Chapter 17

Kono Seiyoshi had a very long dream. He had never slept so deeply since he came to the Port Mafia.

Just like a person recalls his life when he is about to die, the revolving lantern spins mottled light and shadow, picking up the first twenty years of his life neatly.

His memory structure is different from that of normal people. Everything that happened before the age of four is deeply engraved in his mind, but his experiences from the age of four to adolescence are not very clear.

In the four years of memories of watching like an outsider, he lived in a declining family. At that time, Kouno Seiryo was not called this name, and he didn't know what he would face. The family was full of strange things, and the place of shelter was separated by cold glass. The broken faces were crying or laughing, and they always did things that he, who was still young, could not understand.

The turning point of memory began with a disaster that destroyed the entire family. The furiously blooming lotuses clung to and engulfed all the buildings, the flames from hell burned the broken limbs and bodies all over the ground, and in the dreamlike fragrance, the dark blue-haired boy walked towards him, stepping over the scattered corpses.

The boy's face was stained with blood from someone unknown, his red and blue eyes were shining with strange light. He reached out and lifted up his face, as if looking for something.

"You are too weak, leave here."

After a long time, the boy said this.

Kono Seira didn't react to the first half of his sentence, but was confused about the second half, so when the boy turned to leave, he grabbed the boy's sleeve.

The force was so light that it could be ignored, but the boy still stopped and looked back at him silently.

Kono Seiryoshi didn't know what to do in this situation. No one had taught him how to communicate with others. Even the act of grabbing the other person's sleeve was something he had just learned. He was a paper boat stacked up with crude techniques, forcibly exiled in the crowd of all kinds, and only learned the most clumsy way of drifting with the flow.

The child's language system was not fully developed, and since no one would talk to him, he could only squeeze out a few broken syllables from his throat and shake his head constantly.

The blue-haired boy gently wiped away the tears that had overflowed from his eyes, and then pried open the fingers of Gong Ye Shengliang that were tightly grasping his coat, "You can't stay with me."

He looked only a few years old, but his tone and demeanor were so resolute and firm, and he always kept his word.

However, the boy was not cruel enough to leave Gongye Shengliang alone to fend for himself in the laboratory full of corpses. He sat on the floor, letting his tears soak his thin clothes. He did not withdraw his hand until Gongye Shengliang fell asleep from crying himself tired. Then he walked out the door without looking back.

When Kono Seiryoshi woke up, he was already in an orphanage. From this point on, the next ten years seemed to be covered with a layer of dark veil, blurring the outlines.

He has been to too many places, drifting from one island to another, like a migratory bird that is constantly abandoned by its habitat. The few memories that are slightly disturbed are all about handling various procedures, such as enrolling, dropping out, and transferring. He can no longer remember the appearance of his teachers and classmates, and he has forgotten everything they have done. They have all become gray spots on the gauze.

It was not until his second year of junior high school that he came to Namimori Town, and the veil that was as thin as a cicada's wing but could not be touched was lifted, and his memory became clear again.

The flowerpot that slipped down from the roof shattered into pieces, and was only a millimeter away from hitting the top of Kono Seira's head. In this millimeter, a person with brown hair and brown eyes, wearing a senior uniform, seemed to fall from the sky, and narrowly knocked him to the ground and rolled him several times.

The boy's warm brown eyes were filled with fear, and the hand holding his shoulder was still shaking unconsciously. Although he was also terrified, he still forced a comforting smile to Gongye Shengliang who was protecting him: "Classmate...are you okay?"

How did he respond? Given his personality at the time, he probably just left without saying anything.

…

…

The sound of the instruments operating in an orderly manner reached my ears, my cheeks were restrained by an oxygen mask, and beneath my body was a flat and soft sheet.

——He survived.

Kono Seiryoshi's heartbeat rate remained the same, his eyes were still closed, and he remained in the same state as when he was unconscious. However, he was conscious and mobilized all his senses, sorting and judging all the information he could obtain in his mind.

Where is this? Has he returned to the Port Mafia? Is there anyone else around? What happened to the people he was with?

It was a question that he could answer by just opening his eyes, but perhaps because he recalled unpleasant memories, or perhaps because his current body was too weak, when people are sick they always reveal their weak side that wants to escape, and Kono Seiryoshi is no exception. He wanted to hide in the darkness for a while longer and temporarily forget the fact that he was the only one in this world.

He knew there was a lot of things waiting to be done, but it would only take a moment, it wouldn't be delayed for too long.

Tick, tick.

There were steady footsteps approaching this side.

