“Boss…”

The elderly man, whose health had been deteriorating recently, was supported by someone, panting heavily. Anger made the veins on his forehead and neck throb, and his face, covered in wrinkles, lacked any hint of kindness, only emanating a chilling cruelty.

“Does such a trivial matter also require my approval?” he hoarsely and bitterly remarked. “Kill everyone who dares to defy the Port Mafia, those who dare to challenge us, leave no one alive.”

The driver was sweating profusely, looking at the others who swiftly received the order to investigate the surveillance footage.

Oh no.

The driver couldn’t help but think: Those kids who did the graffiti are surely doomed.

…

Hyakki had been avoiding crowded places. With his natural attraction to supernatural beings, blending into a crowd was like inviting trouble. He sat on what he deemed to be an abandoned wooden plank, which was actually a secluded seesaw in a children’s park. His indifferent expression and shabby appearance deterred children from playing nearby.

Suddenly, he lifted his head and noticed several life flames dotted with red spots appearing not far away.

The “villains” had arrived.

Whether they had killed before or had some connection or contact with demons.

The black-haired youth jumped off the wooden plank, causing the seesaw to sway violently. He walked towards the direction where the villains were gathering, calculating the distance, and gazed into the dimly lit world with his mind’s eye.

Many passersby were drawn to the direction, but after seeing the situation clearly, they panicked and left or picked up their phones to call the police. The locals living here knew that nights belonged to the harbor mafia, and it was best not to provoke those men in black suits.

“It’s the mafia!”

“The mafia from the port broke into a residence!”

Outside the residential building where cries were heard, Hyakki paused downstairs, raising his head slightly in confusion.

Indeed, it’s a world straight out of a manga, with ancient buildings towering so high?

“…”

How should he go up?

Hyakki focused his mind, enhancing his perception. In this world, there were many inanimate objects and microscopic life forms. While not as obvious as flora and fauna, if he carefully sensed them, they could assist his actions.

This was quite mentally taxing.

Ah, there it is. A green obstruction, faintly glowing outline, an entrance…

Hyakki was about to head towards the entrance he found when his attention was suddenly diverted by a life flame that appeared behind him. It was the first clean and pure white flame he had seen outside of the flames tainted by impurities, even cleaner than his foster father, Shou Kai, and the small animals that often followed him.

It was a color possessed only by souls untouched by killing or sin, retaining their purity.

Like a child…

No, the height of a life flame was slightly higher than that of a child.

Through this complex material world, Hyakki gazed directly at the essence of the soul. This ability of perception was honed after his reincarnation. In a world with low magic, only ancient sages or high monks could possess it. In the world of “Dororo,” he was the exceptional protagonist destined to vanquish the demon gods and return the world they had invaded back into the hands of humanity.

At this moment, a sense of anticipation quietly grew in Hyakki’s heart.

The figure was approaching him.

Staying in the safety zone three steps away.

Unable to hear any sound or see the other party, he could only ascertain whether this life flame was that of a pure person who might appear in the plot. Because of the various experiences in life, Hyakki would always have the opportunity to encounter white flames in the outside world. Apart from his foster father, Jukai, there was no second white flame that would always be by his side.

After a moment of silence, Hyakki suppressed his thoughts and chose to act swiftly and decisively like the “puppet” in the original work to do his own thing.

If he couldn’t find evil objects, then he would drive away those villains!

“Eh?”

Similarly standing on the edge of danger, the owner of the life flame who expressed some opinions but did not receive a response from the other party felt dissatisfied. A faint gleam appeared in the vermilion eyes.

He saw the other party boldly stepping into the area surrounded by the mafia.

Was this justice?

In this city on the brink of collapse, would there actually emerge a “hero” resisting the mafia?

Dazai Osamu, who once thought darkness was more interesting and light was beyond redemption, tilted his head back to listen to the gunfire from above. His youthful face showed deep contemplation and confusion beyond his age.

He couldn’t understand the other party’s actions.

