Not being strong enough was the original sin

[Even in a world of violence and bloodshed, I could find no reason to live.]

I kept searching for a reason to live as time passed, even though, much, much later, I still had not found one.

The junior who had once been a fourth-year had already died at the hands of a cursed spirit. Of the two former third-years, only one remained. One had died and the other had been injured on a mission; without Shoko Ieiri, neither would probably have been saved.

I did not know what I had been thinking, but in the end, I had not left Jujutsu Society. Instead, much to Teacher Yaga's distress, I became one of Jujutsu High's new teachers.

As a teacher, however, my greatest pleasure was hanging myself from a southeastern branch and watching my students have a breakdown as they hauled me down.

Over time, though, Kento Nanami grew increasingly composed, and the little angel Yu Haibara gradually got used to it as well.

Still, Satoru Gojo refused to call me "teacher" even now, while Suguru Geto and Shoko were more accustomed to calling me their senior.

What did Satoru Gojo call me, you ask? Dazai. He generally left out any honorifics. For a while, he wanted to call me Osamu, but I vehemently rejected that.

They were a youthful bunch, and there were some rather nice moments.

In short, quite literally, we got along pretty well.

What made me happiest, though, was that my assimilation seemed to have become less severe.

Even my black sludge episodes had become much less frequent. Though my suicidal habits were still difficult to suppress, overall, everything was heading in a good direction.

I did not know why. Perhaps I had always been afraid of loneliness, but after everything they did, it did not really feel like much of a problem.

For instance, Satoru Gojo and Suguru Geto once teamed up to steal my hanging rope. Teacher Yaga caught them in the end, yet, remarkably, pretended he had seen nothing.

Or the time Satoru Gojo, Suguru Geto, and Shoko Ieiri went drinking together. Satoru Gojo got drunk and went wild, indirectly blowing up my dorm room, then had the Gojo Clan give me a pile of limited-edition bandages as compensation.

Or when they dragged me along drinking without hesitation to avoid being scolded by Teacher Yaga. Naturally, I escaped in the end, while Teacher Yaga punched each of them once.

...In short, these seemingly ridiculous things that had genuinely happened kept unfolding around me.

For once, they actually made me feel that having them around was not so bad.

Like today. Like right now, when I was once again considering hanging myself from a southeastern branch, and a Gojo the Cat suddenly descended from above and tapped my shoulder.

"Dazai! Want to go drinking? Come with us."

Satoru Gojo hung upside down, his legs clamped tightly around the ceiling beam above, his hair looking like a sea urchin as he patted my shoulder.

"You pass out after one drink, and you still want to go drinking?"

Even as I said that, I reached up and pulled the hanging rope off the beam. Looking at Satoru Gojo, who had already landed steadily before me, I nodded in agreement.

"Shoko sent me."

"Planning to use me as a shield? That hasn't worked even once, has it~?"

"I'm not drinking anyway!"

"Mm-hmm, mm-hmm."

I nodded with utter indifference and glanced at the sky outside. It was not actually time to finish work yet, but Nanami and Haibara could have a study period together today.

With that thought, I sent them a message and left the school with Satoru Gojo, picking up a Geto and a Shoko along the way.

Then, just as we left the school gates, we heard a furious shout.

"Osamu Dazai!"

"Run, run! If Teacher Yaga catches us, none of us are getting away."

As Suguru Geto said that, he dashed several hundred meters away in a flash.

"Want a ride?"

I commandeered a car from some poor Assistant Supervisor, then drove after the others as they ran.

"No."

"Don't need one."

"Can anyone actually survive riding in your car?"

The three voices sounded almost simultaneously. As things stood, probably not a single person at Jujutsu High dared ride in my car anymore.

Come on, my driving is obviously superb. They just don't appreciate it.

Thinking that, I looked up to see the three of them flying through the sky and simply stopped bothering with them.

As long as ordinary people don't notice, anything goes, right?

Mm, not bad.

I casually declined Teacher Yaga's call, then cheerfully floored the accelerator and hurtled down the mountain, utterly unconcerned about whether the bewildered Assistant Supervisor beside me lived or died.

"Speaking of which, it's about time."

Murmuring that softly, I casually picked up the phone I had silenced beside me and opened Toji Zenin's contact.

"Take the job. No need to hold back, but Riko Amanai mustn't die. Bring her back."

A faint smile colored my voice. I held the steering wheel with one hand as I spoke on the phone, and the slight smile curling my lips made me look much gentler.

"Boss, you're messing with my record here. What if nobody hires me afterward?"

As Toji Zenin spoke, the constant crackle of cooking came through from the other end of the line.

"I'll make up the money. In the future, there won't be any such thing as the Astrolabe Cult."

My voice remained gentle and quiet, even carrying a trace of amusement. Perhaps the words coming out of my mouth were somewhat cruel, but who would lecture a Mafia boss about cruelty?

"Sure thing. No problem."

With that, Toji Zenin hung up.

That was probably one thing I liked about him. People who neither asked questions nor meddled, even when they vaguely guessed something, were always very likable.

At least in that respect, Toji Zenin did well enough.

Now, let me see whether Suguru Geto can withstand polishing.

As a diamond, he was not hard enough yet, but as a rough diamond, he possessed limitless potential.

Even as time passed, I had never lost my habit of observing humans. What difference did it make whom I observed?

Suguru Geto, Satoru Gojo, Shoko Ieiri-it made no difference.

And so, I drifted to a stop outside the restaurant, greeted the trio who had arrived ahead of me, and naturally sat beside the lovely Miss Shoko Ieiri.

As for why I did not sit beside those two men, well... all I could say was that their friendship moved heaven and earth.

If it were me and a certain sticky little slug, we would certainly stay far apart. Ideally, so far apart that we could not even see each other.

