Chapter 41
Ryunosuke Akutagawa finally left.
After all, he was now the guerrilla leader of the Port Mafia, with seemingly endless missions to complete daily. It was absolutely impossible for him to spare more than half an hour every day to follow Nakajima Atsushi and observe the people's sentiments.
The meager protection fee from the vegetable market is destined to not be able to fill the gap left during this period.
Are you kidding? Ryunosuke Akutagawa can make millions in a minute, but the 500 yen protection fee in the vegetable market is not enough for a meal!
Even without a partner to buy groceries, life goes on.
For Nakajima Atsushi, every new day, from going to school to shopping, cooking, and training, felt like a continuation of the previous day. This somewhat dull, peaceful life, however, gave him a sense of security he had never experienced before.
It's not the silence of the early days in the orphanage when he opened his eyes every day and knew he was in solitary confinement again, but the feeling of security that comes when he can just push open the door and see Dazai and his brother both slumped on the sofa, telling him that he is finally back.
This must be the reason why his brother asked him to learn how to cook.
"I'm almost starving, Atsushi-kun."
"Please wait a moment, Dazai-nii."
Listening to the urging coming from outside the kitchen, Nakajima Atsushi silently curled his lips and quickened his movements. This feeling of being needed always makes people feel that they will never be abandoned again.
The final step was to pour the tea. Nakajima Atsushi, carrying the steaming hot rice porridge, called out to the living room. "Dazai-nii, it's ready... Ah! Put it down!" Having just placed the food on the table, Nakajima Atsushi turned around and saw Dazai Osamu, who was persistently fiddling with the black ceramic cat.
The other person held the poor cat on his head, released his hands, and used only his head to control the balance of the black cat, trying to achieve the state of unity between man and cat.
"Ah..." Dazai Osamu complained boredly, "You are so irritable, Atsushi." He turned around and pressed the pottery statue against his fingertips.
despair--
This action not only stopped the black cat from moving, but also stopped Nakajima Atsushi from flying.
Even if the balance is temporarily maintained, the traces of the wind, so small that the body cannot feel it, can be clearly seen on the pottery cat. For pottery, the slightest shake will make people feel uneasy.
"Please don't treat it like this, Dazai-brother!" Facing Dazai Osamu's accusing eyes, Nakajima Atsushi said helplessly: "Please don't treat it like this, please forgive my rudeness! Dazai-brother, please, my brother will definitely be angry when he comes back and sees it."
What.
Facing the sensible taxi driver getting off, Dazai Osamu bent his fingers in boredom.
Snap——
Landed safely.
Nakajima Atsushi breathed a sigh of relief and quickly knelt forward to put the black cat back to its original position.
I don't know why, but Dazai-san likes to play with this pottery. Nakajima Atsushi thought as he checked it to see if there were any cracks caused by the noise.
Dazai Osamu's voice came faintly from behind.
"If I and it can only choose one, which one will you choose, Dun?"
What?
What did he hear?
Nakajima Atsushi suspected he had misheard, but the resentful aura behind him seemed to be swallowing him up. Nakajima Atsushi turned stiffly and looked at Dazai Osamu, who looked very serious, and blinked at him innocently.
"Tell me your answer."
The cold eyes and merciless words swore that this person's iron-cold heart would never waver because of Nakajima Atsushi's confusion.
"Of course I'd choose you, Dazai-san." Nakajima Atsushi scratched his head, his expression becoming increasingly obvious. Facing Dazai's questioning gaze, his thoughts couldn't help but wander. If it fell into the water, Dazai-san would definitely be fine, but a cat, I wonder if it could float. If it couldn't, would it fall? Then I'd have to pick it up immediately. But would it actually float? Perhaps he should secretly find time to test it.
"You're thinking very rudely, Atsushi-kun."
Dazai Osamu's sudden words made Nakajima Atsushi tremble all over. He turned his head and smiled to hide his embarrassment, but he could not find an excuse to defend himself.
Fortunately, Dazai Osamu was as nonchalant as ever. He stared at Nakajima Atsushi, whose whole body was numb, for a few seconds before shifting his attention to other things.
"It's ochazuke again. This is the fourth time."
Hey, I've eaten it 4 times already, but why do I still crave it?
Facing Dazai Osamu's solemn promise, Nakajima Atsushi could only say awkwardly: "...Really? I didn't notice... Uh, I promise I won't eat this tonight again."
It is always easy to believe the little tiger who looks sincere and apologetic, but Dazai Osamu has heard such words three times this week.
How boring, why can't we eat crabs?
Dazai Osamu, whose appetite had been successfully spoiled by Bailibian, was no longer satisfied with canned crab meat. However, faced with Dazai Osamu's request, Nakajima Atsushi could only say awkwardly that he had not yet learned this.
"What?" Dazai didn't get a definitive answer, but this answer also made his eyes light up again. "So that's Master Baili Zang!"
Tibetan Master?
This was a path that Nakajima Atsushi had never imagined. After all, Baili Bian had always been willing to teach him how to cook, but Nakajima Atsushi rarely asked what he wanted to learn, so the course progress was always controlled by Baili Bian.
What Bailibian will teach are the foods they often eat.
But crab meat is a food that will appear on the table every week.
So why hasn't Nakajima Atsushi learned how to cook crab dishes yet?
Nakajima Atsushi and Bailibian were both indifferent to the crab meat dish. The only crab meat fanatic in the whole room was Dazai Osamu. It could be said that this dish was prepared for Dazai Osamu.
So why didn’t his brother teach him how to make crab dishes?
