The young man glanced at the two of them and asked, "May I ask who you are..."

After Kunikida introduced himself, he immediately stated his purpose.

At the same time, he did not forget to look at the person in front of him - short dark blue hair, with a few strands of hair curled inwards, looking very casual, with a gentle smile in his watery eyes. His stature was between that of a teenager and a young adult, with a unique characteristic of this age group.

It is the type that makes people like it at first sight.

After hearing what he said, the boy smiled apologetically: "I'm so sorry... Actually, I just moved here today, so I don't know much about the area."

This kind of thing can be confirmed by just asking the neighbors, and Kunikida thought that no one would lie about such a thing.

"I see. Then let's start..."

Before Kunikida could say goodbye, Dazai interrupted him.

He said to the young man naturally, "It's amazing! It must be very inconvenient to clean such a big house for one person, right?"

After saying this, he held onto the door frame, bent down and leaned in a little, then tilted his neck and made an exaggerated turn to scan the room, saying, "It's really more spacious than I imagined."

Unable to bear watching his friend's embarrassing behavior, Kunikida made a move to lift him up, but Dazai dodged it deftly.

"Wouldn't it be scary for a person to live in such a big house with bad rumors around?"

The boy smiled and said, "But that's just a rumor, right? In fact, I don't live alone. I live with my brother."

"Brother...?" Kunikida thought of something and asked, "When we came in from outside, we saw a boy from the second-floor window. That boy must be your brother, right?"

"Yes." The boy nodded.

"Is that so?" Dazai said, "But that child doesn't look like you."

The boy didn't feel offended, and even complimented him: "You have really good eyesight. Can you see clearly from that distance?"

But he didn't answer Dazai's question.

Dazai didn't mind his attitude, but continued to ask: "Are you two brothers?"

"Ah, to be exact, he is a relative's child, and he is staying with me temporarily."

Most people would stop asking after hearing such suggestive words.

But Dazai is not the type to be easily led by the nose.

However, the boy didn't seem to mind being pried into. He shouted to the second floor: "Hana-kun - come down for a moment! We have a guest."

After Kunikida called out, he heard impatient footsteps coming from upstairs, and soon he saw a boy with a cold but somewhat impatient face on the stairs, mumbling something - judging by his lip movements, he seemed to be saying "What's the matter again?"

Ah, this is a very common way for brothers to get along with each other, Kunikida thought.

"Okay, Hana-kun, you need to greet the guests properly."

When the boy said this, he did seem to have some of his brother's calmness.

The boy looked like an elementary school student, no older than ten years old, and his appearance was not very similar to that of the boy. His hair and eye colors were completely different. However, in terms of demeanor and temperament, it seemed that they were indeed related.

The child cast his eyes towards the two of them, but before Kunikida could speak, he unconsciously shrank back behind his brother, grasping the corner of his clothes with one hand, and then looked at the two uninvited guests warily.

His voice was cold and guarded: "Who are you?"

Kunikida: “…”

Although he wasn't someone who had a special affinity with children, it was still a little heartbreaking to be avoided by a child at such a fast speed.

Kunikida: "Well, we are not bad people..."

Dazai said beside him: "Hmm... to explain it in a way that even a child can understand, we are basically like the police?"

The child was very wary: "...Where are the police uniforms? Don't think I will believe anything you say just because I'm young."

"You're not a policeman..." The boy next to him patted his brother's forehead helplessly, and the latter glared at him.

The boy named Hua whispered, "Don't let any weird people in here..."

However, no matter what Kunikida said, the boy still looked like he didn't want to interact with them, and simply hid under his brother's coat to avoid them.

Kunikida thought: From the information available so far, these two brothers seem to have no blood relationship, there are no adults at home, and they live in such an old house. In particular, the boy is very hostile to strangers. All of this really makes people think a lot - for example, whether something unfortunate happened to them, leaving trauma on both of them.

If that's the case, then it makes sense.

But, up to this point, it’s all other people’s family affairs.

…

…

Jiuyuan maintained a gentle smile and looked at the two of them inconspicuously.

Compared to the black-haired young man whose conversation is always full of hidden meanings and traps, the one with golden hair next to him is much more straightforward.

Therefore, it was his intention to create the image of a pair of pitiful brothers who depend on each other.

After achieving his goal, he let Hanako leave.

"Sorry, this kid is a little shy... Hana-kun, go upstairs and rest first."

"Hmm..." Hanako was reluctant. He really didn't want to stay here.

Because the young man with a frivolous tone gave him a very uncomfortable feeling.

"Anyway, don't let yourself be fooled."

Hanako's childish face combined with her mature lines was quite interesting to Kuen.

He thought that he would use Hanako's alias to help look after the house and handle some chores in the future, and the neighbors nearby would definitely know the existence of this child, so he simply let him show his face.

Hanako is a half-earth-bound spirit, so her range of activities is very limited, there is nothing that can be done about it.

As for the other characters... he currently has no plans to get involved with them, and Hanako is enough in the open.

After Hanako left, Dazai looked towards the stairs with a smile on his face.

"You two brothers have such a good relationship."

"Well, he's a very good kid." After saying that, the boy showed an apologetic expression and pointed to several cardboard boxes on the ground behind him. "Next, we have to pack the moving luggage. I'm sorry, I can't provide any useful clues for your investigation."

Hearing the other party's intention to drive him away, Kunikida politely said goodbye: "No, it should be said that we are disturbing him. Then we will leave first."

Before leaving, Kunikida kindly reminded them, "The security around here is not very good recently. Please pay attention to the safety of you and your family."

"I will, thank you."

After the two left, Jiuyuan closed the door with a "swish".

The smile on his face disappeared without a trace.

"As expected of a detective agency, they are really hard to deal with." He complained calmly.

Especially the young man with bandages wrapped around his neck. He might use clever words to get the answer he wants when facing everyone. For him, this is not a skill, but a habit.

However, Jiuyuan firmly believed that people like these who had the word "difficult to deal with" written all over them were still a minority.

Before preparing to live with Hanako, Jiuyuan had set up several alternative identities.

The most feasible one is still to develop in the direction of the supernatural and weird - for example, he is actually an Onmyoji or a demon exorcist, and Hanako is a monster or shikigami that he tamed.

In this way, ordinary people who have no knowledge of ghosts can easily be fooled, and they have no ability to distinguish the truth from falsehood in Jiuyuan's words.

And if he meets someone who is truly capable of seeing through Hanako's true self, such as a demon slayer, sorcerer, or shrine maiden, they will only believe him more - otherwise it would be impossible to explain why they can live together peacefully and why Hanako is so dependent on him.

The most important thing is that Hanako is not a monster with a strong temper, nor is she a person with strong fighting ability who is easily coveted by others.

His presence as a youkai is just right, which makes Kuen very satisfied.

"However, it's better to let those people guess for themselves rather than have them confess from my mouth - after all, people only trust their own judgment."

Thinking of this, he walked up the stairs while muttering:

"I don't know what those two people came up with just now. It's really interesting."

The author has something to say:

Jiuyuan: You can guess whatever you want. If you guess it right, I lose.

——