Hiiragi Eiji was very bewildered.
……Is this, an invitation for him to join the faction on Chuuya’s side? But that shouldn’t be, right? After all, given the relationship between Chuuya and Dazai Osamu, according to his own “dirty adult” way of thinking, they shouldn’t feel reassured enough to reuse someone else’s former subordinate.
But…… this is Chuuya.
Thinking this way, Hiiragi Eiji tapped open his NPC panel.
[Nakahara Chuuya: Favorability 80]
……This is the angel Chuuya whose favorability toward him grew so fast.
So why was it that action was taken first, and only then did the favorability skyrocket? This is the first time he has seen such a magical situation.
……If only he could help two main characters in the Port Mafia at once, how good that would be.
Hiiragi Eiji sighed lightly. Carrying a kind of indescribable guilt, he secretly made a resolution in his heart: while helping Dazai Osamu fulfill his wishes, he must also give Chuuya a hand.
Just as he wanted to say something, he turned his head and found that Chuuya had already slumped on the bar counter, unconscious.
He looked quite drunk, and the flush on his cheeks couldn’t fade away at all. However, his sleeping posture was very obedient; he lay sideways on his arms, facing his entire face toward Hiiragi Eiji’s direction without any defense.
……So, was the question from just now actually asked after he got drunk?
Hiiragi Eiji chuckled.
Well, that is fine too; at least, when Chuuya is sober, he might not ask such…… an overly emotional question.
Thinking this way, Hiiragi Eiji spoke in a low voice to the bartender. This was a bar directly affiliated with the Port Mafia, and the bartender was one of “their own.” Besides alcohol, it also provided some simple set meals for this group of “overtime dogs” to keep their lives going, so Hiiragi Eiji communicated with the other party very quickly. He was going to the back kitchen to boil a hangover soup for Chuuya and let the bartender look after Chuuya for him.
Before leaving, Hiiragi Eiji gingerly pressed Chuuya’s black coat, which was piled to the side, onto his shoulders to prevent him from catching a cold.
When he felt that Hiiragi Eiji had already walked far away, Chuuya, who should have been in a comatose state, opened his eyes.
There was only a slight hint of drunkenness in his deep blue eyes.
“……You really don’t understand liquor.” He muttered in a low voice.
The things he drank tonight were clearly things with an alcohol content close to soft drinks.
The bartender, who had been wiping glasses near him the whole time, observed his nose and heart (mindful of his own business), pretending he hadn’t heard anything.
Chuuya closed his eyes again.
It’s just that tonight, the night he made the appointment with the other party to go to Okinawa together to see the sea, he didn’t want to hear a refusal.
Early the next morning, just as Chuuya was about to take Hiiragi Eiji back the same way to continue investigating the whereabouts of the missing persons, the two ran into Dazai Osamu, who was squatting beside Chuuya’s motorcycle playing a handheld game, in the parking lot.
This bandage-man, who had only stayed in the hospital for one night, looked listless at this time. After hearing footsteps, he took the time to glance at the direction of the entrance.
“……Ah, you guys finally came.” The bangs on his forehead swayed gently with his movements, thus exposing the circles upon circles of bandages wrapped around his forehead—these were the new bandages added after being injured yesterday.
“Why are you here?” Seeing this mackerel early in the morning, Chuuya asked with annoyance.
“Good question, I also very much want to ask Mori-sensei why he has to let me go on a mission with you, Little Chibi (Shorty), again.” Dazai Osamu answered with a listless tone.
When he reached this point, he calmly observed Hiiragi Eiji, who was standing beside Chuuya. The wound on his head seemed to be throbbing with pain again.
Whether it was because of aftereffects or not, he vaguely felt a sense of crisis rising, which forced him to face Hiiragi Eiji, whose presence was very strong.
“……And must bring Eiji along.” He added this sentence weakly.
Hiiragi Eiji finally switched his expression from his squinting, murderous state back to that of a kind, old father.
“Click,” with a sound, Dazai Osamu neatly closed the cover of the handheld game.
“In short, it’s a follow-up mission regarding the ‘defector.’ That guy installed bombs in many secret strongholds or essential paths of the Port Mafia. During the days you guys were working in the field, I have already dismantled quite a few, but it looks like the efficiency is a bit too low, so Mori-sensei let the two of you and me work together to clear out all the bombs within today.”
Hiiragi Eiji: “……” You melon-skinned (idiot) defector, to think there was so much follow-up waiting here.
Chuuya looked at Dazai Osamu with a subtle expression, “……How are we getting there?”
If it was very far, then he could take Eiji and ride the motorcycle there.
As for the mackerel——
What does that have to do with him, given he can only take one person?
However, Chuuya’s inner monologue seemed to be completely seen through by Dazai Osamu. He saw this bandage-man say with a smile: “Of course, we walk there.”
“……Tch.” Getting this answer, Chuuya gave a dissatisfied “tck.” “Did you do that on purpose?”
Dazai Osamu wore a look of surprise, “What strange things are you saying again, Chuuya.” Saying that, he even looked very innocently at Hiiragi Eiji to prove his innocence.
