Chapter 6

Fourteen Years Old (Part 6)

Odasaku reached out cautiously, gently cupping the long needle that had manifested as his ability. It was miraculous; this was the first time he had ever been able to perceive and interact with his own ability from such a perspective and in such a manner.

"This is my ability," Odasaku replied.

However, faced with his statement, the blonde girl in front of him raised an eyebrow, her crystalline purple eyes clearly reflecting a sense of confusion.

"Ability? What is that?"

Odasaku and Utau stared at each other for a long moment before he realized with a start, "Ah."

"Utau, you don't know about the existence of abilities," he said.

The time that followed was spent with Odasaku explaining to Utau about the existence of "abilities"—the supernatural phenomena that were a reality in this world. The general public was aware of abilities but considered them far removed from their daily lives. After all, though the conditions for their birth and the triggers for awakening remained unknown, the emergence of ability users was extremely rare, leading to their scarcity.

Perhaps some people went their entire lives without ever seeing a real ability user in front of them. Only Yokohama, due to its unique nature, had a higher concentration of them—it was almost treated like the nation’s hub for ability users.

"Utau, your ability seems to be able to extract other people's abilities," Odasaku said, looking at the needle he held. "I can feel that this is my ability, and as long as it’s extracted, I am unable to use it."

Perhaps it would only be when Utau released her power—causing the needle, which served as the vessel for his ability, to vanish and return to his body—that "Flawless" could be used again.

"Oda, can I see that needle?" Utau asked.

Odasaku agreed readily and handed the needle to her. He seemed completely unconcerned that this was his precious ability, his attitude bordering on an excessive, carefree indifference, as if it were merely a ten-yen coin that wouldn't matter if it were blown away by the wind.

The needle rested in Utau’s hand. Perhaps because it had been held by Odasaku for so long, it didn't feel cold; instead, it carried a faint warmth, much like the temperature of his palms. Utau examined it repeatedly, yet she found nothing special about it.

However, as she traced the tip of the needle with her fingertip, a possibility suddenly occurred to her. If "abilities" were supernatural phenomena, weren't "Guardian Characters" entities of the same caliber?

Since arriving in this world, no matter what Utau tried, she couldn't make Iru and Eru reappear. She had never seen any children with Guardian Characters or Heart Eggs, and she had eventually accepted the fact that perhaps the concept of Guardian Characters simply did not exist in this world.

But perhaps... Iru and Eru hadn't vanished; they were simply bound by the rules of this world and were accompanying her in a different form?

Thinking back to how it felt when performing a Character Change...

Energy, like black-purple starlight, gathered behind the girl, condensing into a pair of small, exquisite, pitch-black bat wings that unfurled.

"Wow!" Sakura, who had been nearby, watched the wings that appeared behind Utau—reminiscent of a magical girl—and her eyes lit up. "Wings!"

She reached out to touch them, and Utau, indulgent and cooperative, picked up the little girl, letting her fingers brush against her wings.

That’s right, Utau thought. It was the same feeling as performing a Character Change with a Guardian Character, both in how it was used and the power flowing through her body. Utau could even feel that if she wanted to, she could undergo a full transformation right now without any issues.

If she used Guardian Characters as an analogy, Utau now understood the extent of her capabilities and what was happening.

"It must be because... my singing voice extracted your ability," Utau said. It was just like how, after a Character Change with Iru, she could corrupt other children's Heart Eggs into X-Eggs and extract them.

She couldn't help but fall into thought. Iru's power was to corrupt Heart Eggs and extract them after they became X-Eggs, and now that had manifested as the ability to extract other people's powers...

Then, what would happen if she used the corresponding power of Eru—the ability to purify X-Eggs and turn them back into Heart Eggs to return them to a child's heart?

There were no "X-Eggs" here for her to purify. Perhaps she could use Eru's power to "return" the ability?

Utau’s heart stirred. The black bat wings behind her silently vanished, replaced by a pair of massive, snowy-white wings that unfurled with a flutter.

Sakura exclaimed, "An angel!"

Fortunately, they were in the garden, and the moving crew had long since departed; otherwise, this sight would have certainly caused a sensation. This time, when Utau looked at the long needle, she truly felt an inexplicable sense of control over it.

"Oda, lend me your hand."

Odasaku extended his hand naturally, as if he had no concerns about what Utau might do. As the tip of the needle Utau was holding touched his skin, it didn't break the surface; instead, the needle transformed into a beam of white light and merged into his body.

"Oda, how do you feel?" Utau asked, seemingly calm, but her tone betrayed a hint of nervousness and worry. "Has your ability returned?"

Testing if Odasaku's ability had recovered was simple. His ability, "Flawless," allowed the user to perceive a very short segment of the future—between five and six seconds—from their own perspective. It triggered passively when life-threatening danger was encountered and could also be activated voluntarily.

Thus, Odasaku stared at a spot nearby for a few seconds and concluded, "It's back."

Utau finally let out a sigh of relief. Yet, this relaxation didn't even last a second before her expression turned serious again.

"...This is bad," she frowned. "Mr. Ryosuke mentioned to me before that I have a music festival scheduled in Tokyo next month."

Moreover, this wasn't just any ordinary music festival; it was the world-renowned Fuji Rock Festival. With decades of history, it was one of the largest outdoor music festivals in all of Asia, attracting hundreds of thousands of people per event. It was a festival of immense scale and status.

