After a moment passed, the package carrying ominous implications was delivered to Dazai’s room.

Members of the Yokohama Port Mafia buzzed with discussion, and even Mori was aware of the matter, specifically calling him to ask, “Dazai, is there a prosthetic limb or a toy inside the delivery box?”

Dazai looked at the carpet piled with a hollow mask, two pristine arms, a beautifully sculpted left thigh with muscular lines, a box of eyeballs, several replacement noses, and a centipede-like spinal bone. To those unaware, it might seem like he had committed some serious misdeeds to receive such a package related to Hyakki.

Puffing out his cheeks, Dazai replied, “I haven’t tried it yet. I’m not sure. I’ll tell Morio tomorrow.”

“It’s prosthetics made by my dad!!!” Contrary to his suspicions, Hyakki knelt on the carpet, his hands fumbling for the familiar prosthetics, visibly excited. He promptly removed half of his mask, intending to insert the eyeballs into his eye sockets.

However, due to his inaccurate positioning, it looked rather terrifying.

“Whoa,” Dazai exclaimed, quickly intervening to stop his rough behavior. “Hyakki! Let me install them for you!”

Living each day amidst horror and thriller films, Dazai felt his nerves were considerably toughened.

Hyakki finally calmed down. With his three dark hollows facing Dazai, he carefully picked out a pair of eyes from the box that closely matched in color. Gently pressing on Hyakki’s eye sockets, he suppressed the skin and inserted the hazel-brown eyes, not as pristine as glass but the most suitable for Hyakki.

Subsequently, Hyakki’s eye nerves miraculously connected, and his stiff eyes began to move.

“Unfathomable black technology…” Dazai commented dryly.

Rather than the prosthetic technology surpassing modern science, it was the peculiar nature of Hyakki’s body that endowed any prosthetic with a layer of “magic,” sustaining his physical existence.

Now with beautiful hazel-brown eyes, the black-haired youth only lacked a nose to fill the void.

Dazai, deeply intrigued, carefully selected among several minimally different but distinct noses. “Should it be a straight and petite nose, or a refined and rounded one? Huh, the master who made prosthetics for Hyakki has excellent aesthetic standards; not a single nose is unattractive.”

Unintentionally, Dazai became engrossed in his selection, momentarily ignoring Hyakki’s urging.

Matching features is also quite enjoyable!

“Here,” Dazai inserted a slightly fleshy, high-bridged nose into the cavity, completing the imperfection, with both matching in skin tone.

Before Dazai’s eyes, it felt as though he had returned to the scene where he and Yosano treated Hyakki. The black-haired youth with his hair tied in a ponytail had restored his inherent appearance, featuring a stubbornly high-bridged nose that mirrored his personality. The cool gaze, tinted with a faint reddish glow at the corners of his eyes, wasn’t makeup but rather tears that hadn’t dried up.

Complete with charisma and harmonious features, Hyakki’s foster father was indeed the person who understood the child the best and looked forward to his growth the most.

Hyakki at this moment looked very much like a boy from ancient Japan.

“And the left leg…” Dazai removed Hyakki’s prosthetic left leg. Hyakki had no defenses against Dororo, treating him as if he were his foster father. Despite his physical imperfections, there would always be someone willing to treat him gently.

Dazai managed the other parts but was troubled when he looked at the spine.

“How do I put this in?”

“……”

Understanding each other without words, Hyakki drew his sword, indicating for Dazai to cut open the skin on his back.

Dazai’s eye twitched.

This was the modern era, not ancient times where lives were treated as insignificant.

There was a knock on Dazai’s door, and the leader Mori pushed it open to see them, smiling, “Let me do it.”

Mori had experimented with the spinal prosthetic sent by Kusuo. It was indeed adaptive for growth, but it had some strange issues, such as directly limiting a person’s height. Mori didn’t think Hyakki should be prevented from growing taller. Instead of making such a compromise for survival, it would be better to try the new spinal prosthetic.

Hyakki’s proactive request was the best answer. He recognized who made this prosthetic and could feel the love embedded in it. Jukai had poured all his effort into ensuring Hyakki’s health.

In an unspoken consensus, Kusuo’s product was rejected by three people.

“Too flawed.”

“Not as good as what the ancient people made!”

“Dad’s prosthetics, I’ll only use the ones he made for me…”

……

After a simple examination, Mori performed a temporary spinal replacement surgery.

After the successful surgery, Hyakki lay on the operating table, his back exposed. His shoulder blades were visibly thin, and the sutured wound seeped blood, not too terrifying, stitched from his neck all the way down to his hips, giving off an inexplicable…