Bungo Stray Dogs: Dazai's Entrance Exam.

Chapter 2

The eleventh.

I returned home in the dead of night, but here my pen falls silent.

I am not equipped with the ability to forget those memories, but nevertheless, I will not record them in this notebook.

I should overcome whatever hardship comes my way. I should laugh when fifty liters of mud are poured over my head.

Silence. Still, only silence.

I sat at my Agency desk reading the newspaper.

Ever since that morning, the news on the television and the internet had been in an uproar yelling over a certain sensational story.

"The victims of the Yokohama tourists repeated disappearances case have been found dead."

"Are their deaths the product of an arbitrary decision by a private investigator to break and enter a facility?"

And there were images. The white smoke, the agonized victims writhing in pain, and myself, grasping at the cage.

The newspapers had yet to report on it as well, but it was only a matter of time.

The agency's phone rang off the hook incessantly all morning. The calls were all complaints, but I supposed those would soon be interspersed with lawsuits from the grieving families. To make matters worse, we still did not know what became of the remaining seven victims.

Someone had photographed those poor souls dying of poison gas and released those photos to the public.

My desk phone rang and jarred me out of my thoughts. I reached for the receiver, but before I could grab it, Dazai picked it up and immediately put it down. The ringing died.

"This was our opponent's objective, I should think," Dazai chirped. He carried a photo. "But here's some comfort. You look very handsome in this photo, Kunikida."

Wordlessly, I took the photo from Dazai, but he quickly put up his hand and stopped me. "How about you go home for the day? You look terrible."

"... I can't go home. I have work to do."

"How conscientious of you. Why, when I – I, Dazai! – came to work today, two rocks were thrown at me."

I looked outside. A number of protestors had been yelling outside all morning. There will only be more tomorrow, I thought.

"Conscientious? You fool, I have extremely important business. I'm catching the culprit."

"Well... there is that," Dazai agreed, playing dumb.

"Where is Miss Sasaki?"

"She's on her way. Dr. Yosano's taking a look at her in her office right now, though she doesn't seem badly hurt."

"I have something to ask her."

I stood up. Miss Sasaki was the only living person to personally witness the culprit. She might have insight into the culprit's kidnapping technique.

As I rose to follow Dazai to the doctor's office, my eyes suddenly fell on the photograph. Miss Sasaki, the other victims, and I were all plainly visible, but the only sign of Dazai was the edge of his coat peeping past the frame.

How did he manage to hide from this candid photograph?

"Please forgive me... I wish I was strong, but I'm afraid I'm really very weak..."

Miss Sasaki listlessly hung her head as she sat in the doctor's office.

"My body is by nature quite weak, and I collapse upon occasion due to anemia. On the day in question, I already felt under the weather... so that is probably why I fainted."