mtl008 Chapter 142 Bungou Stray Dog 12
Chapter 142 Bungou Stray Dog 12
In the port mafia's meeting room, a circle of little kids sat, and the atmosphere was somewhat tense.
Gojo Satoru found the scene hilarious, especially the Port Mafia members who were dumbfounded to find their leader and executives had all shrunk.
"Strange, Dazai has clearly succeeded, shouldn't we change back into our adult forms?"
Mori Ougai was completely baffled. The world had returned to normal, so how could they still look like children?
"Dazai, what do you think is the reason?" Mori Ougai looked at Dazai Osamu beside him, wondering if he had missed something when writing it.
"I don't know, but the content I wrote is the version that everyone has been discussing."
Dazai Osamu replied dismissively, saying he had no idea why.
If I can't change back, so be it. At least I don't have to go to work.
He's very open-minded about it. At worst, he can grow up all over again, and there are so many people accompanying him when he's small again. How interesting!
"Ranpo?" Fukuzawa Yukichi looked at Edogawa Ranpo, his thoughts were the same as Mori Ōgai's, wanting to return to his original state as soon as possible.
"Chewing...it's because Howard...chewed...that's why..."
Edogawa Ranpo swallowed the snack in his mouth and said nonchalantly.
"His power to shrink us was so strong that [the book] couldn't interfere with it, which is why we didn't turn back."
He feels that things are fine now; apart from his body getting smaller, life is no different from before.
"When can we turn back?" Chuuya asked anxiously. How could he go on missions like this?
His subordinates' gazes towards him changed, as if a kind of loving look had crept in.
"I don't know, you should ask Wu about that."
As soon as Edogawa Ranpo said this, everyone present looked at Gojo Satoru.
"Don't look at me, I don't know either. Howard said he's trying to figure it out. You guys wait and see."
Gojo Satoru can't help them; if they want to return to their original state, they can only rely on Merlin.
"Then everyone can stay here for now, and go back after this problem is resolved."
Mori Ougai felt a headache coming on. This problem was indeed thorny. As one of the three major powers in Yokohama, the Special Service Division had escaped unscathed.
-
"Gossip, let's go get some snacks."
"Wu, let's go eat crab congee."
Edogawa Ranpo and Dazai Osamu exchanged a glance and said in unison.
"Wu, what do you want to eat? (x2)"
"Then of course we'll go buy edamame and cream daifuku."
Gojo Satoru gave a completely different answer and led the two towards the dessert shop.
He's not here to nurse babies, so why should he consider their opinions? Of course, he should satisfy his own tastes first.
"Huff... Satoru, slow down..." Edogawa Ranpo dragged his heavy steps to catch up with Gojo Satoru. He was so tired that he really couldn't walk anymore.
Dazai Osamu also had a look of utter despair on his face; he came here to have fun, not to suffer.
Gojo Satoru took them out for a day, and they walked the whole way on their own two legs, leaving them completely exhausted.
We agreed to have fun, how did it turn into physical training?
“I told you not to follow me, but you wouldn’t listen.”
Gojo Satoru slowly stopped walking. Sometimes, a child being too clingy isn't a good thing.
"I'm not following anymore, phew... I won't follow next time."
Edogawa Ranpo was panting heavily. Children have very poor stamina; he really had no strength left.
Dazai Osamu clung to Gojo Satoru's leg and wouldn't let go. Since he couldn't walk anymore, he figured if Gojo Satoru wouldn't hold him, he'd just stay there with him.
Just then, a calico cat passed by on the roadside, looking at Dazai Osamu sitting on the ground with curious eyes.
Osamu Dazai:......
Mr. Natsume, could you please stop watching? He still has some self-respect.
Gojo Satoru smiled at Dazai Osamu's stiff expression, and finally took the two kids back.
Speaking of which, that calico cat must be Natsume Soseki, right? Its human-like eyes and the energy it exudes can't be faked.
-
As soon as Gojo Satoru returned to the Port Mafia, he put the two of them in a room and then went out to have fun again.
Then, during this wave, he discovered a problem: the sea level in Yokohama Port was rising.
If a little wind were to blow now, the seawater would flood in.
He went to other places to take a look, and Yokohama was not an isolated case; it seemed that sea levels were rising all over the world.
He checked the system's task panel and found that the progress bar for the task of preventing the world from being destroyed was glowing red.
A thought popped into Gojo Satoru's mind: Shouldn't this task be completed by now?
[666, what's the deal with this task?]
He sensed something was wrong. The world had just survived the apocalypse, and now it was facing another flood?
[I've figured it out; it's because of the book.]
[Dazai Osamu used the power of the "book" to rewind the timeline, exhausting the power of the "book."]
[The "Book" in this world is like the world's support structure; once the power of the "Book" is exhausted, the world can no longer function.]
666 also discovered the changes in this world; without [books], this world would also perish.
The world was originally born from books, and without books, the world will naturally disappear.
Ugh, what a hassle!
Gojo understood why 888 had approached him: because 888 had a branch of the World Tree and could save the world from its impending collapse.
He turned back to the Port Mafia, picked up Edogawa Ranpo and Dazai Osamu, and threw them onto the open ground in front of the Port Mafia.
Dazai Osamu looked at Gojo Satoru with a blank expression. Why did you have to wake him up when he was sleeping soundly?
"You two, dig!" Gojo Satoru pointed to the shovel and hoe on the ground, ordering the two of them to start digging a hole.
"Huh?" Ranpo stared sleepily at the tools on the ground, his mind still foggy. What was he digging for?
"Hurry up, dig holes and plant trees."
Gojo Satoru personally handed the tools to the two of them. This was their world, so what was wrong with doing their part?
"Oh, okay." Ranpo didn't even know what he was doing, and started digging a hole in a daze.
Dazai Osamu, being quite perceptive, remained silent and continued digging the hole with Ranpo, huffing and puffing.
Gojo Satoru seemed to be in a bad mood, as if something terrible had happened.
666 also arrived. It had already soaked the World Tree branch in nutrient solution, and it would sprout soon.
Just when one problem seemed to be resolved, another arose. The issue of the main characters shrinking hadn't been addressed yet, and now the world was facing another major crisis.
Is this world in a Mercury retrograde? It seems like it's encountering all sorts of bad luck.
[Has that branch sprouted yet? Will it die if I plant it?]
Gojo Satoru wasn't really upset about the World Tree branch; he'd just broken it off casually anyway.
He just doesn't want to work for nothing. It would be ridiculous if he tried so hard to save the world only to find that the road was blocked.
[No, it's already started sprouting after being soaked in nutrient solution. It will survive once planted.]
The nutrient solution that 666 mentioned is a special medicine for cultivating the World Tree, and the situation described by Gojo Satoru will not occur.