Chapter 22 (Three in One)

The Shigaraki Group, which is one of the most powerful financial groups in Kanto and intends to cooperate with the port mafia, seized the opportunity to become a leader during the war, but was also regarded as a thorn in the eyes of some people.

They were framed by a competing company that had colluded with a local □□ organization. At first, they were just threatened with intimidation and sewage splashing, but later it escalated and developed into a kidnapping and armed fight, causing quite a scandal.

The Changmu Group has always been following a clean and legal path, and has been considering opening up trade with the outside world in the past two years. This time, they suffered a big loss at the hands of their rivals who were involved in both black and white affairs. Seeing that the stock price continued to fall, the directors who were still hesitating whether to cooperate with the mafia gritted their teeth and extended an olive branch to Mori Owl.

The local authorities have always turned a blind eye to the actions of the □□, and they cannot be relied upon. The Changmu Group wants to retaliate in kind, and the port mafia needs a channel to launder illegal economic sources. The leaders of both parties hit it off.

The content involves all aspects, so this business trip is still a very formal mission, and the responsibilities of the temporary team specifically mentioned by Mori Ou are also very clear: Dazai Osamu is responsible for commanding the action, Nakahara Chuuya is responsible for armed suppression, and Kono Seira is responsible for cooperative negotiations.

The division of labor is linked together. As long as the first two people fight well enough and let the group leaders see their strength, the balance of negotiations will tilt more towards the port mafia.

In other words, Kono Seira will only appear after the small-scale battle between Dazai and Chuuya. Before the negotiation begins, he will wait in the back to collect intelligence, which is very suitable for his physique that is not only a rookie but also unlucky.

When Kono Seiyoshi walked out of the gate of the Port Mafia carrying a small suitcase, his two temporary partners were dozens of meters apart. Neither of them even bothered to look at the other. It was obvious that they were in a cold war.

There was no quarrel because we had already had one in his office.

The moment they saw him walk out, the movements of both of them changed.

The auburn-haired boy stood up almost instantly. Behind Nakahara Chuuya was a brightly colored and stylish motorcycle. He awkwardly withdrew his hand from the handlebars, and hesitated as if he was considering an embarrassing question. He was so embarrassed that his face flushed unconsciously.

Finally, he clenched his fist with determination and coughed heavily to attract the attention of the person in front of him, and the other person's golden eyes indeed looked at him gently.

Nakahara Chuuya's heartbeat quickened as he thought about what might happen next. He had prepared a speech for this for a long time. The moment he opened his mouth, he felt relieved as if he had finally confirmed something. His cobalt blue eyes lit up: "Should we go over together..." on a motorcycle?

"Ah, the sun is shining brightly. It must be more comfortable to drink in the nanny car with the air conditioner on. What do you think, Kouno-kun?"

……ha?

And so on and so forth.

Nakahara Chuuya quickly shook his head in denial.

He must have been jet lagged, otherwise how could he have hallucinated the voice of that green mackerel, and its mouth was trying to mess up his plan -

…

…………

That guy must have done it on purpose!!! Absolutely!!!

Nakahara Chuuya's joints crackled, he turned his neck stiffly, and a hideous and ferocious smile appeared on his face.

The culprit whistled an inaudible whistle with an innocent expression.

You bastard, you’re such a jerk!

Nakahara Chuuya used a year's worth of self-control to suppress the urge to punch hard, clenched his fists and took a deep breath.

Despite his rage, his mind was unusually calm. He found himself looking at Dazai Osamu's annoying smile from a different perspective. Soon, an unbelievable and even absurd thought came to his mind uncontrollably:

His breathing suddenly stopped and his pupils constricted.

This absurd idea gradually became clear, revealing an unpredictable outline - the scene that he saw in the Okinawa cave that day, which made Nakahara Chuuya feel very upset, was replayed before his eyes.

At that time, Dazai Osamu had not yet revealed any obvious intentions, but there was a strong sense of incongruity between his words and actions. And at this moment, this sense of incongruity was unveiled.

Hey, come on, this joke is not funny at all...

How could that cowardly little Dazai, who did nothing but yell about committing suicide, be...

...No, Nakahara Chuuya calmed down again and thought about when he should ask.

