Osamu Dazai and the Dark Era (Bungo Stray Dogs 2)

“Change the way I live? There is no way I could have done that.” Gide smiled. A glimmer of sorrow flickered within his eyes. “I promised my allies that I would die as a soldier. Nothing else was possible.”

We pointed our guns at each other. However, in the world of eternity, we quietly faced each other and talked like friends. Gide looked at me. I could see the sincerity in his gaze.

“But…perhaps I could have changed my life at some point. Maybe if I had tried to change earlier in life, then perhaps I could have become something else…just like you stopped killing others. If I had the strength you had, then maybe one day I, too, could have…”

There were only two people in that massive hall still alive. Our muzzles each pointed at the other’s heart. Gide wasn’t wearing bulletproof clothing, and I’d taken mine off moments prior during battle. A shot to the chest would be fatal. The triggers had already been pulled. The bullets began to slide out of the barrels.

However, we just smiled, facing our partners as if we’d come to know everything about each other, like old friends after a long chat.

—“They’ve observed that when multiple skills interact, on rare occasions they’ll careen off into a completely unexpected direction.”

So this world was a skill singularity.

“I have one regret,” I said. “I never got to say good-bye to my friend. He was always there for me as ‘just a friend.’ He was bored of this world and always waited for death to come for him.”

“That man was in search of a place to die just like me?”

“No, not exactly,” I answered. “I thought you were similar to Dazai at first, rushing into battle and wishing for death without even considering the value of your own life. But he’s different. He’s sharp-witted with a mind like a steel trap. And he’s just a child—a sobbing child abandoned in the darkness of a world far emptier than the one we’re seeing.”

He was too smart for his own good. That was why he was always alone. The reason why Ango and I were able to be by his side was that we understood the solitude that surrounded him, and we never stepped inside it no matter how close we stood.

But in that moment, I kind of regretted not stepping in and invading that solitude.

The bullets left our guns’ barrels and slid toward our chests.

“A magnificent shot until the very end.” Gide smiled. “I’m going to go see my men. Say hello to the kids.”

The bullets reached our chests.

The singularity vanished.

The bullets penetrated the skin, cut through our clothes, and exited out our backs. At the very same time, in the very same fashion, we both fell backward.

Just then, I heard footsteps.

“Odasaku!”

Dazai rushed into the building and over to the ballroom, passing the myriad of corpses through the corridors along the way. When he burst through the oak doors, he saw his friend lying on the ground.

“Odasaku!”

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“Dazai…”

Dazai rushed over to Odasaku, then checked his wounds. The bullet had pierced Odasaku’s chest, and a vast pool of blood had collected on the floor. It was clear that the wound was fatal.

“You’re such an idiot, Odasaku. The biggest idiot I know.”

“Yeah.”

“You didn’t have to do this. You didn’t have to die.”

“I know.”

Odasaku smirked with that particular satisfaction of accomplishing something worth the cost.

“Dazai… There’s something I want to say.”