Chapter 30 The Ninth Day of Working

The occasional soft clatter of glass, the soothing music from an old-fashioned gramophone, and the soft, ambiguous dim lighting create the scene at the Lupin bar counter.

I wiped the glassware very slowly, repeating the process over and over again.

Few people linger at the bar; the vast majority of customers prefer to walk further inside.

But my thoughts are far from being as simple and slow as my actions; I am conceiving countless possibilities and the conversations I will have with Dazai Osamu.

I'm pretty sure Dazai Osamu will come.

Because now is the most convenient way for him and me to meet, and it's also the right time and place to talk.

It's not difficult to find out my duty schedule.

Although I said before that my mood and state of mind had recovered a lot, I am now vaguely feeling a slight, uncontrollable fluctuation.

I cannot precisely control my emotions, just as my emotions cannot completely control me, but they can certainly influence me.

"Knock knock".

The dull sound of knuckles tapping on the bar counter echoed in the small space.

Apart from breathing, my whole body almost froze in that instant.

"ah."

My movements froze instinctively. I looked up and saw Dazai Osamu, his right hand raised to his shoulder under the light. He had finished smiling and was now showing a gentle expression.

He said, "Hello, it's been a long time."

"It's been a long time, Mr. Dazai." I replied with a greeting, my shoulders drooping and my hands resting lightly on the counter.

He straddled the bar stool in front of the bar, one arm resting on the bar, the other elbow pointing towards the table, tilted and raised, smiling reassuringly at me: "Don't be nervous, Mr. Ori."

I:"……"

A different perspective can make him nonchalant, but I can't!

I pointed to his right eye—where there should have been a beautiful iris-colored eye, but now there were only large patches of bandages.

“If there’s a wound on your forehead, it might have reopened, Mr. Dazai.”

"Huh?" He seemed unaware, and touched his right eye without understanding why, and then touched the inconspicuous dark spot.

“You’re mistaken, Mr. Ori.” He shrugged. “This isn’t my wound; it’s just some blood I accidentally got on my skin. Well, no wonder people around me kept giving me strange looks. Is that why?”

Dazai Osamu said, "But thank you for reminding me anyway. I might need to take care of something. Before I get back, could you please prepare a... a glass of ice-cold beer for me? You remember, the first time we met, I drank ice-cold beer. That was a very memorable moment."

"...probably." The so-called very memorable aspect.

Dazai Osamu liked to play with ice balls in beer glasses.

This is a little habit I discovered during his conversation with Oda Sakunosuke that lasted more than two hours.

It always felt like a slightly childish little habit.

The small ice balls floating in the golden liquid tapped against the glass with each ripple.

Just as the ripples were about to subside, a hand, a hand with distinct knuckles, grasped the glass, and the ice puck began to sway again, like a cruise ship on the sea or in the middle of the ocean, before crashing into a transparent reef with a mournful echo.

Dazai Osamu said, "You must be very curious about how I recognized you that day."

"Isn't that obvious, Mr. Dazai?" Otherwise, I would have skipped work.

He propped up a bridge with his hands, resting his chin on them: "However, I also have my own curiosity about Mr. Huo. If we want to get an answer, wouldn't it be fairer to have a two-way answer?"

“Mr. Dazai, what you’re saying is practically like taking 10,000 yuan from me and then splitting it 5,000 for you and 5,000 for me.” You have absolutely no bargaining chips to sacrifice; all the losses are mine.

I suspect I may have been influenced by Teacher Wu Tiao, which gave me the confidence to refute others.

He shrugged: "I don't mind sharing it first."

I raised an eyebrow in surprise.

Dazai Osamu gently touched the wine glass with his fingertips, saying, "The reason is simple."

"The young man surnamed 'Kujou' who appeared at the Port Mafia building two months ago, posing as Alice-chan's fashion designer," his finger suddenly stopped, his gaze fixed on me as if he had my throat, "was it Ori-kun?"

The moment he opened his mouth, after the timeline popped up, I almost guessed it.

They guessed why they had been exposed and what Dazai Osamu was about to say.

It is "No Longer Human".

I forgot about a problem, and now that problem has become a fatal flaw.

The existence of the system is unclear. It belongs to Yokohama, but it was not born from curse power, and its existence is unrelated to supernatural abilities.

However, this does not mean that its ability to implant memories is unrelated to superpowers.

I'm not sure how much of a role the superpower played in this operation, but Dazai Osamu's memories definitely had a connection problem because the "No Longer Human" superpower was nullified, which made him easily aware of the anomaly of the virtual existence Kujo.

“I know you’re very smart, you’ll understand what I mean.” He grabbed my wrist, gently rubbed it, and chuckled softly, “It really does feel like that familiar pulse.”

I felt something brush against my wrist, but it wasn't very strong.

“I’ve always suspected that the nickname ‘Aru-kun’ wasn’t made up, but I also don’t believe that Kujo is a real surname. So I like calling you that—Aru-kun.” When it was my turn to speak, he enunciated the words a little slowly. “So, can you tell me what your purpose is?”