Chapter 84 On Work (Part Two)
Dazai Osamu's day began with feeding the birds.
To some extent, he hated pain, so after experiencing it once, he stopped trying to provoke the big bird.
As a result, he spent the whole day feeding the birds. Wasn't he supposed to be losing weight by feeding the birds?
He gripped the small bucket tightly in his hand; he had spent the whole day throwing heavy chunks of meat with all his might, and his arm felt like it was about to leave the house.
This morning, he was taken to a machine used to assess his physical fitness, something that any organization, even a cooperative one, would consider a provocation.
However, the young collaborator was completely unaware of this and, without even trying to hide it, spoke frankly, leading him to stand inside the machine, which was supposedly made just the night before.
He stood inside the not-so-soundproof machine and heard X talking to another person who had just appeared.
The two voices sounded so alike that if it weren't for the other voice having a somewhat lifeless tone, Dazai Osamu would have almost thought X was schizophrenic and talking to himself.
Because he was still in darkness, he couldn't see the person's true face and could only define them as a possible twin or something similar.
But... can twins really sound this similar?
Because of his physical data, X and another person seem to have some disagreements.
"The courage is about the same as ours at the beginning." This was a familiar tone; it must have been X speaking, his voice tinged with weariness.
“He has too little courage. Didn’t you say yesterday that you would take him to work?” This was another person, whose voice also sounded tired.
It looks like these two people worked through the night to make the machine.
"..." The conversation gradually quieted down, as if they were talking about something private that they didn't want him to hear.
“Cleaning would be fine too,” Abram said, thinking of the big ball of birds.
Instinctive work encompasses many aspects and doesn't necessarily require feeding to count. As long as employees can complete the task successfully, their courage will be enhanced to some extent.
“The big bird doesn’t like being clean… I wiped it down a bit when I was grooming the Judgment Bird,” X thought of how the big bird had been wriggling around, clearly unhappy. “And the little bird, it doesn’t like being clean either.”
Abram's expression was a little strange. You actually went to keep birds?
X, who had received the meaning of Abram's gaze, was somewhat puzzled. He looked back with eyes exactly like Abram's.
What else could it be? Before the Reverse Kabbalah Suppressor was available, Gregor just fed the birds and did everything else. Otherwise, he would have been sent away by the birds and would have suffered himself. It was better for him to do it himself.
"Do you really think I would have been comfortable leaving Three Birds and Gregor out alone for so many days?"
Abram fell silent. To be honest, he even felt that he could do something even more outrageous, but leaving the three birds alone outside was something he was capable of doing.
“And as for cleaning… this Dazai-kun,” the supervisor gestured for Abram to look at the bandage on his eyes, his tone complicated, “are you sure he won’t stick his hand into the bird’s eye?”
Finally, Abram, now convinced, watched as Dazai Osamu, blindfolded, walked away carrying his small bucket.
*
It was a new day, and Dazai Osamu had regained his sight. However, his eyes were still covered, but this time, instead of medical gauze, they were covered by EGO ornaments known as the Judge of Justice.
EGO appears to have been derived from these monstrous creatures, possessing some of their characteristics.
Moreover... this is indeed not a superpower, but a completely new technology.
The bandages on his face were completely different. He still couldn't see, but he no longer needed to see; he could experience the world through other senses.
Or... it's because of the eye on the top of his head.
Thinking about the origin of the bandage, Dazai Osamu always felt it was magical. He now knew that the blindfolded bird was called the Judgment Bird.
The bird simply pulled a section of bandage from its head. Although the bandage on its head was only a thin layer, it seemed to have an inexhaustible supply, and there was no indication that it had been cut off.
Then the bird, with a precision and speed that belied no blindness, wrapped the bandage around his eyes.
After doing all this, He slowly returned to His original position, as if the agile bird from before was not Him.
The source of the eyes on his head is the large bird that he almost always feeds.
After he had been working for several days in a row, he patted his head with his not-so-long hand, rather reluctantly.
At that moment, he was supposed to dodge, but he was completely unable to move and could only watch as the bird walked towards him step by step and stretched out its "hand" with sharp nails.
The force was surprisingly light, only lingering on his head for a second before moving away, even shaking its hand as if he were something dirty.
However, he became more efficient at work and walked faster; he was now a magical blind man who could move at high speed without tripping.
Dazai Osamu stepped into the machine once again. X looked at the data showing a severe imbalance in his studies and felt completely overwhelmed.
Since he's almost done practicing, I might as well let him handle the bird-walking duties too. Plus, the Justice Arbiter is faster...
Dazai Osamu's job changed; he no longer needed to feed the birds, but was instead assigned to a closed room.
Dazai Osamu didn't know if he "saw" it himself or the eyes above his head, but he saw six identical boys, all of whom, except for the one hidden at the back, were staring at him expressionlessly.