Gongye Shengliang felt someone lift up his sleeve and tie a cuff two inches below his wrist. A few seconds later, a cold needle pierced into his blood vessel.

The person drawing the blood was very skilled and had a steady hand, so it didn't cause too much pain, or at least didn't wake up the unconscious patient.

Having a bad feeling in his heart, Gongye Shengliang frowned in displeasure. The man's movements suddenly became much faster, as if he was afraid that he would wake up. After drawing blood, he immediately hung a medical wristband on the needle hole on his arm.

After the footsteps faded away completely, Gong Yesheng sighed in his conscience, and only opened his eyes about three minutes later.

As he expected, he had indeed returned to the Port Mafia. Although most of the wards were the same, clues could still be found from some details - such as the pattern of the paper cups on the table, which used very special colors. Kono Seiyoshi had seen it in the medical department director Dr. Matsubara.

There was also the sound of a clock hidden under the sound of the instruments running, which was the same sound I had heard in the infirmary before.

The door lock was intact, there were no signs of damage around it, and the surveillance outside was working normally - the people who just came to draw his blood were from the medical department, so why were they afraid that he would wake up?

Kono Seiyoshi is helpless. If possible, he hopes that everyone can communicate frankly. It's not that he is uncooperative. On the contrary, he welcomes any behavior that can achieve the ultimate goal. But it seems that the port mafia, from the leader to the doctor, does not think so.

Ah, except for Chuuya, he was very relaxed just chatting with Chuuya.

A faint sound of radio waves came from deep in his mind, and then gradually became calm. Gongye Shengliang understood, closed his eyes, and waited for the system to come online.

[Contractor——! I thought I would never see you again. Uuuuuuuuu——!]

In the pure white space of consciousness, without being encumbered by a weak body, Gongye Shengliang easily caught the ball of light that flew towards him and asked cordially, "Can you give me some help?"

[Because your life energy was decreasing very quickly at that time, I had to cut off the connection between us in order to save energy.] The ball of light jumped out from between his fingers and took the initiative to inform the reason why it could not appear before.

At last, he said earnestly: [Your special ability is about to explode on the spot!]

Kono Seiryoshi: “…” Either one of them is quite annoying.

Before he could reflect on his complicated mood, the ball of light flew in front of him again and said excitedly in an excited electronic voice: [The good news is - the mission progress has increased to 25%. You did a good job, Contractor!]

“…It’s good news,” Kono Seira nodded slowly, “So what did I do?”

He recalled the experiences of the past two days over and over again, and came to the conclusion that he did nothing.

Can this mission progress fall from the sky?

[How can I say this about myself? No matter which strategy I choose, this is a perfect start!]

Strategy... Oh, by the way, in order to save the world line, he discussed three plans with the system.

Thinking back to those plans, which were increasingly unreliable, Kono Seiryoshi fell silent.

...It seems that the only thing he did was to get close to Dazai Osamu! ?

And I was forced to do it. The cave was so small that I couldn’t even turn around!!

It was so embarrassing... Gongye Shengliang hugged his weak, pitiful and helpless self, buried his head deep in his knees, and curled up into a ball. After a long while, he asked in a depressed tone: "How are the others?"

[Safe state.] The light ball, unable to understand his confusing behavior, switched its working state in seconds. [Of course, getting injured was inevitable, but in that situation, it was a stroke of luck to be able to save his life.]

[Didn't I tell you that the explosion site is right under your feet? The bomb and the gold are buried in the same place, and a mechanism has been set in advance. Once the decibel fluctuation in the cave exceeds the set value, the explosion countdown will be triggered. Because the others entered the branch cave, the impact of the explosion was far less than yours.]

The light ball paused for a few seconds, and then returned to normal with an electronic voice: "What do you think of the contractor who managed to survive the explosion?"

"……ah."

Kono Seiryoshi raised his head and faced the big question mark on the outer shell of the light ball. He stared at it for a while and spoke slowly: "I was wondering, if I died unexpectedly like that, what would happen to the mission, no, to the world?"

The wings of the light ball stopped moving, and the question mark on the shell turned into an ellipsis full of struggle. After a long time, it finally made up its mind and said: [Once the mission fails and the world line is judged to have collapsed, the system observation is no longer needed and the small world is closed.] It sighed sadly, [Just like in order not to waste more nutrients of the plant, you must pick off the withered leaves on the branches.]

Kono Seiryoshi understood: "It seems that both I and the world line must complete the game with one life. Ah, so I am a gardener and I need to take good care of this leaf?"

The ball of light flew behind him, increasing its brightness and creating a circle of holy light: [Thank you, glorious gardener!]

