Osamu Dazai's Entrance Exam (Bungo Stray Dogs 1)

“We’ll just follow this wire, and…”

Dazai draws in the wire while following it to its source. It was cleverly hidden, but we eventually find what’s at the other end. He lifts it up.

“Hmm… Looks like a movie camera. Somebody must have secretly installed it here, and I bet this isn’t the only one. Clearly, the client sent us a fake job offer so he could get you here and film you crying because you’re afraid of ghosts. What a nasty person.”

“I-I’m not crying!”

“You’re right—only a baby would be afraid of a dark building.”

“……”

“Besides, a spirit haunting a hospital wouldn’t be so gutsy. They died of an illness, right? I mean, if some kind of accident did them in, then they’d be haunting wherever it happened, after all. A ghost who died from illness wouldn’t have

the courage to kill anyone. At the very worst, they’d just be filled with regret. Their line would be something like ‘I didn’t wanna diiie.’ Can you believe it, though? The lucky dog died, and here they are complaining!”

“Dazai… Hey… Th-that’s enough…”

You’re gonna piss off a vengeful spirit.

“Like, if there’s gonna be an angry ghost, then it needs to be a skinny woman who died from pulmonary tuberculosis—all skin and bones, y’know? And she’s gotta have wet, disheveled hair covering her face and say something like ‘It’s not fair. Why do you get to live and not me? Save me from the grip of this darknessss! Save me from this paaain! Ah, it hurts! My blood, my bones, my flesh, my entrails…! Raaahhh!!’”

“Heeeeeelp!!”

At the sudden high-pitched scream, my heart jumps into my throat and nearly out of my mouth, too. But not a moment later, as I’m drenched in a cold sweat, I realize:

That scream came from a living person.

“Did you hear that…?”

“It came from over there! Follow me!”

Unable to wait for Dazai, I dash down the rotting hall, rush down the staircase as quickly as possible, then race down the hallway, kicking up gravel all the while. Following the direction of the scream, I end up in the basement.

The ceiling is falling apart, just like the deteriorating walls. The boiler room, medicine room, radiography room, and the morgue run along the hallway. Following the voice, I plunge into the old boiler room.

I found her!

A woman’s right hand swiftly emerges out of the large water tank, struggling desperately. I race over and peer inside to find a young woman submerged, dressed in only her underwear. Her opposite arm is cuffed to a handle at the bottom to keep her from getting out. She’s going to drown if I don’t do something!

“The hell—?!”

“We have to get these off!” Dazai shouts as he grabs on to some iron bars. They lie across the top of the water tank normally used for laundry, preventing the woman from escaping. I grab the bars with both hands and pull with everything I’ve got, but they hardly even budge, as if there is some sort of lock. My eyes meet her dark-brown ones, opened as wide as could be. They hopelessly plead with mine: Help me.

“We’re going to save you! Move closer to the edge of the tank!”

I wave my hand, instructing her to move. She presses her back against the wall and curls her body as if she got the message. Then I take out the gun strapped to my waist, remove the safety, and aim it at the water tank’s outer wall.

“Get back, Dazai!”

I angle the pistol in a way so that no bullets would ricochet and hit the woman inside. After that, I shoot three bullets into the outside wall, piercing and cracking the tank. Water spews out.

Facing the fissures, I spin into an ax kick. The momentum buries my heel into the earthenware and mortar outer wall, shattering it with a single strike. Gallons of water instantly escape from the large hole.

“Cough… Cough, cough!”

She ravenously gasps for air after the water finally drains enough to expose her face. It looks like we made it in time. Dazai rotates the large faucet handle, shutting off the water supply.

“Are you okay?”