If We Met Again

The cursed spirit seemed determined not to come out, and I had yet to locate it.

What kind of scene could make even Satoru Gojo want to spare that cursed spirit?

Wearing a faint smile, I glanced at Satoru Gojo, then quickly looked away, as though it had been nothing more than a casual glance.

Suddenly, I was a little interested. Just like that.

Then someone appeared within my field of vision, someone who had arrived rather late.

Oda Sakunosuke...

You could call this a reunion after a long separation.

And where had Satoru Gojo gone? He seemed to have vanished from the world in an instant. More precisely, everything had vanished from the world.

So this was what it looked like inside a cursed spirit?

He stood before me, still part of that conjured scene.

This again. You're going to shoot me again. Why?

I stood rooted to the spot, watching Odasaku aim his gun between my eyebrows once more, his gaze sharp and cold as it swept over me.

Then, just as it had two years ago, the gun vanished completely under No Longer Human the moment the shot struck me. This time, however, I made a different choice.

After a long, contemplative silence, I still managed a slight smile. I straightened the Red Scarf around my neck and slowly approached Oda Sakunosuke.

You cursed spirit wearing Oda Sakunosuke's face, just disappear from this world.

As that thought crossed my mind, the scene changed again, an instant before my fingers could touch Oda Sakunosuke.

Chūya!?

Surely no one actually thought Chūya could stop me? Besides, if it was Chūya, someone like him wouldn't let anyone casually use his image or likeness.

Well, it doesn't matter who it is. With that thought, I grabbed a strand of Chūya Nakahara's hair, and then I... pulled it out!?

Shouldn't he have disappeared under No Longer Human?

I blinked in confusion, looking at Chūya Nakahara in his executive attire, and seriously suspected that the poisonous mushrooms I had eaten a couple of days ago had given me hallucinations.

Unwilling to give up, I pulled out another strand of his hair and successfully earned myself a kick from Chūya Nakahara.

I dodged sideways and discovered that Chūya Nakahara had kicked down the wall beside me.

"You bastard, Dazai!"

...Seriously? He's real?

"Oh, it's the slug. Why are you here?"

I got up from the wall he had kicked down, a flicker of confusion passing through my eyes, then lowered my gaze to Chūya Nakahara.

"Huh? How should I know why I ended up somewhere like this with a mackerel like you?"

"Wait, that red scarf, and those clothes-you! Where's the boss?"

Chūya Nakahara seemed to have finally noticed what I was wearing. Although my clothes were all black, the Red Scarf stood out awkwardly no matter how you looked at it.

In a rare turn of events, Chūya Nakahara fell silent.

"Yes, it's exactly what you're thinking, Chūya. Mori is dead, and I'm the boss now."

"You!"

"All right, all right! You inexplicable little shrimp, don't just pop up in another world. Hurry back."

As I spoke, I picked up the Complete Suicide Manual in my hand and tore a page from its middle. Then I found a pencil somewhere and tossed both to Chūya Nakahara.

"All right, shorty. Write a story and send yourself back."

"Huh? Why should I listen to you? Wait, what even is this thing?"

Although Chūya Nakahara looked deeply reluctant, his trust in Osamu Dazai himself still led him to write out an entire storyline, asking questions as he wrote.

I simply smiled faintly. Only when he had written the final character did I answer with a gentle smile, drawing out the last word.

"It's the Book-"

"!!! Why does a mackerel like you have the Boo-"

"Goodbye, slug!"

Grinning, I waved at Chūya Nakahara and watched him fall into a black hole, disappearing without a trace.

We won't meet again, Chūya...

Then Oda Sakunosuke appeared before me once more within the illusion. Only this time, he wasn't pointing a gun at me.

"Dazai..."

He seemed about to approach, but when he noticed me retreating, the stray tuft of hair on his head drooped. He stopped five meters away, though he couldn't hide the concern in his eyes.

"So much like him..."

I murmured softly, slowly approaching him. I no longer knew whether I should use No Longer Human.

If it had been the Odasaku who had just tried to shoot me, perhaps I wouldn't have hesitated. But now I hesitated again. He really, truly looked so much like the Oda Sakunosuke I longed for, yet could never reach.

