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

“An airplane…?”

Another threat? Now?

Preventing an aircraft attack presents a far greater challenge than a kidnapping or bomb. Trying to hop on a high-speed airplane midflight to remove some device is beyond the realm of possibility. I would need a military fighter aircraft to even consider it. No, I still wouldn’t be able to get in if the passenger plane had some sort of system to prevent intrusion.

While shutting down the engine and control wheel would indeed cut the plane’s power, it would still be able to glide for a short while. But even then, without the power to steer, there would be nothing preventing the plane from suddenly dropping before its inevitable crash. Without control, it would be difficult to land in a relatively safe location such as the ocean, and if the plane hits the ground, then everyone on the plane will die, barring a miracle more awesome than the creation of the universe itself.

There’s only one way to end this seemingly inescapable disaster.

I glance at Dazai. He’s lying on his back with his eyes closed.

Then I slowly approach him.

“How long do you plan on playing dead? Get up. We’ve got work to do.” I kick his body.

“Hmm? Aw, c’mon, just a few more minutes.” Dazai pouts.

“Something happen?”

“Yeah, we got another e-mail from the real enemy threatening a plane crash, so if you’re not the person behind this, get up and help.”

“I knew you would use that to shoot me, Kunikida.” Dazai grins, still on his back.

“Same as ever, I see. You are free to scheme all you want, but don’t involve me in your ridiculous skits.”

I take the pistol I shot earlier and toss it at Dazai. He catches it, and almost instantly, it transforms back into a piece of notebook paper in his hands.

“But how did you know? I received a pistol just like it from the director. What made you so sure I wouldn’t shoot you with that one?”

“Because I trust you, of course. Someone as cautious as you wouldn’t threaten a person with a real gun out of the blue like that.”

“Hearing you say the word trust really tarnishes the word.”

The pistol I shot Dazai with was one I created out of a sheet of paper using The Matchless Poet. Since the bullets were also created using my skill, they were nullified and vaporized by Dazai’s own skill on contact.

“When did you first realize it?”

“When you told me to shoot you.”

Dazai would never say, “I wouldn’t mind being shot by you.” One thing I learned while working with him is that nine times out of ten, he’s messing with someone when he says hackneyed phrases like that. Under normal circumstances, he would have said, “Now I can finally die,” while dancing and jumping for joy.

“Oh, and one more thing. This pen of yours—this isn’t a detonator. It’s a covert listening device, isn’t it?”

“Quite so.”

I haven’t been working as a detective all this time just for show. I can tell whether something’s a detonator. That little charade of his was to get me to block the bug. He predicted I would bring a jammer and use it.

“When were the fountain pens swapped?”

“You know when we were by the fishing-gear shop? Well, someone switched the pens on me when I was pushing through the crowd. Ugh. That really was my favorite pen, y’know. They’ll be sorry when I make them reimburse me. It was really hard to write with, though.”

“So that must have been when they put that azure banner in your pocket, too.”

The enemy was planning on framing Dazai as the mastermind behind this string of events, but we were one step ahead of them.

“But I know you. You wouldn’t let the enemy just brush by you when you knew they were coming, right?”

“Of course not. In fact, I’d been playing the villain for a good while just for this moment. I waited for the moment they bugged me to place a GPS tracker on them. They were fools to believe they could ever outwit me.”