Chapter 241 The Third Player

It is very hard to dislike someone like Mochizuki Kaoru. In other words, if he really wants to make friends with others, it is very easy to do so.

Dazai Osamu thought.

Although he has become a member of the Special Powers Division, he seems to be able to become friends with everyone naturally, whether it is Randou, a former quasi-official of the Hong Kong Underworld, Nakahara Chuuya, who has just joined the Hong Kong Underworld, Odasaku, who joined the Hong Kong Underworld later, or Ango.

However, there are differences between "friends". Some are just casual acquaintances, while others are relationships where one can confide in each other... Of course, this is for Mochizuki Kaoru herself.

As for other people, Dazai Osamu felt that this was really very strange, something that even he often couldn't understand - even if they were just strangers, it was still easy for them to confide their feelings and secrets to Mochizuki Kaoru when facing him, as if they were already close friends - even though they might not even meet Mochizuki Kaoru a second or third time.

Even if Dazai Osamu had done it, he could have made a passerby on the street tell him his most important secret, but... Mochizuki Kaoru seemed to be more of an "unintentional act." It seemed that he did it subconsciously sometimes, and then soon, it became that the other party took the initiative to find him.

"...Maybe it's an occupational disease from before?" Mochizuki Kaoru said, with a helpless expression: "So, anyway, I don't interact with other people much now, so I don't have to worry about affecting anyone."

Mochizuki Kaoru is indeed a very smart and sharp person, and this is also true from Dazai Osamu's point of view. Information dealer... this is indeed an identity that suits him best. It is really a very simple thing for him to obtain the information he wants from others.

Of course, Dazai Osamu thought about it again and felt that the career of a mystery novelist was more suitable for him than an intelligence dealer - well, it seems that his "career change" was indeed the right one.

Not long after parting with Mochizuki Kaoru at the bar, they became friends.

Although Dazai Osamu has no idea what the daily lives of other members of the Special Forces Department are like, Mochizuki Kaoru must be the most special one among them - sometimes Dazai Osamu even feels that he seems to have not changed at all, he is the same as before, he still doesn't wear uniform when he should not wear uniform, he still writes novels at home when he should stay at home, he still smokes and drinks when he should smoke and drink... In short, he doesn't look like a government official at all.

Mochizuki Kaoru laughed: "Because I'm not a regular member of the Special Ability Division. I'm a special editor."

"Rather than being an 'employee', I think they are more like 'foreign aid' in essence." Mochizuki Kaoru stroked her chin and explained to Dazai Osamu: "Sacrificing one part of freedom in exchange for another part of freedom, that's probably it. Is my relationship with them a cooperation and semi-employment relationship? Because my situation is a bit special - ah, I can't go into details about this aspect."

"Will the work of the Special Forces be interesting?" Dazai Osamu was very curious about this.

"Most of them are not interesting, and are even boring." Mochizuki Kaoru admitted, "Most of them are observation and record-keeping, and there are a lot of rules and regulations. If you don't pay attention, you will get into trouble."

"Given your personality, Dazai, you would probably find it extremely boring, right? Like, dancing with your leader in handcuffs?" He made a little joke.

Dazai Osamu immediately made a "vomiting" expression: "It's so scary... Teacher Mochizuki, what end of the world are you talking about?" He looked at Mochizuki Kaoru with horror in his eyes.

Mochizuki Kaoru couldn't help laughing.

"But besides being a member of the Special Forces, I am also a novelist, so although many scenes are boring, they are also interesting in another way." He said with great interest: "This period of time has added a lot of inspiration and reference materials for my new book."

Mochizuki Kaoru is a person who likes to find materials and inspiration in real life, and often writes the people and things he sees into his novels in various strange ways... He said so, and it is estimated that related characters and stories will appear in his next novel. Dazai Osamu mourned for those people.

Although it might be interesting for some people to be written into a novel as a "prototype" by a well-known writer, it would not necessarily be a good thing if it was written into a novel by "Mochizuki Kurumi" - this guy's writing style is too sharp and profound, and when writing about people, it often gives people a creepy feeling that "he understands this person's inner world even better than the person himself". It will feel very vivid and real to the readers, but for the "prototype" himself, most people would not be willing to expose themselves completely to so many people - otherwise people would not know that they are the same.

As for the people that Mochizuki Kaoru met in the Special Powers Department, Dazai Osamu knew without even guessing that they were probably the ones who were most reluctant to have others see through their inner thoughts.

...Mr. Mochizuki, although he is mature, steady, upright and calm most of the time, he can be a mean, bad-humored fellow sometimes.

Fortunately, he is always tolerant of his friends - at least he will ask for their opinions first, and then ask them to confirm whether they are willing after writing.

As for the rest…

“Ah, those people are either dead and can’t crawl out of hell to tell me whether they have any opinions or not, and even if they do, they can’t complain to me; or they are guys I hate, and even if they complain to me, it doesn’t matter to me because they won’t change their attitude anyway. So I just write it directly.” He is very frank in this regard.

"Sometimes, if I find someone I hate too much, I will just put him on the death list in the novel and write him off as one of the characters."

"Ah, so there is such a method." Oda Sakunosuke thought for a while, and suddenly he nodded with a look of sudden enlightenment.

"By the way, has Mochizuki ever written about colleagues in the special forces department? Will they be discovered by the other party?"

Ango Sakaguchi, who was sitting next to Mochizuki Kaoru, suddenly strategically picked up the beer on the bar counter and asked curiously.

"Some of them." Mochizuki Kaoru pondered for a moment, and Okisakaguchi Ango smiled calmly: "For example, there is a long-time friend of mine in the Special Powers Division, who has appeared in my book in two different images."

