Chapter 102 People Live for Redemption
I’m so hungry.
My stomach was rumbling and cramping, a sour and bloated feeling was rising from my abdomen, and my esophagus was burning with pain.
However, he had become accustomed to this kind of hunger, and what made him sad was that every time he was so hungry, he had to be locked up in the dungeon.
What happened?
Nakajima Atsushi, eleven years old, has forgotten how many years he has spent in the orphanage. He tried to open his eyes, but his eyelids were too heavy to open.
He remembered that he had been in solitary confinement.
Suddenly, he heard other children screaming, and the dean hurried away and never came back. He sat alone in the cage and heard desperate voices in the distance.
Someone broke in? What happened?
Roaring, gunshots, children crying, so scary, so scary, is it the end of the world?
Am I going to die in this cage?
No, no.
The crying sound in his ears was like the sound of a devil. He curled up his body, attacked by fear, his mind went blank, and he just wanted to scream and run away.
No, my friends are still outside. What happened? I need to help everyone. I need to help the dean...
The thin boy slowly crawled to the iron railing, gripped the railing with his fingers, and shook it desperately.
Let him out.
The screams were piercing, and he could hear his own cries, howling and banging on the chains of the cell door.
"Let me out! Please! No matter who it is!"
Let him go out, don't let him die here, protect everyone.
He is so weak. Don't hurt others. Just kill him. People like him have no value in existence, right?
Don't hurt others, it hurts, it really hurts.
His fist hit the railing, and before he knew it, the railing was bent, but he didn't realize what was happening.
All the sounds, screaming, crying, shouting, gunshots, so scary, so scary...
"Don't shoot, don't shoot..."
His delicate spirit was squeezed to the limit, and he heard someone shouting "Dean".
Another gunshot was heard.
Nakajima Atsushi's mind suddenly went blank.
The punch broke the chain and the iron gate of the fence slowly opened.
Losing the strength to support himself, his body fell to the ground. Suddenly he lost the strength to get up and could only desperately cover his ears. As he curled up desperately in a near-convulsive state, he heard a horrifying cry squeezed out of his throat, and at a certain moment, the cry stopped abruptly.
A pair of golden vertical pupils lit up in the darkness.
The boy's consciousness sank to a deep place.
…
I don’t remember what happened after that? How is everyone? Is the dean okay?
Open your eyes, open them quickly.
Nakajima Atsushi tried hard to stay awake, and finally, he heard the sounds from the outside world.
Someone... someone is arguing?
**
"You don't understand."
"What?"
"I can only do this! He is a good kid. If I indulge him, he will be driven to death by himself sooner or later!"
"So you starve him, lock him up, and beat him?" Oda Sakunosuke held Nakajima Atsushi in his arms. The boy's ribs were clearly visible. He looked in disbelief at the man in front of him, whose face was pale, cold and stiff as if made of iron.
A sound that was not human-like came out of the man's nose.
"Let him know what pain is, and let him remember this pain forever. Don't attack the weak, and don't kill innocent people. This power will kill him sooner or later!"
The young dean seemed to have lost all his strength. He took a deep breath, looked up at the sky, tears streaming down his cheeks, and murmured:
"The current Yokohama will never accommodate such a person with special abilities. The Mafia is too cruel for him..."
Unable to control himself, the young man is very powerful. Such people with special abilities will either be hunted down and besieged, or be captured by the mafia and forced to work for them.
Yokohama is too chaotic. The only people who semi-openly employ people with special abilities are the Mafia, but can the Mafia really treat his children well?
But apart from Yokohama, where else can accept people with special abilities?
After a long silence, the dean walked up to the young killer and pleaded in a low voice, like a victim begging the murderer:
"He's still young, sir, don't expose him... please."
“…I…” Oda Sakunosuke opened his mouth.
He knew it was wrong, but what could he do given the current situation?
However, the dean misunderstood his meaning. He knew that he was from the Port Mafia and also realized that he might be a person with special abilities. The dean gritted his teeth. He didn't know how to keep the child, but he couldn't just watch him be sent to die.