……Although he didn’t know what riddle the two were talking about, Hiiragi Eiji magically felt—
Dazai Osamu seemed to have changed his attitude toward him again.
If it was said that in the period before, Dazai Osamu was struggling to avoid having any contact with him, then now, he seemed to have deliberately restored everything to how it was.
He had become the unpredictable but exceptionally mischievous rebellious son of the past once again.
Although he couldn’t guess the twists and turns inside his “good son’s” heart, Hiiragi Eiji still nodded with satisfaction in his heart. Not bad, it seems his education yesterday was quite effective.
But before long, Hiiragi Eiji felt something was wrong, because Dazai Osamu clearly knew the destination, but he didn’t mention it to him and Chuuya along the way, just leading the two forward on his own.
Recalling all of Dazai Osamu’s past norm of making trouble, Hiiragi Eiji’s alarm radar started screaming wildly, “Dazai-sama, where are we going? You don’t seem to have told us where the destination is yet?”
Saying that, he looked around. They had already walked some distance on the street next to the dormitory area; this was the road from the Port Mafia dormitory area leading to the viaduct.
“And, are you sure the three of us can dismantle the bombs? Do you know how to dismantle them?”
“Hmm? Dismantle? Not at all. But judging from the bombs found in recent days, it seems most of them are human gravity-sensing detonations. Ah, as for those previous ones, there were individual ones that were accidentally stepped on by some unlucky devil who wasn’t paying attention.” Dazai Osamu said things that made Hiiragi Eiji’s scalp numb in an overly cheerful tone, “You two had better not walk on the paths I haven’t walked.”
He turned back and smiled at Hiiragi Eiji, “Because we have already entered the general range.”
Hiiragi Eiji’s face was already wooden, “Then why are you walking so fast now……?”
Dazai Osamu laughed in a low voice. He whispered: “If I could step on one, that would certainly be a nice way to die.” Saying that, he paused, “So, you guys had better stay far away from me. Of course, if you want to be with me, I would also welcome it.”
After finishing, Dazai Osamu was about to continue stepping forward, but before his right foot could step on the ground, he discovered—he had no way to move forward anymore.
A hand reached out from behind and grabbed his collar tightly. This was the first time Dazai Osamu clearly felt what it meant to have “superhuman strength.”
He was like a helpless little animal whose fate-destined scruff was pinched, weakly unable to break free from the shackles of the great strength behind him.
……Of course, along with it came the fear of being dominated by that sweep kick and the flying spear from the sky yesterday.
“Dazai-sama,” Hiiragi Eiji’s clear and gentle voice had no change at this moment, but he picked up Dazai Osamu with one hand very brutally, “From now on, let me walk in front. Please tell me the specific route.”
Dazai Osamu: “……”
“If you still insist on going forward,” Hiiragi Eiji smiled slightly, “You might not believe it if I say it, but I have countless ways to make you roll behind me smoothly.”
Dazai Osamu: “……”
……Sure enough, it was not his illusion. Eiji’s mode of treating him had completely changed.
At this moment, Chuuya’s teasing laughter interrupted the one-sided situation between the two.
When he found the suspended Dazai Osamu and Hiiragi Eiji both looking at him, only then did he restrain the smile on his face. However, this strenuous cover-up couldn’t help but gush back up after seeing Dazai Osamu’s current appearance.
“……I just, rarely see such a grand spectacle of Dazai, this guy, being defeated, pfft.” He very considerately turned his head away, not letting himself laugh at Dazai Osamu directly.
This time, it was Dazai Osamu’s turn for his face to go wooden.
But soon, he discovered something was wrong.
Feeling the struggle in his hand, the old father, Hiiragi Eiji, sighed and let go of his hand.
As soon as he landed, Dazai Osamu narrowed his eyes and turned back and forth between Hiiragi Eiji and Chuuya, “Eh——” He acted like an elementary schooler who was deliberately making trouble, the end of his tone drawn out very long, “You guys have only been on missions together for a week, right? Has the relationship already become so close?”
Saying that, he pinned his gaze on Chuuya, and said in a joking tone that even he didn’t quite believe, “Don’t tell me you want to steal Eiji from my subordinates, Chuuya?”
Hiiragi Eiji was simply defeated by this stinking kid who didn’t know what kind of temper he was throwing. Just as he wanted to pick him up again, he heard Chuuya opposite respond in a moderate tone, “Yeah.”
Originally, Dazai Osamu’s hand had already reached toward Hiiragi Eiji’s wrist. After hearing this sentence, his hand froze in mid-air.
Just as Hiiragi Eiji suspected whether he was hard of hearing, Chuuya spoke again. At this time, the ginger-haired youth had completely restrained his smile. He hugged his chest with both hands and said calmly: “Yeah, I really do think so. Is there something wrong with that?” His expression was bland, but it revealed a sense of seriousness.
Making it easy for people to feel that he was not joking.
Hiiragi Eiji: “……?!!!”
What?! So this wasn’t drunk talk after all?!