The only evidence that they are not wax figures but living "people" is that their eyes still blink from time to time.
Mr. X gave him the instruction to "Insight," saying it would improve his mental state and prepare him for the work ahead.
...
The supervisor looked at the data from the room housing Ilya's six brothers on the monitor and couldn't help but sigh.
Our Lobotomy Corporation has produced a genius—no, to be precise, the Port Mafia has produced a genius.
Why did Dazai Osamu's sense of justice increase when the task he assigned was "insight"? How did it turn into oppression?
Fine, let the oppression happen. Anyway, the purpose of insight is to maximize caution and avoid being driven crazy by the mental damage of the Black Swan dream.
His original goal was to have the child increase his justice value.
*
Dazai Osamu had a stern face. This was the umpteenth time he had come to these six boys today. His day consisted of going back and forth here and being pecked by that snow-white bird.
To be precise, he was the one who ran and the bird chased him, so he was never actually pecked by the bird. The bird would come and peck at him when he left the room after he had entered the boys' room a few times.
He couldn't fight back yet; X's voice was still ringing in his earphones, directing him to run in certain directions. The little bird would relentlessly chase after him until it got tired and went back to rest.
After doing this several times a day, he was on the verge of despair, and even the bird seemed to have lost some weight.
Is this your weight loss plan, Mr. X?
Dazai Osamu, now reduced to a mere tool, suddenly misses a certain unscrupulous leader who lives far away in the Five Buildings.
Compared to X, Mori Ougai is quite good.
Life these days is so predictable, you can see the end from the beginning. I'm lying in bed in what's still an underground facility, staring at the dark gray ceiling.
Dazai Osamu felt that this couldn't go on any longer; he had to leave and go breathe the air of freedom.
After get off work, he saw X, who was equally busy, taking Gregor, whose arm was made of insect limbs, and a big bird for a walk. Now was the perfect time to run!
He had barely stepped outside and taken two steps when he saw Li Xiang walking unsteadily with dark circles under his eyes.
"You're still awake, Dazai-kun?" The nearly collapsing Li Xiang said to Dazai Osamu, who was still full of energy enough to continue his high-speed chase with the little birds.
But he could only manage a brief greeting; his mind had completely stopped working.
"Tomorrow, tomorrow, we won't have to be so busy anymore, the passageway has already been built..."
With vacant eyes, Li Xiang walked away as if sleepwalking, muttering to himself as he plunged into the next room. The bed creaked open, and he fell asleep without even closing the door.
The port mafia's number one troublemaker, who was trying to escape, turned his feet around.
The door to Li Xiang's box wasn't closed. In Dazai Osamu's memory, he had always spent his time in places like laboratories and had never worked on monsters called Abnormalities.
In this situation where manpower is scarce, even Nishikawa Naoya, who was supposedly found, was assigned a job, which is enough to prove the special nature of Li Xiang.
Even X would occasionally switch places with a man named Abram to slow down his rapidly working brain, but he was always stuck in the lab... Let's go see what's in his room!
The child, who had no moral baggage whatsoever, took advantage of the fact that no one was around and even Mr. Lantang was nowhere to be found, and quietly slipped into the dormitory next door.
As soon as he entered the door, Dazai Osamu saw himself.
No, it was a large mirror, about the same height as me, probably a full-length mirror or something like that.
He didn't pay any attention to it, but instead looked at the things on the desk, where there should be some documents...
Someone is watching him!
His senses had become much sharper after his recent interactions with those monsters, and even with his eyes covered, he immediately sensed that something was wrong.
Is Li Xiang awake?
He turned to look at the bed, but there was no sound. If it wasn't him, then who was it?
Halfway back, Dazai Osamu saw that it was himself looking at himself!
The person in the mirror was staring intently at him!
This scene is worthy of being included in the year-end review of horror and supernatural films: a burglar breaking into a house encounters a ghost in the mirror that mimics himself...
The blindfolded boy reached out his hand towards the mirror, while on the other side of the mirror, "himself," with both eyes showing, also reached out his hand. The two hands touched the mirror the instant they touched.
Crack!
"Hmm? What's wrong?"
Li Xiang was startled by the sound of the mirror. Before she even opened her eyes, her body had already instinctively sat up.
"It's alright, you should go to sleep."
It was a familiar voice. Li Xiang fell back down with a thud and fell into a deep sleep again.
He was so sleepy that he didn't even think about why Dazai Osamu's voice was coming from his bedroom. All he knew was that it was someone he knew, and that he could go back to sleep.
Another Dazai Osamu had already passed through the mirror and arrived in this world, looking at his blindfolded self with curiosity, and asked in a low voice:
What are you doing here? Where's your supervisor?
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