He just learned from that person that this person is kind, does not kill, is agile and smart.
If I can't take it back by force, then I can only take advantage of his kindness...
Bang.
Dust rose up, and in the dark night, the small road in the orphanage could not penetrate the darkness.
It was like a sound ringing in my heart, louder than my heartbeat. My heart suddenly sank to the bottom of the water.
In the shadows thicker than the night, the thin young man is darker than the shadows.
He knelt on the ground.
The countless days and months he spent supporting an orphanage alone have made him no longer young, but his former cultivation still remains. He has always been indifferent and stubborn, and has been guarding firmly with behaviors that ordinary people cannot understand. Like a white knight, he guards his rules, binds everyone with his sense of morality and dignity, and protects everyone.
But at this moment, in such darkness, he was risking everything.
The slightly trembling kneeling figure was in an unprecedented humble posture of pleading.
"Sir, give me a few more years. He's eleven years old. When he's an adult and can choose his own path, I'll let him go."
The dean gritted his teeth:
"Please, don't tell anyone, don't tell the Mafia... You don't kill people, so you're a good person... right?"
A great sense of absurdity and some unknown emotions surged up.
Oda Sakunosuke was suddenly distracted at this moment. This was the first time he was called a good person.
He just doesn't kill people, but he's a killer.
At the same age as this child, he had already started killing people.
Why ask him? Doesn't he know that if this was the real killer, or the him from a few years ago, such pleading would be useless?
Has he changed? Has he become a different person in the eyes of others in recent years?
He stood there in a daze until the boy in his arms trembled so hard to ignore and then he came to his senses. He hugged the boy's body. The boy still had his eyes closed, but tears were falling down. In the light, they were like diamonds that extinguished all light.
“Dean…”
The young man murmured in a very low voice, and Oda Sakunosuke had to listen very hard to hear it clearly. Tears wet the corners of his clothes, and the boy's fingers moved.
He was exhausted, and after transforming into a white tiger, all the white tiger's senses were fed back to him. He must be very tired and fell asleep. Yet he seemed to be trying to wake up, his fingers trembling and curling up desperately.
“Dean…”
This time, his voice was a little clearer. The dean who was kneeling on the side heard the voice, took two steps forward, and held the boy's shoulders slightly in an unfamiliar manner.
Oda Sakunosuke loosened his grip slightly, allowing him to hug the young man.
Nakajima Atsushi felt very tired.
He kept shouting, "Stop, stop talking, Dean, how could the Dean do such a thing?"
It’s not the dean’s fault, no.
It was his sin, becoming a white tiger and all that, it was all his fault.
He shouted for a long time, and at some point, it seemed as if a barrier was opened. It was not until this moment that his senses were slowly restored.
He was really tired, even moving a finger was tiring, but he had to wake up. The boy burst out with perseverance rarely seen by ordinary people. He opened his eyes with difficulty and saw that there were no dried tears on the dean's face.
"Dean...don't cry..."
He appeared again, and the dean showed a fierce expression again, staring at him fiercely, as if he was going to send him to the confinement room again.
You can go, don't cry, it's okay to go to the solitary confinement room. If possible, it doesn't matter if he is locked up forever, he is a white tiger...
How could he be a white tiger?
An inexplicable strength surged up from his body, and he suddenly felt more alert. He does often suddenly generate some kind of strength at critical moments, perhaps, perhaps this is also because he is a white tiger.
"It's not the Dean's fault."
He took a deep breath and struggled to sit up, but was held in the dean's arms.
So warm...
"Punish me, it's not the dean's fault...it's not..."
The tense breath suddenly relaxed, and a colorful dream appeared before Nakajima Atsushi's eyes.
It was so comfortable and warm. He was hugged. The dean still wanted him. He was still needed, right?
After heaving a sigh of relief, he could no longer hold on and his strength disappeared as if he had fainted.
Oda Sakunosuke was standing aside. He could see that just behind the dean, in the direction the young man was sitting up and facing, was the body that was killed by the White Tiger.