I approached him carefully, yet was afraid to get too close. In the end, I never reached out to touch him.

Just give me a little more time. Only a little.

Looking as though I was about to cry, I watched the concern on Oda Sakunosuke's face.

"Dazai, are you doing well these days?"

Oda Sakunosuke didn't reach out to touch me. He stood motionless a few dozen centimeters away, looking at me with little expression.

"Mm... pretty well, I suppose."

I nodded gently, a smile resting on my lips.

"Mm! I saw them. Are those three students outside your juniors, Dazai? I heard them calling you their senior."

Oda Sakunosuke thought for a moment, then gave me a questioning look.

"They are."

"Dazai, you look very sad."

"..."

I faced Oda Sakunosuke in silence. For a moment, I couldn't say what I wanted to say. I could only look at him sitting there, watching me calmly.

Even after I was pulled into an embrace, even after he began vanishing before my eyes, I remained frozen in place.

"Oda Sakunosuke!"

My eyes widened, and I tried to reach out and catch him as he began to disappear. But my touch only made Oda Sakunosuke crumble into grains of dust faster.

"Dazai... I should be dead. But, for some reason, I felt you needed this hug."

"If that's the case, then I can rest easy."

Those were his words before he vanished. For a moment, I couldn't even tell whether he had truly been an illusion conjured by the cursed spirit.

My ability was Nullification. A special grade cursed spirit with human-level intelligence should have known that.

Then why had he hugged me?

Why...

Was it because the things it conjured possessed feelings and thoughts of their own, or was it something else entirely?

I knew none of the answers. But at that very instant, I emerged from the illusion.

I saw Satoru Gojo, Suguru Geto, and Shoko Ieiri standing nearby.

"Ah, we should head back, shouldn't we?"

I smiled faintly, as though nothing had happened. But only I knew that what had just happened was something I could spend a lifetime thinking about.

"Yes, we really should head back."

Saying that, I led the way out of Lupin. Even if the others wanted to ask what had happened, I wouldn't tell them. I certainly wouldn't tell them. That was what I thought.

"Dazai..."

In the end, the bewildered group said nothing and followed me back. But I didn't care what they were thinking. Today, I had hugged Oda Sakunosuke.

Although I didn't know whether he was alive, although I didn't know whether he was a cursed spirit, things weren't really all that terrible, were they?

The world isn't entirely sorrow and pain, is it? Ah, why does that sound so strange coming from me?

We went outside again. Only this time, looking in silence at the enormous hole kicked through Lupin, I grew even quieter.

"Where's the curtain?"

Two awkward cats, a fox, and a... never mind. When dealing with a beautiful lady, I ought to call her Miss Shoko Ieiri.

In short, we all fell silent, staring at the gaping hole, momentarily at a loss.

"I'll have it fixed by tomorrow!"

Satoru Gojo said that and got into the assistant supervisor's car ahead of everyone else. It might have sounded better if one ignored his guilty expression.

As for me, the whole thing gave me a headache. I decided to let them go back first and face Teacher Yaga's iron fist, while I headed elsewhere alone.

I had a ridiculous number of missions. Was there anything wrong with rushing to the next one after finishing this one? Nothing at all.

So I urgently searched through my mission list and found one that required a flight overseas. Then, quite happily, I boarded that evening's last flight and left the country.

Teacher Yaga's belated call didn't arrive until I got off the plane.

"Hello, hello. Did you need something, Teacher Yaga?"

"Osamu Dazai! Where have you gone? You haven't answered your phone or replied to any messages for hours!"

"Ah, well, about that. I was on a plane."

"What did you go there for?"

"A mission. I'll be abroad on missions all month."

Masamichi Yaga: "..."

"First, tell me this. I can excuse their ignorance, but why did you go along with them and fail to put up a curtain?"

"But the assistant supervisors put up the curtains. What does that have to do with me?"

"You've always refused to let an assistant supervisor accompany you, so you've insisted on putting up the curtains yourself. What happened this time?"

"He didn't ask me beforehand."

"..."

Seeing that Teacher Yaga was about to explode, I swiftly replied and hung up.

