Chapter 36

After Rokudo Mukuro left, Akutagawa Ryunosuke's life didn't change much; he simply separated from Mori Ougai and the others.

They went to the port city of Mafia to experience that exciting yet dangerous life. Meanwhile, he and his sister, Gin Akutagawa, continued to live ordinary lives under the protection of their teacher, Natsume Soseki.

In addition to going to school, studying, and enriching himself with knowledge, Ryunosuke Akutagawa also engaged in writing.

Encouraged by his teacher Natsume Soseki, Ryunosuke Akutagawa embarked on his literary journey as he had envisioned.

Initially, due to his age, he used "I am a ghost" as a pen name to indicate his work.

He thought this was just the beginning, an uneventful start, but unexpectedly, the name "I Oni" became famous overnight in Japan, and his works became the object of nationwide adoration.

Natsume Soseki was delighted. After reading his work, he praised him repeatedly, calling him a literary genius! Akutagawa Ryunosuke always accepted his teacher's praise with a mixture of joy and a sense of undeservedness. He didn't feel a real sense of accomplishment; he had simply written what he wanted to write.

At the age of sixteen, he successfully received an admission letter to the literature department of the best university in Japan, thanks to his excellent grades and outstanding achievements.

This made Natsume Soseki even happier, and he even said something that he was very proud of.

It was after this that Natsume Soseki, with Akutagawa Ryunosuke's consent, compiled all of Akutagawa's published novels into a collection and personally oversaw the publication of "The Complete Works of Akutagawa Ryunosuke".

"Ryunosuke Akutagawa, your works deserve worldwide recognition. Literature is a treasure for all mankind! And the name 'Ryunosuke Akutagawa' should be a source of honor!"

These are the words that Natsume Soseki said to Ryunosuke Akutagawa.

To be honest, a sixteen-year-old child's first reaction to hearing such praise from his teacher is, of course, joy!

But after the joy came a faint sense of loss. He was disappointed by the pressure that followed his joy, wondering if he was worthy of such praise; he was also disappointed that the person who had initially wanted him to embark on the path of literature was no longer there.

When Ryunosuke Akutagawa received the sample copy of "The Complete Works of Ryunosuke Akutagawa," he did as usual, carefully signing his name and then neatly placing the book on the bookshelf.

This wall-mounted bookshelf is filled with many books. Apart from some that Akutagawa Ryunosuke himself liked, the rest are magazines and novels featuring Akutagawa Ryunosuke's own works, and they all have Akutagawa Ryunosuke's autograph.

This was specially prepared by Ryunosuke Akutagawa for Rokudo Mukuro. He always hoped that Rokudo Mukuro would one day come back to see the room he had left for him. At this time, he also hoped that his reputation was truly as widespread as others described.

After Ryunosuke Akutagawa received his university acceptance letter and his novel collection was successfully published, Natsume Soseki excitedly said that he would hold a small banquet to celebrate.

At the time, he saw that Natsume Soseki's smile was too gentle and proud, so he forgot to refuse, which led to the current situation.

When Mori Ougai, carrying the diamonds of Dazai Osamu and Nakahara Chuuya, openly sat in the house that Rokudo Mukuro had funded, he himself couldn't explain how he felt.

Not to mention the moment he received the invitation. In the past few years, after becoming the leader of the port Mafia, the invitations he received were usually for all kinds of banquets. He never expected that one day an ordinary invitation to a college entrance celebration banquet would be placed in front of him so casually.

Upon opening it, he found that the main character was Ryunosuke Akutagawa, and the person who invited him was his teacher, which made him even more unwilling to be negligent!

"Ryunosuke-kun, it's been a long time!" Mori Ougai, sitting on the sofa, greeted Akutagawa Ryunosuke with a smile.

"Dr. Mori, it's been a long time. And Dazai-kun, Nakahara-kun, it's been a long time." The three people who came were all familiar faces to Ryunosuke Akutagawa.

Not to mention Mori Ōgai, when Dazai Osamu heard that he was going to meet Akutagawa Ryūnosuke with Mori Ōgai, he was genuinely grateful for the first time for knowing Mori Ōgai. And all of them were old acquaintances of this house.

Dazai Osamu stole glances at Akutagawa Ryunosuke several times, but never initiated a conversation. They hadn't seen each other for years, and he wanted to project a mature and composed image in front of Akutagawa. So he tried hard to restrain himself from saying things like, "Akutagawa-sensei, I love you so much! Can I get your autograph?" as he had done years ago. No, that would be too embarrassing!

The only truly adorable person present was Nakahara Chuuya. He was very happy on the way here with the leader. Although Akutagawa Ryunosuke, whom he had known for a long time, was already a famous writer, he genuinely regarded the Akutagawa siblings as family.

The group looked at each other in silence, most importantly, unsure of what to say.

The silence was broken by a knock at the door. Akutagawa Gin, who had been keeping a low profile, rushed to open it, only to find three imposing figures standing there.

"Junior brother, excuse me." After handing the gift to Ryunosuke Akutagawa, Lord Silver Wolf sat down opposite Mori Ougai.

"Dr. Mori, it's been a long time."

"Lord Silver Wolf." Mori Ougai smiled and nodded in greeting. "Akiko-chan~ It's been a long time!"

Yosano Akiko snorted coldly and turned her head away. Someone who had "abandoned" her would never get her forgiveness!

Ranpo, dressed as a detective, sat on the sofa like a black cat, snacks in hand. After looking everyone in the room over, he revealed a smile that said, "I'm looking forward to a good show."