The boy's head was tightly held in the man's arms. He lowered his head, not knowing what had suddenly struck him. Transparent drops of water streaked across the top of the white-haired boy's head and shattered on the ground.
"...Sir, please..."
“…”
Oda Sakunosuke took a deep breath:
"I understand. I won't tell anyone else. But—"
He closed his eyes and memorized the mess.
"But after that, I need to talk to you."
"He just..."
"I know! I'm a psychic too!"
Oda Sakunosuke showed a rare strong look. He spoke firmly with a strong momentum that would not be refused:
"I am a person with special abilities. We are... the same kind. Please leave the teaching to me."
"……I see."
As if realizing that the man in front of him had an unquestionable will, the young dean closed his eyes and nodded in agreement to his proposal.
"Send him back to his room. There are other children who need comforting, right? Now is not the time to talk about this."
Oda Sakunosuke pulled the man up and turned around to look at the messy little courtyard:
"I will take care of these bodies. No one will see them."
The director, the helpers in the orphanage, and seven or eight adults were busy all night. The children who fainted were put back in their rooms, and the children who had witnessed the tragedy and were frightened were comforted one by one and put together, and someone was specially assigned to watch over them while they slept.
Oda Sakunosuke stood at the door, looked at the body of the second-in-command and the bodies of several children who were killed in the conflict that he failed to stop. He found a body bag and put the second-in-command in it, and buried the children and the director in the backyard of the orphanage.
He threw the body bag onto the grass not far from the door and asked his colleague to take it back to the Port Mafia. He turned around, rolled up his sleeves and cleaned up the bullet holes and bloodstains.
Rinse off the blood, spread fresh sand, fill the bullet holes with cement, throw away the broken ones, and repair the usable ones.
It was already daybreak. Oda Sakunosuke, who had been busy all night, looked up and took a deep breath of the cold air. The air was so cold that it irritated his nasal cavity and made it sore.
As he moved his eyes slightly, he vaguely saw the shadow of a young man in a windbreaker. He calmed down, but the shadow disappeared.
There were transparent walls in front, behind, left and right, and the young man's shadow disappeared so abruptly without any trace.
Did he see it wrong? Are you too tired?
Unable to find the answer and hearing the crying of a child awakened from a nightmare in the orphanage behind him, Oda Sakunosuke paused, gave up his exploration, and turned back to the orphanage.
After he turned around, a young man appeared again, stared at his back deeply for a long time, then turned around and disappeared in the morning light.
**
He adopted the child.
The boy's special ability is very powerful, but it is easy for him to get out of control. The dean observed for a long time and found that there is a cooling-off period after he turns into a tiger. During that period, he is safe, but after that period, Nakajima Atsushi must be locked in a cage until he turns into a tiger again.
Another way to trigger his special ability is to make his emotions extreme, so the dean often tortures him to make him excited, force his tiger form, and master his transformation cycle.
However, the older this child gets, the more patient he becomes, and it is difficult for him to become emotionally provoked.
It is precisely for this reason that the dean did not expect that this incident would have such a great impact on Nakajima Atsushi. A cowardly and docile child like Nakajima Atsushi would actually try to rush out to protect everyone when faced with violence.
The orphanage was very busy and the children suffered psychological trauma and cried blankly. The dead children lay in the cemetery, and the living children cried out to find them.
The orphanage in Yokohama is a thankless facility. There are too many orphans here and the government never provides funding to the orphanage. The orphanage where Nakajima Atsushi lives is so poor that everyone has to work together to grow crops to fill the food gap. The director seemed to have once been a child from a wealthy family, and his behavior was very cultured. However, he devoted his entire life to the orphanage, suffered with the children, and lived a very poor life.
Oda Sakunosuke was watching from the sidelines, and the clever dean let him come and watch in order to soften his heart. But in the end, Oda Sakunosuke really couldn't say anything to the dean.
"So, I feel like Dun's power seems to have undergone some changes."