The influence of the Port Mafia in this area is significant, and the intervention of the other party won’t make a difference.

The owner of the convenience store downstairs also witnessed Hyakki’s actions of breaking in, with a mixture of anger and helplessness in his eyes. Some joy appeared, followed by worry, and the store owner’s grandson exclaimed, “That big brother went to save someone!”

“Don’t speak,” the store owner hastily covered his grandson’s mouth, not daring to offend the Port Mafia.

Dazai Osamu turned his head to look at the tearful child and the helpless adults in the convenience store.

It’s futile, even compared to the masked boy.

As the battle upstairs intensified, Dazai Osamu imitated the words spoken by the child, softly and curiously repeating, “Go for it?”

Can light triumph over darkness?

In fact, Hyakki could be considered an archenemy of ordinary people without superpowers. With the sixth sense’s reminder, as long as he didn’t encounter opponents with speed and explosive power exceeding his expectations, he would be in a state of martial arts mastery where the autumn wind does not move the cicada. In the original work, Hyakki would gradually weaken at first, not because of his lack of combat power, but because he couldn’t adapt to the organs reintegrated into his body and was in a fragile and collapsing state under the influence of the outside world.

Nowadays, Hyakki didn’t encounter such troubles. At the age of fourteen, he possessed a beast-like instinct for battle.

Bullets that couldn’t hit him were worthless.

Hyakki couldn’t even see the bullets or the guns, effortlessly avoiding danger and ruthlessly knocking out the members of the Port Mafia. His true face hidden behind the mask remained calm, like someone devoid of feelings.

Before long, Hyakkihad knocked out all the attackers and those trying to escape.

In the eyes of the parents lying on the ground protecting their children, the black-haired teenager who started fighting upon entering appeared incredibly powerful, with clean and precise movements, resolving the situation without hesitation. After dealing with the Mafia, he jumped out of the window on the upper floor and smoothly landed on a protruding point, then swiftly dashed off in another direction, as fast as lightning. In the world observed by his sixth sense, similar incidents were occurring nearby.

Half an hour later, after rescuing two households, Hyakki acted as an anonymous hero, neither reaching out for a reward nor leaving his name behind. He understood the importance of self-rescue more than a simple ancient person; he could solve a momentary crisis for himself but couldn’t solve others’ lifelong troubles.

People must strive for themselves.

As evening fell once again, ignoring the anger from the Port Mafia, Hyakki walked along the riverbank, his straw sandals treading on damp soil. His body was unscathed, unlike the plight brought upon by facing demons.

Dazai Osamu followed closely behind, earnestly sharing the intelligence he gathered about the incident.

“I inquired about the incident and discovered a commonality among the two households you rescued. Their children, while playing together, boldly graffitied on the private car of the leader of the Port Mafia. Without your intervention, they would probably have met the same fate as the third household, which is further away, and all would have perished.”

“I wonder if you will regret it. You saved a bunch of troublemakers; their parents may not always be grateful and might even disclose your information, leading the Port Mafia to see you as provoking the leading organization in Yokohama.”

“This means that after today, you’ll be on the Port Mafia’s hit list. If you don’t want to be chased and bitten like a dog by the Port Mafia, you either join a major force or join the Port Mafia. With your combat ability, the leader of the Port Mafia might forgive you.”

“However, the more likely scenario is—”

Dazai Osamu’s expression turned dark, his voice excitedly continued, “The people you saved will still die.”

Wasting effort, risking oneself, what would this person do upon knowing?

Hyakki continued walking ahead without any pause, his heartbeat steady. The reason was simple: Do you expect a blind and deaf person to listen to someone talking behind their back?

Dazai Osamu’s face fell.

No reaction at all! Disappointment!

Dazai, who was slightly shorter than Hyakki, went over to look at Hyakki’s ears with a sulky expression. Suddenly, his gaze froze. It was late April, with significant temperature differences between day and night. Despite most of the other person’s skin being concealed by bandages, the ears under the black hair remained snowy white, matching the complexion without a hint of the rosy hue of the living. Upon closer inspection, one could even notice the lack of the expected softness in the ears.