Speaking of which, though, at Port Mafia banquets and Mori's private parties, that sticky little slug and I were often seated together.

I was something of Mori's pupil, his confidant in other people's eyes, and the Port Mafia's youngest executive.

Apart from Alice's reserved seat, I could sit wherever I wanted. But I had never been particularly interested in those parties, so whenever the seating was arranged, either Kōyō or Chūya ended up beside me.

Still, rather than those grand banquets that felt tedious and revolting, I really did prefer eating with friends at some izakaya or ordinary restaurant.

As I thought that, I drank with Shoko, only slowing down a little once the two of us had successfully drunk Suguru Geto under the table, leaving him slumped over it.

Satoru Gojo, you ask? Oh, he did not drink.

Since a certain Gojo the Cat would probably blow up all of Jujutsu High if he drank, he had been explicitly forbidden from drinking, and nobody intended to let him touch alcohol even now.

So, in the end, of the four people who had arrived, only Suguru Geto went down. The other three walked along the street, lively as ever beneath the newly lit streetlights, waiting for the Assistant Supervisor to pick us up.

I believed the Assistant Supervisor's slow arrival had absolutely nothing to do with my stealing his car!

Absolutely nothing!

And so, in the end, I faced the punishment of Yaga's iron fist.

Of course, I was not the only one punished. The trio who had run off and skipped class were punished too.

But I swore I really had not known they still had classes. Otherwise, I would still have gone out with them-

After receiving my punishment, however, I did get to hear about their mission, just as I had hoped.

A mission that looked like an absolute headache and, in fact, was an absolute headache.

They were to protect Riko Amanai, but my name was not on the mission roster.

That was understandable. Although I was a Special Grade Sorcerer with the most overwhelming ability to instantly kill any cursed spirit, most jujutsu sorcerers placed particular emphasis on hand-to-hand combat in addition to their cursed techniques.

As for my hand-to-hand combat skills...

I was just an ordinary fellow with below-average combat skills. How could I possibly manage those things? (Laughs.)

As for shooting people dead and so on, I believed marksmanship and hand-to-hand combat were different things.

You wanted to bring up my maxed-out evasion? Did dodging really have anything to do with hand-to-hand combat?

Besides, your moves were far too easy to read-

(Chūya had something to say here: "Him? That bastard claims he knows even my breathing inside out."

What, what? I don't want to hear that from a sticky little slug. By the way, Chūya, you're twenty-two. Are you still growing?

Chūya: .../He kicked at Dazai, but Dazai dodged.)

In short, time always passed quickly in all sorts of ways. After I happily attempted suicide by drowning once again and Teacher Yaga angrily dragged me out of the water, another message arrived on my phone as I watched dusk draw to a close.

The all-capable Teacher Dazai is coming online! Let's see who's asking for help.

My personal phone chimed.

Contact: Suguru Geto

[Dazai, do you know who was sent to hunt down Riko Amanai?]

[Ah, it's Toji Zenin. He used to be quite famous-the Sorcerer Killer.]

[Did someone like that retire?]

[Yes, yes. He's married now.]

[Then why would he take action again?]

[Who knows? Maybe he's short on money. It's fine. Aren't you and Satoru supposed to be the strongest? Do your best to beat him!]

[Dazai...]

The midnight breeze drifted into the room through the window, while I stood calmly before my dorm room window, looking at a nightscape I had seen who knew how many times.

My phone screen lit up and went dark. It held information on many people, but most of them were merely useful pawns.

Looking at it was a headache every time.

Still, though a certain Brain's scheme was not particularly sophisticated, it was certainly effective.

What a profound Brain, assimilating all humanity with Tengen...

Honestly, if a certain Rat hiding in the gutter heard his wish and Suguru Geto's, that Rat would surely go mad!

He absolutely would.

My thoughts gradually drifted toward the idea of that Rat discovering that someone else's wish ran completely counter to his own-and might actually succeed in the end. I could not help wanting to laugh.

If he was unhappy, I was happy. I still did not know how Chūya had come over back then, and even now, I had not found a way to transport them here a second time.

If I really found a way, perhaps I could try bringing Rat over. At least I believed that, in a certain sense, he would be very willing to kill Fyodor.

Still, it really was a shame. I had yet to find a way to bring them over, as though that one time had been nothing more than an accident.

Perhaps it really had been an accident.

Suddenly, another message appeared on my previously dark phone.

Contact: Toji Zenin

[Boss, you're sure it doesn't matter whether they live or die?]

[Diamonds don't break that easily. Don't worry.]

[Them? You're that confident? Because they're people who can upset the balance?]

[Because they're the strongest.]

[The strongest?]

[Yes. In the future.]

[If they're snuffed out in the cradle before that future comes, they won't be the strongest, will they?]

[True, but you never know. After all, life and death might be what pushes them to become the strongest.]

[Boss, you're using me as a whetstone.]

[No. If they die there, I won't give you any trouble either, Toji.]

[But I remember you getting along pretty well with them, Boss.]

[In every sense, not being strong enough is the original sin.

I thought you already understood that very well, Toji.]

[You're right, Boss. Not being strong enough is the original sin.]

I looked at Toji Zenin's reply with a faint smile. After a long stretch of contemplation, I quietly typed out another message and sent it.

[So, when you realize you can't beat them, hurry up and leave. You threw away your pride long ago, didn't you?

I can't have my blade breaking at some troublesome moment.

After all, I imagine your wife is still waiting for you, Toji.]

After sending that message, I turned off my phone, drew the curtains again, and curled my whole body beneath the covers, waiting for tomorrow to arrive.

Several lines of small text filled the flickering phone screen, but I did not open them.

[Boss, your scheming never ceases to amaze me.]

[So you've already foreseen how this ends, too...]