Chapter 34 Just go around, who can get around you?
The story begins a few days ago.
Natsume Soseki suddenly found Edogawa Ranpo.
In fact, as for Natsume Soseki's identity, Natsume Soseki knew that Ranpo knew it, and Ranpo also knew that Natsume Soseki knew that he knew it. But this is not something that needs to be exposed, so everyone pretends to know nothing.
——Haha, only Fukuzawa Yukichi really knows nothing.
Since the detective agency moved to a new address and officially started recruiting employees, the calico cat often appeared in the Butei, doing nothing but sitting lazily on the window or teasing the disciple who loved cats but was very disliked by them.
Ranpo would understand everything if he looked at him a few more times, but is Edogawa Ranpo the type of person who will tell you if you give him a hint?
Even if it was Natsume Soseki, even if he was the president's teacher, even if his enthusiasm for Yokohama was admirable, even if he was the main figure in granting the license for the Butei Supernatural Business, when they were not familiar with each other and had no relationship, Ranpo would only call him uncle.
So the calico cat was placed in a harsh position by Ranpo with a smile on his face.
Anyway, you are too embarrassed to reveal yourself in front of your apprentice, so if you don't tell me directly and instead hint at something, I will just pretend that you don't understand.
Even Edogawa Ranpo can't understand cats' language!
Natsume Soseki was not in a hurry. After wandering around for a few days, he regarded this place as his second place. His target was indeed Qian Jianmu, but it was not that urgent. Although he had made a lot of trouble, Qian Jianmu did not do anything in the end.
He didn't care about the leader of the mafia in the neighboring port who was committing murder and arson, but he cared about a kid who was writing a book?
In this way, the confrontation between them remained silent under the surface until the incident where Qian Jianmu brought back a person with special abilities from the slums and then handed him over to another person with special abilities.
Although Qian Jianmu did not show up throughout the whole process, even the so-called news was just a trivial matter such as the appearance of a new person with supernatural powers in Leibo Street. Looking back, many people witnessed the gravity user fighting with a man covered in bandages. But how could the Butei gang and Natsume Soseki not understand?
Dazai Osamu is the child who follows Senmaku.
Sengenmaku asked Dazai Osamu to find a psychic and pass the case on to a psychic he was familiar with. Adding to Senmaku's own network of relationships, Natsume Soseki roughly estimated that Senmaku had some intricate relationships with at least five young powerful psychics, some of which were even to the point of favors.
Look at these five people again, one has a bug-like ability that is invalidated, one has super combat power at the top of gravity, one is an attack-type ability user who is still growing, one is an elusive intelligence-type ability user (Natsume Soseki has not met Endo Shusaku yet), and one is a psychic (emotional) ability user.
If you five get together, you can form another group of Five Degenerates, really.
Even for the Armed Detective Agency, having these five people is a bit oversaturated. However, these five people are all around a writer whose identity is unknown and whose abilities are unknown but who is definitely not simple. Natsume Soseki is really a bit uneasy.
Edogawa Ranpo, who had a half-guess on Natsume Soseki's thoughts, called Sengenmaku in front of the calico cat before he noticed the calico cat's restlessness.
He said:
"A gentleman wants to see you."
Qian Jianmu was not surprised at all. He only asked:
"Mr. Dusk?"
"Yes! Do you want to meet him?"
"Okay, I'll wait for him at the shrine."
Before hanging up the phone, Ranpo suddenly complained:
"It's been so boring in the detective agency lately. No one takes Ranpo-sama out. It's really troublesome to have so few members. The president didn't buy me snacks, and he bought a lot of dried fish, but the cats didn't want to get close to him."
"You must have enjoyed reading the recent detective manuscripts."
So Ranpo snorted and laughed.
"We did find a lot of interesting guys! Come back and find me so we can take a look together!"
In summary……
Qian Jianmu actually knew a long time ago that Mr. Calico Cat was a male! !
But even so, he still makes fun of the cat's gender in person. This person actually has a very bad personality! ! !
After a brief but extremely tense eye contact, neither of them could see any emotions from the other's behavior. The calico cat sighed in a very human way and jumped down from the tree. Suddenly, a strong wind blew, and a man with three-colored hair covering his right eye stood in front of him.
The old man has smooth and slightly curly hair and is slightly thinner than ordinary people. His entire body was wrapped in a long windbreaker, except for half of his face and a small part of his neck under the high collar. From fingers to wrists, from bottom to top, he was wrapped tightly.
Instead, it makes people worry whether he will get hot.
"I have long heard of your great name. I hope I am not disturbing you."
He is a seasoned man who secretly turns into a cat and climbs a tree to spy on people. Since he has informed them in advance, it does not count as uninvited, and even if he is discovered, he can calmly act as a guest.
"It's just me, what's your name, sir?"
