Third Dad
In the pitch-black night, the streetlights on both sides flickered dimly a few times. Dazai Osamu slowly carried the dozing little girl toward Oda Sakunosuke's house.
Because of Xiao Luo, he paid less attention to mimic, but with Oda Sakunosuke's help, nothing unexpected should happen.
The boy's mind raced as he analyzed the situation, but his face showed utter dejection. He held the soft, squishy child in his arms, feeling an indescribable frustration.
This is really troublesome.
Muttering to himself, Dazai Osamu clicked his tongue softly, but still obediently held the drowsy, restless child in his arms.
"Brother, are you going to take me home?" Little Luo asked softly, still half asleep, as she woke up.
Going home is impossible; there's no home for the child here. But Dazai Osamu won't tell Xiaolu; he just wants to get her away as soon as possible and has no intention of having anything to do with her.
Dazai Osamu replied dismissively, "It'll be quick, it'll be quick. There's no time now. Go to Oda Sakunosuke's place and wait for my notification."
"Okay, okay." Xiao Luo yawned and nodded without any doubt. "Hurry up, brother, or Xiao Luo will have to go home first."
"Mmm mmm mmm mmm."
On the quiet road, the boy's perfunctory voice was completely devoid of any inflection, so perfunctory that it contained not a trace of sincerity.
Fortunately, Xiao Luo was still half asleep. When she heard that Dazai Osamu had promised to help her find her father, the child closed her eyes in relief and prepared to sleep a little longer.
Just as I closed my eyes to go to sleep, I heard a shrill, desperate scream. In the dimly lit room on the second floor of a house by the roadside, the image of a woman frantically slamming her fist on the table was projected onto the window, casting a long shadow.
The woman screamed in anguish, "Tell me! Tell me! What is your relationship?! What is your relationship?!"
The two little ones, who were walking slowly in the corner, were startled by the sudden female voice. The resentful voice made Xiao Luo open her eyes abruptly. The little girl's eyes lit up instantly, and she looked at Dazai Osamu excitedly in a low voice, saying, "Brother, brother! Did you hear that? What is that? What is going on?"
Gossip is human nature. Upon suddenly hearing such a juicy piece of gossip, Dazai Osamu's eyes lit up instantly. The boy tiptoed and carefully crept into a corner to eavesdrop.
Hearing the little girl's hushed voice, like a thief, Dazai Osamu gave her a sneaky shushing gesture, and Xiaolu nodded seriously.
Then, they heard what happened next.
"What exactly is the relationship between x and y?! I've been teaching you all afternoon!! How many y's are equal to x? Tell me!!"
Dazai and Xiaoluo: ...
The black-haired boy's once sparkling eyes suddenly turned into tiny, beady ones, his expression blank and confused: "Huh?"
The little girl's bright, excited eyes suddenly lost their sparkle. "Huh?"
Why is this happening? Shouldn't this be a typical melodramatic storyline like "I love you, but you don't love me, you love him, and they're cheating on me"?
Why did I suddenly get involved with that damn math?
It's like you're about to get close to a beautiful and gentle older woman, but just as you're about to hug her, you realize that she's turned out to be your homeroom teacher.
Weak and listless. That's how Xiao Luo feels right now. She tried to cheer up, but this is what she heard.
The little girl turned ashen instantly.
It wasn't the love triangle plot he initially thought. Dazai Osamu was disappointed for a moment, but then became interested in listening to the sound of a woman hitting a child.
Amidst the boy's wailing and howling inside, Dazai Osamu curiously lifted Xiao Luo up, somewhat puzzled, "Is it really that difficult? Tell me, how many y's are equal to x?"
Little Luo stared blankly into her large, vacant eyes. Her beautiful, iris-colored pupils, as if she had eaten the colorful mushrooms from the back mountain, possessed a mesmerizing, iridescent quality. Two swirling circles of mosquito coils seemed to dance in the child's vision.
"How many Ys does X like? What's with the Ys? Who wants to call YY0? Why are you calling 110? Is there a fight? Did that mother finally kill her child? If we call the police, will she kill us too?"
Dazai Osamu was shocked: "Little girl? Little girl! Little girl, what's wrong? Cheer up! It's just a simple linear equation in two variables, what's so scary about it!"
When Oda Sakunosuke came to pick up Dazai Osamu and the others, he saw a terrified boy and a little girl whose mind was a complete mess, being constantly shaken by him.
"Dazai..." The man hesitated, unsure whether he should interrupt their parent-child activity.
The little girl, still dizzy from being shaken, finally picked up where she left off. "X is such a jerk!" the child cried out in despair. "Brother, can I make that jerk die? Why does he like so many Ys? I don't want to be a jerk, Xiao Luo doesn't want to be one!"
Dazai Osamu:......
The boy looked at the child who had started babbling incoherently in his arms, and guiltily picked him up again. He glanced at Oda Sakunosuke not far away and gave him an embarrassed smile.
"It seems that Xiao Luo is a bit slow."
Oda Sakunosuke didn't understand. Although he had never been to school, he knew the basics because he had raised five children.
The man tilted his head, puzzled: "These math problems are probably close to middle school homework, right? Does Dazai want Little Loli to learn them in advance?"
Osamu Dazai, who also never went to school: ...
The boy nodded mysteriously: "That's right. Little Luo is so slow, she needs to be prepared and take precautions."
Oda Sakunosuke nodded to show that he believed her. The man looked at the little girl who was lying in Dazai Osamu's arms, hiding her head in his chest and only showing her half-closed eyes, humming and whimpering.
Oda Sakunosuke hesitated: "...Little Lolita?"
The little girl looked up unhappily, revealing her flushed cheeks, and replied sullenly, "Uncle, no thanks."
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