Disqualification

When Osamu Dazai appeared at the door of the Asahi Shimbun's editorial office, Xiao Zhuangsu spouted out the tea in his mouth. twenty one

"puff--"

"You are disgusting, Xiaozhuang!"

"Manuscript, manuscript! How can you pay for the wet manuscript?"

"My clothes! You sprayed water on my clothes!"

The editorial room has the style of Japanese and Western mergers in the Taisho period. There are two rows of tables and chairs in the rectangular space. They are not common Japanese-style low tables, but reddish-brown desks with a height of 1.2 meters. Each table is two meters wide and the papers are stacked. It forms a stack of tall towers, occupying the northeast corner of the table carelessly, standing still in the noisy room. There is a wall-mounted telephone near the wall at the entrance, and the handle of the handset is wound with two circles of gold inlaid carvings.

Except that most of the editors still wear old-fashioned dresses with upper jackets and lower hakamas, the scenes will not be much different from the Showa era decades later.

Xiao Zhuang didn't care about the endless complaints from his colleagues, and he didn't even care whether the paper on the table was wet or not.

"Mr. Dazai, why are you here!" He shook his head again, "No, why didn't you tell me when you returned to Tokyo!"

Osamu Dazai had never been to the Asahi Bunko Club.

Xiao Zhuang and Dazai have known each other for five years. At the beginning, he even thought that Dazai was a "writer who can't communicate with others" in the popular sense.

This is a matter of course, except for Dazai, which active literary giant would not visit the library, teach at a university, or participate in other writers' literary salons, and spend his days running in the mountains shrouded in mist?Even the symposium at the University of Tokyo was invited three times and four times, and only one was agreed after three years.

[No, how should I put it, he should be regarded as disdainful of communicating with the outside world in this situation, right? ] Xiaozhuang made a very literary metaphor, [It’s like, like the audience of a film, we are actors and people in the film, and he is an alienated spectator who doesn’t want to interact with others. ]

"Back to Tokyo?" Dazai said, "Let's think about it, was it about six days ago? Or seven days?"

[so early?But when I went to your house to deliver the letter, there was no one there! ]

"I haven't been home during this time." The next sentence answered Xiao Zhuang's question, and successfully made his stomach twist into a ball, his forehead thumped, and his blood pressure rushed to the red line, "I have a friend , "The two words circled three times on the tip of his tongue, "She told me something interesting, I thought it might become a writing material, and at the same time, in order to satisfy my trivial curiosity, I went to Hexia District with her I wandered around for a few days."

"Hexia? Hexia?" Xiao Zhuang couldn't calm down. He got up and walked to the door, dragging out the man who was standing like a mollusc against the wall. "I'm sorry, Mr. Dazai." He said, "We have to have a good talk."

After the two of them went out, the editorial room became even more noisy. The cramped narrow office, smelling of paper and ink, was only silent for a moment, when the name of "Osamu Dazai" was called. Higher than a wave.

"I used to be jealous of Xiao Zhuang who was in charge of Mr. Dazai... a writer." In fact, he wanted to say that he was a gold-sucker, "I can think of Mr. Dazai's unmatched power of action, and I feel that only with enthusiasm like Xiaozhuang can he persevere."

These words sounded weird, but the editors present all nodded their heads with sympathy. The writers here are all university professors, journalists, and editors of newspapers. No matter what, they all have good social status, and they will wander around no matter how bad they are. in the city.

The most unacceptable thing for new school writers is the countryside, where there is nothing but mountains, trees and foolish people.

Osamu Dazai is an extreme person. I heard that he has never even studied at a serious university. He doesn’t know his father or mother. get to the bottom".

"Maybe it's the illegitimate son of some great man."

"Looking at Mr. Dazai's appearance, it is not certain that he is the son of Gongqing's family."

"That's right, how can someone with an ordinary temperament have that?"

"Xiao Zhuang always said that Mr. Dazai is suitable for western clothes and so on. Ordinary people are not as good as him even in kimonos." The person who said this raised his eyebrows, "You can feel it, just that kind of 'Heian Jing' temperament .”

"Yo, as expected of a student of philosophy, he speaks so abstractly."

"Truth, truth."

For some reason, I went back and forth and returned to Dazai’s occupation, saying that he has no serious occupation other than contributing manuscripts, and he has a large amount of property inherited from Unknown, which can allow him to work anywhere in Tokyo. Local real estate purchases, luxury European and American imports.

His hobbies are also strange. Literati love civilized and progressive cities, enjoying cable cars and electric lights. Only he likes desolate mountains.

"What a freak."

"Don't say that, Mr. Dazai is a literary master."

……

When Butterfly Shinobu arrived home, Kanae was reading a letter from Yin.

The number of hidden people is far more than the swordsmen of the Ghost Killing Squad. They are active in all walks of life, sneaking into the crowd with various identities to collect information on ghosts.

But it is also because they do not have the ability to fight against ghosts, and their social status is not obvious, so they are far less mobile than Zhu when conducting certain investigations.

The disappearance of the relief recipients has been reported to Yin, and they have also launched an investigation.

/Hexia area is the same as Yoshiwara, it is difficult to collect resources, the flow of people inside is fast, and disappearances occur frequently. To be honest, according to our investigation, it is difficult to find the common pattern of missing persons. Even if you sneak into it, you can’t collect effective information about ghosts. ... /

／There are a lot of Westerners in the church. They don’t accept people without definite social status to join. They pretended to be relief people and tried a few times, but they didn’t find out.../

[At a loss. ] Butterfly Kanae sighed.

