He held his hand.

He wanted to intertwine their fingers… but failed. Why wouldn’t “Dororo” leave any gap for him?

At night, Dazai in the hotel room couldn’t sleep. He dozed off while Hyakki, freshly bathed, knelt on the adjacent bed, using a towel to dry his disheveled hair. His emotionless face had a hint of delicateness, but more than his outward beauty, there was a doll-like quality about him, devoid of any consciousness.

The two had never shared a bed together, simply because they didn’t like it and strongly rejected the idea.

Dazai refused any intimate contact with anyone. It might be fun for a moment, but it wouldn’t last long. Besides, he had glimpsed Hyakki’s true nature. Give this guy the wrong hint, and he would take it seriously, boldly stepping into  carefully delineated boundaries.

“Hyakki, don’t get it twisted. I’m not yours; you’re my doll,” Dazai said after waiting for a while, feeling annoyed and displeased.

Explosions and flames were a perfect match, yet the night had failed to offer him any fireworks!

Hyakki paused his drying and slowly turned his head to the other side, where Dazai had suddenly jumped out of bed to check something on his computer. With the sound of the keyboard tapping, Dazai searched for a lot of public information about the Yokohama Armed Detective Agency, further confirming the agency’s location.

“All of them are detectives with supernatural abilities. How interesting… That person who saw through me and Hyakki at a glance, is he a famous detective in the police circle? Is there a connection between supernatural abilities and deduction?”

“My ability is No Longer Human. And what about Hyakki?” Dazai asked with keen interest, no longer feeling sleepy. He came up with a fabricated ability on the spot.

“The Eye of the Soul!”

“An ability to see the life force!” he exclaimed.

Teenagers always had boundless imagination and energy. However, Hyakki mentally calculated today’s activity time, realizing that normal people needed rest. So, he dragged the night owl Dazaioff to bed.

The air conditioning was quite strong, and Dazai curled up in the blanket, with only his head visible. Under his fluffy dark hair, his attractive face, which was full of charm to women during the day, now appeared calm and serene.

“Goodnight, Hyakki,” Dazai said.

After ensuring the safety of the surroundings, Hyakki entered a state of sleep.

In a soft whisper in his mind, he replied, “Goodnight.”

Goodnight, to this world that offered him a glimmer of light in the darkness.

After a peaceful night, the next morning, Dazai sat up to answer a phone call. His contact with Dr. Mori was essential; gaining more insight into the internal workings of the Port Mafia would help him and Hyakki survive in this city without having to flee elsewhere.

“Yeah, they haven’t come after us yet… I see, they want to frame Dr. Mori,” Dazai said aloud, referring to the recent series of assassination attempts. If it weren’t for Hyakki, he wouldn’t have dared to slip out like this, as he would have been assassinated by some elite hitman long ago.

While being shot dead was certainly not preferable, dying before achieving one’s goals was even less so.

Today, they were going to investigate the Armed Detective Agency.

Turning his head to look at Hyakki, who was still in bed, Dazai saw that he had changed back into that old black outfit, patched and mended with white patterns whose meaning he couldn’t discern. He had searched through many Japanese family crests but hadn’t found a match; instead, it resembled some unidentified botanical pattern.

“I’ll keep an eye out. That’s it,” Dazai interrupted before Hyakki could finish speaking, ending the call. For Dr. Mori, his death had its benefits, and so did his continued survival – a win-win situation.

Dazai then proceeded to flip the blanket off Hyakki, leaving him bewildered and searching for where his blanket had gone.

Dazai chuckled to himself: Just another day of teasing Hyakki (1/1).

【Dororo, good morning.】

“Get up!”

Dazai, full of energy, had already finished washing up and pushed Hyakki into the bathroom, taking the initiative to squeeze toothpaste onto the toothbrush and handing it to Hyakki.

After that, Dazai avoided watching the tooth brushing process in the mirror and left.

Hyakki: 【???】

Dazai assumed that Hyakki’s mentor must have taught him, but his foster father, Jukai, never used a toothbrush!

Hyakki, accustomed to cleaning his mouth with plain water due to his ancient lifestyle, held a toothbrush in his right hand and a cup of water in his left hand, looking a bit cute in front of the mirror. After hesitating for a while, he removed part of his mask, put the unknown object he was holding into his mouth and ate it all, then drank a cup of tap water.

【Is this… Breakfast?】

No, it definitely wasn’t! No one’s breakfast consisted of toothpaste!

When Dazai came over to check, he found toothpaste marks on the toothbrush, his expression momentarily blank.

How did you even survive to this age?

He stared at the toothbrush, feeling very disappointed in adults and silently criticized: Hyakki, whoever taught you was so irresponsible, they didn’t even teach you how to brush your teeth!

“Hyakki… forget it, let’s just leave it like this.”

In the end,  impulse to teach retreated beneath that face.

The reality of being human.

It’s not that our side isn’t doing enough, it’s that the other side’s face is too lethal, making it impossible for him to face it directly!