Chapter 9

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At fourteen (Part 9)
Dazai Osamu was actually reluctant for Kayo to use her ability.

Firstly, Kayo's supernatural power had only just begun to manifest. Neither she nor anyone else truly understood the nature of her ability, its limits, or what it could ultimately achieve.

Supernatural powers are not tame tools that obediently stay at one’s side, ready to be summoned and controlled at will. On the contrary, such powers carry great risks and uncertainties, including the potential for loss of control.

It is like a child wielding a knife—while it may serve as a deterrent in some respects, it also holds the danger of harming its wielder.

To recklessly use an ability without understanding its rules is an extremely perilous act. Countless unfortunate souls have perished at the hands of their own powers—such cases are far from rare.

Secondly, even if Kayo’s current ability—to extract others’ supernatural powers and manifest them as tangible objects—seems, apart from “No Longer Human,” to be an unsolvable power, it nevertheless must remain secret.

This ability has no direct offensive force yet instills fear among all supernatural users. Dazai could easily foresee the consequences if Kayo’s power were to be revealed: either she would be absorbed by the government and become a pawn stripped of freedom, or countless wary supernatural users would conspire to eliminate her.

As for why Hakutaka Kirin, who possesses a similar power, roams free—this is solely because the Sekizawa family is originally nobility, and the birth of Sekizawa Tatsuhiko only serves to elevate and stabilize their status without bringing any danger or hindrance.

As an orphan adopted by Oda Sakunosuke, Kayo could never achieve such a status.

Of course, she could seek out a powerful organization, such as the Port Mafia, join it, and trade her service for protection. But then, how would that differ from being absorbed by the government?

If Kayo were the kind of person willing to use her power to accomplish feats and exchange them for money and status unattainable by ordinary means, Dazai would have fewer concerns. But he saw clearly that, for the girl, this ability that many might marvel at and envy was likely just a useless burden.

Singing was her pursuit, her dream and passion placed on equal footing with her life itself. It should remain unstained by any other colors or meanings.

This should have had nothing to do with Dazai, yet—

“There’s simply no way to truly ignore it.”

“Even without considering Oda Sakunosuke, anyone who has heard her live performance would be irresistibly captivated by that radiance… it’s dazzling to the point of being blinding.”

“But even so—no matter how much it wounds and brings tears, one simply cannot stop watching.”

Dazai sighed silently in the darkness.

Rationally, he ought to stop Kayo coldly and ruthlessly; emotionally, however, he chose to yield.

After all—he could easily clean up any loose ends. It was no difficult task, especially now, engulfed in complete darkness.

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The only one who truly needed to be silenced was the short one’s mouth. As for how to handle Nakahara Chuuya, Dazai was quite adept.

So in the end, he swallowed the words of admonition that were on the tip of his tongue and spoke with a tone that hinted at affectionate complaint: “Even if I say no, Kayo won’t listen and will insist on doing things her own way, right?”

“Hm? Of course.” Kayo acknowledged this.

She never sought permission from others for her plans—it was merely a notification.

Dazai mumbled something quietly, which Kayo did not catch, but then the young man simply said, “Do as you wish.”

“Don’t worry, with me here, nothing will go wrong.”

Meanwhile, Nakahara Chuuya, who had been ignored for so long he might as well have been background scenery, felt a chill run down his spine listening to Dazai’s tone and attitude—tones he had never heard before, almost gentle.

Is this really the voice of that mackerel? Are we sure someone else hasn’t taken his place?

But soon, Chuuya had no time to dwell on this thought.

Because he heard the singing.

No lights, no accompaniment, no audience—no embellishments at all. In complete darkness, the only sound was the girl’s voice. Though her unique talent and timbre produced a natural reverberation effect, compared to a normal live performance, the sound seemed somewhat “thin.”

Yet this thinness did not diminish the beauty of the song itself. On the contrary, the absence of flashy, bustling elements highlighted a sense of ethereality and clarity.

It is said that when one loses a sense, the body compensates by heightening the others, making them more sensitive to gather the information needed—whether this has scientific basis, Chuuya did not know. But for a man blind in the dark, the voice ringing in his ears was so clear it was almost deafening.

No, it was not the singing itself that was noisy and overwhelming.

It was the pounding of his own heart beneath the song, beating at an excessive rate, the blood rushing frantically through his veins.

His supernatural power stirred uneasily, more so than ever before. Chuuya’s heart tightened as a bad premonition crept in.

Yet when he tried to delve deeper into the feeling, he was surprised to find it was subtly different from the sense of “taint” and an impending “gate” about to open. It was not a sign of power about to erupt, but rather...

...more like he was about to lose something innate.

Almost at that instant when this thought formed, he felt a sudden lightness throughout his body—the darkness was faintly illuminated by a small, dark red orb about the size of a grown man’s fist. Its presence caused the surrounding space to collapse slightly.

Chuuya’s eyes widened, staring at the orb, momentarily speechless.

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“Hey, Dazai, could this be—!”

Before Chuuya could finish, the unknown entity that had been attacking them in the darkness since before interrupted—now, aided by the dim glow, it appeared as writhing black shadowy arms reaching out to grab them.

But these things could of course never reach the three of them.

The dark red orb flashed, and as if bearing a weight of a thousand pounds, crushed and shattered those shadowy limbs into nothingness, as though they had never existed.

Chuuya’s eyes grew even wider.

There was no mistake—this was his supernatural power, yet here it appeared in this form. When Chuuya instinctively tried to call upon his ability, unsurprisingly, he found himself powerless.

Beside him, Dazai continued to provoke, his voice dripping with irritating sarcasm: “Looks like this is way more useful and powerful than yours, Chuuya? No way, no way, you wouldn’t really be someone who can’t even use his own ability, right?”

“Go to hell, Dazai!” Even without relying on supernatural powers, Chuuya’s physical prowess was enough to thrash Dazai. He immediately discarded other thoughts and launched a fierce attack at Dazai.

Though Dazai was weak at fighting, his dodging skills were exceptional. He sidestepped Chuuya’s strike and reached out to grab the dark red orb floating in the air.

In truth, the moment Dazai’s fingertips touched the orb, a transformation began. The orb rapidly disintegrated and vanished within seconds, replaced by a sensation within Chuuya’s body as if he were being “filled” with a strange, indescribable feeling of comfort and solidity.

Both Dazai and Chuuya had experienced the “Dragonhead War” together, so Chuuya couldn't help but make some connections. After all, supernatural powers vary widely, and unrelated individuals might possess abilities with similar effects.

Naturally, everything unfolding before Chuuya made him think of Sekizawa Tatsuhiko and his power to extract others’ supernatural abilities.

Before Chuuya could speak, he heard Dazai’s sharp admonition.

“Shh.” The black-haired youth said coldly, “Chuuya, when did you become so talkative?”

“Not everything needs to be said.”

“Huh? You...” Such a tone only made Chuuya more annoyed. Fortunately, before Dazai could receive a pounding from his partner, something else caught Chuuya’s attention.

That was...

A butterfly?