Dazai Osamu rested one hand on the nanny car behind him, casually tapping his fingers at the bottom of the window. As if he had noticed Nakahara Chuuya's sharp gaze, he curled his lips and looked back slowly. His left eye, which was not blocked by the bandage, was dark and unpredictable.

The tacit understanding they had developed as partners for three years seemed particularly redundant and ironic at this moment. They easily understood each other's thoughts without words.

Especially if they are thinking of the same person.

"Are you all ready?"

However, the people in the center of the Shura Field were completely unaware and asked in pure confusion: "Then I can take a taxi there myself?"

Gongye Shengliang looked between the two of them in surprise. Why did he feel that the atmosphere between the two of them was becoming suffocating again? Could this be a battle between the motorcycle faction and the air conditioning faction at the stake?

Well, actually he is a walking party, but if it is thirty kilometers, he should just surrender. His dignity is not important.

Nakahara Chuuya: “…”

Dazai Osamu: “…”

I almost forgot that this person not only didn't know what was going on, but also looked confused and looked at them as if they were elementary school students quarreling.

“Really…”

Dazai Osamu lowered his head and sighed helplessly. He put his hand down on the car window, stood calmly with his arms folded, and tilted his head to look at Kono Seira with a smile: "What if I tell you to choose between me and Chuuya?" His tone was different from usual, slow with a strange rhythm.

Nakahara Chuuya pursed his lips, looking like he didn't quite agree, but he didn't refute it.

“……???”

Kono Seiryoshi was so frightened that he almost let go of the handle of the suitcase.

As a pedestrian, he had already surrendered, so why should he be forced to choose between death and life?! Besides, it didn't matter to him whether the motorcycle or the air conditioner was better. He had already decided to open the windows for ventilation and take a taxi to Tokyo.

This bullying has gone too far, he has to regain his dignity!

Kono Seiryoshi took a deep breath and decided not to get involved in the childish war between the two minors in front of him.

Therefore.

"Motorcycles," he lowered his head and thought carefully, then answered honestly, "I get carsick if I ride in a car."

——Neither of them is wrong, it’s his fault, so stop hitting him!

Hearing this, Dazai Osamu's eyes flickered, but were quickly covered by his drooping eyelashes.

In contrast, Nakahara Chuuya breathed a sigh of relief and couldn't help but smile.

He took two steps forward and handed Gong Ye Shengliang's suitcase to the subordinate who was waiting nearby. He took the initiative to pull him to the front of the motorcycle and handed him a helmet.

"Don't worry, I'm very skilled," the auburn-haired boy said confidently, "I definitely won't make you carsick."

"……?"

The composite helmet, which had been exposed to the sun, felt a slight burning sensation when it touched his skin, but it quickly melted in his body temperature. Kono Seiryoshi opened his eyes slightly and finally understood what the other person meant.

He recalled the video Chuuya had sent him before, and an electric current passed through his fingertips, leaving behind an aftertaste of excitement that he was not quite sure about.

But...it seems like I overlooked something.

Kono Seiryoshi couldn't help but look back to the other side. Dazai Osamu, who was standing outside the nanny car just now, was gone. The car doors and windows were tightly closed, blocking any attempts to peek.

...Why does it feel like the whole car is emitting a low pressure of "I am in a bad mood"?

Around them, their subordinates began to prepare to set off one after another. When Kono Seiryoshi saw the members of his special team looking sad and miserable, he made a "please" gesture to him as if he was about to cry.

"We still have plenty of time." Nakahara Chuuya had already sat in the car, his blue eyes flashing brightly under the windshield, "Do you want to drive faster or slower?"

Gong Ye Shengliang was still thinking about what went wrong, and before he could come to his senses, he blurted out "The fastest."

"Are you sure?" Nakahara Chuuya's eyes widened in surprise, and then he smiled confidently, his voice loud and clear, "Then you better hold on tight."

"……Why?"

--

He once heard a story that said when a person walks too fast, his soul will fall behind because it cannot catch up. Therefore, no matter how hurriedly you walk, you have to wait for a while until your soul catches up with your body.

Now, Seiryoshi Kono felt as if his soul might have been flung to the seaside highway, shoulder to shoulder with the sun.

After turning the last corner and slowing down, they arrived at the door of the hotel that the partner had specially prepared for the reception.