The two stood at the door of the confinement room. It was already noon the next day and they finally had space to talk again.
The fence door of the confinement room was specially customized. Each iron pillar is as thick as a child's arm. It is a cage for imprisoning large wild animals. Even bullets cannot penetrate it. In addition to the main door, the only way to enter and exit is to cut it with a saw. However, right before their eyes, Oda Sakunosuke saw that several of the iron pillars were bent and twisted in a horrible way.
The gate looked as if something was hitting the iron railings from inside, causing them to bulge out piece by piece. The iron rings of the chain that locked the gate were each as thick as an adult's thumb, but this iron ring was completely broken, which was frightening to see.
Looking further inside, I saw torture instruments used to tie people to chairs, and blood was scattered on the ground, which was a shocking sight.
"...Once he turns into a tiger, his body will recover quickly..."
Therefore, he became even more reckless.
Using pain to relieve pain is a classic approach.
Even Oda Sakunosuke himself could cite many examples based on what he saw and heard as a teenager. There are many different types of pain, and humans use pain very fluently. Some pain is the result of learning a lesson in order to improve one's strength, some pain is pure violence from the abuser, and some pain is mixed with the weight of love.
It was precisely because he was born in darkness that he could not turn a blind eye to such things.
"Dean, I need to talk to him."
The dean still hasn't given up his plan. He still intends to protect Nakajima Atsushi in his own way. From his eyes, Oda Sakunosuke can see that once he leaves here, the dean will probably only become worse.
While torturing the child, you are also torturing yourself.
He awakened his special abilities at the age of six, and it has been five or six years now. He has been able to protect Nakajima Atsushi for five or six years. The dean has put in a lot of effort and tried his best, and he is ready to continue to work hard with him.
However, perhaps because he really didn't know what to do, and because he understood that only people with special abilities could understand matters related to special abilities, he nodded slightly.
"……what ever."
"I don't agree with you."
"I know, Mr. Oda."
"But the other kids still need you."
“…”
Oda Sakunosuke was not a communicative person, so after saying this, he nodded and walked out the door.
As they passed by, he heard a soft whisper:
"I know."
**
"Brother Dun, aren't you going to eat yet?"
The little girl was holding the tray. They had suffered a lot these days, so the food recently was delicious. Although the orphanage couldn't provide them with anything delicious, they never really let them go hungry.
However, although what they saw before them was a rare delicacy, on the tray was just a bowl of bland tofu soup and half a small fish.
Considering Nakajima Atsushi's appetite, she secretly got a few more bowls of rice. When she carried out such a heavy plate, surprisingly no one noticed and no one stopped her.
The food is already on the table and it smells delicious. The girl had been here once before, and she knew that Nakajima Atsushi was always hungry, so whenever she saw food, she would try very hard to eat it in big mouthfuls. However, today the meal had been put aside for a long time, and the white-haired boy was still curled up in bed.
"Brother Dun? Are you asleep?"
“…”
"Then remember to eat it. I'll come and see you later. You must eat it all!"
“…”
"Stupid Dungeon! I know you're awake! I don't want to bother with you! Everyone is sad, so we should try to grow up, right?"
“… Leave it there.”
The girl laughed.
"I knew it. Take your time eating, Dun. I'm going to go find other people to play with!"
"Um."
Everyone in the orphanage was very sad about the death of several children, so the little girl was worried about Nakajima Atsushi's abnormality, but she didn't take it too seriously.
She turned around and met the big brother who saved them in the corridor and smiled sweetly.
"Good afternoon, Brother Oda."
"Well, they are eating, why don't you go and eat?"
"I'll be back soon! Goodbye, Brother Oda!"
Watching the girl's back disappear around the corner, Oda Sakunosuke sighed softly and continued moving forward.
The layout of the small house was very cramped, with a small table placed next to the bed. The white-haired boy still had his back to the door, curled up in a small ball.
His short white hair looked like it had been chewed by a dog. Oda Sakunosuke knew that this messy hair was originally cut by the dean. The dean is not good at cutting hair, and he trimmed it clumsily, and it turned out like this.
