3 The Supreme Cursed Fetus (Part Three)

One of the benefits of becoming a cursed spirit is that there is no need to eat, which saves a lot of time on daily human activities, though it also means missing out on many human pleasures—like no longer being able to buy crabs.

Even Osamu Dazai wouldn't go so far as to steal just for a few crabs. Besides, if he did manage to swipe some, who would cook them? He supposed he could just wait for Chuuya to be "born" and have him catch them by the seaside.

Imagining Chuuya Nakahara using gravity to catch crabs at the beach, a smile tugged at the corners of Dazai’s lips. Ah, well~ Chuuya wouldn't be able to buy red wine either! What a pity, Chuuya~ He’d probably pace around in front of humans all huffy and puffed up, bouncing about like a neglected puppy!

Dazai stared at the black sphere, thinking with a sense of listless boredom: When would Chuuya finally "be born"?

"Chuuya is so annoying!" He lay on the grass, the shadow of the black sphere reflected in his russet eyes, complaining incessantly. "Shouldn't you be popping out with some energy by now?! What are you doing just hanging there? Is staying in one place without moving supposed to be fun? Are you trying to act obedient now or something?!"

"Chuuya, is that His name?" Hanami stood across from Dazai, looking up slightly at the cursed womb floating in mid-air, which showed no signs of change. "Are you able to communicate with each other now, Dazai?"

Dazai said with an air of absolute certainty, "That’s the name I gave Chuuya, Hanami."

"You named Him?" Hanami asked, bewildered.

"That’s right!" Dazai said, as if it were the most natural thing in the world. "I’m the one who found Chuuya, and I’m the one waiting for Chuuya to be born, so Chuuya is mine. Naturally, I have to name my own puppy!"

Hanami: ?

He asked curiously, "A dog?"

"Yes!" Dazai said. "Doesn't Chuuya look just like a little puppy refusing to listen to its master right now?"

Hanami gazed at the black sphere in the air, truly unable to draw any connection between the cursed womb before him and a dog.

Dazai, clearly lost in a pleasant daydream, added, "Once Chuuya is born, I can boss him around to my heart’s content!"

A bead of cold sweat rolled down Hanami’s temple. "Dazai, we are companions..."

"No, we aren't," Dazai denied earnestly. "Chuuya is my puppy!" He continued, sounding quite reasonable. "Otherwise, why would I be here waiting for Chuuya to be born? It’s because I have to take responsibility for my own puppy!"

"What dog?" Jogo, who had just arrived, asked in confusion. "Dazai, you want to keep a dog? Dogs can't even see us!"

Dazai said triumphantly, "Jogo, the dog I’m going to keep is one that can see me!" Though, being able to see others might be a drawback; it would be better if a puppy only had eyes for its master!

Jogo: ?
Hanami: ...

Hanami advised, "Dazai, He hasn't been born yet..."

"That’s why I have to claim Him first," Dazai said with logical precision.

"What on earth?" Jogo asked.

After hearing Dazai’s whimsical ideas, Jogo stared at him, speechless. What kind of human emotions was Dazai the product of? Why was he so strange?

"Whatever. You two can sort it out once He's born," Jogo said dismissively, assuming this was just a whim of a newly emerged cursed spirit.

As for the consequences... once the new special-grade was born, the two spirits could just fight it out; he wasn't their mother, so why should he care about the fallout?!

Dazai let out a soulful call, "Jogo, I knew you would understand—"

"Why would I understand you?!" Jogo rolled his prominent single eye and snapped fiercely, "If you dare say something like that to me, I'll beat you to death!"

"Ah, ah, I wouldn't dream of it!" Dazai waved his hand dismissively. "Because you look nothing like one!"

At these words, even Jogo couldn't help but look up at the black sphere. Could there be anything about this sphere that resembled a dog?

After a few glances, Jogo felt he was being led astray by Dazai. What this cursed womb looked like had nothing to do with him!

However, Jogo asked, "He still hasn't moved?"

"Exactly, such a worrying little puppy," Dazai sighed theatrically. "Could Chuuya be having a difficult birth?"

Jogo: ...What an idiot.

Hanami said, puzzled, "His growth has stopped, yet there is still no movement."

Jogo asked curiously, "No movement at all?"

"Not entirely." Dazai rose slowly, climbed up the trunk of a tree, sat on a branch, and gently poked the "Chuuya" with a twig.

A slender, silky black tentacle suddenly emerged from the sphere, swatted the twig away with a "swish," and retracted back into the body, falling still once more.

"So He reacts to attacks!" Jogo understood. He held out his hand, gathered a ball of fire in his palm, and shot it straight at the cursed womb in the air.

The black tentacle appeared again, intercepting the fireball with agile movements. With a few quick swipes, it scattered the flames. Sparks drifted down from the air like stars, extinguishing before they even touched the ground.

The three of them watched the fleeting, beautiful sight together. Once the threat was neutralized, the black sphere settled down again, as immovable as a mountain.

Dazai’s eyes turned cold, and he remarked nonchalantly, "Hanami already tried that. It’s useless."

"Perhaps that is just His nature," Jogo said, not particularly concerned.

After all, even though they were all special-grades, every cursed spirit had a different temperament. Perhaps this one just liked to stay in one place and sleep!

Impossible!

Dazai curled his lip. With a personality like Chuuya’s—who needed rock music as background noise just to get into a fight—how could he possibly be so docile?!

Jogo decided the matter was settled and turned to Hanami. "Hanami, I ran into Dagon at the beach. Are you coming?"

Hanami nodded. He had stayed behind to look after the new companions, but since they were capable of protecting themselves, there was no need for him to remain.

Jogo looked at Dazai. "What about you, Dazai?"

Dazai said lazily, "I'm not going." It wasn't crab season, and even if he went, there would be no one there to catch crabs for him.

Hanami and Jogo left together.

Dazai didn't stop them. He had essentially picked Hanami’s brain dry during this time. These cursed spirits were unexpectedly unguarded—whether it was a lack of intelligence or too much trust in their own kind, he wasn't sure.

—The sample size wasn't large enough to be certain, but it was likely a bit of both.

After discovering that Chuuya Nakahara had the ability to protect himself, Dazai would occasionally wander into the city to verify the information he had coaxed out of Hanami.

Cursed spirits, sorcerers, and ordinary people. The negative emotions of ordinary people gave birth to cursed spirits; cursed spirits killed humans; and among humans, sorcerers were born to protect the masses and eliminate the spirits.

If sorcerers were to wash their hands of it all, what would be the final fate of cursed spirits and humans? It was a pity that sorcerers always had ordinary people they cared about, so staying entirely out of it was impossible.

Ordinary people couldn't see cursed spirits at all. In that light, sorcerers were likely even more exclusionary than ability users. Ability users still had the possibility of blending in with the masses, but sorcerers were complete outsiders.

Well, that didn't have much to do with him anyway.

Dazai looked at Chuuya Nakahara, who was still just an "embryo," and felt a rare moment of confusion due to the difference in their worldviews. "Is something still missing?"