"elder sister?"

"You're back, Shinobu." She folded the letter and said, "How is the task done?"

"It's okay." Butterfly Shinobi said, "It just so happens that the school holidays are over, and I have to go back to class." She said, "I can apply for higher schools after this year is over. I want to study pharmacology."

"That's great." Kanae said, "Xin Shinobu will definitely be able to achieve results."

"It's not to study for the sake of getting grades." Butterfly Shinobu put her schoolbag on the tatami. When talking about this topic, she really couldn't show her sister's favorite smile, "I'm too thin to fight. I can only fight." To make up for it in other ways, studying pharmacology is just to find a method of killing ghosts that I can bear."

Not more suitable, but affordable.

"Speaking of it." She took the initiative to end the unpleasant topic, "How is my sister's work, is it going well?"

"Still under investigation." Kanae said with a smile, "If you let things take their course, you should be able to find clues."

"Is there anything I can do to help?" Butterfly asked.

"If you can help..." Kanae pointed her chin with her right index finger, raised her head, and looked at the swaying chandelier strings. Her eyes were like amethysts under the light, and the lines were almost pink after refraction. "If you have time, maybe we can work together." Go to the library and have a look."

"library?"

"Mr. Dazai said that he wanted to read books related to religion, which might contain such information."

[ha? ]

……

"It's too dangerous!" Asahi Bunko's headquarters is built in one of the most prosperous areas in Tokyo. It is not as good as the era of paper media in the future. It is a well-deserved colossus. There are many cafes and canteens nearby. He dragged Dazai to the cafe he frequented, and after greeting the boss, he sat in the farthest seat.

"Calm down, calm down." The person involved was not emotional at all, "Anyway, Hexia still belongs to the Tokyo area, and from a common sense point of view, it should be much better than the surrounding mountainous areas, even when I went to the countryside to do fieldwork, you didn't So intense..."

"That's different!" After saying this, Xiao Zhuang realized that his decibels were too high. He immediately stopped talking, bowed down and apologized to the sparse customers in the cafe, and then said in a low voice. "It would be better if you can give up going to the mountains. In any case, the current investigation experience at least proves that you are very good at wild snakes and brown bears on the mountains. The river is completely different. You never know what plagues and diseases are breaking out there. The thieves here are waiting for the opportunity, and I like rich people like you the most."

"Do you know how many people go missing there every year? Men, women, who cares where you come from, women are sold to the West and Southeast Asia, and men are taken away as coolies..."

Dazai blinked his eyes and looked at him, the right side of his face was deformed by the palm of his hand, he squinted his luan-colored pupils to watch his long speech, and his mouth was dry and saliva flew all over the place.

"It's too dangerous, teacher, it's too dangerous! No matter what kind of article you plan to write, collect materials or stay away from places that will endanger yourself..."

"..."

"Ms. Dazai, Mr. Dazai."

"Don't you want to continue talking, Xiao Zhuang?" Dazai still maintained his previous posture.

"Did you listen to me carefully, Dazai-sensei?"

"Listening," he said.

Dazai lay on his back, letting the back of the chair support his slender neck. This was not a comfortable posture, but it seemed relaxed and leisurely due to the stretched limbs.

[Ms. Dazai's expression changes. ]

Xiao Zhuang suddenly realized: [He looks more popular than before, and his expression is much more vivid. ]

[Ah, the smile, the smile is still the same, but the sarcasm is more vivid. ]

He didn't know how to describe it, let alone whether Mr. Dazai's changes were good or bad.

"All in all, I will try my best to keep myself safe, stay away from the lesions that permeate the Hexia District, reasonably avoid the hunting range of thieves, and not go into the dark lanes to avoid the cysticercosis waiting for an opportunity in the dark," he spread his hands exaggeratedly, " I assure you of this, gather material within what is reasonably tolerable."

"is this OK?"

"Ah, ah."

[I don't know what to say, how should I describe the Dazai-sensei in front of me, is it more lively?No, rather than being more energetic, it is better to say that he has become younger. Compared with the present, his previous appearance is almost an octogenarian who has given up hope of survival. ]

"Before I go to Hexia District in the next round, I'm going to check some information." Dazai said again, "I was just dragged by a familiar person to investigate the disappearance. Some of her words made me quite concerned, and I wanted to check Look up books on religion."

"If you can help, I will find you." As he said that, he wanted to cut off the current conversation, supported his body on his legs, and prepared to leave.

"Teacher Dazai!" Pushing open the heavy door of the cafe with one hand, he heard the tinkling of bells and realized that the shop has not removed the shell wind chimes that bathe in the warm summer wind. The scallops and artificial crystals touch each other like a chime instrument It seems to constitute a harmonious movement.

"Teacher Dazai, did something good happen?" Xiao Zhuang asked.

[Good thing...well...]

[Perhaps so. ] He thought, [Just know a little bit, what should I do. ]

……

"They went to become nuns." Mami said, "Maybe some of them became monks."

"Why do you say that?" Dazai asked, "Have you heard any rumors?"

"It's rumored..." Mami said, "It's just that people often come to talk to us about these things, especially when we are receiving relief."

"What kind of Western gods are called Gods, right? There are also Buddhas, flesh statues, Bodhisattvas who save all living beings and so on." She whispered, "Maybe someone really believes in it, and can escape the endless sea of ​​suffering."

[People live to suffer. ]