However, Nakajima Atsushi quietly kept this hairstyle and refused to change it.
Even though the dean suddenly became a person he couldn't understand, he never hated the dean. He obeyed and didn't understand, but still maintained respect for him.
Is a good boy.
'Knock knock.'
The boy moved his body but did not look back.
"I'm Oda Sakunosuke, a person with special abilities. Want to talk?"
“…”
"It was the dean who asked me to talk to you."
“…”
Nakajima Atsushi was silent for a moment, then slowly sat up and looked in his direction.
What a beautiful pair of eyes, purple gradually changing to golden, like the reflection of a lake at dusk, soft and sad, quiet and heavy, looking quietly in his direction.
"Sorry, I think I can introduce myself. My special ability is to see into the future for five seconds, and I currently want to be a writer."
"……writer?"
"Yeah, because I read a book before...Have you read a book?"
"I have read it. The hospital has arranged for people to learn to read."
The eleven-year-old boy was wearing ragged clothes, and he felt somewhat awkward when facing him. But perhaps because of his special ability, he relaxed a little and knelt on the bed neatly.
"They said, they said you were from the Port Mafia, what is that place?"
“…Don’t you know about the Port Mafia?” With the Port Mafia at its peak, is there anyone who doesn’t know about it?
The white-haired boy lowered his eyes and shook his head gently.
The dean really protected him very well, but his protectiveness was a little too strong.
"Well, it's a place to work, but I do some not-so-good work..."
"So, you're not a good person?" Nakajima Atsushi raised his head.
"It's not up to you to decide whether you are a good person or not." Oda Sakunosuke said as gently as possible: "There are good people, and of course there are bad people."
"Are you a good person?" the boy asked bluntly, "They say you are a good person."
“…I don’t know either.”
The red-haired young man laughed:
"I used to be a killer, but now I have decided not to kill anymore."
"Killer...why don't you kill people anymore?"
"Because I read a book about a killer who stopped killing people, and I wanted to know why he didn't kill people."
"..." Nakajima Atsushi was silent for a moment: "Is it because you don't want to kill anyone? Isn't it because the killer doesn't kill people that he doesn't want to kill people?"
"..." Oda Sakunosuke was stunned. He opened his mouth and said, "...Really?"
"I'm sorry, but haven't you found a reason now?" Nakajima Atsushi raised his head, his eyes met his, and he shrank back:
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry... Are there many people with special abilities in the Port Mafia?"
"...Yes, there are many people with special abilities there." Suddenly, Oda Sakunosuke heard himself say this.
"So……"
The white-haired boy bit his lips so hard that they turned white. His fingers clutched the fabric on his body. A tear fell on the back of his hand. He wiped it away as if nothing had happened and continued:
"…Does that place accept people with special abilities?"
“…”
"Do they need a person with superpowers like me? I don't know if I can kill people, but can I become a person with superpowers who doesn't kill people?"
"…Why?" Oda Sakunosuke wanted to ask him the reason.
However, his words were so clumsy that Nakajima Atsushi misunderstood his meaning and thought he was asking why he didn't kill anyone.
"I will, I will work very hard. Killing, killing... Apart from this, just give me food, no salary is fine... I just..."
"I'm just asking, why did you join the Port Mafia?"
Then the sound stopped abruptly, and the white-haired boy sobbed violently.
"I will hurt everyone. The dean works very hard and is very tired. I can't cause any more trouble for him. I eat so much and I still want to cause trouble. I can't live here anymore. I am like this, I am like this..."
You have absolutely no problem with being abused, and you still care about other people until this moment?
Oda Sakunosuke was speechless due to the impact of the unfamiliar emotions. He comforted palely:
"…Everyone likes you very much."
"It's different! It's different! I'm just causing trouble to everyone, it's better for me to die. What's the meaning of my existence? What use am I other than being a burden to others?!"
