Chapter 45 Let’s Learn to Drive

Light blues echoed in the bar.

This is a bar in Yokohama, located in a corner of the city. The price is quite low. At least, except when it is needed for a mission, Lan Tang would never come to a bar of this level to spend money.

With his ability level, he could not accept low-level missions, so he received a lot of rewards for each mission, and he never compromised on food and expenses, whether he was in France or in the port mafia.

But now it is different. He has cut off contact with France and has no intention of getting in touch with them for the time being. His assets in Yokohama were also confiscated when he left the Port Mafia.

Ace kept his word and confiscated all of Randou's assets in Yokohama and used them as compensation for his dead companions.

The place where he lives now has changed from the villa he lived in when he was a cadre to an ordinary apartment. He can afford to live in an apartment and lead a petty bourgeoisie life because he has reactivated the assets that belonged to Arthur Rimbaud before he lost his memory. As for more, there is no need to think about it.

Moreover, his expenses before he lost his memory were not small. If he wanted to maintain his current standard of living and not live beyond his means, he would need to find a new job.

After drinking the last bit of red wine in the glass, Lan Tang, who was about to leave, stared at the empty goblet in a daze. After a while, when the bartender thought that this guest could get drunk even by drinking red wine, he spoke in a low voice, "Give me a glass of rum."

The bartender took out a bottle of rum and reminded: "Rum has a high alcohol content, so please drink it in moderation."

"……Um."

The bartender replaced the glass with a rum glass for him and poured the crystal clear rum into the glass, revealing a radiant color.

The bartender glanced at Lan Tang's fully armed winter clothes and pushed the wine glass filled with wine in front of him, "I won't put ice balls in your glass."

Although it is already late autumn, it is not cold enough to wear a cotton jacket, especially since this customer brought a scarf and earmuffs, and even took off his gloves when he sat down in the store. It is obvious that this customer is very afraid of cold.

"Thank you." Lan Tang took the glass of wine and confirmed the bartender's guess.

"A glass of rum with detergent." A black figure sat down next to him. It was a young man in a black suit.

"Dazai Osamu." Randou whispered his name.

The bartender, however, was stunned when hearing such a strange request for the first time, and then refused: "Sorry, sir, we don't have such wine here."

Although the other person was obviously a minor, treating him as a minor in Yokohama might offend him. Besides, anyone who could come to the bar alone and get in was not an ordinary person, so the bartender treated him as a normal customer.

This was the first time that Dazai Osamu came to this bar. He actually seldom went to bars. Generally speaking, he went to such places with a purpose.

"Then add toilet decontaminant."

"Sorry, sir, the bar doesn't have this kind of topping." The bartender suspected that he was here to cause trouble, but he and the previous guest were obviously acquainted, so he still treated the young man as a guest. "How about I give you a glass of rum alone?"

Dazai Osamu lay on the bar with a lack of interest, "Whatever, you don't have anything here anyway."

Lantang had put down his glass, but he was still looking at it, and didn't turn his head to look at Dazai.

"Dazai-kun, what do you want to talk to me about?"

Dazai Osamu obviously didn't come here just to drink. Given his way of dealing with things and his current status, he wouldn't come to a place like this unless he was interested in something. Although he seemed a little conceited, Lan Tang believed that he was indeed here to see him.

Dazai Osamu did not answer him directly, but asked some irrelevant questions instead: "Mr. Lantang, do you like drinking rum now?"

Seeing that they seemed to be having a private chat, the bartender consciously walked away.

"...I don't have any particular preference, I just suddenly felt like drinking." Lan Tang replied.

Dazai Osamu chuckled and took a sip of the rum in his glass.

"I thought you would go back to France. After all, your social connections in Yokohama are gone now, aren't they?"

Lan Tang's hand had three fingers resting loosely on both sides of the wine glass. Dazai Osamu's sharp and heart-piercing words made his fingers suddenly tighten.

"You know it," he said.

From the European perspective, Japan was just a small place that would not be noticed, so he had been active here for seven years as a member of the Port Mafia, Lan Tang, and no one had discovered him, whether it was the governments of various countries in Europe or... Verlaine.

Verlaine was still active in Europe, but without the government's control, even he had difficulty tracking down the Assassin King.

Arthur Rimbaud, who gave his name to Verlaine and became his guide under the government's orders, always thought he understood Verlaine until Verlaine betrayed him, until he recalled this heavy memory again, and he had to admit that he didn't actually know Verlaine that well.

He knew that Verlaine had been immersed in the pain of being inhuman, alien, and lonely, so he kept telling Verlaine that he was a human being, at least in his own eyes, he regarded him as a human being. But he never thought that it was precisely because of his emphasis that he made him more deeply aware that he was not a human being, and that he was not the same kind as other people in the world who had the same appearance.