"Ah, it's an urgent mission. I have to go. Goodbye, Teacher Yaga! I'll call you later!"

And so, I cheerfully hung up on Teacher Yaga and ran toward the restaurant serving the all-crab feast I had been dreaming of for so long!

As for the mission you mentioned, what mission?

Dazai Cat knew nothing about that. How could Dazai Cat possibly know anything about such things?

Dazai Cat only knew that he was hungry, that he needed food, and that he really, really wanted an all-crab feast.

So when I looked at the all-crab feast again, then at the Red Scarf around my neck, I fell silent.

Ah, this looks a little like my first day here.

Even the stomachache is the same...

I felt as though I was about to die. Make no mistake: once again, I was in a presidential suite. Once again, I was curled up alone on the enormous bed, looking at the night view and the streets below covered in Chinese characters, rolling around uncontrollably.

"It's been a while since I felt like this."

With that thought, I tossed my already somewhat rumpled coat aside and curled into a ball, staring listlessly at the sky outside.

There was always such beautiful scenery here, and one's homeland always left all kinds of lovely impressions in one's heart.

Home was always different. Just like me now, looking at this world, looking at places similar to those in my former world but not quite the same, searching desperately for a shred of comfort within them.

Once, I had thought I would never return. Now that I had, I still felt a little wistful.

A reunion after a long separation, or a first meeting?

As I looked at the scenery outside, I slipped into a daze, forgetting the lingering ache in my stomach. I gazed at the dark, utterly starless sky and sat there for a very, very long time.

So long that dawn seemed ready to break through the clouds. Only then did I suddenly realize that I had no idea how long I had been sitting there in a daze.

I hadn't been thinking about anything. It hadn't felt as though much time had passed. Yet time had still slipped away with every breath.

I abruptly stood up, then bent slightly at the waist from the pain in my stomach before pulling the wide-open curtains tightly shut.

Ah, light and all that-just stay outside.

With that thought, I glanced at the time on my phone. It was nearly five in the morning. Then I considered the mission ahead.

Yesterday, I had left Tokyo as though fleeing. In truth, I hadn't known where I wanted to go, until I spotted the only mission located here.

At that moment, I had stopped thinking entirely and simply chosen this mission. But I would probably have to catch a connecting flight before long, wouldn't I?

Whatever. As long as I can stay here for a while. Just a little while will be enough.

Thinking that, I curled up beneath the covers again and once more fell into a very long dream, one that made it terribly difficult to hold on to my sanity.

Ango was there, and Oda Sakunosuke, Chūya, Mori-there were so very many people. It was as though I was reliving the main storyline, helplessly going through everything that had happened after meeting Nakano, until the moment Mori was about to drive me out of the Port Mafia when I was eighteen. Only then did I abruptly wake.

Ah... that kind of dream again. Another dream.

I seemed to have made countless attempts to hold on, yet every one of them had failed to work. As though I had been cursed, no matter what I did wrong, everything ultimately headed toward its original course.

In truth, I could no longer remember exactly what I had dreamed. So many of the later events had already faded. By the time I fully woke and sat bolt upright, the memories that had still been clear blurred in an instant.

Over the next five minutes, they rapidly faded, until I had completely forgotten what I had dreamed, remembering only that it had involved some unpleasant things.

I sat on the bed in a daze for a while, then silently fumbled for the phone beside me and checked the time displayed on it.

Four hours. Four hours, as always.

"So Boss Dazai must have given himself a skill that automatically switches him on and off."

I fell silent as I stared at the time. Then I quickly changed my clothes, put on the Red Scarf, and, after making sure nothing was out of place, turned and left the hotel.

It was almost noon now, but because of my stomachache, I had no intention of getting something to eat before carrying out the mission.

Instead, I went straight to the mission site.

Honestly, most missions in Huaxia didn't require us to handle them. This one could easily have been assigned to an ordinary jujutsu sorcerer.

(Note: "Ordinary" here does not mean truly ordinary. Any jujutsu sorcerer below grade one would only be going to their death.)

In any case, after exorcising the cursed spirit in a less-than-cheerful mood, I stayed another two days. Only after truly using up every last bit of my allotted time did I reluctantly leave the country that had once been my homeland.