The boy's tone became more and more intense. He seemed to be about to collapse from the shock of being a beast. He even asked with some sadness:
"Why don't you kill me? You can kill a white tiger, but I am totally, totally not a human being anymore!"
Told to be guilty since childhood, living in the separation between daily life and solitary confinement, cherishing every bit of sweetness. He took his 'daily life' so seriously, and when he found out that he was the culprit that destroyed it, he was almost overwhelmed by guilt.
"You protected everyone."
"I killed someone, and I know it."
As if he had revealed the most unbearable truth, Nakajima Atsushi shrank back and said:
"They said, Baihu killed people, I killed people."
“…”
"Is it right to kill for the sake of protection?"
“…”
"I didn't protect anyone at all. Ayako, Komoto, Ono, they all died... I couldn't protect them at all, and I killed people in front of them... Killing is wrong, killing is wrong..."
Oda Sakunosuke fell into a dead silence like the deep sea.
"Sir, how can I, who have no protection and who have taken the lives of others, live here shamelessly?"
“…”
"So my existence is fundamentally wrong?"
The boy changed his sitting position and leaned against the wall, curled up into a ball as if longing for some sense of security, sobbing softly.
"……Feel sorry."
Oda Sakunosuke moved his eyes to the food on the table. He walked forward, removed the lid on the bowl of soup, and placed the chopsticks beside the bowl.
"Come and eat something. Once your stomach is warm, you'll feel much better."
“…”
"My special powers are very energy-consuming. I used to like eating after a mission, such as spicy curry. It warms my stomach and keeps me from feeling cold."
“…”
"Wow, this fish is really big, it's the biggest one in the restaurant, everyone gave it to you."
Oda Sakunosuke read out the suspense, and the tone of surprise was made as plain as a coffin lid.
Nakajima Atsushi raised his head and took a look, then murmured:
"No, the fish that the dean caught were only this big."
"Really? I read a book that said tigers are cats and are actually good at catching fish."
“…You really don’t know how to comfort people.”
"sorry."
"This is not the time to apologize..."
As he said this, his mood relaxed a lot. He moved slowly to the table, picked up the chopsticks, and put rice into his mouth bit by bit. He only ate white rice and didn't dare to touch the fish or the bowl of soup at all.
“This tofu is also very white and tender.”
“We all did it together.”
"Is that so? That's great."
“…”
"You like it here, don't you?"
“…”
Tears fell into the bowl again, and every bite I ate had a wet and salty taste.
"Sorry for making you cry again."
"I'm used to it."
"Ah, that's nice."
“…”
He didn't know when the courage to talk back disappeared. Nakajima Atsushi swallowed the rice mouthful by mouthful. After a bowl of rice, he just filled his stomach.
Just as he started the second bowl, he heard Oda Sakunosuke speak, which almost choked him.
"All the psychics in the Port Mafia are out to kill people, so that might not be a good fit for you."
He chewed the rice and was about to speak, but heard his next sentence.
"I'm different. They don't know I have special abilities."
“…”
"Isn't it funny? I'm telling a joke."
"Tell jokes while I eat?"
"Is it really not funny?"
"…Why is it funny?"
"I don't know either."
Oda Sakunosuke had already relaxed. He pushed the small bowl of tofu soup. Nakajima Atsushi hesitated for a moment and took a sip cautiously.
“Is it delicious?”
"…Do you want to drink?"
"Never mind, I just ate."
"……?"
"Aren't you going to ask me what I ate?"
"What?"
"Tofu soup from the courtyard."
“……”Then what are you asking?
"I just told another joke."
"Really? I see."
Then, Oda Sakunosuke laughed for some reason.
Nakajima Atsushi looked at him for a while, and for some reason he suddenly found it a little funny. Tears continued to fall, but the corners of his mouth curled up.
"Are you really going to leave the orphanage?"
"But...where else can I go?"
Oda Sakunosuke was silent for a moment, then replied:
"Maybe you could live with me."
"But...I will lose control."
“Just read more.”
"…Can studying cure this?"
"I don't know. I like reading."
