The Protagonist Always Wants to Find Someone to Commit Suicide With - Chapter 11

“Apologies,” Dazai Osamu shared a direct look with Matoba Seiji. “The work of an exorcist consumes far too much energy; I don’t intend to perform it frequently. I desire to earnestly guide that pack of lovely students.”

System: “Is this your rationale for cutting classes?”

The exact split second he reached the classroom threshold, Dazai Osamu caught sight of two massive characters drawn in chalk across the blackboard:

【Self-Study】

Dazai Osamu maintained his smiling expression. “Looks like even during my absence, my students are earnestly focusing on their learning.”

The students inside the classroom were all keeping their heads lowered to scribble text. Stepping inside the room, his focus swept across the student body.

“Oh ya,” he communicated to his system. “Natsume is present too.”

The boy clad in a school uniform sat at his assigned seat, his light brown short hair draping submissively near the side of his face.

The system issued a reminder: “Don’t forget your capture mission hasn’t concluded yet.” Therefore, please refrain from executing any bad actions toward the capture target.

Dazai Osamu leaned against the door frame, speaking with total righteousness: “I am thinking about this parameter every single hour and minute.”

Stepping onto the lecture platform, Dazai lightly tapped against the desk, slowly opening his mouth only after the individuals below lifted their heads. “Apologies for being late; currently we shall resume the lecture.” His voice was low and gorgeous, resembling the melody unloosed when a cello plays, causing a person to be drawn over within a split second.

?!

Natsume Takashi stared at the person on the lecture platform with utter astonishment. The young lady sitting right beside him rotated her head to whisper stealthily: “Hey, Natsume, this is the new teacher I mentioned to you before! Isn’t he ultra handsome?!”

“…” He directed his focus toward the platform. Dazai Osamu was still clad in that same brown trench coat over a black inner shirt from their previous meetings, presently focusing his gaze on the textbook before him.

Having been absolutely forced to request leave before due to the parameters of the curse, today was Natsume Takashi’s very first day resuming classes. Just as he arrived at the classroom today, someone had told him that a new teacher had arrived, and was considerably young… he hadn’t anticipated it would actually be Dazai Osamu.

Natsume Takashi unloosed a sigh. Was the reason he hadn’t caught sight of him before simply because the counterpart was newly arrived in this area?

Keeping his head lowered, he borrowed his peripheral vision to stealthily gauge the teacher on the platform. Hopefully I won’t get discovered… otherwise, there’s completely zero idea how to offer an explanation.

Whether his prayers held efficacy or his presence simply wasn’t particularly attention-grabbing, Dazai Osamu didn’t call out his name for the entire duration of the lecture, not even distributing a single sliver of focus toward him.

Utterly fortunate

The pure-hearted protagonist held zero awareness that his masquerade had been stripped away from the very start.

The dismissal bell chimed, and only then did Natsume Takashi finally release a long breath of relief. This time counted as evading a disaster.

“Natsume Takashi, is it?” Before he could relax for more than a brief moment, the character who left him feeling as if he were facing a massive enemy strode over to his area. “I recall your person was absent during the previous lecture.”

“Yes, Teacher, last time I requested leave due to certain reasons,” suppressing the tension deep within his core, he answered with hesitation.

That day, upon verifying the curse couldn’t be instantly eliminated, he had gone over to Natori Shuuichi’s location. Afterward, when dialing Aunt Touko, he had merely stated: “That friend named Natori Shuuichi caught an illness, and there’s no one around his frame to look after him; I want to request leave to look after him at his house.”

As Natsume’s guardian, Aunt Touko expressed total support toward this parameter. Natsume was an intensely gentle child to begin with; currently, a lonely and helpless friend had caught an illness, so going to look after him was perfectly natural.

“How is Natsume-kun’s comprehension regarding the previous course content?” Dazai Osamu lightly rested his hand across Natsume Takashi’s shoulder.

“I executed some preview beforehand… once I return home, I will read through it earnestly,” Natsume Takashi felt a bit apprehensive. He was mentally evaluating whether his current voice carried any similarities to his previous voice, simultaneously praying that Dazai Osamu wouldn’t recognize him that easily.

“That absolute won’t do, I must bear responsibility toward my students’ learning parameters!”

“Let’s do this!” He looked exactly as if he had birthed a splendid idea, the smile across his face deepening by a few fractions.

