57 Jinjiang Exclusive

◎The trolley problem? ◎

59

Nighttime, a convenience store in Yokohama.

Gogol browsed through the dazzling array of buns and meat skewers at the counter, finally choosing the pizza bun that looked remarkably like Lucia's fried buns. After paying, he had just stepped out of the convenience store with his bag when he heard a voice calling his name.

"Wakana-chan?" Gogol turned around and, upon seeing Kawakami Wakana, immediately broke into a wide smile. "Let the clown guess, your coming to see me must be related to Dostoevsky, right?"

Ruoyi did not deny it.

“I’m here to disrupt Fedia’s plans. And there’s one thing only you can do.”

“Interesting.” Gogol twirled the plastic bag containing the buns in his hand. “And why should I help you?”

“If you help me, maybe Fedia will rethink whether he has forgotten why he came to Yokohama in the first place.” Ruoyi looked directly into Gogol’s eyes in the night. “And maybe you can see Fedia out of control, just the way you’ve been hoping to see him.”

"Is this enough?"

A gentle evening breeze stirred, scattering fallen leaves from the ground. Gogol remained silent, simply adjusting his hat. At that moment, Kawakami Wakana also checked her current stats—

[Favorability 10% (friend). 】

[Murderous intent 50%]

…………

January 7th is the Lunar New Year's Day.

Kawakami Wakana cautiously stepped into an empty church that was no longer in use.

Although it was an abandoned church that no one used, it was much cleaner than she had imagined; at least she wasn't coughing from the dust as soon as she entered. Inside the church, she only saw Fyodor sitting in his seat, making the sign of the cross with his eyes closed, muttering something to himself.

Meanwhile, Ivan, who was holding a candle beside her, was staring intently at her.

Perhaps hearing her footsteps, Fyodor slightly opened his eyes and waved in Ruoyi's direction.

"Neko, come here."

Holding a Bible in his hands, the expression on his face really made him look like an ordinary person who had come here to celebrate Christmas.

"You really are something. I've been deliberately revealing my whereabouts frequently lately, and I've remained unscathed. It's probably because of you, isn't it?"

"You already guessed I wanted to go to jail?"

"So what?" Ruoyi retorted. "I'm not on your side. Since I've seen through your plan, of course I'll choose to prevent you from getting what you want."

“Alright, let’s not talk about this anymore.” Fyodor closed the Bible. “Let’s eat something first.”

Ivan offered me a plate of frosted sugar cakes.

"Thank you, Fei Jia." Ruoyi stepped forward like an ordinary girl in love, but when she picked up the frosting cake, the smile on her face suddenly disappeared without a trace.

"I might prefer this food if it weren't adulterated with poison."

"..."

"Are you so sure I would hurt you?" Fyodor's expression remained unchanged.

“Isn’t that right!” Kawakami Wakana smiled bitterly. “Feijia, I don’t think you can’t see that I asked you to spend Christmas together because I wanted to confront you head-on.”

Fyodor remained silent.

He simply turned on his phone and showed the surveillance footage to Ruoyi.

The scene shows a secret room of unknown location, where five college students, a man and a woman, are gathered together, laughing and talking about something.

"They don't look like they've encountered any danger at all," Kawakami Wakana said with a hint of sarcasm.

"Of course. After all, these five naive college students thought they were just volunteers testing a new escape room game."

"However, my escape room has no exit."

"So?" Ruoyi asked casually, as if Fyodor had only mentioned what he had for lunch or some odd customer he encountered at the convenience store—just everyday matters. "What price do you want me to pay to save them?"

“You don’t need to pay a price.” Fyodor silently tossed a remote control with only one button into Ruoyi’s hand, and then turned on another surveillance video.

This time, Pushkin was bound hand and foot in a secret room with a very similar layout.

"Pu—" Ruoyi's eyes widened suddenly, "Wasn't he being protected by Mr. Sen?"

“Don’t forget what Gogol’s special ability was,” Fyodor reminded her.

"I was originally thinking that if it was difficult to get to the Mafia, I would find another ordinary person. But thankfully, Gogol succeeded."

"Alright, let's talk about the rules of the game. Right now, there's a device in both the room where these college students are and the room where Pushkin is. If you don't press the button, these two liquids will be released in the students' room in five minutes. If you press the button, it will be released in Pushkin's room instead."

"……!"

Twenty years of common sense told Ruoyi that if these two gases were placed in the same space at the same time, they might produce a very dangerous gas.

“You mean,” she clutched the hem of her dress tightly, “either choose those five university students, or choose Pushkin?”

Fyodor remained noncommittal.

However, a hint of madness flickered in his eyes.

Unlike the previous "red-blue game," this time the choice no longer allowed for the possibility of "surviving together." This meant that whether Pushkin was chosen or the five university students were selected, there would be casualties. The only difference would be the number of casualties.

"The button above is for the university students' rooms, and the button below is for Pushkin's room." He licked his lips, a hint of anticipation appearing in his empty, purplish-red pupils.

He watched as the cat stared blankly at the remote control, its trembling fingers repeatedly reaching for the button below Pushkin's name, only to pull it away just as it was about to press it.

“Three minutes left…” He stroked the surface of the Bible, looking at the countdown on his phone screen.

