Chapter 286 The Third Player
"Chiaki-nii..." After wishing Dazai "Happy Birthday", Nakajima Atsushi stood beside Kundu and tugged on his sleeve slightly, then stood on tiptoe and whispered, "Did Mr. Mochizuki say when he will be back?"
He didn't even show up at such an important time as celebrating Mr. Dazai's 18th birthday. Nakajima Atsushi couldn't help but wonder in his mind, where on earth did Mr. Mochizuki go?
Cointreau looked down at him and sighed helplessly: "This is the third time you've asked me this question, Dun-chan?"
"Eh? Um, sorry..." Nakajima Atsushi apologized hastily, a little embarrassed, his voice weak and mosquito-like: "But I still miss him a little..."
"Take some time to understand a middle-aged man who has been squatting in Yokohama for ten consecutive years and has never left the house, Don-chan." Jun-du looked calm and said with a smile, "Why not let him rest outside for a while? When you grow up a little bit, people will feel more at ease. Maybe he will..."
Nakajima Atsushi's eyes sparkled as he continued, "So Mr. Mochizuki will come back?"
Jun Du narrowed his eyes and said, "Maybe he will feel more comfortable traveling alone."
"Huh?!" Nakajima Atsushi's eyes widened. He hadn't expected to hear such an answer.
Nakajima Atsushi was shocked: "Really? How could this happen..."
"Okay, it's getting late. It's time for adults. Good kids should go to bed now, otherwise they won't grow tall. As for when he will come back, maybe you can ask him the answer to this question yourself when you dream about him."
Children are really fun to tease.
After treating him without any guilt, Jundu ruffled Nakajima Atsushi's hair, smiled lazily at the white-haired boy, and pushed him into the room.
“Wait a minute…!”
"Good night, Dun-chan~"
Without even waiting for Nakajima Atsushi to say another word, Jundu simply closed the door.
Dazai Osamu and Oda Saku watched from the sidelines as Confidante performed this neat move that could be described as "turning the tables", and they had no intention of stopping him at all.
However, Jundu mentioned Mochizuki Kaoru again and again, and Dazai Osamu's heart moved, and finally he couldn't help but speak: "Teacher Mochizuki he..."
As a result, before he could finish his words, Jundu interrupted him with a spell: "Oh, by the way, since Dazai-kun is here, I should leave after delivering all the things. I won't bother you any more."
He adjusted his glasses on the bridge of his nose, reached out and picked up the notebook-like book that he had just put aside and covered, and put it on the table beside him. He smiled and said, "The most important thing is that book. The others are not important. Dazai-kun, remember to keep it well. If you accidentally lose it, I won't have a second extra book."
As Nakajima Atsuichi disappeared from the eyes of the adults, the atmosphere on the field seemed to change subtly immediately.
"Wait a moment!"
Jundu paused and slowed down his movements, with a faint smile on his face: "Is there anything else, Dazai-kun?"
"That book... When did Mr. Mochizuki ask you to deliver it?" Dazai Osamu's voice was a little dry: "Where is he now?"
Odasaku said nothing. But like Dazai Osamu, this was also a question he wanted to know.
He met Cointreau only a few hours earlier than Dazai Osamu, but he didn't have much to talk about with the other party.
The man who calls himself "Habuchi Chiaki" has a gentle appearance, with an upward curve on his lips, and looks familiar, but Oda Saku can see clearly that contrary to his appearance, this man is cold-hearted. If Mochizuki Kaoru is cold on the outside but soft on the inside, then Habuchi Chiaki is the typical example of being hot on the outside but cold on the inside.
Most of the time when they were with each other, they were doing their own things peacefully. Chiaki Uehara mostly read books while lying on the recliner that Mochizuki Kaoru was sitting on on the balcony. They rarely had time to chat. Chiaki Uehara was very careful about what he said, and it was difficult for Odasaku to ask him how Mochizuki Kaoru was doing now.
It was visibly that as soon as Dazai Osamu asked the question, Jundu's face turned cold.
"Dead," he said.
Dazai Osamu's face turned cold: "Impossible!"
Odasaku's mind went blank for a moment.
"Just kidding." Jundu narrowed his eyes and his voice became cheerful again: "Like what you said, Dazai-kun, the life of the 'dead soul' is very tough. How could Kaoru-chan die?"
Dazai Osamu's expression did not soften, and his voice was as cold as ice: "This is not funny."
"Really?" Jundu looked at him quietly through the glasses with his golden eyes for two seconds, and smiled frivolously and casually: "Then where do you think he is now, Dazai-kun?"
"I want to ask this question, too." The smile on Jundu's lips turned cold and light, and his golden eyes behind the thin lenses were so sharp that they seemed to be able to see through people's hearts. He said softly, "Where is he now? Shouldn't you know this better than me?"
