Let's Make a Deal

Toji Fushiguro, Toji Zenin... the gem the Zenin Clan had cast away with its own hands was doing fairly well now.

I wondered whether those old men in the Zenin Clan would ever regret it. After all, in the story, he had nearly put the two strongest to the sword.

But that wasn't quite fair to say. To those arrogant members of the Zenin Clan, anyone outside the clan wasn't a sorcerer, and anyone who wasn't a sorcerer wasn't human.

Awaken a Cursed Technique, and they would worship you like a god. If it was the Ten Shadows Technique, that would probably mean a whole new chance for the clan to turn its fortunes around.

The Three Great Families probably all suffered from that same affliction. As long as you awakened something good that brought glory to the family, nothing else about you mattered. You wouldn't have to fear a thing.

But none of that mattered now.

"Mr. Toji Zenin, I've been waiting."

I put on a faint smile, my russet eyes full of warmth. Unless something unexpected happened, he should have been behind me with a blade pressed against my neck.

Just like now...

"Boss, are you sure you can save my wife?"

Toji Zenin rested the still-dripping Inverted Spear of Heaven against my shoulder. The gesture looked forceful, but he hadn't actually hurt me at all, aside from soaking my school uniform in blood.

"Ah, well, who knows?" My smile unchanged, I glanced at the blade on my shoulder and gave him that answer.

Toji Zenin was fast. In an instant, blood slid down my pale neck onto the red scarf around it, disappearing into the fabric.

"Boss, are you serious?" His voice was slightly hoarse. The blade across my neck radiated a chill, and his killing intent kept mounting. For some reason, at that moment, he reminded me a little of a certain black-clad shorty.

"Heh... don't get so worked up. You don't have a choice, do you?"

With a soft chuckle, I gently pushed at the blade across my neck and slowly turned around as he moved it aside.

"How do you know I don't have a choice?"

"Are you sure you want to keep up this pointless little act? Or have you already found a way to cure cancer?"

I raised my head slightly. A faint sting came from my neck, and even that negligible pain made me sigh softly.

"Honestly, you cut my bandages. Now I'll have to wash my uniform, too."

"How did you find out?"

"Isn't it obvious?" I answered quietly, waved a hand, and turned away without a care.

"I like talking to smart people, Mr. Toji. So if you're going to keep asking questions like that, please be quiet for a moment."

With that, I stopped paying Toji Fushiguro any attention and chose one of the cars left behind by the higher-ups who had fled in a panic.

Then I casually pulled a piece of wire out of my hair, picked the car lock, and sat in the driver's seat.

"Aren't you getting in, Mr. Toji? I'm a very good driver."

Probably, I added silently, then sat "obediently" in my seat.

It sounded like an idle question. As soon as I finished speaking, I shut the window and door. Of course, that didn't stop Toji Zenin from getting into the passenger seat on the other side.

"Where are you going?"

"To treat her, of course."

"You know..." I interrupted Toji Zenin before he could finish.

"What you're trying to say is that you've hidden them very well, right? If I couldn't even find something that simple, you wouldn't believe me, would you, Mr. Toji-"

I yawned, then slammed my foot down on the accelerator. The sudden force pinning us to our seats cut off whatever Toji Zenin was about to say next.

"Hey! Hold on tight!"

Despite saying that, I launched into a wild drive without even fastening my own seat belt.

I tore recklessly down the almost deserted side roads.

"Do you have a driver's license?"

Over ten minutes later, Toji Zenin suddenly asked that out of nowhere.

"Of course! Not."

I answered with perfect confidence as I sped along.

Toji Zenin responded with silence. Of course, none of that mattered.

All I wanted was a blade.

A blade I could use or a blade that worked well-there wasn't much difference to me.

They were all expendable. Discarding one the instant it became necessary would hardly be surprising. Without Toji Fushiguro, there would be someone else. As long as I could find their weaknesses, there was nothing to fear.

Still, that might not be particularly pleasant for the people being used as blades.