He tugged at Yosano Akiko's sleeve.

Yosano Akiko turned her head to look at Ranpo and asked softly, "What's wrong?"

Ranpo smiled innocently: "Nothing, I was just hungry." And then there's this room full of people; the relationships between them are truly intricate and complex, it's astonishing!

The person who initiated the banquet finally arrived late.

"Teacher, you've arrived." Upon seeing the visitors, Mori Ougai and Lord Silver Wolf quickly stood up to greet them.

Mr. Natsume Soseki was in a very good mood today, and nodded with a smile: "You've come too. Oh, and you've brought some children with you. It's nice to have a lot of people around."

"Today is a great day to celebrate your junior's university acceptance letter and the successful publication of his novel collection!" Mr. Natsume Soseki couldn't stop smiling, and his gaze towards the cat fetishist Fukuzawa Yukichi and the pedophile Mori Ougai softened considerably.

That's right. Mr. Natsume Soseki held this celebration banquet and specially invited his two other disciples. It wasn't for any other reason than to show off.

A long-held dream finally came true! Anyone would be overjoyed, and Natsume Soseki was no exception, so he had to find someone to share his happiness!

"Wow! I was so shocked when I found out that my junior brother was 'My Ghost Teacher'! Ryunosuke-kun is really amazing. He got into the University of Tokyo at such a young age!" Mori Ougai readily followed his teacher's lead and began to praise him.

Lord Silver Wolf, who was not very talkative, could only nod silently.

Dazai Osamu, standing to the side, saw through the truth: So, this was a teacher who was so proud of his students' achievements that he couldn't resist showing off and brought his other two good-for-nothing disciples here?!

Adults really know how to have fun, but what does it have to do with him? Today, he's just here to see the accomplished Master Akutagawa.

His eyes darted around and he saw a room with an open door, filled with a large bookshelf, some of which looked very familiar.

"Akutagawa-kun, may I go take a look?" Dazai Osamu called out to Akutagawa Ryunosuke, pointing to the large bookshelf in the room.

He remembered that this house wasn't there when he moved out.

Dazai Osamu thought to himself: Ah, I really shouldn't have left back then, but it will cause trouble for Akutagawa-sensei...

Ryunosuke Akutagawa looked in the direction he was pointing and nodded slightly: "Of course."

These people had all lived in this house, so Ryunosuke Akutagawa certainly wouldn't restrict their movements. Moreover, in his view, Osamu Dazai was already an adult and wouldn't cause any damage to his books.

“I’ll stay with you, so you don’t cause any trouble.” Chuuya Nakahara stood up with Osamu Dazai.

When the two of them entered the room, Dazai Osamu was completely mesmerized by the bookshelves—books by Akutagawa-sensei! And they even had Akutagawa-sensei's autograph on them! What is heaven? This is it!

He regrets it even more now...

Dazai Osamu struggled to control his restless heart and hands, trying not to let Nakahara Chuuya see through his disguise.

Akutagawa Ryunosuke followed him in shortly after. Seeing that the two of them were standing in front of the bookshelf, he explained, "Mukuro-kun said that he was looking forward to seeing my novel published, so I saved a copy of all my published novels for him."

Upon hearing this, Chuuya Nakahara was silent for a moment, but he quickly composed himself: "If Mukuro-kun saw this, he would definitely be very happy."

Dazai Osamu's eyes were almost red at this moment, not because of anything else, but simply because of conjunctivitis!

"Hey~ Akutagawa-sensei is so biased! We lived together for so long before, and you prepared such a huge bookshelf for Mukuro-kun, full of books signed by you, while I have to go through all the trouble of queuing up to buy them myself." And I might not even be able to buy a signed one.

Dazai Osamu smiled broadly, trying hard to suppress the sour feeling in his heart.

But the sorrow in her voice couldn't be hidden: "I was clearly the first fan to appear before you!"

Ryunosuke Akutagawa tilted his head in confusion: "Does Dazai-kun also want these signed books?"

He knew that Dazai Osamu used to like his works, but he didn't expect that he would still like them now.

Dazai Osamu's eyes sparkled as he tried to control his excitement and maintain his composure with a nonchalant tone, saying, "Of course I like it~"

"He really likes it. Your collection of works was so hard to buy that he had all his subordinates line up to get a copy." Chuuya Nakahara chuckled, bluntly exposing Osamu Dazai's outward composure.

"He's a huge fan of yours!" Chuuya Nakahara glanced at Osamu Dazai with a provocative look.

Ryunosuke Akutagawa looked at Chuuya Nakahara and Osamu Dazai seriously, and then said, "Thank you for your kind words, Dazai-kun."

Dazai Osamu remained silent. There was no way around it; grown-ups always care about saving face in front of those they care about.

"I also have a sample copy from the publisher, with my autograph on it. Would you like it, Dazai-kun?"

Dazai Osamu, who had been looking dazed and otherworldly, suddenly had a gleam in his eyes and quickly replied, "Yes!"

Face is sometimes worthless!

After receiving the book, Dazai Osamu spent a pleasant day with everyone present. As he left, he couldn't help but think to himself: "It was so wonderful to meet Dr. Mori!"

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A note from the author:

Thank you to all the little angels who voted for me or watered my plants with nutrient solution between 23:03:41 on December 18, 2022 and 23:26:53 on December 20, 2022!

Thank you to the little angels who watered the nutrient solution: Anning (5 bottles); Liudao Lunhui and Chanyan (1 bottle each);

Thank you so much for your support! I will continue to work hard!