Chapter 38: The Double Black

Conan's eyes widened in surprise at Dazai Osamu's words.

He gazed into the other person's exposed iris-colored eyes, remained silent for a moment, then sighed like a little adult, not pressing further, and instead explained the purpose of his trip—about the content of that anime.

However, to Dazai Osamu, those words seemed deliberately obscured and vague. It was as if he, an outsider, had been deprived of his right to know about a story that almost everyone knew.

Dazai Osamu lowered his eyes, his gaze cold and desolate. Even though he couldn't hear most of Conan's words, he didn't interrupt. Instead, he let his brain work at full speed, piecing together clues and analyzing possibilities. He eventually came to a conclusion: this anime might be related to the future of the world he came from, or even a prophecy of some predetermined fate.

This reminded him of a precognitive dream he had years ago, the channel through which he first met Nakahara Chuuya.

After obtaining the limited information from Conan, Dazai Osamu clearly realized that there were no more secrets worth uncovering about the child, and thus lost interest in continuing the conversation.

He could sense that the other person was hiding something, but it wasn't something he cared about. So he politely thanked them and then symbolically asked if they had any other questions. After receiving a negative answer, he made an excuse to leave.

Conan stood there, watching Dazai Osamu's departing figure. The brim of his hat covered most of his hair, his hands were in his pockets, and he exuded an indescribable sense of decadence.

Conan could vaguely sense that his words seemed to have plunged the other person into a low mood, but he didn't know why. A similar situation had happened to Dazai Osamu in the past, but no matter when, he had never been able to truly understand it.

Since he hadn't gotten an answer before, he probably wouldn't get one now either. Conan sighed softly and rode his skateboard away in the opposite direction from Dazai.

At this moment, Dazai Osamu's mood was indeed plummeting, just as Conan had sensed.

When he realized that he could not know the specifics of what Conan was saying, he realized that the fate of the world he originally lived in might have been written into a predetermined script, and an indescribable sense of emptiness seemed to be engulfing his entire soul.

If all the struggles and efforts are just a predetermined, routine, then what's the point?

After all, even if you do nothing, fate will still push you forward, won't it?

-

Chuuya Nakahara arrived in this world suddenly.

Just like I told Dazai Osamu before, I had just visited the grave the day before and then I saw a ghost. However, this ghost was that bastard partner I knew. It appeared suddenly and disappeared just as quickly.

When he returned to his villa to rest, he wondered if the guy's ghost might be hiding somewhere to scare him, but the night was very quiet and nothing supernatural happened.

Almost a week passed peacefully before Chuuya Nakahara had to accept the reality: that guy didn't show up a second time.

He didn't think what he saw at the grave was a hallucination, but repeated recollections did make his memory blurry, and the details began to evoke feelings of uncertainty.

In the end, Chuuya Nakahara could only force himself to stop caring about such things. His life went on, but his life would never intersect with Dazai's again.

However, just when he thought he would spend the rest of his life in this mundane way, one ordinary morning, he opened his eyes and found that his bedroom had completely changed.

Both the layout of the environment and the pajamas he was wearing suggested that he had been moved to an unfamiliar place.

He wondered who could move him silently while he slept. In fact, while he wasn't like Dazai, who could be awakened by the slightest sound while sleeping, he was certainly not the type who wouldn't wake up if someone moved his body.

However, soon, Nakahara Chuuya discovered that he seemed to have entered a completely different world from before.

He found some evidence in his residence that proved this, and perhaps more convincing was the information and news on the Internet, as well as a sudden phone call to him—the person on the other end of the line claimed to be his agent and reported on the upcoming schedule—all of this clearly pointed to one fact: he was no longer in the original world.

After all, no enemy dares to play such an entertaining prank on the Hong Kong Triads' gravity manipulation, and those who would have done so have long since disappeared into the past.

It took Chuuya Nakahara quite a while to adapt to his new identity—in this world, he was an ordinary person discovered by a talent scout, had signed with an entertainment company, and the company's plan for him was to develop him into a singer—and then he moved forward on that path.