Even though ability users were rare, with such a massive crowd, who could guarantee that someone with an ability wouldn't be in attendance?

Utau didn't care about being discovered as an ability user, or having the specific effects of her ability revealed. But the mere thought of encountering such trouble while performing on stage as an artist made her temples throb.

If she could control this power, it would be one thing, but she hadn't performed a Character Change when she was singing earlier... Utau had no idea what the trigger conditions for her power were.

"Oda, do you know of any way to control or temporarily suppress and eliminate abilities?" With no other options, Utau turned to Odasaku for help.

Odasaku blinked slowly. "Suppressing abilities, huh..." he said. "Why not just ask Dazai?"

***

"Wow," Dazai Osamu said, "even Mr. Mori couldn't afford a villa like this."

On an unremarkable day, Dazai accepted Odasaku's invitation to visit their new home. Upon seeing the magnificent, European-style villa before him, Dazai made this remark, not forgetting to take a subtle jab at his mentor.

He didn't even need to ask Utau how much profit "Butterfly in the Labyrinth" had brought her; Dazai could already calculate it with reasonable accuracy. It left him clicking his tongue, as even Dazai, a member of the Mafia, was shocked by such a terrifying rate of wealth accumulation.

"Little Utau, little Utau," Dazai asked with deep emotion, "I don't want to work hard anymore. Can I be Utau's manager? Or an assistant?"

Between a wretched old man and a lovely girl, choosing who to have as his "boss" was a decision that required no consideration at all.

This sounded like a joke, yet both Odasaku and Utau gave affirmative replies.

"Hmm? I don't mind. Are you coming, Dazai?" Utau looked at him.

Odasaku, on the other hand, looked enlightened. "Oh, I see. Dazai, are you planning to resign from the Port Mafia too? We could do it together."

Dazai: "That sounds truly tempting... but Mr. Mori won't let me go that easily."

He felt a genuine sense of regret in that moment. After all, compared to the stagnant Port Mafia, which had long since lost any ripples and lacked the "meaning" of survival that Dazai sought, the unfamiliar and completely unexplored world of entertainment was clearly more attractive.

Furthermore...

Dazai’s eyes flickered slightly as he thought of "Butterfly in the Labyrinth," a song he had listened to repeatedly until he could recite every lyric. Dazai had even installed a CD player in his shipping container just for it.

Music has a soul. In the past, Dazai had scoffed at such claims, believing them to be nothing more than marketing tactics. He came from an affluent background and had received an excellent education within his family from a young age; his cultivation in music and art was certainly not lacking. Yet, back then, Dazai had never felt any resonance with those classic, timeless pieces.

Until that day, when he heard that song. It stirred ripples in his heart, which had been as still and stagnant as a pool of dead water.

On that dead sea, blue-green moonlight began to shine, and purple butterflies fluttered by, bringing a unique tremor and color to this desolate world. Dazai trembled because of it.

If he could hear more songs created and sung by Utau, could he find the meaning he had been searching for all along? Even if doing so felt like he was basely stealing light from a girl as dazzling and brilliant as a diamond.

He thought this, his gaze shifting quietly toward Utau. His long, thick, raven-feather-like eyelashes trembled slightly, and then all emotion was reined in, pressed to the very depths, leaving not a trace of what had once appeared.

"But this idea is far too attractive to me. I'll plan carefully on how to jump ship from Mr. Mori!" He suddenly became cheerful again, as if he could already see the happy and interesting life he would lead after becoming Utau's manager.

"Dazai," Utau called out. "Actually, there is something I need your help with."

The iris-colored eyes lifted, and their owner drawled, "Eh—what is it?"

"If it’s for Utau-chan, I’d be happy to help~"

If Mori Ogai knew about this differential treatment, he might frantically reach out his hands. *Dazai-kun! How can you be so biased?*

Utau and Odasaku explained to Dazai about the ability the girl had unintentionally discovered, which used her singing voice as a medium. Although the full extent and form of Utau's ability had yet to be explored, the part that had been demonstrated was enough to make anyone take notice.

Dazai’s eyes darkened slightly. "I see... that is indeed a formidable ability."

Odasaku and Utau didn't know, but as one of the five executives of the Port Mafia, Dazai knew that the form of the ability displayed by the "White Kirin," who was highly praised in this country as the "existence closest to a Transcendent," had some similarities to Utau's.

"Utau, do not let a third person know about your ability, other than me and Odasaku." He made this request to the girl with great seriousness.

"Will my ability cause trouble?" Utau grasped the implication immediately.

"It has nothing to do with your ability, but there will certainly be some greedy old men who will want to use it to their advantage and take control of you..." When Dazai said this, his iris-colored eyes dimmed, appearing for a moment as if they were a thick, impenetrable darkness.

Utau closed her eyes. "I will do my best to adapt and control my ability as soon as possible."

Since it was a power that came from Iru and Eru—a power that "originally belonged to her"—there was no reason she couldn't master it.

"It’s just that the music festival next month is definitely too soon. Dazai, Odasaku said you have a way. I really need it."

"Oh, that." Dazai's voice sounded very light. "Utau doesn't know what my ability is yet, right?"

" 'No Longer Human'—as long as I make contact, I can nullify any ability."

"So, as long as I go with Utau to the music festival, there won't be any problems!"

Utau: ...That’s the biggest problem of all.

How exactly are you going to get on stage with me without being glaringly out of place?