Kono Seiyoshi: ...Thank you.

After talking to the system for a while, a feeling of fatigue came from deep within my soul.

Being trapped in a cold and oxygen-poor cave took a huge toll on the human body, and the injuries from the explosion were not treated in time, so the subsequent treatment barely controlled the damage and stopped it from spreading. Under the dual effects of the drugs and the body's self-repair mechanism, Gongye Shengliang fell into a deep sleep as soon as he came out of the system space.

When his life is not in danger, the system automatically reduces the pain without any instructions, hoping that he can rest more comfortably.

This time I had a dreamless night.

The intensive care unit has thick curtains that prevent light from outside from filtering in. The boundary between day and night is blurred here, and time has lost its function.

As the soft warm light seeped into his field of vision, Gong Ye Shengliang was still wondering vaguely, when will the port mafia, who have always insisted on not turning on the lights to create a mysterious atmosphere, be willing to pay the electricity bill?

He blinked his eyelashes slowly, trying to focus his eyes.

His head was still covered in darkness, and the warm light only illuminated the area around his bed.

The oxygen mask was removed, and Kono Seiryoshi's head tilt became slightly more relaxed.

A boy with ochre hair and blue eyes sat beside the bed, browsing an atlas in his hand, but he looked distracted, and his reading progress was still on the page of the catalog.

Gong Ye Shengliang found it a little funny. He was about to speak out to remind the other party that the cover of the book was crumpled, but his swollen throat held him back and he could only make a vague sound.

However, in the ears of Nakahara Chuuya, this almost inaudible sound was infinitely amplified, shocking him so much that he immediately dropped the atlas in his hand.

Gongye Shengliang saw the ochre-haired boy suddenly stand up, not knowing where to put his hands and feet. His expression was both surprised and happy, and he didn't know what he was thinking about. In just a few seconds, his expression became complicated and indescribable.

He looked at the other person and sighed silently: Chuuya, your facial expressions are so varied.

As a 17-year-old boy, Nakahara Chuuya is still not used to having a tense face all the time. Just like his rich expressions, his inner activities are only more and more.

Of course he was worried when one of the few people he could call his friend was injured, but he was also naturally relieved to see that person wake up.

But after the joy, the inexplicable depression that had been forced down before surged up again like a ghost.

Perhaps friendship is also exclusive, or more likely it was just that the green mackerel was too short-sighted - when he saw Dazai Osamu and the gray-haired boy leaning against each other in such an intimate posture, he suddenly felt something buzzing in his head.

It was as if...it wasn't Dazai who should have done that, but him.

This thought slipped into his mind unconsciously, and at first glance, Nakahara Chuuya didn't even notice anything was wrong.

The next second, his cobalt blue eyes widened in disbelief. If you looked closely, you could see his pupils trembling slightly.

The person on the bed noticed his strangeness and blinked in doubt.

Nakahara Chuuya hurriedly and fiercely avoided the gaze of the person in front of him, clenching his fingers tightly under his gloves.

Wait...! What was he thinking just now? He clearly, clearly...

Why do you think so...?

Nakahara Chuuya took a deep breath. It was the first time he had faced such a strange and unfamiliar emotion. Reason told him that he would not get any results if he continued to delve into it. He pressed down the brim of his hat and said in a hoarse voice: "...I'll call a doctor right away."

He wanted to escape from the ward temporarily, but after taking two steps, he remembered the hoarse and weak voice of Kono Seiryoshi just now.

Nakahara Chuuya paused, cursed in his heart, gritted his teeth, turned back, and got a glass of warm water from the water dispenser.

“…Chuya.”

The pale lips were wetted by the water, and finally regained some color. The gray-haired boy was trapped in the snow-white quilt and pillow. It looked like a gust of wind could blow him down, but he still raised his gentle eyebrows to him, "I'm fine, no need to call a doctor."

Nakahara Chuuya hesitated: "Then, is there anything that hurts?"

Kouno Seira nodded: "A little bit."

Before he finished speaking, Chuuya's expression suddenly became tense: "What should I do?"

"So I'll leave it to you."

"Me? But..."

"Um."

In the face of Chuuya's puzzled gaze, Kono Seira looked back with a faint smile in his eyes, "I want to stay with you for a while."

The author has something to say:

Chuuya: ? ? ! !

Cosmic Cat's Thinking Sublimation.jpg

There are a lot of things written in this chapter. I originally wanted to put Shengliang's experience at the end, but after thinking about it, I decided to leave it as it is. I am too lazy to change it ()