He discovered that there were no superpowers in this world and wondered if there were any other acquaintances around. Currently, using his celebrity status to increase his online exposure is the most direct and convenient way for him to find clues. He believes that anyone who knows him will recognize him upon seeing his face.

So he participated in a singing competition arranged by the company, which was broadcast live. He already had a talent for singing, and with the help of later training, he quickly became a dark horse and won the championship. In no time, his name spread throughout the entire internet.

Then one day, an unfamiliar number appeared on his phone. As soon as he answered, that familiar voice came through. Just from one sentence, he could recognize that it was his long-lost jerk partner—by that distinctive voice and tone.

However, he quickly denied this, saying that although the voice sounded like Dazai's, it was just a coincidence of similar voices.

The other party contacted him by phone to arrange a meeting, and Nakahara Chuu wasn't worried about any ulterior motives. He didn't know how this person had obtained his private number, and he was also confident in his martial arts skills, so he went to the appointment.

At first glance, Nakahara Chuuya knew that the other person was Dazai Osamu—anyone who knew him could be sure of this by seeing that familiar face and expression—but it wasn't the one he knew, because the other person's eyes were very unfamiliar when he saw him, and he spoke directly: "Hello, I am Dazai Osamu. Perhaps you know me—of course, we don't know each other in real life."

Nakahara Chu didn't fully understand the sentence, but he understood some key points from the other party's explanation: the other party knew that he knew someone named Dazai Osamu, but emphasized that they were not the same person. Finally, he also said that he knew that Nakahara Chu did not belong to this world, and that he was also looking for a way to leave this world.

Chuuya was surprised by how much the other person knew, but he didn't have any other particular thoughts. Instead, he chose to trust the other person—he could sense that the other person meant him no harm, and even seemed to exude a certain excitement when facing him. Although he didn't understand, Chuuya didn't care.

Meanwhile, in order to help Dazai find a way to leave, Chuuya Nakahara chooses to share some of his own experiences with him.

However, Dazai Osamu's search for a solution took far longer than expected. According to him, he had been researching this kind of thing since middle school.

Currently, the appearance of Nakahara Chuuya is the only unexpected thing for him (Dazai Osamu's original words to him were roughly: "I never thought I would actually meet you in this world in this lifetime." The words were so exaggerated that Nakahara Chuuya showed a speechless dead fish eye).

Chuuya Nakahara himself tried to find a way to leave, but to no avail. His singing career continued (he originally planned to end it after meeting Osamu Dazai, since he was not short of money and had limited interest in singing, but Dazai suggested that he continue). This continued for several years.

One day, Dazai Osamu suddenly told him excitedly that he was about to leave first, but the method had not yet been fully verified, so he needed to use himself as an experiment first.

If successful, perhaps another soul will descend into the body of [Dazai Osamu], or even the partner that Nakahara Chuuya had been talking about, who was said to be very similar to [Dazai Osamu] but even more of a scoundrel. If it fails, then all will be for naught.

Chuuya Nakahara expressed his understanding and support, and remembered some of the words that Dazai Osamu had told him, waiting for the so-called opportunity to arrive.

Then, Dazai Osamu suddenly disappeared. The next news of him came from a headline in the news: "Popular Star Assassinated and Mysteriously Resurrected." By the time Nakahara Chuuya rushed over, several days had already passed.

The moment he saw the person on the hospital bed, a strange sense of familiarity washed over him. The other person's expression and the words they spoke told Chuuya Nakahara one thing: this person was not the same [Dazai Osamu] from before.

The strange sense of familiarity led him to a bold guess: perhaps this guy was the same jerk partner he knew. Subsequent probing and conversations confirmed this.

However, Nakahara Chuuya was very busy. As a popular singer, his schedule was packed, so his previous meetings with Dazai were all very rushed.

