Chapter 54 Countdown: Four Days

Her fluffy, slightly wavy black short hair was now lying smoothly against her cheeks. Because of falling into the water, the bandage covering one eye had been washed away by the current and was now wet, hanging on her shoulder.

He knelt on the slightly prickly light green grass, smiling and squinting his eyes. It was the first time I had ever seen Dazai Osamu like this; both of his pupils were the same iris color.

He smiled gently and said, "Nice to meet you. My name is Osamu Dazai."

Then Atsushi Nakajima said, "Nice to meet you, I am Atsushi Nakajima."

Then, his gaze turned to me.

My intuition tells me that he recognized me. Perhaps it's because Dazai Osamu was able to recognize me under different identities before, which is why I believe him at this moment.

He looked at me with a smile in his eyes, the same expression I had seen many times before.

I lowered my head and bowed deeply: "Nice to meet you, I am Huo."

If he didn't realize it at first, he would definitely make some connections after I said his name.

Dazai Osamu was always a very intelligent person.

"Or?" He murmured my name, reaching out to trace something in the air. The heavy black cuffs made his wrists appear strikingly pale in stark contrast.

When he made the second stroke, I guessed what Dazai Osamu was going to write.

——ある.

I've seen this scene before.

The day our paths truly crossed was when he asked me my name at the Lupin bar, and I answered "or".

When he heard that, he did the same thing, drawing the character "ある" on the bar counter.

"Is this it?" He maintained his friendly smile. "Or?"

Even the questions asked were very similar to those from that day.

“Yes.” I nodded. “Mr. Dazai.”

“It’s a pleasure to meet you, or Jun,” he said.

I vaguely felt that his smile was somewhat ambiguous, but before I could take a closer look, Dazai Osamu had already turned to speak to Nakajima Atsushi: "Thank you for saving me. How about I treat you to a meal?"

"Huh?!?!" Atsuichi Nakajima was startled, as if his meridians had been suddenly unlocked. "Really?"

Dazai Osamu nodded: "Of course."

Atsushi Nakajima felt a surge of excitement, but he restrained himself slightly and turned to ask for my opinion: "Or?"

Dazai Osamu followed closely behind: "What do you think, sir?"

However, compared to Atsushi Nakajima, his attitude was very casual.

I casually glanced at Dazai Osamu, my gaze shifting slightly before meeting Nakajima Atsushi's expectant, inquiring eyes.

I nodded: "Let's go together, Dun."

"Okay! Or!"

****

Dazai Osamu led me and Nakajima Atsushi into a noodle shop.

He chose this shop for no particular reason; it was simply because it was the first noodle shop we saw as we walked around, so the three of us went in together.

Atsushi Nakajima hadn't eaten properly for a long time, and he was just focused on eating noodles next to me.

Dazai Osamu looked at him, perhaps finding it amusing, and chuckled softly, saying, "Atsushi-kun, have you been starving for a long time?"

Atsushi Nakajima nodded: "To be honest, Mr. Dazai, neither I nor I have been able to eat properly for the past few days."

“Huh?” Dazai Osamu raised an eyebrow. “What’s going on? Could it be…”

He drew out the last word of his sentence, which made Atsushi Nakajima even more curious and puzzled. "Are you from Leibo Street?"

“Leibo Street? What’s that?” Atsushi Nakajima turned to me for help. “Or, do you know what it is?”

"It's a slum." I didn't intend to hide anything, and since Dazai Osamu recognized me, Nakajima Atsushi wouldn't suspect me. Even if I wanted to pretend, I had no reason to, so I answered with whatever I knew.

"It would be quite complicated to explain in detail, but it's true that it's better to think of it as a slum, just like you said. But Atsushi, you don't even know about Leibo Street?"

“Ah, I really haven’t heard of it.” Nakajima Atsushi scratched the back of his head sheepishly. “We’re not from the slums, we’re from a welfare home.”

Dazai Osamu said, "There aren't any welfare homes around here."

Because all the homeless children went to Leibo Street.

Fearing the other party wouldn't believe him, Atsushi Nakajima quickly explained, "It's not around here, it's to the west, quite far away. It took me several days to walk here from there."

Dazai Osamu looked puzzled and asked, "Then why did you leave the orphanage?"

“I was actually kicked out by the director. The director never liked me and kicked me out of the orphanage just a few days ago.”

Atsushi Nakajima smiled shyly, seemingly embarrassed to give this reason.

Dazai Osamu looked at me again: "And what about you, Atsushi? Were you kicked out like Atsushi?"

“No! That’s not true!” Atsushi Nakajima retorted even faster than I did. “He was very popular in our department. The headmaster would never kick him out. He… ah, he left because of me.”

When he said the last sentence, his shoulders hunched, and his momentum immediately weakened by half.

This is a problem that Atsushi Nakajima has been struggling with from time to time. He always thinks that I left the orphanage because I promised to leave with him, and thus I have been living a life that is much worse than mine in the orphanage.

Thinking like this, it's hard not to feel like I'm a burden.

On a quiet, deserted night in Yokohama, under the pale moonlight rising into the sky, he had also subtly expressed his inner worries and guilt.

And my answer is—

To borrow a phrase.

"Atsushi, I exist because of you."

Dazai Osamu laughed upon hearing this: "You're truly a man of honor, Mr. Aru."

“Mr. Dazai.”

Atsushi Nakajima froze completely, as if his entire body was frozen in place, with only his breathing continuing. He looked at Osamu Dazai sitting opposite him and then said, "You are a very good person."