Nakahara Chuuya took off his helmet, and his ochre-colored hair swung in the air in free arcs.

His temples were slightly wet with sweat, but his eyes became brighter, as if all the beautiful scenery along the way were reflected in them, surging with a strange and precious throbbing.

Kono Seiryoshi's mind was blank. When he just got off the motorcycle, his hands and feet were numb. He didn't notice that the boy was forced to sit on the motorcycle in an awkward position with one of his hands held tightly by him.

"How do you feel?"

A question from close at hand brought him back to his senses. As soon as Kono Seiryoshi raised his hand, he met Chuuya's eyes full of concern. The latter couldn't help but get nervous because of his long silence. "Could it be--" Is he carsick? I haven't heard that people can get carsick on a motorcycle!

Kono Seiryoshi shook his head vigorously, looked up at the blue sky above his head, took a few deep breaths, and his brain finally recovered some processing power.

"I just—"

The roar of the engines still seemed to ring in his ears, and the air around him was silent, but he felt that he was still in the dazzling, hunting sea breeze, which made him speak louder.

“I’m very happy——!”

It was a rare moment when his emotions were revealed like this, and the feeling he had never experienced before enveloped him like warm sea water, making him unconsciously want to laugh out loud.

Kono Seiryoshi let this emotion spread, looking at Nakahara Chuuya with shining eyes. Even though he couldn't see his own expression, he knew that he must be smiling foolishly.

"Do you like it that much?"

Infected by his emotions, Nakahara Chuuya couldn't help but raise the corners of his lips. He wanted to block it with his top hat, but when he stretched out his hand, he hit nothing. Then he remembered that he had taken off his helmet when he put it on.

His fingers rubbed together unconsciously for a few times, and out of the corner of his eye he saw the two people's hands still held together. He took a breath and immediately turned his head away.

"...Then there's nothing we can do." The auburn-haired boy tried to speak nonchalantly, but when Kono Seira's eyes fell on him more intently, his fair face slowly turned red and he honestly said, "I can still take you with me when we go back."

The voice was not loud, but very firm.

"Okay!" Gongye Shengliang's smiling eyes were still staring at him, "Then thank you, Master Zhongyuan!"

Nakahara Chuuya's face suddenly turned red: "...I told you not to call me that!"

--

The partners on this trip did not look down on the representatives sent by the port mafia just because they were minors. They had done their homework beforehand and understood that one should not judge a person with special abilities by their appearance, so they specially provided a luxury hotel under the group as a place to stay.

The discord between the ace duo of Nakahara Chuuya and Dazai Osamu is no secret, and you can find out if you ask around. However, Kono Seira's experience in the Port Mafia is still young, and he rarely contacts the outside world, so there is basically no public information.

In order to avoid conflicts, the partners simply arranged their rooms on three separate floors.

Therefore, until late at night, Kono Seiryoshi had not seen Dazai Osamu.

He and Chuuya were driving very fast on the motorcycle, but Dazai's group included armed personnel and equipment, so it was understandable that they drove a little slower for safety.

——Thinking this, he waited in the restaurant for two hours during dinner time, but he never saw the bandage spirit coming down to look for food.

After receiving no reply to the text messages he sent at different times, Kono Seiryo suppressed his anxiety and asked his subordinates who were accompanying him. The answer he got was: "Dazai-sama's team arrived at the hotel four hours ago and has not left."

oh.

Kono Seira understood that Dazai was deliberately ignoring him.

Rebellious teenagers are really hard to understand.

When he returned to the room to sort out the information, Kono Seira repeatedly imagined a fat and angry Q version of Dazai Osamu in his mind, and he was distracted several times in the entire hour.

It was not until Ango Sakaguchi on the other side of the video called out his name several times in a loud voice that he suddenly came to his senses and realized that on the page of the report that was originally used for recording, he had unconsciously drawn a group of crooked mushrooms, all of which had smelly expressions.

Kono Seiryoshi: “…” Damn, the report was written in vain.

"It's getting late, and you've been busy all day and must be tired. Why don't you take a rest first?" Sakaguchi Ango was very considerate and ignored the doodles on the notebook. "Besides, the mission is not urgent - doesn't your mission start tomorrow?"

