Chapter 30
After the two left, Mori Ougai hugged the bank card and kissed it hard, then boasted to Alice, "Alice-chan~ Look, I haven't even written anything yet, and I've already made money. If I can actually write something, won't I be making a fortune...?"
He was lost in a beautiful fantasy.
Alice rolled her eyes. "You should finish the work on your desk before thinking about all this nonsense."
One sentence brought him back to reality.
He silently ran a hand through his hair, then threw himself into his work with a look of grief and indignation. "I will definitely bring Dazai-kun and Nakahara-kun into the Port Mafia!"
"Keep it up!" Alice, sitting next to him, offered a completely half-hearted encouragement.
…………
After Rokudo Mukuro and Dazai Osamu bought what they wanted, they had it delivered back to them.
Then Dazai Osamu prepared to leave.
Looking in the direction Dazai Osamu had left, Rokudo Mukuro asked curiously, "Dazai-kun, aren't you coming back with me?"
"No, I already have plans~"
Dazai Osamu's face rarely showed a genuine smile.
"Oh, did you find another pretty lady and invite her into the water with you?"
“No, that’s not it.” Dazai Osamu shook his head. “Although it would be wonderful to go into the water with a beautiful lady, this time it’s not.”
Rokudo Mukuro said with a hint of teasing, "Are you so used to being rejected by pretty ladies that you're planning to complain to your friends, Dazai-kun?"
Dazai Osamu paused, taken aback. A friend? The image of the red-haired man flashed through his mind, and with a hint of hesitation, he said, "...Hmm, he should be a friend..."
He stared intently at Rokudo Mukuro, "Mukuro-kun, do you have any friends?"
Upon hearing this, Rokudo Mukuro immediately pictured the Vongola members in his mind. "Of course! Dazai-kun, aren't you my good friend?"
The two looked at each other and then smiled simultaneously.
Dazai Osamu: "Of course, we are good friends."
Rokudo Mukuro took out his phone and checked the time. "It's getting late. Have a nice date, Dazai-kun."
When Dazai Osamu entered the agreed-upon Lupin Bar, there weren't many people inside yet, including Oda Sakunosuke.
In the dim light, Dazai Osamu lay idly on the booth, lazily saying to the owner, "Boss, a whiskey, please..."
The shop owner, who was wiping the wine glasses, glanced at Dazai Osamu, then remained silent and continued wiping his precious glasses.
Dazai Osamu rested his chin on his arm, looking as lazy as a big, cuddly black cat.
He continued calling out, "...Boss~"
The boss, without looking up, replied: "No."
"Hey, such a big bar doesn't even have whiskey? How about a tequila? Surely they have that?"
The boss kept working, saying, "No."
"Brandy……"
"No."
...
Dazai Osamu said with dissatisfaction, "Why is there nothing here?"
The bartender finally stopped wiping the glasses and looked at him seriously. "I'd like to know, in which bars have you drunk these drinks?"
Dazai Osamu tilted his head, looking innocent. "Why are you asking this?"
"After you told me, I went and reported them one by one, making them fined and shut down!" the boss said indignantly. "You, a minor, want to drink alcohol? Ha!"
"...Oh, I haven't tried it."
The boss nodded in satisfaction. "That's more like it."
Dazai Osamu sullenly hid his head in his arms, completely ignoring his annoying boss. Just then, he heard familiar footsteps behind him.
"Ah, Oda Sakunosuke, you've finally arrived," Dazai Osamu muttered under his breath.
The red-haired man walked over and sat down next to Dazai Osamu. "Dazai, I rushed over as soon as I got off work, but I still came later than you."
Dazai Osamu muttered, "You really love your job. If it were me, I would have skipped work long ago and wouldn't be working so hard for Dr. Mori."
Oda Sakunosuke calmly replied, "It's not a business transaction, it's a job. The port mascot pays quite well; it's all about the money."
"Also, my surname is Oda, not Oda Sakunosuke."
Dazai Osamu sat up and turned to look at him. "Okay, I understand, Odasaku."
Oda Sakunosuke sighed helplessly, "Boss, a cup of sake, please."
A short while later, the bar owner brought them a glass of sake and a glass of juice.
"Here's your sake, sir," the shopkeeper said, then placed a glass of juice in front of Dazai Osamu. "And here's your juice, kid."
A little kid?! Dazai Osamu's eyes were dead.
Oda Sakunosuke only realized what was happening when he saw the juice. "Oh, right, I almost forgot, Dazai, you're not an adult yet, you can't drink in bars. Let's choose another place for our next gathering."
Dazai Osamu stubbornly refused, saying, "No, I want to stay here."
Oda Sakunosuke listened to Dazai Osamu's willful answer, thought for a moment, and did not refuse. "If you like it here, then stay here. Just make sure you don't drink."
Moreover, Dazai did not refuse the "next time" he mentioned, which is a significant improvement.
Looking at the juice in front of him, Dazai Osamu suddenly said to the shopkeeper, "Boss, I don't want juice, give me a glass of dish soap and water."