"Two minutes..."

"One minute..."

"Thirty seconds..."

"Ten seconds..."

With ten seconds left, the girl finally seemed to break down. Her hand slipped, and the remote control fell heavily to the floor with a crisp sound. Holding onto the back of the chair, she slipped and fell to the ground.

Kawakami Wakana tried her best to feign madness and play the victim, her body trembling like a leaf, muttering incoherently—

"I can't do it..."

"I can't do it..."

Fyodor just found it funny.

As expected, even with her supernatural abilities, Kawakami Wakana was still just an ordinary person.

They didn't even have the courage to sacrifice a few, even if they were enemies of the detective agency, to save more people.

But Fyodor was stunned when he saw Kawakami Wakana's expression.

She should have been covering her face and crying, on the verge of collapse, but the corners of her mouth were turned up.

Neko...is she laughing?

"I've shown you the reaction you wanted to see." Kawakami Wakana's voice was no longer trembling. "Are you satisfied now?"

“Feijia, when you bought me clothes last time, you made it clear that I should be mentally prepared to deal with the ‘trolley problem’, so of course I could guess what you were planning to do this time. And naturally, I had already taken care of everything.”

"After all, no matter what I choose, you will use rhetoric to destroy my spirit, right? Even though the so-called 'trolley problem' never has a correct answer."

"Actually, the university students and Pushkin were rescued long ago. What you are seeing now is just a fantasy created by Tanizaki's supernatural ability, 'Magical Snow'."

She removed her hands from her eyes, but there wasn't a single tear in her pupils.

"You said you had people watching me and confirmed that I left the detective agency alone. But don't think you're the only one who can use Gogol."

"Speaking of which, it was Fedia who taught me this."

As she spoke, Kawakami Wakana tightly gripped the small bag slung across her back. Inside was the pepper spray the Armed Detective Agency had suggested she prepare, so she could escape if she encountered any danger without harming Fieja.

However, Feja did not get angry, nor did she do anything dangerous such as grabbing her neck; she simply stared intently at Ruoyi.

Whether it was her imagination or not, Ruoyi seemed to see a hint of admiration in his eyes.

"Would you like to tell me how you convinced Gogol to do things for you?"

"Why don't you go and ask him yourself?" Kawakami Wakana asked mysteriously. "After all, only he knows what he's really thinking. And you should be able to figure out his thoughts better than I am."

"..."

Silence fell over the surroundings, with only the dim light flickering from the lights on the church roof.

Fyodor, however, burst out laughing at that moment.

"Putting everything else aside, I really admire you for being able to persuade Gogol to do things for you, Neko. It's just a pity that it's still not perfect."

"However, just because you managed to avoid it this time doesn't mean you can avoid it two or three times. The next trolley problem could arise at any time. Are you prepared?"

"..." Kawakami Wakai gripped the hem of her dress again.

This time, she wasn't putting on an act for Fyodor.

“Chief,” Ivan, who had been silent until now, spoke up, “Since you are so interested in the trolley problem, what would you choose if it were you?”

"...?"

Clearly, Fyodor hadn't expected Ivan to ask that question so suddenly, but only a fleeting look of surprise crossed his eyes before he quickly regained his composure.

“This is not a problem for me.”

"After all, for me, killing one person to save five people is not something I feel guilty about."

"That--"

Ivan kept his head down.

"What if I were on one side of the tram, and your little cat was on the other?"

"...?"

Almost with lightning speed, Ivan grabbed the frosted sugar cake he had placed aside and devoured it. By the time Kawakami Wakana reacted, she had already been grabbed by the hands and feet by the same stone golem as before. Ivan, meanwhile, brandished the needle in his hand.

Fyodor: !

He knew perfectly well that Kawakami Wakana was no longer the naive cat who believed everything he said, so when Ivan brought him frosted biscuits infused with the virus left behind by Pushkin, he didn't pay much attention. But here he was, waiting for him!

Could it be—

The last time Dazai Osamu made the request that only one of "Wakana and Ivan" could survive, it left a veil of uncertainty in Ivan's heart.

Although Ivan had begun to cough violently, he merely wiped the blood from his lips and pulled out a needle and a small knife.

"Chief, you make the choice."

"Either watch me die, or—"

"Use this to kill her, and I will naturally inject myself with the antidote serum."

oh?

Fyodor blinked at Ivan.

Just as he had feared after the Red-Blue game, Ivan was looking for an opportunity to test him.

[Author's Note]

Let's guess—

What would Fedia do?

1. Rescuing Ivan

2. Let Ruoyi live.

3. That's Fedia! Of course there's a way to keep both of them alive.

4. 亖吧亖吧都亖光（？）

Small Theater

Today's character profile for Wakana from Bungo Stray Dogs (?)

Kawakami Ruoyi かわかみkawakami にゃいnyai

ability:?

The full picture is unknown; currently, what is shown is the ability to see the level of affection and murderous intent towards oneself from anyone one knows.

Age: 20 (Year 1 of Bungo)

Birthday: November 11

Height: 165 cm

Weight: 60

Blood type A

Favorite things: cats, volleyball, the feeling of being needed, Fyodor.

Things I dislike: Drunk driving, Fyodor