"Well, let's go and take out a few enemy bases tomorrow night." Kono Seiryoshi tore off the unusable page of the report, folded it into an airplane, and aimed it at the trash can. After hesitating for a while, he finally put it away and tucked it into the book. "But I want to prepare a written battle plan in advance."

"This……"

Sakaguchi Ango wisely swallowed the last half of his sentence, "Isn't this Dazai-kun's job?"

They were having a video conference, and through the screen, he could clearly sense the depressed mood that the person on the other side was showing despite trying hard to hide it.

He had also heard about this mission and thought it shouldn't be that difficult. Thinking about the character that Kono Seiji usually displayed and the other party's seemingly unexpected tone when he contacted Dazai Osamu in the afternoon, Sakaguchi Ango immediately guessed the reason why Kono Seiji was depressed.

So that's how it is. This is really awkward.

And it seems like it's one-sided on Dazai-kun's part.

Sakaguchi Ango nodded in understanding, and was about to change the subject to advise Kouno Seiryoshi not to think too much and to go to bed early, as no one could figure out Dazai-kun's thoughts anyway - when the person on the screen suddenly looked at him hesitantly.

Ango Sakaguchi suddenly had a bad feeling.

"Ango, do you think... Dazai would like a bunny doll?"

Sakaguchi Ango: "...???"

--

After the meeting with Ango, the light in Kono Seira's room was on all night.

He read the target organization and group's information over and over again, and spent two hours communicating with the intelligence department on the details. The port mafia was confined to Yokohama, and the cooperative group was not familiar with this area, so the intelligence they could obtain was limited.

He was afraid that a strong dragon would be unable to defeat a local snake, and was also afraid that the night would be long and he would have many troubles, so he prepared two plans for reference overnight and sent them to Dazai Osamu's mailbox before dawn.

It was not until the words "Sent successfully" appeared on the screen that Kono Seira was in a daze for a while, then he remembered that Dazai Osamu was still ignoring him. He sighed and sent the email to his deputy on schedule.

The mission of the action team did not require his participation. The next step was to prepare the negotiation plan and wait for the latest battle situation from the armed team.

When it was getting light, Gongye Shengliang fell into the soft big bed, closed his eyes and rested for a while, keeping his head buried in the pillow, one hand slowly groping for his mobile phone.

When his fingers touched the familiar hard shell, he was stunned for a few seconds and reluctantly opened his eyes a little.

The screen lit up, and sure enough, there was only one person speaking on the chat interface.

Dazai Osamu never responded to him.

--

The second night was also the beginning of the battle plan. In a secret warehouse in the north of Tokyo Bay, the mafia from Yokohama had been lying in ambush for a long time.

Tokyo's night is different from Yokohama's.

As one of the many centers of a country, the official jurisdiction is much stricter than that of Yokohama. Only when night falls can the rats in the gutter breathe freely.

When the second hand returned to zero, the black-haired boy with a bandage wrapped around his body raised his hand lazily, and his well-trained subordinates armed with weapons surrounded the warehouse at lightning speed.

The unstable signal from the link made the already unhappy voice of Nakahara Chuuya sound even more depressing. "The deployment in the west is ready."

Dazai Osamu placed his hands on the railing of the viaduct and squinted his eyes to admire the night view in the distance. The unfamiliar night wind blew open a corner of his windbreaker, but did not add any vitality to the young man.

After a long time without a response, the person on the other side of the contact actually held back his anger and cursed him.

After a while, Dazai blinked violently as if he wanted to shake off the broken stars in his vision: "...That battle plan is perfect, right?"

"I didn't write it," he said, his brisk voice blurred in the wind, "...He is very careful."

There must be a motorcycle on the other side. A long and exciting sound of a motorcycle breaking through the silent night. "Ah." Zhongyuan Zhongye replied briefly, "I know it without you telling me."

At the end of the plan, detailed arrangements were made for rest time and subsidies for each round of surveillance rotation. How could Dazai care about this?

Only that person...

Thinking of the text message he received before leaving, Nakahara Chuuya felt a slight swelling of warmth in his heart.

——"I know Chuuya is very powerful, but please be careful. I will wait for you at the base."

——"I wish you a safe journey and good luck in military affairs."

The characters on the phone were very rigid, but through these words he could imagine the serious and earnest look on Kono Seiryoshi's face as he said these words.