“…”
“I just…”
"I see, you told another joke."
What kind of adult is this.
Nakajima Atsushi didn't know what to do. He thought helplessly that perhaps adults nowadays were very strange.
“I just turned 20.”
“…Is this true?”
"It's true."
“You have a beard.”
"Oh, I forgot to shave."
“…Isn’t this a joke?”
“This is real.”
"oh."
“…”
“…”
"I can't control myself, so I won't bother you."
Finally, the white-haired boy whispered as he stacked up the empty bowls. There were four large bowls of rice, not a single grain left, but he still looked very hungry.
"I can buy a big cage," Oda Sakunosuke suggested.
“…I eat a lot.”
“I got a pay raise.”
"Can I get a salary increase without killing anyone...?"
“Maybe I’ll lose my job if I’m not careful?”
"but……"
"This is something for adults to consider. You just need to consider whether you want to go with me."
Oda Sakunosuke uttered a rare overbearing remark.
Nakajima Atsushi was stunned for a moment, he hesitated:
"Everyone in the orphanage, the director..."
"We can come back and see them."
"If I were a tiger, I would..."
"Then I'll just quit."
Oda Sakunosuke laughed:
"I'll try to start writing books to support both of us."
"…You wanted to write a book, but you haven't started yet?"
Oda Sakunosuke stopped smiling.
"I'm a big trouble and I can't be a burden to you. Just throw me somewhere."
"I'm a person with special abilities. You won't be a burden to me, probably."
"... maybe?" Not quite believable.
"Well, or we can run away together. After all, I won't kill anyone."
"Then if I am killed, you can pretend that nothing happened and I will go with you."
“…”
"I can't let you get hurt because of me."
“…”
"If I die, and you can continue to live like you are now, completely forgetting... just think of me occasionally, then I will go with you."
“…”
"Okay?"
Worried about causing trouble for himself, completely pessimistic about his future, and not wanting to bring harm to others because of his death, the boy opened his beautiful eyes sadly.
“That’s terrible.”
“…Is it not possible?”
"No, if the dean doesn't know I'm going to take you away, he might not let you go."
"…Then what are you talking about!"
"It doesn't matter, I'll steal you away."
"……don't want!"
"What should we do then?" Oda Sakunosuke frowned in distress.
"…So, you agree, huh?"
"I tried to stay calm while you died."
"……effort?"
"But I think I'll die before you."
"..." What truth are you talking about?
"How about you stop feeling sad for me? Then I won't feel sad for you." Oda Sakunosuke said confidently.
"?"
"Fair enough, right?"
"……Um."
"Then hook."
"But the dean won't let me go."
"I could steal you away, or fake your death."
"……?"
“I’m pretty good at this.”
"Then how am I going to get back?"
“…Come back straight away?”
“…Weirdo!” Everyone will be scared!
The two chatted until dusk, and the boy fell asleep tiredly on the table, his thin face buried in his arms, his chest heaving like a calico cat sleeping in a coffee shop.
Oda Sakunosuke stood up quietly, opened the door, and saw the dean standing outside.
The two looked at each other for a long time, until the dean took a step back slightly and walked side by side with him, and no one spoke.
"He is very strong, so the cage needs to be thicker. Animals cannot eat food with strong flavors, so use less salt and cannot eat food that is too spicy."
After a long time, the dean said.
He really was raising this man as if he were raising a tiger.
"He just turned into a tiger, not a real tiger."
"I'm sorry, I don't know much about people with special abilities, but if you turn into a tiger, your stomach should be similar, right?"
“…That’s right.”
“…”
After a long silence, the dean swallowed hard.
"I will visit him often. If he gets into trouble, send him back to me and I will discipline him."
"I thought you were going to keep him."
"…I don't know how to face him. It will be very sad for him to stay here. Besides, you can subdue him."
Over the years, the only person he knew who could really fight against the White Tiger with ease was Oda Sakunosuke.
Perhaps, it’s better for people with special abilities to live among people with special abilities?