"I told him about this, and he seemed quite happy about it, so he probably didn't mind."

Sakaguchi Ango nodded naturally.

"It is very enviable to be able to appear in Mr. Mochizuki's book," he said.

The "long-time friend of the Supernatural Special Agent Department" who was written into the novels of Mochizuki Kaoru twice was the father of Sakaguchi Ango - Dazai Osamu only learned about this several years in the future.

At that time, he didn't know that Akizakaguchi Ango was actually an undercover agent from the Special Powers Division, and he and Mochizuki Kaoru had known each other for a long time. He just thought that the other party was jealous of Mochizuki Kaoru as a loyal fan of the book.

Although Mochizuki Kaoru doesn't mind discussing some irrelevant matters of the Special Forces with Dazai Osamu, and will interact with members of the Port Mafia as a member of the Special Forces, she will never explore the internal affairs of the Port Mafia, nor will she inform them of important matters of the Special Forces, even though the two organizations may confront and hurt each other at any time - in a sense, it is a family with too clear boundaries.

Just like even though he would choose to put his work aside and get Dazai Osamu out of various situations because of Dazai Osamu's call for help, he also never showed any abnormality in front of them, let alone tell Dazai Osamu and others about this news, even though he already knew that Sakaguchi Ango was an undercover agent sent into the Hong Kong underworld by the Special Powers Special Affairs Department.

He is a very contradictory and strange person.

"Maybe it's because I don't have any personal feelings towards either the Port Mafia or the Special Powers Division. So, no matter what they do, I don't care about their behavior except during my working hours."

Mochizuki Kaoru said, frowning slightly and thinking for a moment, then added: "Of course, except for those that affect my personal affairs."

Therefore, he has always been the one who hid Sakaguchi Ango's true identity the best - Dazai Osamu even felt that he hid it better than Sakaguchi Ango himself.

Whether it was the first time he and Oda Saku saw Sakaguchi Ango, an undercover agent of the Hong Kong underworld, or the second time he saw them after Ango's undercover identity was exposed, Mochizuki Kaoru's expression never showed any abnormality. It was as if everything was normal.

After the resurrection of the "previous leader", Nakahara Chuuya learned about his past from Rimbaud, and was "forced" to become an accomplice of Mochizuki Kaoru with Dazai Osamu. Together, they staged a massive "fake death" for Rimbaud, deceiving both the Port Mafia and the Special Powers Division.

The result was that Rimbaud left Yokohama alone, Nakahara Chuuya and Dazai Osamu joined the Hong Kong underworld, and Mochizuki Kaoru returned to the Special Powers Division to report.

A few months later, Dazai Osamu collapsed at the doorstep of Oda Sakunosuke's house due to injuries, and they became friends.

It seems that Mochizuki Kaoru was on a business trip at that time, so she just missed the opportunity to learn about this matter. After eliminating the option of the Special Agent Department, Dazai Osamu invited Oda Sakunosuke to join the Port Mafia.

After a period of peace, an incident named "Dragon War" broke out in Yokohama. During that war, countless people died in Yokohama. It was also at the end of the war that Dazai Osamu and Oda Sakunosuke met Sakaguchi Ango, and met Mochizuki Kaoru at a bar party, and then the four of them became friends.

It was also during that meeting that Mochizuki Kaoru met Odasaku for the first time, and the two "friends" who had been exchanging letters for a long time were both caught off guard and exposed.

Dazai Osamu jokingly called their relationship "Mr. Mochizuki and his three readers" - whether it was him, Oda Sakunosuke or Sakaguchi Ango, they were all readers of Mochizuki Kurumi's novels, so it was completely correct to say so.

Four people from different camps, each with their own secrets, became friends.

The bar called "lupin" seemed to have become their secret base, but most of the time it was only Dazai Osamu, Oda Sakunosuke and Sakaguchi Ango who were there. Mochizuki Kaoru appeared in lupin much less often, so later on, Mochizuki Kaoru's home became their second place to go.

Most of the time, the glasses of the three adults were full, but the glass of Dazai Osamu, the only minor, often had some strange liquids in it.

Sometimes when she feels like it, Mochizuki Kaoru will light a cigarette, but she will always put it out when Dazai Osamu appears. "It doesn't matter if Odasaku and Ango are already adults, but Dazai, you are still a minor." Mochizuki Kaoru said.

However, neither Oda Sakunosuke nor Sakaguchi Ango usually smoked, so later on, Mochizuki Kaoru slowly and unknowingly gave up smoking and only continued to smoke when she was writing.

"I'm a little bored when I'm alone... and I have a strange feeling that I'm getting too old." Mochizuki Kaoru said depressedly: "Ah, although in fact, I do seem to be the oldest one."

The peaceful days seemed to last forever.

Until one day——something happened that surprised everyone.

"That person" appeared - and then, everything rushed towards an extremely chaotic and bizarre direction with a devastating force.

In the end, it seemed that most people had a "perfect" ending - "that person" eventually died in Yokohama, a person with special abilities named "Natsume Soseki" appeared, Dazai Osamu and Oda Sakunosuke both defected from the Port Mafia and joined the Armed Detective Agency, Sakaguchi Ango successfully returned to the Special Powers Division and helped deal with various follow-up matters, but... the other person never appeared again.

Dazai Osamu lowered his eyes, hiding all the surging darkness.

Although he was not entirely sure why the "book" that "that person" had always wanted to find suddenly appeared next to him last year, Dazai Osamu actually vaguely guessed some reasons.

Fortunately, there was still a long time before "that person" showed up, and he had already made most of his preparations. This time - he was going to take the initiative.

Would "that person" go beyond Mr. Mochizuki this time and target this obvious "abnormal" person first? Dazai Osamu was very curious.