"Originally, I guessed that he had been missing for a long time, and I thought he was finally dead... But your attitude, Dazai-kun, told me that he was not dead, but missing?"
“…So, these things were all prepared by Mr. Mochizuki a long time ago.” said Oda Saku.
He was not sure whether the white-haired young man knew about the existence of supernatural powers, nor was he sure what the specific relationship between the two people was. After all, neither he nor Dazai Osamu had ever heard the names "Kendo" or "Habuchi Chiaki" from Mochizuki Kaoru before. Oda Saku would not easily reveal everything, but not denying it was sometimes a kind of tacit consent.
What's more, he also had the same secret hope in his heart, that Mochizuki Kaoru was just "missing" and not "dead".
Dazai Osamu didn't say anything, but he felt that the air around him became particularly sticky, suffocating and nauseating.
If what Jundu said was true, he was also unaware of Teacher Mochizuki's situation, then it could only mean that all of these things that Mochizuki Kaoru had prepared were prepared long before he left - that is to say, long before, when Dazai Osamu and the others were unaware, he had thought of the day when he would leave, and had prepared these things in advance, and had Jundu appear today to hand them over to them.
But Dazai Osamu became even more confused.
"Didn't you know this from Atsushi before? Teacher Mochizuki is on a long journey alone, and it will probably take a long time for him to come back. I wonder what you want, Jundu?"
He spoke calmly, his thoughts in a mess, his voice sounding somewhat mechanical: "Whether it is the friendship of the Port Mafia, or--"
"No need." He was interrupted by Cointreau again. He said with a smile: "There is not much so-called friendship between me and the Port Mafia, you should leave it all to Xunjiang - ah, he doesn't seem to be a member of the Port Mafia, I don't think I remembered it wrong?"
"You don't need to worry about what Mr. Mochizuki wants." Dazai said, "After he comes back, if you still need anything, I can help deliver a reply letter on behalf of Mr. Mochizuki."
"Well, you don't need to notify me again, regardless of life or death. That guy lived long enough, and I wouldn't be surprised even if he really died. Anyway, I reminded him before not to do anything that he would regret."
After the cold words were spoken, in just a moment, Jundu's attitude returned to its previous carefree and casual attitude. He smiled and said, "Anyway, I have already delivered all the things he asked me to deliver to you. I have paid him back, and the rest has nothing to do with me."
Dazai Osamu was silent for another two seconds.
"...Ah, and I know what you really want to ask, Dazai-kun - when did he give me the book, when did he come to me to talk about these things, and when was the last time I met him, and did he tell me anything else..."
Junto suddenly spoke again, listing the above questions one by one. After Dazai Osamu and Odasaku's eyes were attracted by his words, he suddenly changed the subject and showed a wicked smile on his face. "Guess it yourself?"
He said, "I won't tell you."
"No need." Dazai Osamu said, "Mr. Mochizuki will never say those things to you."
His face looked oddly calm.
This time it was Cointreau who looked surprised.
"You think so? Provocation doesn't work on me." He smiled and said, "I have known Kaoru-chan for much longer than you think. Compared to your age, it is not necessarily short. The relationship between him and me is much closer than you think."
"Really?" Dazai Osamu asked back, calmly stating a fact: "But he has never mentioned your name in front of me, Odasaku, Atsushi-kun, or even anyone else."
The curve of Cointreau's mouth dropped a few pixels, and his eyes narrowed slightly.
During the few seconds that the two people looked at each other, it seemed as if invisible electric lights and sparks were "crackling" in the air.
"Oh, but he did mention Oda-kun and Dazai-kun to me." After a while, Jundu said, "Even this book has to be delivered to Dazai-kun in person."
Both of them had similar grins on their faces.
——They are disgusted with each other.
"I have delivered everything that should be delivered. I have some things to do, so I will leave now. Goodbye, Dazai-kun and Oda-kun."
Cointreau turned his face away first, nodded coldly, picked up the coat hanging on the hanger and walked out the door.
"One last question."
Cointreau stopped.
"Mr. Mochizuki's glasses," Dazai asked him, "Why are they in your possession?"
The pair of square glasses with thin gold wire frames on Jundu's nose were not similar in shape to the pair of glasses that Mochizuki Kaoru had worn before, but they were exactly the same pair.
——Those are Kaoru Mochizuki’s glasses.
"Of course it was given to me by Xunchan. It was the reward for a deal between him and me."
Jundu slightly emphasized the second half of the sentence and smiled, "I think, Dazai-kun, what you want to know is when he gave it to me? It's a pity that I'm not sure."