"And... I think you might be trustworthy. But if he's not happy, I'll let him come back."
From the moment he arrived at the door, Oda Sakunosuke knew he was outside. He didn't know what he had learned from their conversation to judge that he was trustworthy. He didn't quite understand, he only knew that the dean agreed.
"Um."
"If he gets in trouble, I'll put him in detention until he's an adult."
"What if he's an adult?"
"That can't be helped. I'm old."
They walked to the window and looked up at the sky outside.
"When I see these children, I always think of a question. I want to ask you, Mr. Oda Sakunosuke, what are you living for?"
“Man lives for salvation.”
"Yeah?"
The sky was scarlet, while the other side was tinged with deep purple-blue. White clouds were hovering above it like a piece of worn cotton, a little cold and a little warm.
"Consider this my last request."
The dean didn't look back, he looked out the window.
"Don't give too much to that child, don't establish contact with him. If he is lonely, let him be lonely; if he is lonely, let him be lonely; if he is in pain, then watch him suffer. He is too weak, whether you get into trouble or you get into trouble because of him, he will never forgive himself."
"Yeah?"
"Don't agree?"
"No, you're a very good dean."
“…”
“But I still can’t agree with you.”
The dean smiled inexplicably, and even the smile on his face, who was not good at speaking, was very dull:
"It's okay. I know."
**
This is how he adopted Nakajima Atsushi.
In fact, he didn't know why he did this. It seemed that it was just because the child was so sad that he felt it would be bad if he didn't do something.
Just like he thought he had to threaten the dean with a gun to get him taken away, but the dean inexplicably let them go.
He bought a big cage for Nakajima Atsushi, put up soundproof mats, made the windows very small, and then put a desk, a soft mattress, a TV and a radio in the cage.
He even went to a used book market to buy a guide to raising wild animals, and saw the boy's frustrated expression when he tried to feed him raw meat.
"What are you doing! Mr. Oda!"
"a little……"
"You just got paid and you're already spending it! You haven't written any books at all!"
"I bought it..." Oda Sakunosuke silently took out a magazine.
"Really? Then which one do you think is better?" The slightly more lively Nakajima Atsushi questioned weakly.
“Well, I think this is okay.”
Oda Sakunosuke opened the magazine and selected a page.
“……” Nakajima Atsushi fell into a strange silence.
"What's wrong?"
"Will you really not doubt yourself while reading "Meaningless Literature" and writing a book?"
"...Really? That's the name."
"At times like this, you should complain! And remember to close the cage when you leave, Mr. Oda! You didn't even lock it!"
"Can a tiger open a latch?"
"…Maybe?"
"You haven't turned into a tiger for a month. Can you relax a little?"
Oda Sakunosuke walked into the cage and chose a place to sit on the ground.
"I'm sorry, I really don't have any salary. Let's read this book together and start writing next month."
“Mr. Oda——!”
**
Yes, he lives that life now.
The two dangerous creatures sat together, dancing precariously on the edge of the cliff.
How long will we dance?
When will Yokohama calm down?
Did he find a reason why the killer didn't kill?
Maybe, maybe.
Oda Sakunosuke went out early in the morning to investigate the surrounding environment. He finally began to pay a little attention to the safety of his surroundings. He exhaled a breath and returned to the room with breakfast. The white-haired boy was tidying up his cage room. He helped him copy some short stories from magazines for his colleagues, especially adding pinyin, and lowered his head seriously.
"You get up so early every day, Mr. Oda!"
"Really? Everything is alright? Lunch is in the pot outside."
"…Am I the only one who remembered to lock the cage?"
"That's what happened."
Take a deep breath and be a little more serious. If you want to protect others, be more serious.
There were things that were more important, like the promises he'd made.
He should be a man of his word, so if there is an agreement that cannot be enforced, then try not to let that event happen.
What else will happen in the process of redeeming your life?
This is his life, well-organized, simple and boring.
Today, Oda Sakunosuke still lives a quiet and stable life in a self-circulating eco-bottle on the edge of a cliff.
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