What he needs is not comfort, but companionship.

Lan Tang didn't know how to face Verlaine, and he didn't want to be the bait used by the French government to lure him out. There were too many people in Europe who wanted to kill Verlaine, and not just in Europe. Moreover, he had not completed the order from his superiors to bring Huang Ba Tu back to France.

So he didn't want to go back.

Moreover, given how much Weilun cares about Aramatsu, as long as the news that Aramatsu is still here gets out, he will definitely come to this land again. If I want to see him, staying in Yokohama is the best choice.

Besides, the way Verlaine thinks, he has to stop the idiot from making a mistake.

With Dazai Osamu's intelligence, it is impossible for him not to think of this after knowing his true identity. Lan Tang, who was once his opponent, knows very well how smart this man is.

He obviously knows everything.

Lan Tang sighed and asked, "What do you want me to do?"

"Stay in Yokohama, don't leave, continue to hide your identity, and pretend that Lan Tang is dead. Of course, you just need to keep silent, and you don't have to worry about the rest. I think you should be willing to do this."

Lan Tang was silent for a moment, then said, "...You are right."

…

"...Dazai? Why did he go to see Randou?"

The person who came to report the situation was someone arranged by Sen Ou to keep an eye on Lan Tang. When there were any abnormal situations, they would report the situation to him.

Ace waved the man back without thinking too much. Although he and Lantang had completely fallen out, the situation between Lantang and Blackbeard was different.

Lantang is a spy sent by the French government. His position is actually opposed to the Mafia, so Ace said that he can understand his choice, but he can't forgive the means he chose. But Blackbeard is different. As long as he says he wants it, his partner will definitely give him the Devil Fruit, but he still chooses to kill his partner to take the Devil Fruit! He can't understand such a thing, and he absolutely can't forgive it!

Moriogai will be wary of anyone who has contact with Randou, but Ace thinks that everything between them is over and it is none of his business who the other person interacts with.

Dazai Osamu and Randou did not have any personal relationship, not to mention that they were once enemies. Even if Ace was worried, he was worried that Dazai Osamu's small body might not be able to support him if a conflict broke out.

Mori Ougai did have some guesses, but there was no need to tell Ace.

After coming to this world for more than half a year, Ace's Japanese reading is now no longer a big problem. Anyway, if he doesn't know something, he can just ask Mori Oo and he will understand it. As for writing, he has practiced the Gokudani to a decent level, but he is still not so good at recognizing and writing Chinese characters. No matter how hard he tries, he still can't get it right.

After finishing reading all the medical records outside Morio, Ace's reading comprehension task became the various documents delivered to the office every day. He copied down the words he didn't recognize and then took dictation again.

When he first took over, Ace even spent all his time reading documents, and he couldn't finish reading a day's worth of documents - after all, new documents were delivered before he could finish reading the previous ones.

——Of course, Ace sometimes slacks off.

Originally, this body belonged to Mori Owl. Even though he could borrow Mori Owl's body every other day to move around, he knew very well that he was indeed dead. Being able to see the scenery of another world in this way was already a miracle given to him by the world.

He was willing to learn these things just to avoid causing trouble for Mori Owl, but now he feels that what he has learned is almost enough, so he can't help but want to slack off.

Ace yawned and checked the time. It was four in the afternoon. There were still a dozen documents delivered in the afternoon, but he could no longer concentrate on reading them.

"Mr. Ougai, let's go for a walk. Looking at these documents really makes me want to sleep."

Mori Ou Wai didn't mind going out, he just didn't mind letting Ace go out. There was no other way, Ace always had something going on when he went out, and he would always make something up when there was nothing going on. Mori Ou Wai really felt that his body couldn't stand his torment.

Although he said so, it would be a lack of emotional intelligence to say it directly. Although Moriogai secretly guided Ace to work for him, Ace was definitely not his subordinate, so naturally he could not treat him directly as a subordinate.

Ace is a young man who likes to go out very much. They have been together for such a long time, and Mori Ougai, who can quickly figure out a person's character in a short time, certainly understands him well enough. Since he said so, he must not be able to stay anymore, and it is useless to force him to stay.

Sen Ouwai thought for a moment and said, "Why don't you learn how to drive?"

If he were to wander around by himself, he would definitely end up doing something exciting; if he were to take Alice out shopping, they would probably end up eating all over the place. In comparison, learning to drive is actually a relatively healthy activity.

He gently asked: "Didn't you think driving an albatross was exciting? Don't you want to learn it?"

Ace was tempted, his eyes sparkled: "Then let's go find Albatross to learn how to drive!"

He stood up with great energy and was ready to go.

[Wait! Don’t go looking for the albatross yet! ]

You're looking for someone of this level right from the start. Do you want to get into trouble right at the beginning?