Facing the smug look on Dazai Osamu's face, Nakajima Kyo suddenly realized something.
Because the elder brother had long anticipated that if he went out one day, Dazai-kun, who wanted to eat crab meat, would definitely find a way to find him. And he would definitely be powerless to resist Dazai-kun who wanted to eat crab meat, and would always agree obediently.
But eating crab meat for a long time is bad for your health, so...
He is indeed a far-sighted brother.
"I can't stand it, I really can't stand it. I can't stand a day without crab meat! When will that damn Baili come back?" Dazai Osamu, who hadn't touched crab meat dishes for a week, felt that even jumping into the water at this moment could not save his soul.
Watching Dazai Osamu crawl back onto the sofa and wallow in self-pity after finishing his meal, Nakajima Atsushi could only force a wry smile and move forward to comfort him. "Brother isn't coming back anytime soon. His internship will last three months. He told me that before he left."
That’s right, Bailibian, who is now in his third year of college, has already started his internship.
It’s not that he wants to work, but because if he doesn’t do an internship, he won’t earn any credits, and if he doesn’t earn any credits, he will have to delay his graduation - yes, internship credits are required.
Because of this, with the recommendation of a professor, he joined a financial company in Tokyo and started his internship.
Don’t ask why Yokohama was not chosen. The reason is that there are too many industries owned by the port mafia.
He was only interning for a short period of time before graduation, not intending to entrust his life to someone else. The Port Mafia's workload was so heavy lately that Bai Libian had no doubt that if he joined them now, he would be burdened with a workload even heavier than that of the 16-year-old Dazai Osamu.
Internships are definitely not as easy as going to college. For example, for Baili Bian, who was still studying, it was no problem to spend an hour commuting every day. But once he started his internship, this hour seemed particularly heavy.
And there happened to be a suitable house near the internship company, so...
"I'll be back every Friday night. Take good care of yourself, and look after the house. Don't let Dazai tear it down."
Baili Bian gave these instructions before leaving on Monday.
Okay, so from now on let’s do a math problem to exercise our brains.
For example, what day of the week is it now?
How many days are left before Baili Bian returns?
When will Dazai Osamu be able to eat the crab meat dish he has been longing for?
The correct answer is Thursday. There is still one day before Bailibian returns home, so Dazai Osamu will not be able to eat crab meat dishes until Saturday.
The days passed one by one, and in Dazai's anticipation, Friday finally arrived and Bailibian finally returned home.
"Brother, welcome home!"
As soon as he opened the door, Bailibian was greeted warmly by Nakajima Atsushi. He saw not only his adorable and caring brother, but also steaming hot meals and warm lights, which made anyone who saw him say that this was a warm family.
Just ignore Dazai Osamu who is already lying dead.
Looking at Nakajima Atsushi who had obviously made special preparations, Bailibian did not hesitate to praise him. He touched his head and patted his shoulders, expressing his admiration for Nakajima Atsushi from all aspects in a 360-degree manner.
But for Dazai Osamu, the warm interaction between Bailibian and Nakajima Atsushi was no different from the noisy background music. The only thing he cared about was when he could have dinner.
It was already 8 o'clock in the evening and he really, really needed to eat.
The fact that it has been delayed until this late is not just Bailibian’s problem.
Although Bailibian went to internship, Nakajima Atsushi's training cannot be neglected. Since it is training, there must be assessment.
As a prerequisite for having a big meal on the weekend, Bailibian asked Dazai Osamu to take on the assessment work, with a small test every three days and a big test every five days, and today happened to be the day of the big test.
It was during this week that Nakajima Atsushi realized that Dazai Osamu was also skilled in taijutsu. However, he was strangely not surprised. His explanation for this was that Dazai-san was the type of person who was unwilling to do anything but could do everything.
To be fair, Dazai Osamu was actually very curious about Nakajima Atsushi's abilities. He was very curious about the tiger's ultimate limit. However, Baili Bian had set strict assessment standards for him and would never allow him to cross the line.
So Dazai Osamu could only... strictly abide by the requirements while secretly testing the cat, and during this time he also had to take care of the big cat's fragile psychology. It was really exhausting.
Dazai didn't understand. He really didn't understand why Bailibian was so cautious. Thinking back to when he was educating Akutagawa...
Oh, it seems that I didn’t teach it well.
But that only applies to Baili Bian. If you ask Sen Ouwai, he will definitely...
But there is no need to be so cautious!
As a popular figure, the entire dinner was naturally prepared in Bailibian style. What is Bailibian's style? Healthy. He places great emphasis on the natural texture of ingredients, especially vegetables, which taste the same whether stir-fried or not (hence he rarely stir-fries a simple vegetable dish).
However, this meal still brought tears to Dazai Osamu's eyes because there was no tea to go with the rice.
In fact, before Nakajima Atsushi came to Bailibian, Bailibian had never made such a dish. So, chazuke is actually like crab meat dishes, which are dishes that are only made when certain people come.
After dinner, Nakajima Atsushi forced himself to talk with Baili Bian about what had happened in the past week, and then had to say good night - the training plus the extra assessments had made him a little tired.
The tacit understanding accumulated over the years made Bailibian keenly aware of Dazai Osamu's deliberate concealment. After watching Nakajima Atsushi go up the stairs, Bailibian turned around and said to Dazai Osamu, who was also slumped on the sofa,
"What happened again?"
Dazai Osamu waited for a long time before glancing at Bailibian with a sidelong glance. He curled his lips in impatience and said, "Someone is offering a 10 billion bounty for your big cat."
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