Dazai directly crossed the distance between them and closely examined the other’s miraculous ears.

Hyakki stopped in his tracks, a question mark popping up in his mind. He couldn’t understand why the life flame was now so close to him when it had been avoiding him before.

Dazai grabbed Hyakki’s ear and accidentally plucked it off.

Facing each other, Hyakki, now missing one ear, seemed to “gaze deeply” at him.

Dazai: “…”

The atmosphere grew awkward.

Dazai brazenly reattached the ear, saying, “It’s too loose. Let me tighten it for you.”

His fingers conveniently slid over Hyakki’s cheek. While the mask felt cold, the skin beneath the ear felt human, fitting snugly with the mask.

With both ears restored, Hyakki touched his ears without much surprise and continued to search for a clean water source. Dazai, absent-mindedly, kicked a pebble, pondering whether to take the opportunity, when the Port Mafia comes looking for Hyakki, to sneak into the Port Mafia’s ranks.

Currently, the Port Mafia was undoubtedly very dangerous, but his ability should be enough to keep him alive. As for this person… to put it bluntly, someone without even ears, if they knew what was good for them, joining the Port Mafia should ensure their survival.

“… What are you planning to do here?” Dazai asked.

Dazai realized that after walking for so long, the person had brought him to a secluded place where even the light was scarce.

Rarely did he find himself doubting his own judgment.

What did the other person want?

With a series of unexpected events happening today, Dazai’s interest in Yokohama grew even stronger. There was simply nowhere else as interesting as here. Taking advantage of the other person’s inability to hear, he intentionally remarked, “Are you going to reveal your true self and kill me? Well, if I die, no one will know your whereabouts, and you can escape Yokohama overnight.”

Hyakki, completely unaware of the muttering beside him, crouched down and cupped water from the river to drink. Dazai’s expression turned disgusted. “Are you really going to drink such dirty water? Do you trust Japanese rivers that much…”

“…,” Dazai suddenly fell silent.

It was quite simple.

There was no skin on Hyakki’s mouth beneath the mask.

Grotesque veins and flesh covered the bones, with white teeth shining through. Even the way he drank water, tilting his head back to gulp it down instead of bending forward to sip, indicated the absence of a tongue in his open mouth.

The disparity between this and the refined appearance Hyakki displayed in public was too significant!

Dazai suppressed a trembling breath. Instead of moving away, he bent down to gaze at him. However, Hyakki didn’t give him any more chance to observe, covering his jaw with the mask and returning to his handsome appearance.

Hyakki quietly waited for the other person to leave.

Any normal person who saw his true face for the first time would be terrified by such a close encounter with something so inhuman.

Except for Jukai.

Perhaps in the future, there would be one more exception: Dororo.

In a secluded spot along the banks of the Tsurumi River, where no one would bother to pay attention, a black-haired youth squatted on the ground while another, younger boy in a shirt bent down and, after a moment’s thought, uttered a brutally honest remark.

“Your true face is so ugly.”

However…

Dazai, who had rashly followed a stranger upon their first meeting, helped him wipe the mask clean with water and then pulled him to his feet.

“I’m hungry. Hurry up and treat me to something to eat.”

In the end, everyone is ugly. Peel away the facade, and who’s to say who’s more attractive than whom?

Hyakki felt someone take his hand, and a warmth surged in his heart. Suddenly, he really wanted to know what the other person was saying, but in the world shrouded in darkness, there was only this immaculate soul flame emitting light, enough to illuminate even the lake.

Who are you?

Are you the Dororo I’ve been searching for?

He wasn’t sure, but he knew that if he had lips, he would probably be able to smile.

“Hello, I’m Hyakki.”

A person who had been treated maliciously by the world, yet would strive to treat the world kindly in the future.

Thank you for coming to my side.

…