“Today I shall directly proceed to Natsume-student’s house to supply you with supplementary tutoring!”

This school wasn’t some key high school, and the dismissal hours were relatively relaxed, so the sky currently couldn’t be considered late either. The tree shadows were stretched infinitely low under the setting sun, fusing together with the sunlight cascading across the ground to assemble a decent picture of artistic conception.

Minimal individuals populated the streets, rendering it exceptionally quiet, to the metric where even footstep sounds could be captured with absolute clarity.

“How old is Teacher Dazai this year?” Walking side-by-side with Dazai Osamu along the path home, Natsume Takashi couldn’t resist asking. He had previously held a bit of concern regarding Dazai’s age, but because thrilling incidents exploded one after another on his heels, he held zero time to ask.

“What does Natsume-kun speculate?” Dazai’s lips curled upward, a flash of interest dancing within his pupils.

The system had never witnessed a character this boring: “Can’t you simply inform him directly?”

“Naturally not,” Dazai returned. “Natsume is a highly crucial capture target; how can I execute a perfunctory dismissal with total casualness.”

System: No, it doesn’t count as perfunctory at all.

“Twenty years old?” Natsume Takashi was a bit uncertain. His focus settled across Dazai Osamu; previously he held minimal sensation, but after witnessing him inside the classroom, a subtle feeling manifested likely that metric of reverence every student harbors toward a teacher?

“Guessed incorrectly~” Dazai shook his finger.

“Ah, arrived?” Catching sight of Natsume Takashi halting before a house entrance, he executed a finger snap. “Then let’s guess again next time.”

“Truly a disruption.”

“Alas, Teacher Dazai mustn’t speak to that image; we still have to trouble you to assist Natsume in reviewing his coursework.”

After exchanging greetings with Aunt Touko who delivered some pastries over, the sliding door was pulled shut. Dazai Osamu sat down before the table to one side, his left hand propped on the tabletop to support his chin, fixedly tracking the youth before his frame. “Natsume-kun, is it better to address you as Miss Natsume instead?”

System: Meow meow meow? I originally assumed the reason you didn’t expose him before was because speaking it out would turn awkward for everyone, rendering the capture difficult to complete, and the result is that you simply voiced it out straight like this? I possess a phrase I hold zero idea whether it’s appropriate to unleash.

Sitting opposite him, Natsume Takashi was originally still cautiously evaluating how to mask things over; hearing this phrase from him, the expression across his face instantly transformed into total shock.

“Teacher Dazai actually long knew…?”

What metric of mood Natsume Takashi currently harbored was an item the system no longer desired to mentally evaluate. Because its garbage host had once again refreshed its cognition regarding shamelessness.

He. Actually. Truly. Directly. Invited. Natsume. To. Say. He. Is. A. Good. Person.

“Natsume-kun, do you believe I am a good person or a bad person?”

The system felt its host truly failed to play his cards according to normal parameters. Typically, wouldn’t a capture of this nature require slowly drawing close to the target’s perimeter, letting him inadvertently acknowledge the parameter before voicing this phrase???

“Eh? If it’s Teacher Dazai, you’re a good person, right.”

The exact split second his words fell, the system’s mechanical prompt chime resonated on its heels.

Ding—Mission【Natsume’s Book of Friends】completed.

“See? Regard it as completed with total ease, didn’t it?” Ignoring the system’s desire to hit a dead end, the corners of Dazai Osamu’s mouth curved upward into an arc.

“Teacher Dazai, the previous parameters owed a massive thanks to you.”

“That was an area I ought to perform isn’t a teacher protecting his own students a matter of course?”

“Regardless of the parameters, I must offer thanks to you. If there’s an area requiring assistance in the future, you must inform me.”

Having successfully supplied his lovely student with a supplementary lecture while smoothly completing the capture mission on the side, Dazai Osamu strolled slowly along the path heading back to the faculty quarters.

It was entirely thanks to this school supplying quarters for the teachers; otherwise, he feared he would have to sleep rough across the streets over these past two days.

“Where is the reward?” Dazai asked.

“Natsume falls outside the capture romance line, zero reward. However, a fair metric of energy has been harvested.”

“Mm? What is that utilized for?”

“Capable of assisting your return home,” the system answered.

“Then pack it up and let’s return quickly over on that side, a massive pack of lovely students is still waiting for me to guide the direction of their future tracks.”