After Returning to Yokohama, I Rely on a Mishmash of Secret Identities to Save the World - Chapter 4

Chapter 4: Labyrinth (Part III)

The sea embankment was not considered high. The fall was merely a matter of an instant.

There was no sound of water, nor was there any suffocating sensation of being enveloped by seawater. When Oda Hoshimi opened his eyes again, what he saw was a tall stone wall standing right in front of his face.

The scattered mists that he had seen earlier running amok in all directions were now piled up in the skies above, forming a heavy layer of clouds that compressed the light to the extreme.

The visibility of the surroundings was extremely low, yet the bizarre thing was that the stone walls around were seen very clearly. Three colossal walls trapped a person within an arrow’s shot of space, with only a single direction wide open, leading toward the pitch-black unknown, blatantly inviting you to enter.

Oda Hoshimi, who held a purpose, was in no hurry to move his feet instead. Rather, he patiently stood in his original spot to wait a little longer.

Before long, ink-colored water droplets that were difficult to distinguish with the naked eye oozed out from the stone wall, squirming like living things, gradually gathering into the distinct stroke patterns of characters.

—”Please do not make noise”

“Crack— Crack—”

Fine yet clear bone-friction sounds echoed inside the narrow road, a skeleton slowly sauntering within the grayish lane.

This was a skeleton of some unknown creature. There was a high probability that it was spliced together. One could distinctly differentiate a human hand-bone, yet it dragged a long tail behind it. A greasy, disgusting, unidentified fluid wriggled upon the skeleton, occasionally dripping onto the ground, bringing up intermittent sizzling sounds of corrosion.

The most crucial thing was that it was still walking normally.

—For a person who lacked a shred of psychological tolerance to see this scene, it would be very normal for them to scream out loud, right.

Oda Hoshimi looked at the shattered bones scattered beside the road, shaking his head silently and pityingly, passing straight beside the skeleton that was still patrolling all over the place.

The skeleton appeared to be following some sort of fixed program, turning a blind eye toward the human passing beside it, continuing along at its own slow pace forward.

‘Suddenly I discover that Chuuya-san’s build still has an advantage.’ At least in this kind of narrow place, as long as one was careful, it wouldn’t go as far as touching those disgusting things.

He carefully avoided the strangely shaped skeletons along the way, shuttling through the lanes with a clear target, his speed not slow yet failing to emit any sound whatsoever.

“It looks like this time’s Labyrinth is still in its infancy. It’s possible we can directly resolve it!” Little Seven looked at the scanned data, harboring optimistic expectations toward their mission.

‘Don’t go raising flags. This fellow has swallowed over a hundred people at the very least; a relaxed surface layer can only represent that the inner layer is even more troublesome.’

The “Labyrinth” was a type of dimensional beast. The name was very simple; it was a living labyrinth.

This type of dimensional beast’s intelligence level wasn’t high. It had always followed fixed rules to move. As long as one observed the rules and found the exit before starving to death, one could leave safely. However, following the expansion of the space-time rift and the increase in the quantity of swallowed lives, its rules would also follow along to increase or decrease, until it turned into an indiscriminate slaughterhouse covering the entire world.

The interior of the labyrinth was divided into a surface layer and an inner layer. The exit of the surface layer and the entrance of the inner layer were extremely close. This was also its insidious part. Some fortunate trapped individuals spent tremendous effort to avoid the dangers of the surface layer and arrive at the end, yet failed to choose the correct exit, entering instead into the even more dangerous inner layer, only able to bear resentment and be buried here.

Oda Hoshimi’s purpose was precisely to enter the inner layer; if no accident occurred, the space-time rift was right there.

Regarding this type of dimensional beast, if one’s luck was good enough—for instance, bumping into rules that didn’t particularly require combat—it was possible to avoid a force-based conflict and take it down. Oda Hoshimi was gambling on this probability. As long as he saw the entrance to the inner layer, he could judge whether the internal rules required force to resolve.

However…

‘I knew good luck wouldn’t favor me.’ Oda Hoshimi sighed in his heart.

He looked at a stone door carved with countless distorted patterns at the end of a certain lane, the purple light within his eyes lighting up and extinguishing again.

Oda Hoshimi decisively abandoned his present-stage reckless plan of bravely charging into the inner layer, turning his head to look at the small path on the right side, stepping lightly inside.

Not taking a few steps, he saw two men as expected, so thin that their cheeks were somewhat sunken, wearing ragged black suits while curling up in a corner of the wall.

Seeming to feel something approaching, the men who had been like birds startled by the mere twang of a bow these past few days raised their heads in terror, yet burst into tears the instant they saw Oda Hoshimi. One of them subconsciously wanted to open his mouth to say something, but swiftly covered his own mouth.

