Chapter 5.5 Double Black

Time flows like water, passing by silently before humankind even realizes it.

Sixteen-year-old Osamu Dazai becomes a candidate for a mafia executive.

In the same year, he met two friends named Ango Sakaguchi and Sakunosuke Oda.

They often met up at a bar called Lupin to drink and chat.

When drinking, Osamu Dazai would occasionally get into the mood and talk to his two friends about his series of precognitive dreams in a joking tone.

"Oh, so you dreamt that a boy became your partner?" Oda Sakunosuke asked, tilting his head.

"Yes! It's someone I've never met in real life, yet they appeared in my dream. It's really strange."

"Dazai, you really haven't met the other person?" Sakaguchi Ango asked doubtfully. "If it lasts for a year, it's unlikely that it's someone I haven't met before."

Dazai Osamu shook his head.

"I can assure you, I have never seen it."

He rested his chin on his elbow and then rhythmically tapped the ice puck in the glass on the table with the fingers of his other hand, as if he were recalling something.

"...He has ochre hair that would be dazzling under the sun, and his appearance...is the kind that you'd never forget once you see him...In short, he's very memorable!"

The ice puck rubbed against the glass, causing the liquor inside to slosh slightly.

"Hmm... If that's the case, it's really strange that someone I've never met in real life keeps appearing in my dreams..." Oda Sakunosuke fell into deep thought.

Ango Sakaguchi suddenly thought of something and said somewhat speechlessly, "Dazai, could it be that your strange suicide attempts have attracted some kind of ghost that wants to drag you into the Sanzu River because of your thirst for death?!" There are many stories about this rising star of the Port Mafia, which are widely circulated within the Port Mafia.

Dazai Osamu imagined the scene of Nakahara Chuuya floating in the air trying to pull him into the Sanzu River... Nakahara Chuuya floating in the air... Hmm, thinking about it this way, he really does look like a demon, although compared to the characteristics of a demon, the only thing he has in common is that he can float.

"Speaking of which, my partner in the dream, he really could float, and he was the kind of person who could float around like that." As he spoke, he made a wavy gesture with his arm, a very vivid ~ symbol.

"Eh?! Dazai, please don't let a demon's sweet talk lure you away! I've heard that some demons can possess bodies and return to life, so I really don't want to see you one day and not be yourself anymore. Just thinking about it gives me goosebumps." Ango said, rubbing his arms as if he could already see that terrifying situation unfolding.

"Hmm, I'll try my best?"

"Why would you still hesitate?!"

"After all, these things are unpredictable. Rather, if that day ever comes, Ango and Odasaku should be able to recognize that 'I' am no longer me. If they do, then please stay away from 'me'!"

Dazai Osamu poked the ice hockey puck with his finger, a genuine smile on his face. He looked at his friends, knowing full well that this day was unlikely to come.

The small tavern is dimly lit, has a comfortable atmosphere, and is filled with trustworthy friends. From a distance, it looks like a picture marked by the passage of time, becoming history with the flow of time.

Dazai Osamu had also investigated information about the person named Nakahara Chuuya in his dream in real life, but found nothing. The only potentially relevant information was a sentence in a top-secret report:

"...On [date], at 6:00 AM, experiment numbered [number] was conducted... The experiment failed, and [number] energy particles collided, causing a massive explosion. Analysis revealed... a giant crater was formed..."

He doesn't know much in reality, because he can only recall certain things in his dreams, such as Chuuya's certain identities.

He searched for Chuuya for a very long time, but he could never find this person in the world, not even a single person with the same name. It was as if, having lost a certain opportunity, the other person would never appear in this world again.

He was acutely aware of a certain possibility—the other person might only exist in a parallel world, a partner belonging only to his parallel world. The Nakahara Chuuya of that world had not yet been born, and perhaps would never be born again.

Perhaps the dream was too real, and he was slightly confused, his inner emotional balance seemingly tilting subtly. Sometimes, walking inside the Port Mafia building, seeing that the office that should have belonged to Chuuya Nakahara in his dream was occupied by someone else, he felt a disorienting sense of separation. The office space was the same, but the layout was completely different from his dream, constantly reminding him that there was no point of intersection between dream and reality.

This is truly a rather unfortunate development.

A note from the author:

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Edited