The corners of Nakahara Chuuya's lips naturally rose under his helmet.

"... Chuuya," Dazai Osamu's voice was still light and floating, and no one could see his dark eyes at this time, "It feels good to be favored by others, right?"

The discordant sound interrupted his memories, and Nakahara Chuuya let out a light click of his tongue.

"That's right," Dazai Osamu said, but he didn't jump up and down in anger like before. Instead, he calmly asked, "So what?"

Dazai Osamu's expression seemed to freeze, and his eyes gradually turned cold.

He had expected such a generous admission, but the joy of having everything under control did not come as he expected.

On the contrary, something was out of his control. A strange and bizarre emotion gushed out from his heart, and was rushed by the blood to fill every part of his body, causing his fingers to curl up in unbearable pain.

Yeah, so what.

It's just that the thing he thought belonged to him fell into the hands of a lucky guy, but that person was not him.

This was a belief he had firmly believed in from the beginning, but he had lost it accidentally when he got carried away with success. Today, he finally made it clear again.

He removed the contact.

The plan went smoothly. There was a burst of gunfire. The fire from the warehouse instantly dyed half of the sky red, but it could not reflect any light in his eyes. Dazai sniffed the burning smoke in the air, looked up and smiled.

The smile was pale and empty, as if it would break with the slightest touch.

--

The warehouse explosion was just a bait. The enemy's real base had already been figured out by the team led by Nakahara Chuuya. When the enemy's attention was distracted by the sudden attack and their weakness was revealed, the gravity user directly blew open the door of the headquarters.

The effect of the tactic of making a feint to the east and attacking in the west was better than expected. While Nakahara Chuuya was busy clearing the enemy with heavy firepower, Dazai Osamu had quietly returned to the hotel.

The raid was going well. His next task was to make the port mafia escape unscathed from the chaos - it could be easy or difficult. If he wanted to gain more benefits, he should be adventurous.

Dazai Osamu slowly walked towards his room. The faint smell of gunpowder lingered on the thick carpet, and was slowly covered by the smell of air freshener. In this corridor where only surveillance was in operation, it was a luxury for him to show any fluctuating expression on his face.

The next moment, a figure that shouldn't be here made him stop.

The soft carpet absorbed the sound of his footsteps, so the other party did not notice his presence. The LED lights in the corridor were regularly embedded in the walls, and the alternating light and dark outlined delicate and vivid contours.

The slender gray-haired boy leaned quietly against the side of his room door, staring at the notebook in his arms with his eyes downcast. His slightly longer hair covered half of his face, making it impossible to see the expression on his face.

Why are you here...

If you meet that person, you will definitely be questioned as to why you didn't reply to your email, and you won't be able to use the excuse of "I was too busy and forgot" to answer that person.

Dazai Osamu frowned slightly, turned around and was about to leave the floor.

In the last second when his afterglow passed by vaguely, the gray-haired boy's butterfly-like eyelashes trembled heavily as if awakened, and he caught sight of his back almost subconsciously.

Ah, the escape plan failed.

Dazai Osamu sighed silently, unable to tell what he was feeling. He frowned, and as he turned around, he put on a smiling expression: "Oh, what a coincidence, if I remember correctly, you don't live on this floor, right?"

“Dazai…”

Just saying the name made the boy frown.

Kono Seiryoshi learned from his experience that he should wait outside a locked door. He had thought carefully about wanting to talk to Dazai Osamu, but he was impulsive when he ran outside the door to wait.

For example, he was still struggling with how to start the conversation, and when he saw Dazai Osamu's smiling face that seemed to not care about anything, he couldn't help but feel timid.

It is really difficult to communicate with sensitive (and now moody) teenagers!

But--!

We still have to talk! Besides, he has waited for so long, and it would be embarrassing if he went back in disgrace!

So, Kono Seiryo regained some confidence and said with courage: "We..."

"Kuno-kun," Dazai interrupted him with his drooping eyelashes half covering his eyes, and said with a nasal and intimate smile, "Can't we hold the battle summary meeting tomorrow? I'm very sleepy--"

"It won't take long." Kono Seiryoshi hastily explained, holding his breath for two seconds before his voice unconsciously lowered. "And it's not work, it's a personal matter."

