Facts have proven that wherever Dazai is present, people will feel at ease.
I walked down the stairs. Although the space below was dark, I still spotted Dazai at a glance in the brightest place.
He must have known that this was an inevitable conspiracy, but he still came.
He arrives as a hunter disguised as prey.
At the same time, Dazai also saw me and waved to me.
"Long time no see, Kirihara."
"Yeah." I suppressed my inner excitement and sat down next to Dazai with a cold face.
Dazai also looked leisurely, picking up the wine glass with one hand and drinking.
The unchanging spherical ice cube is particularly dazzling under today's light.
"I heard that you were imprisoned for breaking the rules for how many days? It's rare to hear this news in my lifetime." Dazai smiled and pushed a glass of warm milk in front of me, but his tone was unusual.
"It's necessary." I said as if I didn't want to say more.
"Aside from organization, what else can you call important?" Dazai pressed forward step by step.
I am silent and use it for contemplation.
"……Myself."
and you.
I replied.
"Are you here?" I asked.
"I feel like you came back here today, so I came here," Dazai winked at me, "After drinking this drink, let's go out for a walk together?"
I took a big sip of warm milk and thought about it, it was really good. Dazai naturally has his own plans for every word he says, so there is nothing wrong with following him.
I'm not an aggressive cook, so I think the above considerations are quite reasonable.
Seeing me nodding, Dazai clinked glasses with me, and the remaining milk splashed half of my face.
"Ah ha~" I saw a look of gloating on his face, and he took out the toilet paper and started rubbing my face.
At the same time, I felt like something had been stuffed into the collar.
"It seems that the remaining milk has been 'drinked'~ Let's go, Kirihara-kun~" Dazai smiled and clapped his hands.
"Don't call me Jun," I pretended to adjust my collar, but actually stuffed the note tighter, "We are about the same age."
As I was talking, before Dazai could answer, a burst of white light flashed in front of me. Dazai took a large camera and took a picture of his face.
In the finished film, Kirihara is cleaning up Uesugi with a look of disgust on his face, while the culprit himself laughs proudly.
"It will all be remembered as a souvenir." His expression was not fake when he said this.
I acquiesced.
…
The cold wind was blowing outside the tavern, so I tied the scarf I had just untied again.
I was distracted along the way and didn’t say much.
Dazai, on the other hand, talked a lot. I don't know if he was trying to confuse the enemy, or if he was simply talking too much to ease the awkward atmosphere.
"Hey, Kirihara, how come you haven't grown at all like Chuuya in all these years..."
"Look at the kitten over there, does it look like you with the hat on?"
"Look, look, look! Buy one and get five free of the bandages over there!"
…
I gradually became empty amidst such chatter, and finally just walked forward numbly.
In the end, I had no idea that we had completely walked out of the commercial street and entered an empty factory.
"OK~" At a certain moment, Dazai suddenly stopped and let me walk forward for a while.
However, just when I had just reacted and was about to look back, a rusty red figure in front of me attracted my attention.
Oda Sakunosuke.
The visitor was obviously as surprised as I was after seeing me clearly, but this look went as fast as the wind and soon disappeared.
Odasaku raised his gun.
The same goes for Dazai behind me.
"I'm sorry, Kirihara-kun," Dazai said sternly, "If I catch a Mafia cadre, the president can grant me a whole day's leave~"
I laughed hoarsely, and the edges of the note on my chest pricked me hard as my chest rose and fell: "Do it!"
As soon as I finished speaking, I rushed towards Dazai first without waiting for the two of them to react.
I will definitely lose this battle. With two old partners, "Immaculate" and "Disqualified" joining forces, I'm afraid Natsume Soseki will lose too.
Sure enough, after barely holding on for dozens of moves, I finally fell to the ground.
"Tie him up? Dazai."
"Okay, it's perfect to leave this kind of job to an adult like me~"
Dazai rubbed his hands proudly, seeing this I decided to close my eyes and pretend to be dead.
…
That was the Armed Detective Agency, my first home when I first came to Fumino. After experiencing the morning fog incident, I was finally able to come back openly.
I sat on the reception sofa of the detective agency, looking coldly at the members who were waiting for me except Dazai and Ranpo, and snorted coldly.
In such a serious atmosphere, Dazai alone could be heard roaring.
"Hey! Didn't you agree to give me a holiday?!"
"..." Kunikida chose to ignore it.
"Kunikida-kun, ahhhhh!" Dazai twisted himself into a knot.
"You guy! If you can make a fuss, you have to give me some time!" Unable to bear it, Kunikida finally decided to slap Dazai's Tenreigai fiercely.
The latter finally settled down and squatted down next to me aggrievedly.
"I want to join the mafia...wuwuwu..."
I ignored him, even though half of his body was already on my shoulders.
"You won't get anything from my mouth." I twisted the hem of my clothes with my left finger, feeling its roughness as much as possible.
"But what if this matter is beneficial to both you and me?" Fukuzawa stepped out of the back room and frowned without any trace as he glanced at Dazai.
I tilted my head and motioned for him to continue.
"Ask him to come to the conference room with me," Fukuzawa nodded, "Just come with Dazai and Ranpo."
It was obvious that the two people whose names were called were not very willing and lazily entered the conference room.
And I shook my shoulders, shook off the rope that bound me under the shocked and wary eyes of everyone, followed Dazai leisurely, and kicked him.
"That's too much, Kirihara-kun~"
Soon, the four of us were seated in the conference room.
Miss Haruno smiled and opened the screen for us.
A picture of Alice was projected on the screen.
"There should be no one here who knows who this is better than you and Dazai." Fukuzawa said.
I looked at it, but shook my head: "It's fake."
"That's right," Fukuzawa agreed, "This is not Mori's superpower...according to insiders, you Mafia calls it a 'shapeshifter'."
My hand twisting the hem of my clothes finally stopped for a moment.
"It seems there is a traitor."
"That's not the point." Miss Haruno stuck out her tongue.
Fukuzawa hummed slightly and turned his head to signal Haruno to continue.
The next one was a map of Yokohama with five or six red dots scattered across it.
"This is the base where we discovered the appearance of the 'Shapeshifters' after on-site investigation. As far as we know, they can only share one face at a time. This time it was Alice of Mori. And the last time... it was yours."
"But what's different from this time is that last time, your face only appeared on one 'shapeshifter'. After our comparison and investigation, that 'shapeshifter' should have died at the end of a mission."
I remembered the "shapeshifter" who revealed the information about the "book" to the previous Kirihara.
Seeing that I was listening seriously, Fuze nodded and continued:
"Such a 'shapeshifter' that can only transform into one at a time is called a 'stagnation'. The total number of 'stagnations' will not exceed five. Last time its ability was used on you, this time it is Sen."
"What about the relationship between the leader and Alice's 'Transformer'?" I asked in a daze.
"It doesn't matter." Fuze shook his head in denial.
I tilted my head and thought for a while, but I didn't wait for Haruno or Fukuzawa's next words for a long time.
When I turned my eyes back to the main position again, I noticed that Fuze's bright eyes had been focused on me for a long time.
“Now it’s time for you to decide,” he said, “whether to remain in the dark or to do your part in fighting for the truth.”
I lowered my eyes and thought, this is not a difficult question to answer.
However, I can't answer until Ranpo speaks.
After all, there were so few people present, it was impossible for anyone to be superfluous.