Dazai Osamu shrugged, accepting the words as a matter of course: "In your eyes, there's no way that you, Aru, could be bad."

Dazai Osamu and I watched Nakajima Atsushi eat two large bowls of food. During the meal, he glanced at me as if to ask, "Aren't you hungry?"

I shook my head.

But I still had some doubts, so I mouthed to him softly: "Did you bring enough money, Mr. Dazai?"

After all, the impression that Dazai Osamu is like someone who doesn't have a wallet is deeply ingrained in my mind.

His eyes lit up, and he snapped his fingers triumphantly, a silent response.

As they were paying and leaving, Dazai Osamu said, "Oh right, I forgot to ask...where are you going next?"

Atsushi Nakajima answered all the questions he asked, but he wasn't quite sure about this one either, so he turned to look at me, and Osamu Dazai followed him.

“Armed Detective Agency,” I said.

I turned to Nakajima Atsushi and asked, "Atsushi, do you remember whose name I mentioned to you by the river just now?"

He nodded: "Of course I remember."

I ruffled his hair: "Try to remember it as deeply as possible."

Then I said to Dazai Osamu, "Dazai-san, please do me a favor."

When Dazai Osamu was asked by Edakawa to take Nakajima Atsushi to the Armed Detective Agency, he showed a puzzled expression.

"Should I take him?" he asked instinctively, then, after receiving confirmation from the other person's eyes, he asked again, "Aren't you going? Or..."

The scaled-down version of Egawa shook his head: "I don't plan to go, Mr. Dazai."

Dazai Osamu paused for a second, then turned to look at the silver-haired boy waiting beside him: "I'm fine with it, but is he fine with it too?"

In a childish voice, Egawa replied, "I'll tell Atsushi to go to the Armed Detective Agency with you first."

"And then what?" Dazai Osamu suddenly found it somewhat amusing. "If you never show up, how should I answer when Atsushi asks me about it?"

“He won’t ask.” However, she shook her head, staring at the young boy with messy light blue hair. “He’ll forget soon.”

Dazai Osamu was taken aback for a moment, then quickly laughed: "I had forgotten... about that."

****

As a member of the Port Mafia, Osamu Dazai was naturally aware of the Armed Detective Agency's existence.

The three most famous supernatural ability organizations in Yokohama are the Armed Detective Agency, the Port Mafia, and the Special Ability Division. They are also members of the "Three-Tier Concept" that currently maintains the balance of Yokohama.

The daytime administration is handled by the Special Abilities Division, the nighttime administration is guarded by the Port Mafia, and the Armed Detective Agency maintains the twilight hours that alternate between day and night.

However, he and the Armed Detective Agency never really crossed paths, just like dusk and night, which are connected but always clearly separated.

As Edakawa said, Dazai Osamu was a smart man.

He is quick-witted and has a sharp mind; his exceptional intelligence often allows him to anticipate events that haven't yet occurred.

Even Dazai Osamu never imagined that he would come to the Armed Detective Agency because of such circumstances.

It seems that everything related to Edakawa goes against common sense.

They stood in the sunlight, yet in the shadows cast by the ground. This was probably the first time Dazai Osamu had looked so intently at the building housing the Armed Detective Agency; normally, even when he happened to pass by, he would only glance at it briefly.

"This is the Armed Detective Agency, Atsushi-kun."

Atsushi Nakajima's eyes widened. He turned to look at Osamu Dazai, then at the five-story building in front of him: "Is this the whole building?"

Dazai Osamu waved his hand and said, "No, only the fifth floor is."

Atsushi Nakajima: "..."

"Dun-kun, speaking of which..."

"Um?"

He tilted his head to look at Atsushi Nakajima, his expression full of probing intent: "You're from an orphanage, aren't you?"

“Ah? Yes.” Atsushi Nakajima nodded.

He then asked, "Were you kicked out by the dean?"

The boy asked, puzzled, "Hmm. Mr. Dazai, didn't we just talk about this?"

“Yes.” Dazai Osamu smiled nonchalantly. “Then, Atsushi-kun, do you still remember why you came to the Armed Detective Agency?”

"Ah..." This question seemed to stump Nakajima Atsushi. His eyes were suddenly filled with confusion. He paused for a full five or six seconds before saying uncertainly, "It seems... I heard from a friend in the orphanage that if I need help, I can go to the Armed Detective Agency."

“I see.” Dazai Osamu’s eyes flickered slightly. He didn’t say anything more and took the first step forward. “Come on, Atsushi.”

The detective agency is located on the fifth floor.

In the empty corridor, dull footsteps echoed one after another.

"This is my first time here."

That's what Dazai Osamu said.

"Huh? I thought Mr. Dazai was very familiar with the detective agency."

“Then you’re probably mistaken, Atsushi,” Dazai Osamu said. “It’s not that I’m familiar with the detective agency.”

"……What?"

As the question mark fell, Dazai Osamu stepped onto the last step.

He didn't answer, but stepped forward and knocked on the small wooden door with the Armed Detective Agency sign.

"Here I am, Lord Dun."

After a while, the door creaked open from the inside.

Dazai Osamu stood nearby, and a light blue hue suddenly appeared in his iris-colored eyes.

Then came a fleeting moment of astonishment.

The real Edakawa was standing there, his light blue hair was well-groomed, his eyes were bright, and his eyebrows were curved, but it wasn't entirely a polite, ceremonial smile.

He said, "Welcome to the Armed Detective Agency."