Treasure a blade when necessary, then snap him the moment he showed the slightest sign of turning on his master. That was what my teacher had taught me.

Although he hadn't personally taught me by word and example in this world, the lesson was easy enough to understand.

The optimal solution... heh.

With an ear-piercing squeal of tires against pavement, the powerful force pressing me into my seat quickly brought my thoughts back to the road.

Ah, Osamu Dazai had interfered again. This wasn't the first time, and it certainly wouldn't be the last.

Perhaps by the time everything truly ended, I would have become him in earnest.

My expression hadn't changed, but the man beside me was perceptive enough to notice that something was wrong.

Still, Toji Zenin wasn't the type to meddle. Even if he noticed something off about the person beside him, he wouldn't say much.

That was a good thing. Having people buzzing around me like mosquitoes, relentlessly asking about things they had no business knowing, irritated me too-especially when they were still useful and I couldn't kill them.

Situations like that only gave me a headache. I disliked such people. Unfortunately, most of the people I met were precisely that stupid.

"I thought you might take her to a better hospital."

I looked at the location whose address I had tracked down a few days earlier. The hospital standing there barely qualified as one. Perhaps it was just a larger clinic.

There were only three rows of buildings from front to back, with the rear one clearly serving as the ward. The whole hospital looked terribly run-down. Still, a hospital like this probably had something special about it.

For instance, there were rumors online of encounters with a girl who could use a reverse Cursed Technique. She seemed to have been active around here once.

But I didn't know whether something or someone had concealed her information. Even I hadn't managed to uncover it. I had even resorted to torture over the matter, but unfortunately, it had yielded nothing.

"Don't you know why I chose it, boss?"

Toji Zenin curled one corner of his mouth, put his weapon into the Inventory Curse Worm's body, pushed open the car door, and got out ahead of me.

"I won't need to know in the future, either."

My voice was quiet, but I was certain Toji Zenin had heard me. After all, he had paused ever so slightly. Anyone else would naturally have overlooked it. Unfortunately, even in Osamu Dazai's body, I wouldn't.

"Then I hope you'll keep your promise, boss."

He seemed to say that deliberately. The way he looked as he was about to see his wife stood in stark contrast to how he had looked while killing people earlier. Anyone who saw that the Sorcerer Killer was like this at home would probably be shocked.

Unfortunately, I had seen that expression-the one that looked ready to sprout little flowers-far too often on a certain lolicon, a certain lolicon, and a certain scruffy lolicon of a middle-aged man.

Now it actually gave me a strange sense of... familiarity?

I firmly shook my head, shaking that scene out of my mind. Clearly, something had infected me. Why else would I be thinking like that?

Although the hospital's exterior was terribly shabby, it was clear that all its doctors, nurses, and cleaners seemed to feel a sense of belonging here.

That showed in more than their expressions and gestures. The interior was spotless, most of the nurses wore smiles, and they were very attentive to their patients.

At least in that respect, Toji Zenin hadn't chosen poorly, I thought as we soon reached his wife's room.

She was clearly a very gentle person, with the features of a graceful beauty that grew more appealing the longer you looked. However, chemotherapy had already made most of her hair fall out.

The good news was that even as her long hair gradually fell away, the woman lying peacefully in bed with her eyes closed remained breathtakingly beautiful. Her brow was faintly furrowed, as though her heart held endless sorrow, yet merely standing beside her enveloped you in a gentle warmth.

"Ah~ no wonder you're willing to give everything for her. A classic Yamato nadeshiko. I absolutely love that type, too."

"Boss..."

"Ah, ah, your wife is right here. Are you sure you want to draw a blade on me? I'm not interested in her-it's just that all girls deserve courtesy and respect, don't they? I'm not after her."

Only after I said that did Toji Zenin slowly lower the hand he had readied to retrieve his blade. It gave me a headache. When it came to being devoted to his wife, Toji Zenin certainly excelled.