He didn't check his messages frequently, usually only once he remembered. Then one day, he suddenly received an invitation from Dazai to meet him, asking him to act as a tour guide and show him around the area.

Chuuya Nakahara was somewhat surprised by this, but he did not refuse. After making an appointment with Dazai, he canceled all his work for that day to make time for him, but he did not expect that the other party would ultimately choose to stay overnight at his house.

Although through their conversation, Chuuya Nakahara realized that the other person was the one he had been searching for, in reality, after arriving in this world, he no longer held much hope of ever reuniting with him.

Therefore, this encounter was truly unexpected.

He had imagined countless scenarios for their reunion, but none of them matched reality. Perhaps they had been apart for too long, so much so that when they first met, Chuuya Nakahara even felt a little uncomfortable—unaccustomed to the other's presence, unaccustomed to the other's gaze, even though in this unfamiliar world, they could be considered the people most familiar to each other.

Chuuya Nakahara noticed that after meeting him, Dazai's exposed skin was wrapped with the bandages that he used to wear.

However, over the years, the person he met most often was Osamu Dazai. Unlike his partner, Dazai was not obsessed with bandages. He was gentle and even suddenly chose to become a star after getting in touch with Dazai.

This [Dazai Osamu] can be said to be the counterpart of his bastard partner ([Dazai Osamu] admitted to him before), the two are equally mysterious.

Chuuya and he had a close relationship, but he didn't know why the other man entered the entertainment industry, what he did in private, or what kind of emotions were hidden under that seemingly gentle face.

As for Dazai, due to the long separation, his image in his memory had gradually become blurred. Chuuya had once thought he was about to forget him, but he recognized him at first sight upon their reunion.

He still remembered the day they agreed to meet, walking side by side, and how he could see Dazai's profile when he turned his head, and the sparkling look in Dazai's eyes as he ate ice cream. He could also recall some of the things Dazai had said at the time, and for a moment it felt as if he had returned to the past.

Finally, somehow, the other person went home with him and stayed at his house for one night.

The next day, Chuuya Nakahara went to work as planned.

Before leaving, he prepared breakfast for Dazai—he couldn't help it; if that bastard had to cook for himself, he couldn't even imagine what his kitchen would become.

Then, he went to the building where he worked as usual to prepare for the performance a few days later. However, after finishing work, looking at the empty mailbox, Chuuya Nakahara suddenly realized that Dazai had probably left by now and was probably wandering around somewhere else.

Chuuya Nakahara could still recall the strange question Dazai had asked him the night before, about the seasons.

He tried hard to recall the details of the night, Dazai's voice and expression, and what he said. It seemed that they had gone out together in the middle of the night, but Chuuya couldn't remember what had happened outside or how they had returned.

However, what impressed him most was probably that he inexplicably entered Dazai's room, and then found that the other party seemed to be trapped in a nightmare, so he chose to wake him up.

After he woke up Dazai, the two of them seemed to chat for a few more minutes before he went back to his room to rest.

Thinking of this, Nakahara Chuuya unconsciously frowned. He tried to recall more details about last night, but he couldn't remember anything. He didn't know what he did last night, why he went into Dazai's room, or what they talked about.

Chuuya didn't think his memory was so bad that he couldn't even remember what happened last night, but he had indeed forgotten a lot of things. He felt that he had overlooked something, but he couldn't grasp the fleeting inspiration that crossed his mind.

Ultimately, he stopped reminiscing and chose to do something else first. He tapped the keyboard with his fingers and sent a message to a specific contact:

[Dazai, I have a performance in a few days, would you like to come and watch?]

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Author's Note: We're currently in the third part of the story (out of four), and the fourth part should be starting soon. I'm experiencing some writer's block [crying emoji]. Thank you all for your support and patience! [hug emoji]

I've roughly figured out the content for the bonus chapters and special side stories. I'll try to update as often as possible, and I might hold off on writing for a few days before releasing them all at once, because revising the plot is a bit slow. [heart emoji]