Cointreau said: "This pair of glasses traveled across an ocean and was sent to me by mail. I received it at the same time as the book."
"…It was on that day." Dazai Osamu quickly reported the time when Mochizuki Kaoru left, and explained lightly: "Before that day, Atsushi said that the glasses were still in Mochizuki's hands."
He paused, "It was also the day that Teacher Mochizuki left."
"I see." Jundu nodded without asking any more questions. His expression did not change at all as he walked out again.
Before leaving, he left only one last sentence.
"Come to think of it, although there is a high probability that we will not meet again in the future, if we do meet again, please just pretend that you don't know me."
"Crack."
There was a slight sound of the door opening and closing at the entrance, and Dazai Osamu reached out and tightly grasped the notebook-like book left by Mochizuki Kaoru. The empty living room was quiet for a while, and Oda Saku whispered Dazai Osamu's name and asked him, "Don't you believe what Yuen-kun said?"
Dazai Osamu slowly raised his eyes and asked him, "What about you, Oda Saku? Do you believe what he said?"
“…I’m not sure.”
It took Odasaku a long time before he spoke, struggling to speak.
Dazai Osamu's eyes flashed with confusion: "Why?"
He also thought that Odasaku would choose to believe it, as he rarely seemed to be in such a state of entanglement and uncertainty.
"It may sound a little unbelievable to say it's just my intuition, but I can't see through the character of Yuyuan-kun."
Oda Saku said, "Moreover, I sensed a dangerous aura from him. He is a bit like you, Dazai... No, he is a bit like you in the past."
He carefully considered his words: "Logically, what he said should not be a lie, including his relationship with Mr. Mochizuki. But I used to be a killer, and intuitively, I feel that he seems to be hiding something."
"Intuition" is sometimes irrational and illusory, and it is common for intuition to go wrong. But as he said, he used to be a killer, and "intuition" is often very deadly to killers at critical moments.
"You're right, Odasaku."
Dazai smiled slowly and said, "You can only believe half of what Cointreau said." He said, "Mr. Mori met him a few years ago, and this is what he told me afterwards."
These are the original words of Mori Ougai.
Cointreau's words seemed to be sincere, but his personality and attitude were hard to understand... It was hard for people to believe him completely, especially for someone as suspicious as Dazai Osamu.
After all, Jundu is not Mochizuki Kaoru, so it would be strange for Dazai Osamu to have complete trust in him.
Oda Saku frowned: "Dazai, what do you mean..."
"Don't pay attention to the rest of what he said, Odasaku. Just know that he is here because of Mr. Mochizuki and is here to deliver his things. Mr. Mochizuki will come back." Dazai Osamu lowered his head and clenched the book in his hand. "After all, just like he said, we probably won't have any intersection with him in the future."
"I understand." Odasaku nodded, then looked at Dazai Osamu hesitantly: "But you, Dazai... don't put all the pressure on yourself, it's not your fault."
Odasaku looked at him seriously and said, "That was Mr. Mochizuki's own choice. It has nothing to do with you. He did it because he wanted to. I think Mr. Mochizuki also thought so, so he made the same choice."
He felt that Dazai Osamu was probably still affected by the word "dead" that Jundu had said without hesitation before.
However, he has never been good at comforting people, and the few sentences above are almost the limit. In the end, he just thought about it and said, "Do you remember what Mr. Mochizuki told you before he left? He asked you to help take care of his flowers and tell him another story after he comes back. So, Dazai, remember to water his flowers before Mr. Mochizuki comes back."
Dazai Osamu nodded.
***
Haruto Nishimi, who had just walked out of the door wearing a Cointreau bottle, had no idea what Dazai Osamu and Odasaku were saying in the room.
As soon as he put on his coat and walked out of the gate, Xi Haiqing Dou's pace quickly quickened, as if he wanted to be 800 meters away from the gate in a second.
——If he didn’t walk faster, he would be worried that if he stayed any longer he would never be able to leave again.
When he was almost at a safe distance, he stopped for a moment, and took out two eavesdropping devices, each not much bigger than a fingernail, from his coat pocket and shoe sole.
...Well, Dazai Osamu even installed two eavesdropping devices on him for safety reasons.
[How come the gap between people is so big, system?] Saikai Haruto, wearing the shell of "Cointreau", pointed and commented in his mind, [They are obviously the same person, why is Dazai Osamu's attitude towards "Cointreau" and "Mochizuki Kaoru" so different? This is too much!]
