Understanding, Intent

"Good evening, Lord Tengen."

Having just finished warning Suguru Geto, I went straight to see Tengen, sneaking through places that ordinary cursed techniques could never breach with the help of Nullification.

"You're the one with cursed technique nullification?"

"Yes, yes, that's me! You can call me Osamu Dazai. Of course, if you insist on calling me Nullification, there's not much I can do about it."

I nodded with a faint smile, popping out in front of Tengen before standing there quite obediently, a trace of amusement in my brown eyes.

"Then what brings you here?"

Tengen seemed somewhat surprised by my arrival, though his expression gave absolutely nothing away.

"Hmm... No Longer Human can suppress the evolution of your cursed technique, so here I am."

Still smiling, I slowly approached him and reached out to touch his fingernail. With my other hand, I picked up a dagger and sat calmly beside him, though I kept positioning the blade over my opposite wrist, seemingly considering where best to cut.

"Lord Tengen, did you know? I once tested whether my blood could erase cursed spirits.

"Unfortunately, the result wasn't what I wanted. But at the same time, I discovered something very interesting. It couldn't erase cursed spirits, but it almost stopped time for them. Until the blood lost its effect, the cursed spirits could no longer undergo any change."

"Nullification suffers an epic downgrade once it leaves my body, but it's still useful."

As I spoke, I seemed to finally find a spot I liked and swiftly sliced the dagger across my wrist. Blood spurted out, but every drop landed on Tengen's hand.

"Now, it lasts thirty days."

Smiling faintly, I tightened the bandages already wrapped around my wrist until both the bloody smell and the vivid red were sealed firmly beneath them.

"Why?"

"Hmm?"

Playing cute, I blinked my wide brown eyes and looked at Tengen in confusion.

"Toji Zenin works for you. You were the one who ordered him to seriously injure the users of the Six Eyes and Cursed Spirit Manipulation. And you were also the one who took the Star Plasma Vessel away to prevent her from merging with me? I originally thought you were the traitor at Jujutsu High, yet tonight you came here to prevent my cursed technique from evolving."

Tengen stated all this calmly, as though making small talk, yet his tone was full of questions.

"Hmm, if I had to give a reason, it's Riko Amanai. She's useful. It's not her time to die yet."

I considered it for a moment, then gave him that answer.

"All this trouble, just for Riko Amanai?"

Tengen looked utterly baffled, his previously calm tone turning incredulous.

"No. Although that beautiful young Star Plasma Vessel is certainly adorable, the wish to keep her alive doesn't come from her."

"...Why?"

"Ah, ah, you have to let people keep a few secrets, Lord Tengen. You won't get an answer by asking me over and over."

I smiled and tilted my head like an adorable cat. When I wasn't being so flamboyant, I looked so absurdly well-behaved that even Teacher Yaga would have been stunned for a whole hour.

"...I understand."

"Don't worry, Lord Tengen. I'll find you another Star Plasma Vessel. Of course, if I still haven't found one by the time you're about to die, we'll just have to blame Miss Riko Amanai's bad luck."

"As you wish."

"Then remember our earlier deal, Lord Tengen..."

"..."

Tengen didn't answer me again. Of course, I had no interest in staying any longer, either. There were still so, so many troublesome things to deal with. Staying here forever wasn't a very good way to avoid them.

"What a pain."

Fine, fine, I admitted I had started caring a little about Suguru Geto and Satoru Gojo. So what anyone else thought wasn't worth worrying about at all.

Riko Amanai, Tengen, Toji Zenin-were you expecting a mafia boss to travel between worlds with dreams of saving them?

What a joke.

The reason I cared about Jujutsu Society and hadn't left Jujutsu High was Teacher Yaga. The reason I considered keeping Riko Amanai alive was that troublesome cat and fox.

Even if a creature like me had no desire to keep living, treating them as a source of amusement every now and then wasn't entirely unacceptable.

Of course I could keep Satoru Gojo and Suguru Geto under my wing forever, quietly taking care of everything behind their backs while watching their smiling faces.

But I had no intention of living all that long. Rather than leave them to fend for themselves in Jujutsu Society, only for them to end up trying to kill each other, I might as well take a more decisive approach from the start.

As their senior, I did admittedly feel the tiniest urge to spoil them.

But if I took on the attitude of a teacher, surely no one could be harsher than me. (Akutagawa and Atsushi had something to say about that.)

"Let me see, then. Would even diamonds I carved with my own hands shatter?"

Even someone as rotten as me could look forward to these things a little.

What fun.

As I left, dawn had begun to break across the once pitch-black sky.

I rubbed my slightly aching forehead and casually checked the time on my phone.

It was nearly five now, though in theory, everyone would normally be asleep at this hour.

But when I passed the Training Ground, I saw Satoru Gojo and Suguru Geto sparring in silence.

Suguru Geto had heavy dark circles beneath his eyes and looked as though he hadn't slept all night.

"Geto, Satoru, I've never seen you two up this early before-"

I put on a smile, adjusted the Red Scarf around my neck, and slowly strolled toward them.

"Dazai!"

"Dazai."

"Want to come out with me? I'm planning to show you a few interesting things."

"What? What?"

"Ah, it's the Social Practice Class I told Teacher Yaga about beforehand! All right, hurry up and come with me."

"Did Teacher Yaga agree?"

"Geto, do you really care whether Teacher Yaga agreed?"

"..."

And so, one Dazai cat, one Gojo the Cat, and one Geto the Fox raced down the mountain.

As for Teacher Yaga roaring "Osamu Dazai!" at the note left on his desk, that was another matter entirely.