Chapter 8 An unexpected arrival at the port by a Mafia worker…

Arriving in Bungo Stray Dogs by accident was troublesome enough, but the five black buildings standing far away outside the alley made things even more complicated.

As everyone knows, Yokohama is the most dangerous place in the Bungo Stray Dogs world. Its "simple and honest people" are comparable to Gotham City. If I wasn't worried that leaving this city would cause the Bungo Stray Dogs world's consciousness to ignore me, I would have taken Yoriichi away from here immediately.

Even though neither he nor I are ordinary children, it's too difficult for two seven-year-olds to make a living in this city. I wonder when the consciousness of Bungo Stray Dogs will kick us out or when the consciousness of Demon Slayer will take us back.

Thinking this, I casually stuffed the world foundation stone that had come with me into my pocket, afraid that Yoriichi might touch it again. If I were to travel to another world again, the chance of returning would be truly slim.

After carefully storing the World Foundation, I looked worriedly at Yoriichi beside me, concerned that his background in the Warring States period might make him uncomfortable with the surrounding skyscrapers.

As it turned out, I was overthinking it. Yoriichi remained expressionless as usual. Although this Bungo Stray Dogs world, so different from Demon Slayer, was reflected in his somewhat empty eyes, none of his emotions—curiosity, surprise, or panic—were visible.

"We can't go back for now."

I said to Yoriichi with deep regret that if I had known, I would have hidden the World Foundation more securely or told him directly that he couldn't touch it, and we wouldn't have ended up in this terrible situation.

"This world is dangerous. You should keep this wooden sword. With your swordsmanship, no one can hurt you."

I handed him the wooden sword in my hand. In my hands, this wooden sword was no different from a fire poker, but in Yoriichi's hands, it became the strongest weapon.

Yoriichi looked at me with his big, round eyes. Although he still acted as usual, he was very aloof and naive. He had always been reluctant to hold a sword, but he took the wooden sword without hesitation.

"I will protect you, Uta." Yoriichi's youthful voice was soft yet conveyed a touching sincerity.

I laughed, touched my forehead to Yoriichi's affectionately, and said with a tone full of assurance, "I will definitely protect you too. Let's leave here now."

I took Yoriichi's hand as usual. Although I should tell him about our journey to the Bungo Stray Dogs world right now, this dark alleyway gave me a bad feeling. I was eager to take Yoriichi into the sunlight. I'll talk about other things later.

After walking only a few steps, I noticed several men in black suits standing at the alley entrance. They didn't look like good people at all. Afraid of getting involved with them, I immediately turned around with Yoriichi and headed towards the end of the alley, intending to leave from that exit.

Walking along this narrow alley, I looked at Yoriichi beside me and began to think about how we would survive in Yokohama. At my age, no one would hire me. Was I destined to take Yoriichi to an orphanage to live a miserable life? I had absolutely no desire to go to such a place!

I was still fretting when I suddenly smelled a bloody odor, which startled me. I realized that those people in black suits were deliberately blocking the alley entrance, and there was a high possibility that someone was committing a crime in this alley!

We can't go any further!

An alarm bell rang in my mind, and I immediately stopped. A quick glance revealed something amiss in the locked warehouse across the street; the faint smell of blood was emanating from inside.

I immediately abandoned the idea of ​​going to the end of the alley. Not only was it dangerous to pass by that warehouse, but there were also guards at the end of the alley, so there was no point in going there. It would be better to find a way to defeat the people at the entrance of the alley and escape from this place.

What we need to do now is to quietly get away from that dangerous warehouse where a murder may have occurred. We must not let the people inside discover our existence. Not to mention that many criminals in Yokohama have superpowers, even if they don't, they can't withstand being shot at with guns.

As I was pulling Yoriichi back, the huge iron door of the warehouse suddenly flew out as if struck by a tremendous force and crashed into the wall not far away. The loud noise startled me. When I saw the scene inside the warehouse, I was even more certain that I hadn't checked the almanac before time travel. It was the worst possible start.

