"Ah, morning, Oda-kun~"
At nine o'clock, Dazai stepped into the detective agency on time according to his biological clock.
"Morning." Oda responded.
Then there was a sudden silence, and both of them were visibly nervous and embarrassed.
"Ahem, Mr. Dazai," I cleared my throat, "The president said that you are responsible for Mr. Oda's admission review."
"Oh, yes~" Dazai clasped his hands together as if he had come to life.
"Mr. Oda will assist Si Yejun in completing this extermination mission. After the mission is completed, Mr. Oda can directly join the detective agency~"
"Hey, is that so?"
"so easy!"
Oda and I sighed at the same time.
"Because Mr. Oda is a rare talent~" Dazai patted me on the shoulder.
"It remains to be suspected." I winked at Dazai and walked over to Tanizaki.
"This is relevant information for this mission." Tanizaki's reaction was unusually slow, staring with a pair of dull eyes.
"Thank you." I smiled.
However, before I could tear the seal, Oda took the file in my hand and flipped through it on his own.
"Yes, you can be regarded as my senior." I smiled awkwardly.
"Oh, I'm sorry," Oda's hand froze in mid-air, "I'm just used to it... you know."
"Yes." I responded.
Oda didn't say anything more and looked down at the file.
I was much shorter than him, so I followed Oda in several directions before I could barely see him.
"Do you live near Chinatown?" I said unconsciously.
"What's wrong?" Oda turned his head.
"It's okay, I had dinner with everyone there."
"Is it tasty?"
“The taste is okay.”
Oda pondered for a moment, rolled up the document like a newspaper and put it in his armpit: "Then let's go."
Oda turned his gaze to Dazai: "Goodbye."
"The mission went well~" Dazai waved his hand, cheerful yet cautious.
I turned around and waved my hand. The meaning was unclear, but it was probably to appease the family members of the victims.
In a blink of an eye, we arrived at Chinatown.
We didn’t have many conversations on this topic, but we talked about it somewhat.
This success allowed me to understand and make some guesses about Oda's origins and return journey.
I also talked a lot with him, and the content was probably about cleaning up Dazai, cleaning myself up, enriching the character image, and attracting readers' interest in reading...
"We're here." I looked up, and the very Chinese architectural style in front of me made my heart warm.
But then I thought about that bloody mission, and my heart couldn't help but feel heavy.
It doesn’t matter if it’s a military detective or a gangster in Hong Kong. In fact, it's not that I haven't killed anyone for missions before, it's just that after integrating Kirihara's memory, my heart has undergone a subtle change.
"It looks like there's nothing wrong with it," Oda said, pulling me out of my confusion, "but just in case, I'll go up alone first."
"Let's go together."
"How to say?"
I scratched the back of my head: "Because Mr. Dazai said that we need two people together. If something happens, Mr. Dazai will be angry no matter who it is."
"Oh, okay then." Oda sighed helplessly.
I lowered my head and laughed dryly.
Surprisingly easy.
…
"careful."
"It's no problem, don't worry."
The building is very bright, and from time to time there is the noise of a young couple beating up a naughty child.
It was bustling and lively, and it didn't look like a place where a bad guy who wanted to produce living people would live.
But maybe it was because the initial atmosphere was so good, so now our hearts are still filled with a hazy shadow that makes us breathless.
Snapped--
The door beside me opened.
"careful!"
In the blink of an eye, Oda and I were hugging each other.
Oda's hand hurriedly reached to his lower back, before he could pull out his pistol. I saw a white-haired lady, holding a cane in her hand, walking out of the door step by step.
When she saw the funny look on the two of us, she said "Yo".
Oda and I separated quietly, and then walked upstairs silently.
"Were you really a killer before?"
"It's just a small mistake...do you believe it?"
"I'll just believe it."
Oda sighed, put the pistol back into the holster, and covered it with the hem of his clothes.
The footsteps echoed in the corridor again, getting louder as they went up.
"It's getting quieter and quieter," I whispered.
"Because the residents of this building are very old, most of them choose to live on the lower floors," Oda said. "I met an aunt before who quarreled with her wife over a second-floor apartment. More than half a year."
"What happened next?" I suddenly became interested.
"Later, her husband died of a heart attack, and the old woman stopped clamoring to move. Even though her knee disease was so severe that it hurt to walk on a flat floor."
"Hey." I sighed.
"I often help the old couple throw away garbage and carry rice. Suddenly one of them is missing, and even I feel deserted without realizing it."
"What's more, it's a lover who has lived together for most of his life... In fact, we can't empathize with him."
"Yes," Oda nodded, "That's why I don't like taking on this kind of mission. The detective agency rarely sent such missions before, Kirihara..."
"It's Si Ye." I raised my hand to correct Oda.
"Sorry, Si Ye. In fact, I suspect that the task assigned this time was not the work of the detective agency."
I was silent, actually I was also doubting.
"The document containing the commission information was also taken away by Dazai. I only had time to look at the location and other related information, but not the content of the mission."
"So what Mr. Oda means is to give up this mission?" I asked. I chose to support Dazai no matter what. I believed he was right.
"No," Oda shook his head with deep eyes, "This is a very selfish thing to do, but I am willing to go."
Bang——
When we reached about the eighth floor, the door beside Oda suddenly opened wide, startling us.
However, having learned from the past, we did not jump up in a fuss or draw our guns.
"Hey, throw away the garbage for me." The man's head stretched out, wearing a hat that covered his entire head.
"Okay." Oda stopped me with one hand.
Oda picked up the bag of garbage with his left hand and took out the advertising card he had just received downstairs with his right hand. While the man was closing the door, he stuck it in the door with a flick of his hand.
This kind of door is so old that even a slightly stiffer card can make it bounce back. The door lock just clicked due to inertia, seemingly locked.
Oda held it with one hand and pushed it in slightly. The door was stuck in a subtle position.
You can go back and you can go forward.
"Kafka Asagiri." Oda turned his head and mouthed to me.
I frowned and thought carefully for a moment, remembering that his skin was indeed pale.
"Go in?" I asked quietly.
Oda shook his head, and exerted force on his wrist again, the door lock was half stuck: "Let's go there."
Oda pointed to the debris at the other end of the corridor and took me to hide in.