The two scrambled and ran toward him, a nimble sliding kneel latching onto his ankles, crying with a handful of snot and a handful of tears.

—”Chuuya-sama, Chuuya-sama has come to save us, ah, boohoo hoo hoo!!!!”

Discovering “Nakahara Chuuya” was purely a pleasant surprise. Even if he failed to obtain more intelligence, it didn’t affect Dazai Osamu continuing to find the true Chuuya to reminisce.

Regrettably, the Port Mafia didn’t know much more than they did either.

Dazai Osamu pondered over the harvest of this trip, sauntering back to the Armed Detective Agency.

“Da! Zai!!”

Then, as expected, he welcomed the roar of his partner: “You are late by a full three hours and twenty-seven minutes!”

Dazai Osamu nimbly dodged Kunikida Doppo’s hand that attempted to grab his collar, retreating two steps to shout out loud: “I was collecting intelligence for the case, you know!”

Kunikida Doppo stopped his movements, asking suspiciously: “Is that true?”

Dazai Osamu nodded with a face of total sincerity: “True, true. For this case, I went alone deep into the evil Port Mafia stronghold, experiencing untold hardships to finally return carrying intelligence.”

Kunikida Doppo’s expression softened: “Since that is the case…”

“Boohoo hoo hoo, I worked so hard, yet Kunikida-san still wants to reproach me…” Dazai Osamu rubbed his eyes in a flamboyant manner.

“Ah, this…” The honest person Kunikida began to visibly look guilt-ridden, “I’m sorry, Dazai…”

“I didn’t even catch today’s canned crab meat promotional event…”

“…I’ll buy it for you, is that fine.”

“I want ten boxes!”

Kunikida Doppo: “…”

He grit his teeth: “Fine!”

Dazai Osamu finally stopped his fake crying. Just as he wanted to continue pushing his luck further, Oda Sakunosuke, who was organizing materials at his workspace, poked his head out: “Dazai, what intelligence did you find out?”

Kunikida also placed his attention upon this: “That’s right, what did you find out? Ranpo-san said the victims of this case number as high as over a hundred people. It should be resolved as quickly as possible.”

During the time Dazai Osamu hadn’t returned, he hadn’t been idling around. He had continuously been coordinating the details of the case with the Special Operations Division, and right now was precisely preparing to take Nakajima Atsushi to the crime scene for a field investigation. If Dazai Osamu could provide an investigative direction, presumably the speed of solving the crime would be even faster.

Dazai Osamu pinched his chin, falling into deep thought: “Mmh…”

Kunikida: “Mmh?”

He raised his head, a face of complete innocence: “I didn’t find out anything at all, you know~”

Kunikida: “…”

“Bang, snap— Clatter—”

After a burst of turning things upside down, Kunikida Doppo pulled Nakajima Atsushi in a raging fury to stride out the door, leaving a certain rabbit Dazai behind to play dead on the sofa with a head full of bumps.

Lying for about two or three minutes, Dazai Osamu suddenly sat up with a carp-kick, fishing out a pair of earphones from beneath the sofa to put on, and then, as expected, could only hear the sizzling sound of a lost signal.

“Truly cautious…” he muttered.

At this moment, the position beside him suddenly sank. Edogawa Ranpo sat down beside him with great interest while holding potato chips, “Dazai, what interesting thing did you discover?”

Dazai Osamu collapsed softly onto the backrest: “It can’t count as interesting, right; it should be a su—per big trouble instead.”

“Let me guess… related to Mr. Hat?”

“As expected of Ranpo-san.” He extended two fingers, “The slug actually split! Don’t you think it’s super terrifying!”

Edogawa Ranpo opened his eyes: “Is the difference very distinct?”

“Very distinct, you know. But compared to that fellow, even the sticky little slug looks much more pleasing to the eye…” Dazai Osamu complained, “And there’s another one hidden somewhere!”

“One?”

“He said it’s not just one; I feel there won’t be too many.”

“So that’s how it is,” Edogawa Ranpo nodded to express understanding, “The rules for entering?”

“Exactly as Ranpo-san predicted. Previously there was only night, right now it has expanded to dusk.”

“Can’t get in?”

“Can’t get in.”

Edogawa Ranpo propped his head: “Then we can only wait for Kunikida-san.”

“With Kunikida-mom’s stamina, tiring him out wouldn’t be easy either, right.”

“Right now it shouldn’t require being particularly tired; not sleeping for one night will do!”

“Ranpo-san is going too?”

“That is an absolute certainty, right. Without the Great Detective leading the way, even Kunikida might fail to return.”

Dazai Osamu plucked himself out from the sofa crevice: “Don’t plan to wait a bit longer?”