The bloodstains everywhere were one thing, and the several gruesome corpses were another; the main problem was that the people standing in the warehouse looked so familiar.

The doctor in the white coat is Mori Ougai, right? The blonde loli in the red dress next to him is Alice, right? The boy in the black trench coat with one eye bandaged is Dazai before he defected, right? And the one standing at the door who seems to have damaged the door is the old man Hirotsu, the black lizard, right?

Fortunately, Nakahara Chuuya isn't here either. Judging from Dazai's age, he should still be the King of Sheep. Ozaki Koyo isn't here either, so it's great that we don't have to fight the Golden Demon and the Gravity User. The chances of escaping are still very high.

Aside from the dozen or so men in black suits serving as background figures in the warehouse, there are only three people with superpowers here. Dazai, who possesses No Longer Human, can be ignored. Hirotsu's ability to deflect objects he touches is extremely destructive, but as long as you avoid being touched by his hands, it's fine. People who can be suppressed by Kunikida are not much of a threat. As expected, Mori Ougai, who possesses Alice, is the most troublesome.

My heart was pounding. Could Yoriichi, the man whose swordsmanship was the strongest in Bungo Stray Dogs and even President Fukuzawa couldn't defeat in a short time, really do it? Although he was born with the strongest swordsmanship, he was still just a child.

If I don't deal with Alice, who has the ability to fly, it will be troublesome if I get entangled when I use the chakra I've accumulated these days to escape from the rooftop with Yoriichi. Once my chakra runs out and I get caught, I'll probably have to work as a child laborer in the port/black market. I don't want a boss who casually sacrifices his subordinates.

In any case, I don't want to use my hard-earned chakra until the very last moment. Maybe pretending to be a child will get me released? Should I give it a try?

These thoughts flashed through my mind in an instant. Just as I was about to pretend to be scared, Dazai, wearing a black trench coat, said in a light voice, "Oh my, oh my, two uninvited little guests."

"Big brother, we are just ordinary children who have wandered into this place by mistake. Can we leave?"

I spoke in a soft, sweet voice, and tried my best to make myself look cute by making my eyes sparkle like stars.

"Normally, kids wouldn't see something like this and try to act cute."

Dazai's voice remained light and cheerful, creating a stark contrast with the bloody scene around him. Especially since his face was smiling, yet his eyes held no genuine joy; in comparison, the Armed Detective Dazai was definitely more reassuring.

I cursed myself for my mistake and finally stopped forcing myself to act cute. My scrutinizing gaze swept from Dazai's smile to the bloody scene on the ground that needed to be censored, but I felt nothing.

As a medical ninja, I'm used to these things. Having participated in the Fourth Shinobi World War, which was littered with corpses, I'm already indifferent to them. Anyway, judging from their attire, they're probably spies. The more one person dies, the more peaceful the world will be.

I thought to myself coldly, then suddenly remembered that such a bloody scene was not something a child should see. I quickly reached out and covered the eyes of the person next to me, afraid of hurting his young mind.

Yoriichi tilted his head, looking somewhat bewildered, and asked, "What's wrong? Uta, why are you covering my eyes?"

I was taken aback before I remembered that Yoriichi had been withdrawn for many years and had only recently begun to open up, but he was still very oblivious to the outside world. In particular, his Transparent World allowed him to see the bones and muscles inside the human body, and he could see such terrifying scenes all day long without any problem. So, seeing what was happening in the warehouse was probably nothing to him.

"Thinking about protecting his companions' feelings at a time like this, he really is still a child."

Dazai walked up to Yoriichi and me, and for some reason, I felt that his smile seemed a little more sincere than before.

"You claim to be just an ordinary girl, but you'd better tell me the reason you're here, or something terrible will happen. It's really a headache that the BOSS is a lolicon."

I blinked, feeling that Dazai's words were somewhat meaningful. Was he reminding me to stay away from Mori Ōgai? But that would only be if I had the ability to escape with Yoriichi!