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

I am in no way jealous. Absolutely not.

“Come on—don’t be like that. She was almost killed by some monster. The poor gal’s traumatized. Isn’t it our duty as a detective agency to protect her and provide emotional support? And from my experience, it takes only a smile and some kindness to get a woman swooning over you when she’s fallen on hard times.”

“You should have just shut up while you were ahead.”

…I’ll have to write that tidbit down in my notebook later.

“Besides, how could someone as flippant as you even have a chance?”

Surely a woman this beautiful must already be seeing someone.

“And that’s just what makes you Doppo Kunikida. I asked, and she doesn’t have a family or anyone she can go to. Also, she and her boyfriend separated not too long ago.”

…I remember her mentioning she didn’t have anyone to turn to, but I had no idea it was this severe.

“So she’s available, Kunikida.” Dazai grins, gently elbowing me in the side.

“Available for what?”

I’ll just make a face like I have no idea what he’s talking about.

“Listen, Dazai. I came here to fill you in on what we discussed at this morning’s meeting, which you so happened to skip. And if I catch you skipping again, I’m going to take every appropriate measure to successfully resuscitate you the next time you try to kill yourself.”

“Oh, that’s dirty. You’re sick, Kunikida.”

Dazai makes a disgusted expression. Satisfied, I place the documents in hand on the table and spread them out.

“This is the latest information. We received a recording of the kidnapper’s statement during the military police’s questioning. It appears he admitted to kidnapping the victims and gassing them so they couldn’t escape. However, that’s all he admitted. He claims he didn’t know about the surveillance equipment, and it’s unlikely he would lie about it now. That’s why—”

“There must be at least two people behind this, right? The person who kidnapped the victims and the person who recorded everything: The former is the driver, while the latter is the Azure Apostle, I’m guessing?”

“Conceivably, yes.”

“Um…” Miss Sasaki timidly speaks up. “Are you sure I should be listening to this? Wouldn’t this fall under confidential information?”

“You’re a victim, Miss Sasaki, and you’re just as much a part of this as we are, so don’t worry about a thing. If you weren’t, Mr. Stickler-for-Rules right here wouldn’t have started explaining things with you around.”

“I am not particularly strict about rules. This is normal.”

“See? He even jokes around sometimes. Hilarious, am I right? Anyway, any new leads on the criminal we’re after?”

“I’m completely normal.”

“…Sorry, you’re right. It’s completely normal. So can you continue filling me in on what’s going on?”

Why did he apologize?

“We looked into the cabdriver’s history, and as far as we could tell, he had no connections with any underground shady businesses. The data makes him seem like nothing more than your ordinary taxi driver. He has no criminal history and no reputation for hanging with the wrong crowd. And yet, I have a hard time believing he came up with the idea to kidnap people and sell their insides to an organ-trafficking syndicate on his own. Someone must have told him about this get-rich-quick scheme.”

“Someone like the Azure Apostle? Couldn’t we just ask the driver who told him?”

“He won’t tell us. He thinks if he talks, they’ll really kill him this time. I’d love to pull each and every hair off his head until he gives us something, but unfortunately, he’s under heavy surveillance over the clouds right now. We’d run out of time before we could pull enough strings to get an interview with him.”

Just who’s behind all this? Not only did they approach the taxi driver with the organ trade offer, set up surveillance equipment in that abandoned hospital, and make a bomb, they also set said bomb somewhere in the city and are trying to threaten the agency. But why? What are they after?

“I hope I’m not overstepping my boundaries here, but…” Miss Sasaki suddenly speaks up. “Do you think this Azure Apostle could be the criminal behind the Azure Banner Terrorist incident?”

“Hmm…”