Mori calmly remarked after fulfilling the teacher’s wish, “Isn’t this simple?”

Nakahara was completely confuse throughout.

Huh?

What are you guys doing? You can recognize him just like that? Hyakki, aren’t you supposed to be deaf, blind, and mute!

Unable to comprehend what Hyakki saw, Nakahara gave up trying to understand. Anyway, the Black Mud Spirit had learned its lesson and wouldn’t dare draw attention to murderous schemes again. Watching Hyakki evade and Dazai, who was knocked out cold by Mori, he couldn’t help but gloat, “Hey, can you still stand?”

“I’m a feverish patient!”

Dazai, embarrassed and surrounded by onlookers, threw caution to the wind, leaning his weight on Hyakki. He leaned against his own puppet body, fever accelerating blood flow, face flushed and ears ringing, his forehead still throbbing from the impact. His nervous heart trembled uncontrollably.

Hyakki gently rubbed Dazai’s head with his cold mask-like face.

The ears under Dazai’s hair turned red.

Unable to see his own “Dororo,” Dazai felt immense regret. Forced to bow his head in front of others, tearing off his disguise, he emptied all calculations and preparations made since waking up that morning.

All he needed to know was that he had grasped this flame, keeping it from falling deeper into darkness.

【I’m sorry, Dororo.】

Hyakki’s guilt surged like a tide, threatening to drown his soul.

He hadn’t protected Dazai as he should have. Unseen by others, Dazai had endured killings no one of his age should experience, while Hyakki had waited in safety for “her.”

【I won’t leave your side again. I will… protect you with my life.】

【If these killings must exist…】

【Let me handle this.】

Hyakki, accustomed to battle and purging evil spirits, was willing to confront “Dororo’s” enemies.

Covered in blood, he was no pristine flame himself.

“Dororo, don’t be afraid.”

Dazai closed his eyes. “I’m not afraid at all.”

A heart unable to control its emotions was a failure for a manipulator, but such an outcome from failure was too good.

“Mori… What did you add to my saline…”

“Hyakki… Take me away… I don’t want to stay here anymore…”

Dazai passed out in Hyakki’s arms, revealing a peaceful sleeping face, unbelievably pure. Even the Port Mafia, known as the “Devil’s Nest,” didn’t seem so fearsome anymore.

After all, none of the four present were evil for evil’s sake, their actions were driven by belief.

Mori sent someone to take them to rest.

Later on.

The current leader of the Port Mafia, alongside his blonde young daughter, made a phone call: “Teacher Natsume, Hyakki has recognized Dazai, and things haven’t reached an irredeemable point. I never intended to separate them, just didn’t want an unstable factor around. To facilitate this, I added a bit of hallucinogen to Dazai’s saline… Huh, teacher, why aren’t you saying anything?”

On the other end of the line, a calico cat stood in front the phone, having listened to his disciple’s words…

With satisfaction, he pressed a button, ending the call.

“Meow~”

“Not scolding you should be counted as a good deed.”

“You even have a tone that demands praise… Are you floating a bit?”

The calico cat hid the phone, swaggered away from the wall, and continued to the Armed Detective Agency to mooch some dried fish. For a short while, there was no need to harass a cat to feed humans.

The daytime passed easily. When Dazai woke up, he had endured through the fever, his body drenched in sweat and layered with several blankets, giving him a suffocating sensation. Who was the lunatic in August not giving him the air conditioning and piling on blankets? Isn’t that insanely cruel?

Dazai suspected Nakahara was behind this, thinking he was giving Hyakki bad ideas.

Why doesn’t Hyakki have any sense of temperature!

Hyakki, who was by his side, sensed his movements, adjusted the blankets, and placed Dazai’s hand back. After several struggles with Dazai, the feeling of itching on his skin became more and more pronounced.

With a determined grit, Dazai ignored the sweaty odor and kicked away the blankets with his feet, successfully rebelling. After kicking the blankets to the floor, he quickly untied his shirt and bandages under Hyakki’s bewildered gaze, revealing a large red mark on his fair skin, a step too late.

Dazai fell silent for a moment, speaking disheartenedly.

“I have prickly heat…”

Yokohama’s future bandage fanatic felt like pounding the wall.

Wearing a black overcoat and black suit didn’t make him sweat buckets, but being covered with blankets gave him a heat rash, which would be laughed at if anyone found out!

【Dororo, be careful not to catch a cold.】