“Time waits for no man.” Edogawa Ranpo shook his head, “If they hold the same purpose as us, we will meet again tomorrow.”

Dazai Osamu let out a light chuckle: “That’s true too.”

The people of the Agency were accustomed to the daily riddles of the two intelligence pinnacles, not intending to use their mortal IQs to attempt comprehension. Oda Sakunosuke glanced at them. Only after confirming they had reached a consensus did he interject: “Dazai, are you coming to my house for dinner tonight? Hoshimi came back.”

“Eh? Didn’t Hoshimi say he was returning next week?”

“He said he finished writing his thesis, and his advisor gave him a vacation early.”

Dazai Osamu stretched his back: “Okay, it just so happens I have something to find him for.”

Oda Sakunosuke seemed to think of something, reminding: “Take it easy, you two.”

“Don’t worry, don’t worry, there won’t be a problem!”

Murata was an ordinary yet not-so-ordinary Mafia member.

His ordinariness lay in the fact that he hadn’t mixed into any big-character status after doing this trade for several years; his non-ordinariness lay in—he was an ability user.

His ability wasn’t powerful. It was merely a type of intuition toward danger that worked at times and failed at others. Yet relying on this ability, he became a member of the Black Lizard, enjoying a treatment that wasn’t considered low even within the Mafia.

Taking into account the special nature of his ability, Hirotsu-sama only arranged tasks such as patrolling port cargo for him, occasionally being called over to assist the elders in judging the danger level of certain items. The overall work wasn’t light, but it wasn’t considered dangerous either.

Until a certain day, their patrol squad was enveloped by a bizarre grayish-white mist. Merely dazing for a brief moment, they arrived within a special space where all three sides were surrounding walls.

They were Black Lizard members of broad vision and knowledge after all. They didn’t panic excessively at the beginning. After investigating the spot for a while, they saw a line of characters manifest on the wall.

—”Please do not make loud noises”

At this time, they had already confirmed that they had dropped into a certain ability user’s ability. Before confirming the situation, observing the rules first was relatively safe. Especially since Murata’s intuition had issued a distinct advance warning regarding this.

The captain called Murata to his side. With the two of them opening the path, they began to explore this strange space, or rather—a labyrinth.

Yes, not walking far, they judged that this was a labyrinth, but this wasn’t the focal point.

When one of their companions touched a skeleton but was instantaneously dissolved, and when another companion subconsciously fired a gun but was surrounded and completely devoured by the skeletons nearby, the Black Lizards realized—

Those oddly shaped, distorted bones were precisely the most dangerous existence.

They sacrificed several companions just to run out from the siege of the skeletons. Not long after, they discovered in terror that they, who had originally still been able to converse in low voices, now couldn’t even emit a shred of sound without potentially provoking those things!

Under this kind of environment, how difficult it was for a person to restrain their own dread and not emit a sound.

No food or water, no way out. They didn’t know how long they had suffered through the torment here. In the end, there remained only the captain, who held the strongest strength, and Murata, who was able to judge danger.

Supporting one another, they walked to the end of the labyrinth—a stone door carved with countless patterns.

The captain gestured to Murata in pleasant surprise, letting him judge if this was the exit.

Murata was likewise filled with expectation. He raised his head, and then was deeply attracted by the patterns upon the door.

Only after being startled awake by the warning fiercely vociferated by his ability did he discover that he had actually been just a shred away from touching this door!

‘No! This is not the exit!’ Murata staggered back two steps, shaking his head in a panic toward the captain.

The two plunged into despair for a time.

The stone door location was a place they didn’t dare stay any longer, yet leaving this place to face that group of life-taking things was something they didn’t dare do either. They could only hide inside the small lane beside it, waiting for a hope they didn’t know would exist.

Fortunately, heaven favored them.

When that familiar silhouette—that ochre hair-strand that appeared exceptionally bright in this ghost place where the road could barely be seen clearly—appeared before them, Murata only felt as if he had seen the radiance of a deity piercing through this labyrinth, illuminating the road ahead.

‘It’s Chuuya-sama!!’

They exchanged a glance. After confirming that it wasn’t their own hallucination, they charged up at the fastest speed, sliding to their knees at “Nakahara Chuuya’s” feet.

Chuuya-sama’s body, which wasn’t considered grand, appeared exceptionally towering at this moment.

‘Boohoo hoo hoo hoo… as expected of Chuuya-sama, he will absolutely never abandon any single subordinate!’

—’We are saved!’

“Nakahara Chuuya” lowered his head, looking at the state of the two men who, despite being starved to this kind of body size, had their faces completely smeared with tears and snot, shaking off their hands with a bit of disgust.

Ugh, the snot is about to drip onto the shoe surface.

Support