The system did not make any sound, but a magnetic and deep voice from "Mochizuki Kaoru" who was constantly listening to the broadcast in his mind sounded faintly: [Yes, you also know that it is the same person, why is the attitude so different? Yuyuan Qianqiu, please behave yourself. ]
The clear voice belonging to "Yubuchi Chiaki" rang out again happily: [Yeah! Kaoru-chan, you also think that their attitudes are very different! ]
[I'm talking about you! Your personality is too bad! With such a bad attitude, you are still dancing wildly in Dazai and Odasaku's minefield. Are you really not afraid of being beaten to death by them on the spot? ]
[Eh, how could that be, Kaoru-chan, how could you think like that? There aren't many good people like me who are so considerate and helpful, and who would even travel thousands of miles across oceans to deliver a suicide note to a friend who has passed away, right?]
[Change your words! I've already said that I'm not dead yet, and that book is not a suicide note. If you weren't beaten to death, you might as well say that Dazai and Odasaku were kind-hearted. ]
[How could that be? Of course it's because of you, Kaoru-chan. I'm your best friend. I don't care about the other person's feelings. How could I be beaten? I feel super relieved!]
[Then why did you run so fast? You are the one who made the title. It's a pity that I can't show up in Yokohama right now. Otherwise, I would definitely not mind exposing you on the spot and letting Dazai and the others beat you up.]
[This is too much. We are alone. Is it really okay to take pleasure in misfortune like this? ]
[When you cursed me dead just now, did you still remember that we were the same person? By the way, don't call me Xun-chan anymore, it's disgusting. ]
The consciousness belonging to "Mochizuki Kaoru" unilaterally severed the connection that had lasted for almost a day, and left in a clean and decisive manner.
The white-haired young man suddenly let out a regretful sigh.
Fun...Oh no, the koji sauce is gone.
It's really interesting. It's obviously the same person's consciousness, but when he is in the shell of "Habu Chiaki", he finds it particularly fun to tease "Mochizuki Kaoru" to get angry, and it's interesting to see Dazai Osamu's fake smile frozen on his face; but when his consciousness is in the shell of "Mochizuki Kaoru", he feels that "Habu Chiaki" is as annoyed as a bee sticking to him, and he feels particularly guilty when facing Dazai Osamu.
This is why he particularly likes to play with himself.
[Do you think this system is very interesting? ]
The system is as quiet as a chicken.
In fact, Xi Haiqingdou didn't really need his response at this time, it was enough for him to entertain himself. The mentally retarded host was having a lot of fun, and the system just quietly listened to its host's schizophrenia and had a lot of fun.
[It seems like Dazai Osamu and the others don't really trust me...ah, except for the brainless Atsushi-chan who loves love.]
Saikai Haruto repeated it thoughtfully: [That is to say, they are the same person, so why are their attitudes so different? ]
This sentence is still a double entendre, referring to the attitude of "Habuchi Chiaki" and "Mochizuki Kaoru" towards Dazai Osamu and others, and also referring to the attitude of Dazai Osamu and others towards "Habuchi Chiaki" and "Mochizuki Kaoru".
The difference between the two is not that small.
But within a second, he convinced himself again: [But it doesn't matter. Anyway, what I said this time was basically the truth, and the things were delivered, so the purpose was basically achieved. It all depends on the performance of the comics and the forum. Nothing else matters.]
The young man with white hair and golden eyes became cheerful again.
Before daybreak, adhering to the principle of "it's not the next day before daybreak", Xi Haiqing struggled to find the address of Maeda Hikaru, the editor of "Mochizuki Kaoru", and on the way he also taught the little hooligans who stayed up all night and had no eyes, a lesson. Finally, he rang the doorbell in one go.
After ringing the doorbell for a full five minutes, a slight sound was finally heard from inside the house. Although there was no loud movement and no light came through the gap in the door, Xi Hai Qing Dou knew that the person inside had woken up.
"Moshimoshi, is Editor Maeda home? I'm an author working for you, a friend of Mr. Mochizuki Kurumi, and I'm here to deliver a book manuscript to you, Editor Maeda, on his behalf."
The noise inside was a little louder, but still carefully no human voices were heard.
...You're quite cautious, as expected of a Yokohama native.
Without thinking about how scary it would be for someone to suddenly show up in the middle of the night and keep ringing the doorbell, Haruto Nishimi didn't care whether the people inside heard it or not. Instead, he continued, "Anyway, I'll leave the book at your door. Maeda-kun, remember to sign for it. Remember to promote this book as Mochizuki Kurumi's last work when it's published. Oh, by the way, if you can't think of a name, just call it "Good Bye." "
Half an hour later, only after being extremely careful and cautious to make sure that no one was left outside did Maeda Mitsuru open the door of the house without even breathing.
Just as the strange male voice outside the house said before, two books that looked like notebooks quietly appeared on the ground.
Maeda Hikaru casually opened a page, and what came into view was the familiar handwriting of "Mochizuki Kurumi".
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