The shop owner was taken aback. Dish soap mixed with water?
Before the boss could react, Oda Sakunosuke answered for him, "Don't even think about it, there's definitely no such thing."
Dazai Osamu ignored Oda Sakunosuke's words and instead glared at the shopkeeper menacingly, saying, "If you don't give it to me, I'll report you!"
Upon hearing this, the boss nearly exploded. "Report me? What gives you the right to report me?"
The owner of Lupin Bar considers himself to be very law-abiding.
Dazai Osamu pointed to the sake in front of Oda Sakunosuke, "Even though Oda Sakunosuke has a beard and looks mature and composed, he's still a minor. You said it yourself, giving a minor alcohol will result in a 500,000 yen fine."
Oda Sakunosuke looked at the spear pointing at him, then stared blankly at his boss, "I'm already 20 years old."
“But your birthday is in October, right? You haven’t turned 20 yet, so you’re not considered an adult,” Dazai Osamu said with a smile.
Oda Sakunosuke fell into deep thought, and after a moment he nodded: "It seems that's indeed the case."
The shopkeeper was so angry he almost fell over. He snatched the sake from in front of Oda Sakunosuke and then brought out a juice that was exactly the same as the one in front of Dazai Osamu.
"You two go and get some juice."
Watching his boss storm off, Oda Sakunosuke stammered, "Does a Mafia member like me have to follow these rules?"
The boss had already left, and there was no hope of getting the detergent and water back, so Dazai Osamu could only pick up the juice, take a sip, and then reply, "Should we call the boss back?"
Oda Sakunosuke: "Isn't this too much trouble for the boss...?"
Dazai Osamu choked, "Do you really want to drink?"
Oda Sakunosuke calmly replied, "Oh, I was just kidding."
Two minors sat in the bar, sipping delicious juice and chatting idly.
"By the way, Oda Sakunosuke, I heard you wanted to write a novel?"
Oda Sakunosuke placed the juice in his hand on the table and answered seriously, "Yes, I once read a very excellent work and was fortunate enough to meet the author in person, but the only flaw was that the ending of the novel was torn off. I want to become a novelist and write a perfect ending."
"Oh, so you're planning to never kill again just because you want to become a novelist?"
Oda Sakunosuke nodded. "Yes, so that I can become a novelist and write stories, I will stop killing people."
"So how much have you written so far?" Dazai Osamu quickly asked, wanting to be the first reader of Oda Sakunosuke's works.
Oda Sakunosuke remained silent.
"It's not finished yet?"
He shook his head.
Dazai Osamu had a bad feeling, but still clung to a sliver of hope, "Did I get writer's block?"
Oda Sakunosuke shook his head again.
Dazai Osamu no longer wanted to speak.
"...I haven't started writing yet."
“Oda Sakunosuke, even if you start writing, you’ll definitely be a procrastinator.”
Oda Sakunosuke remained calm: "Let's talk about it after I start writing."
As it grew later, the gathering came to an end. The two silently finished their juices, paid the bill under the teacher's mournful gaze, and then went their separate ways.
As Dazai Osamu walked back, he looked at the large, round moon in the sky and murmured, "The moonlight is so beautiful tonight, and the river beside me, shimmering in the sunlight, is so captivating. Ah, I don't want to leave at all..."
As he spoke, he walked to the riverbank and jumped in.
The summer temperature was high, and the river water wasn't very cold. When he fell heavily into the water, the warm water enveloped his entire body, and the gurgling sound in his ears brought him a rare sense of tranquility.
He closed his eyes, relaxed his body, lay flat in the river, and let the current carry him along.
At a bend in the river, Dazai Osamu felt something hit his body and was swept to the bank by the current.
Dazai Osamu opened his eyes and climbed ashore in a very unpleasant mood. He didn't know what evil had gotten into the river today, because it had pushed him ashore after only a short while.
Just as he climbed ashore, a piece of paper slapped him in the face.
Dazai Osamu's face darkened further, and he reached out and removed the paper from his face.
He saw a young man running towards him from not far away, and it seemed that the thing should be his.
What kind of fate could have led to this piece of paper landing on his face so coincidentally?
When the young man ran up to him, Dazai Osamu shook the paper in his hand twice and asked, "Is this yours?"
The young man hurriedly said, "Yes, it's mine. I just cut it out of the magazine and it got blown away by the wind. Thank you for finding it for me."
The young man's tone was very sincere, and his words were full of gratitude.
Even such words could not move Dazai Osamu.
He said in a sinister tone, "Look up at me and say it again."
The young man looked up in confusion, but the scene before him terrified him.
In the dim light of the lamp and moonlight, the person in front of him was indistinct, but he could vaguely sense the dampness emanating from him and the sinister aura around him. He looked exactly like a water ghost that had just crawled out of the river.
The young man's heart skipped a beat. He quickly lowered his head, gave a slight bow, and said, "I'm sorry to have bothered you."
He turned and ran, completely forgetting what Dazai Osamu was holding. After all, there really was a ghost chasing him!
Seeing this, Dazai Osamu finally smiled with satisfaction.
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