That was a good thing for me. If I could hold her life in my hands, I didn't think Toji Zenin would want to become a blade that killed his master.

"Now, just a little touch will do."

As I spoke, I lightly touched Mrs. Zenin's long hair. No Longer Human activated instantly, blue characters forming chains that wrapped around me before fading into nothing.

"Mm! That's that."

"Boss, could you explain?"

Toji Zenin had followed me almost the whole way, so naturally, he knew what my Cursed Technique was. Even if he didn't, he had probably guessed: isolation, nullification, or suppression. Since my Cursed Technique had activated now, there was clearly a problem.

"It's simple. Someone set her up. You, too."

I casually waved a hand and said it with ease.

Toji Zenin: ...???

Me: I'm not telling. Take a guess.

"The Zenin Clan? Or one of my enemies?"

Toji Zenin fell silent for a moment. A dark glint crossed his eyes, and then he stared straight at me, clearly trying to threaten me.

"You can investigate it yourself. Though I've never believed you'd be able to find out on your own, that doesn't really matter. After all, how will you give up unless you try?"

At that, Toji Zenin's gaze grew even darker, and the killing intent surrounding him swept toward me.

Tch. What a troublesome man.

"I don't like people looking at me like that, Mr. Toji. Do I need to remind you that your wife's illness hasn't been cured? All I did was erase the Cursed Technique she was carrying."

I tilted my head up slightly, my russet eyes brimming with amusement. My own presence countered the killing intent he had just unleashed, until I returned once again to my smiling demeanor.

"...Sorry, boss."

Toji Zenin was silent for a moment, then looked again at his wife, still lying in the hospital bed. He lowered his head without saying anything else.

"Ah, you don't need to know anything about those matters, Mr. Toji. All you need to do is fulfill your promise."

As I spoke, I didn't spare him so much as a glance. With a casual smile on my lips, I waved a sheet of paper in front of Toji Fushiguro.

"Your wife can hold on for at least another five years. Within those five years, I'll finish everything I need to do. Then this paper will be yours. A complete storyline that can grant your wish. At that point, whether you want to save your wife or do something else, I won't care."

"But for those five years, Mr. Toji, you belong to me."

Looking at Toji Zenin's silent face, I couldn't help chuckling.

"Ah, you don't have to answer right now. I don't mind waiting a little. As compensation for what happened earlier, I won't charge you for No Longer Human. Why don't you think it over, Mr. Toji?"

"I know what you're thinking, but killing me and taking it isn't an option here. Because of No Longer Human's nullification and this item's personal binding, unless I give it to you willingly, all you'll get is an ordinary sheet of paper."

My voice remained light. With a faint smile, I glanced at the silent man, then decided there was nothing more to say and prepared to leave.

If this dragged on much longer, Masamichi Yaga would probably be harder to fool later.

Thinking of all the trouble awaiting me back at school gave me a headache.

Trouble really was trouble-an irritating, headache-inducing nuisance in every sense.

With that thought, I lowered my gaze and glanced at the sky outside. It was dusk. The yellowish lamplight mingled with the equally golden sunlight, casting crisscrossing lines across Mrs. Zenin's quilt.

I looked at Toji Zenin and shook my head, then turned decisively to leave.

Until I heard the words I had been waiting for.

"Wait. I'll do what you say. Five years?"

"Five years. Do you need a Binding Vow? I don't mind."

"Yes."

And so, despite my thoroughly irritated urging, I still managed to waste nearly another twenty minutes on him.

Now I was definitely going to run into trouble. Sometimes, having a teacher who cared too much about his students wasn't such a good thing.

What a bittersweet problem.

With that thought, I left the car outside untouched and boarded a nearby tram instead.

After all, I hadn't yet figured out how to explain to Mr. Yaga that I had driven without a license.

I'll probably expand this chapter to around 5,000 Chinese characters tomorrow. Sorry, I've got a fever. See you in the early hours-I'll definitely finish adding to it.

(All done!)