the end, he seemed to have become the guilty harasser.

[Dazai Osamu] innocently straightened his torn suit and bandages, muttering accusations against his partner for his perverted behavior of messing up his clothes.

"If you're also captivated by my good looks, as long as you beg me politely, I might reluctantly let you touch me a little."

"Get lost! I don't want to touch you!"

The golden-red afterglow of the setting sun bathed the streets of Yokohama, casting long, long shadows of the two men. They walked noisily towards the five iconic buildings of the Port Mafia. Their long shadows overlapped as they approached, like two intertwined, inseparable threads of fate.

A note from the author:

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I was rushing to meet another deadline this week, and I'm exhausted. I had to work six hours straight.

It's finally been replaced; it was such a relief.