Dazai Osamu looked at him steadily, his posture suddenly relaxed, and his smile became very faint: "Are you sure you want to say this here?"

He glanced meaningfully at the surveillance camera in the middle of the corridor.

"Then let's go for a walk." Having adapted well to Dazai's noncommittal attitude, thinking that as long as he was not explicitly rejected, he would be victorious, and thinking this, Kono Seira smiled a little, "The night outside is just right."

…

Fifteen minutes later, in the small garden near the hotel.

Seira Kono was lost in thought as he stared at a bucket of steaming oden.

It's normal to pass by a 24-hour convenience store while taking a walk. It's also normal that the convenience store is selling oden. It's also reasonable that the aroma of the food attracted two people who haven't eaten for a day.

So he and Dazai Osamu were fighting fiercely over the crab meatballs in the oden with a bamboo stick each...

Wait! He's not here for the crab balls!

In the short two seconds that he hesitated and struggled, the ruthless 17-year-old mafia quasi-cadre occupied the last meatball.

Dazai Osamu stuffed the whole meatball into his mouth, and it was obvious that he was burned. His face wrinkled and his body leaned back reflexively.

The swing seat connected to the two of them began to shake. Kono Seira quickly protected the tilted oden and prevented the steaming soup from spilling out.

——Yes, the two of them were sitting on the swing in the small garden and having a sneaky midnight snack.

Considering that Dazai Osamu had just returned from the mission scene and was still covered in blood, with bandages on his face and body, and a gloomy and decadent temperament, he looked like a juvenile delinquent who had gone astray. For the mental health of an innocent passerby, Kono Seira took the initiative to take on the task of buying supper and took Dazai Osamu to a remote garden to eat.

Perhaps it was because he had won the battle of the crab meatballs, and after the warm food had gone down his stomach, Dazai Osamu's attitude had visibly softened - at least he would look at him straight in the eye.

"What did you want to tell me just now upstairs?"

Dazai Osamu slowly tiptoed and pulled back the swing. A low creaking sound was heard as the swing swayed slightly, and at the same time, his light voice said, "It's still two hours before dawn. I should be back by then."

Chuuya? ...Ah, the time is correct according to the plan, but why did you suddenly mention this? It has nothing to do with Chuuya, right?

At this moment, Kono Seiryoshi's eyes expressed his doubts.

Dazai Osamu turned his head to look at him, his usual smile still on his lips, but there was no smile in his iris eyes. He seemed to have lost his patience and said in a cold tone: "Let's make it quick and decisive."

Kono Seiryoshi opened his mouth and said, "I just..." I wanted to ask you why you are unhappy.

…But the situation is getting worse and worse! Help! He feels like Dazai Osamu is going to pull out a gun from his windbreaker and start killing people in the next second!

So he changed his way of saying it, hinting, "You look like you have something on your mind."

"Ah, that's right." Dazai Osamu's calm voice came, and when Kono Seiyoshi's eyes lit up for a moment at his unexpected honesty, he continued calmly: "Attack warehouses, clear out reports from the enemy headquarters, hunt down remnants, and take over new spheres of influence, it's all very troublesome... Why, do you want to share my worries?"

Kono Seiryoshi: “…”

"Not impossible," he replied dryly, "if you need me."

The bad premonition grew stronger, and after he said this, the last trace of smile on Dazai Osamu's face disappeared.

"...You're always like this." He suddenly lifted his legs and pressed against the ground, and the swing froze in mid-air. Dazai Osamu's eyes changed completely, with dark waves surging in them, and a light laugh escaped from his throat, not sure whether it was self-mockery or sarcasm.

"You never reject anyone, and you seem to care about everyone, but there's always something between you and me - what are you thinking?" At this point, he paused in confusion, his head slowly lowered, and he murmured to himself, as if talking to himself, "Instead of this, it would be better..."

——It would be better not to say or do anything at the beginning, and not to give him such hopeless hope.

Kono Seira stood there in a daze. He subconsciously wanted to reach out and grab the other person, but Dazai Osamu dodged him.

The black-haired boy's eyes were even colder than when he first remembered. He fiddled with his cufflinks slowly, looking like he didn't want to say anything more.

At this point, if Kono Seiryoshi still doesn't understand why Dazai's attitude suddenly turned cold, then he would be hopelessly stupid.