"Ah, I'm too old and a little confused. My name is Natsume Soseki, and I'm just an idle writer."
After a pause, Sengenmaku included Natsume Soseki in the data of people with special abilities. It felt like a light bulb in a certain circuit had lit up, and then a small dark area began to flicker with the faint light of normal operation.
"I have read your book. In that case, I think this kind of gift is too simple."
The two men walked to the eaves of the corridor, and Sengenmaku handed over the wooden carved calico cat statue. Natsume Soseki's expression was subtle for a second, but he still took it.
“It’s really exquisite.”
If there was no attention, how could such a similar cat be carved?
Only a few days had passed since Ranpo told him about his visit to Natsume Soseki, and Sengenmaku did not go out during those days. Such a vivid memory could only have been the result of careful study, right?
This proves that Qian Jianmu had already begun to suspect his identity a long time ago, but still didn't know who he was.
Even Natsume Soseki would feel a chill down his spine when facing someone who is too smart. You have to know that there are very few people in this world who can connect him with a cat. Just by listening to the rumors in Yokohama about the "strongest psychic", you can know how deep he is hiding.
Don't scream. The probability of a kitten stabbing someone is very small, but it is not impossible. How can it not be called the strongest?
In negotiations, the most important thing is the momentum of both parties. It is an invisible thing, but who is strong and who is weak, who advances and who retreats, who lives and who dies, this invisible sense of existence is often the most basic and most important.
Originally, Natsume Soseki and Senmaku were not equal. Natsume Soseki was superior to Senmaku in both age and status. If Sengenmaku did nothing, then the communication between Natsume Soseki and him would be as that of senior and junior. Natsume Soseki had been laying the groundwork for this relationship from the very beginning. The so-called seniors and juniors are just another way of saying teaching and inculcation of ideas.
However, the wooden sculpture handed over by Qianjianmu immediately clarified the identities of the two people. How about you being older than me? I've been watching you. Senmaku didn't say it clearly, but how could Natsume Soseki dare to judge what Senmaku knew and when he knew it? Compared to Senmamaku, who was being observed but instead observed the stalker, Natsume Soseki, who was investigating Senmamaku but didn't know that he was being observed, was at a disadvantage in terms of intelligence and thinking. Even if he wanted to act like a senior or junior again, he would be much more stiff.
So the confrontation between the two of them passed by lightly. When they walked into the Japanese-style room and saw the two tea cups beside the small tea table, Natsume Soseki was secretly shocked by the boy's accurate prediction and had no choice but to change his attitude slightly.
So, it is difficult to communicate with older people. He may not have bad intentions, but he is used to thinking too much and taking the initiative. One thing requires going through many twists and turns to complete, and anything slightly adventurous becomes an annual adventure for older people.
"There are so many young heroes. When I was your age, I was still in school. At that time, there were not so many people with special abilities in Yokohama. I went to a middle school near the sea in Yokohama. Now that I think about it, that place has long been abandoned and occupied by the mafia."
"That was when the superpowers were just emerging, right?"
Natsume Soseki took a sip of tea and sighed slowly.
"There were very few transcendents at that time. I still remember the name of Shakespeare, a person with special abilities, registered on paper when I was a teenager. But now when I look again, I can no longer find this transcendent. If he still exists, he is probably a hundred years old."
Natsume Soseki had a lot of things he wanted to lament about. He grew up in an era when supernatural powers were being used on a larger scale, and witnessed the unbridgeable gap between people with supernatural powers and ordinary people. After graduating from university, he entered politics, and for one reason or another, witnessed the entire process of the supernatural war. How can a few words explain his melancholy and sadness as he watched the peaceful and prosperous Yokohama turn into a land covered in blood and scars?
Compared to Mori Ogai, who witnessed the collapse of a prosperous building and was forced to wander around and participate in the war, and Fukuzawa Yukichi, who wandered blindly as a killer to uphold small justice, he has so much to say and has seen so much. In this regard, he truly deserves the title of teacher.
"Maku-kun, do you know the mortality rate of people with special abilities in recent years?"
Qian Jianmu lowered his eyes and listened. When he heard these words, he raised his head slightly and made a listening expression.
"Forty percent of psychics die before the age of thirty. Less than one-tenth of those who live to the age of fifty live to the age of ten. Some are dragged into the war, some commit suicide, some are murdered, and some disappear inexplicably. Thousands of psychics died in the Great War, and only a few years have passed since the seven betrayers who stopped the war, and now there is only one left."
He paused and said in a deep voice:
"The world always calms down after a dispute. Thinking this way, it is just a topic for the old man to comfort himself."
"When will the conflict end?" Qian Jianmu asked back.
"Then it's not my business, it's yours."
Natsume Soseki sighed softly, raised his eyes and put down the cup, and after pondering for a while, he uttered a rare sharp word:
"Maku-kun, who do you want to be? What do you want to create?"
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