The question raised by the system before once again lingered in my ears - [Do you regard everything here as real life, or a game that has nothing to do with you?]

His answer at the time was that he didn't know either.

As for whether there has been any change now... Kono Seiryoshi is still confused about this, but at the same time, a strong premonition surges in his heart, as if if he doesn't do something now, the distance between him and the black-haired boy in front of him will be pulled back into two completely different worlds.

He shuddered for no apparent reason, and his breath was a little cold: "I'm sorry..." He had very little experience in opening up to others, so much so that his mind was clogged with all kinds of complicated thoughts, and he couldn't even find a complete and fluent sentence to analyze himself.

Since I can't say it...

Kono Seiryoshi took a deep breath, followed his past memory, and tried to actively cross the distance - he stretched out his hand and gently held Dazai Osamu's shoulders.

This is a half-finished hug, so light that it can be ignored. The occasional chirping of insects in the grass, a leaf blown down by the wind, the dew that is about to dry on the flower buds - their presence is stronger than this hug that is not really a hug.

Dazai Osamu's expression could not be seen from this angle, but Kono Seira could feel that the former's body suddenly stiffened, and he seemed to struggle slightly with discomfort.

His reaction made Kono Seiryoshi feel a little relieved, so he tightened his fingers and clenched them a little harder.

"I'm sorry, I did that without your permission."

His chest vibrated slightly, and when Kono Seira spoke, his voice was tinged with a vague hoarseness. He didn't want Dazai Osamu to notice the same confusion, so when he spoke again, his voice had returned to normal.

"This trip was very sudden and I'm not well prepared, so there will be many things I don't do well." He said softly, speaking to the people around him, to the system, and to himself.

I stumble along, never daring to stop, heading for a life that I don’t know when it will end, but - "I have met very meaningful people and things, and I will not regret it."

If you can stay here, it will be a happy experience.

He slowly loosened his hand, raised his head from the shadows, and smiled: "The oden is delicious, I'll give you the meatballs... and I haven't said thank you for many things I did before."

Kono Seira returned to the previous distance, looking at the rust marks on the swing above his head, and said uncertainly: "To me, Dazai may be special. But I don't know how to describe it specifically."

All these thoughts can be summed up in one sentence - if only they could meet in a more peaceful world, then there wouldn't be so many doubts and temptations between them.

Dazai Osamu did not move for a long time.

The side of his face was covered by a bandage, and one could only see his pursed lips and his tightly clenched hands that were forced to remain calm.

Kono Seiryoshi had already stood up and put the paper box of oden into the trash can. They had been walking for too long, and it was time to go back.

The season was slowly approaching summer, but the air temperature was not high in the early morning. He tugged at his coat and looked up at the eastern sky.

A new day is coming.

No matter where you are, the sun will always rise.

Kono Seira turned around and walked towards Dazai Osamu who was still sitting on the swing: "Let's go." He pretended to be relaxed and joked: "The promise I made to give you a gift has not expired. Do you want to use it here?"

Dazai Osamu's tightly-stretched joints suddenly relaxed, and a very light denial escaped his lips: "...Not right."

"You are wrong about one thing."

Gongye Shengliang didn't react, and was stunned: "What?"

"You didn't give it to me." When Dazai Osamu raised his head, a smile appeared on his handsome face again, making him look a little bit gentle again. But his words were completely different. He spoke each word with great emphasis, "I stole it myself."

Dazai Osamu stood up and brushed off the dust on his windbreaker. The corners of his lips curled slightly, and his eyes passed through the increasingly light night, leaving behind the outline of the person in front of him.

After hearing what he said, the other party was a little surprised, then tilted his eyes and nodded in agreement with his meaning, with a familiar and gentle smile in his eyes.

Dazai Osamu paused for a moment, then walked to Kono Seiryoshi's side a little faster than usual, "Let's go."

My heart, which had been filled with indescribable irritability and depression all day, finally began to beat steadily.

In this matter, maybe he shouldn't have thought too much from the beginning. No matter how dark the unspeakable thoughts are or how despicable the means used are, it's nothing to the Mafia.

The corners of Dazai Osamu's lips raised slightly, his long eyelashes curled up in a gentle arc, and his iris-colored eyes conveyed a real sense of danger.

That's right, just grab it and it'll be fine.