Chapter 45

Takizawa Sei liked that trench coat very much and immediately hung it up in his wardrobe. The wardrobe compartment wasn't long enough, causing the hem of the trench coat to wrinkle pitifully, so Takizawa Sei hung it on the wall instead, where he could see it every day, eagerly waiting for early spring to wear it.

Thanks to the donations from an anonymous kind soul, the orphanage's supplies became much more abundant. Takizawa Sei received a small electric heater all to himself, positioned directly opposite his bed to warm it, so that for several consecutive days, his futon—which usually felt as cold as stone—acquired a warm and soft sensation.

Takizawa Sei slept very well.

The pain of his wounds was something one simply got used to after a while, but Mori Ougai still came punctually every day to change his dressings, prompting Takizawa Sei to remark, "The way you look forward to it healing is as if you're expecting a miracle to happen."

The black-haired young man replied without hesitation, "But isn't your return the occurrence of a miracle?"

Takizawa Sei's heart was unexpectedly struck by those words. He slightly curled his fingers in discomfort, and the sigh on his lips turned into a smile, "Indeed."

He stayed peacefully in the orphanage for the time being, because the bitter winter was truly unbearable.

This orphanage was located in a remote area, and the surrounding families were not wealthy. People rarely visited under normal circumstances, which often made Takizawa Sei worry about their livelihood. He checked the account books kept by Mori Ougai and cast a gloomy gaze at him, "You're flat broke. How on earth have you managed to keep this orphanage running to this extent?"

Mori's expression was as leisurely as if someone had finally come to worry about this very matter. "We still receive regular government subsidies, and occasionally one or two families come by to see about adopting a child... But you know, there are far too many displaced orphans in Yokohama, and very few families looking to adopt."

"I've been stuck here for two months now, and I haven't seen the number of children decrease at all."

"The children themselves actually like it here quite a lot; they all say it feels like a big family."

Takizawa Sei glanced at him sideways. "Could it be because you became gentle after stepping down as the boss of the Port Mafia? You look like some uncle without much of a temper."

Mori Ougai opened his eyes wide in astonishment. "How harsh. How am I an uncle?"

"They all call you that. I'm an adult too; the children actually can't quite distinguish age concepts beyond twenty years old, but they use completely different terms of address for me and for you. You know what this means, right?" Takizawa Sei closed his book. "They actually sound more like they're calling you 'father' or 'dad'."

Mori Ougai slumped his shoulders. "Suddenly having nearly thirty children puts me under an awful lot of pressure."

"Nonsense. You didn't look nearly this exhausted running an organization of over a thousand people."

While chatting casually with him, Takizawa Sei hung a string of arranged petals on the wall.

A few days ago, the children had threaded the petals together one by one and played at a coronation ceremony for a long time, with Takizawa Sei being the prince who had roses placed around his neck.

Now the petals were slightly withered, yet still plump and vibrant, because Alice had managed to procure a special wax in time to preserve them in their beautiful state.

"Speaking of which, did you happen upon a celebration, or did a truck transporting fresh flowers accidentally spill its cargo? Otherwise, how could you have picked up so many?"

Mori Ougai said in a tone as if he had just remembered, "Such an obvious gift, yet it's impossible to tell who it's meant for. Red roses are commonly seen as a symbol of passionate romantic love and a vow remembered in one's heart; pink roses represent pure friendship; green roses either stand for eternal youth or a love that exists only in heaven; blue roses signify miracles, the impossible, or divine blessing? There are even wild roses native to Europe mixed in, and the meaning of wild roses is overbearing dominance—"

Takizawa Sei twitched the corner of his mouth. "Mori, those are just tedious sayings, and they carry different meanings across various cultural circles—though your skill in beating around the bush and playing the fool remains as consistent as ever."

He pierced straight through Mori Ougai's unfinished words. "If one were to treat the language of flowers as something so crucial and demand a reason for the person who prepared these blooms—then it would mean they didn't want anyone to figure out their true intentions, didn't want to be second-guessed or let imaginations run wild, yet couldn't bear to keep their feelings hidden... Of course, there is another possibility, which is that none of the meanings of these flowers are wrong."

His fingers brushed across the black petals. "Some say black roses mean eternity; some say black roses mean death. They are merely meanings bestowed by people. In truth, flowers themselves are nothing at all."

The final sentence actually sounded somewhat cold and ruthless, hard to imagine coming from Takizawa Sei, because he was someone who always carried a bit of idealistic romanticism within him, praising the beautiful side of things no matter what he saw. According to him, understanding that things had two sides was quite enough; delving deeply into the dark side would only bring needless trouble. To describe it more abstractly, it would make the soul heavy and damp.

"I'm going to make dinner." Takizawa Sei clapped his hands and walked toward the kitchen.

"Is it curry again today?"

"That's right, because curry is both simple and delicious to make."

A trace of disappointment flickered across Mori Ougai's face. "We've been eating curry for three days straight."

Takizawa Sei shrugged helplessly at him. "There's nothing we can do. Because our family is so poor we can only afford potatoes, radishes, and chicken."

It was hard to imagine how the seaside orphanage had operated before he arrived.

The children were all very well-behaved. Having experienced massive emotional trauma, they were healing themselves in the new big family through warm love and time, but their material conditions still seemed quite poor—at the very least, Takizawa Sei noticed they didn't even have properly fitting clothes, as the children were in the middle of a growth spurt.

"Aside from donations and government subsidies, how do you turn a profit?"

"We occasionally take the children out to do volunteer work."

"...Volunteer work?" Takizawa Sei widened his eyes as the phrase "child labor" popped into his mind.

"It's just social activities... The community regularly organizes environmental events, like picking up trash at the beach or collecting cigarette butts and plastic bottles in the grass. It's usually competed on a family basis, with prize money for the winners, and because of our special circumstances, they show us extra leniency, allowing the entire orphanage to participate under a single slot."

Therefore, the winners were usually those children—a rule tacitly permitted by the people.

However, during the harsh dead of winter right after the New Year, these activities were put on hold.

By the third month of coming to this world, Takizawa Sei was finally able to step away from the heater.

The kind stranger's donations didn't seem to be a one-time occurrence. Just as they were scrimping and saving with their supplies, a large sum of money wrapped in an envelope was dropped into their mailbox during the second month.

The moment he saw the money, Takizawa Sei's eyes welled with tears, but what surprised him was that among the items donated this time were several books and a few board games for passing the time—things clearly not meant for children, but prepared for adults.

Because the kind stranger's sponsored funds were so generous, they even hired an employee responsible for cleaning, a gentle and kind-hearted middle-aged woman, to help with the shortage of hands.

Takizawa Sei's wounds had never fully healed; bandages were wrapped around the top of his head and his neck day in and day out, prompting him to complain, "This look makes it seem as though Dazai and I share the same bizarre hobby."

Whenever that name was brought up, Takizawa Sei would fall into a period of silence, manifesting as a brief state of stagnation regardless of what he had just been doing or how high his spirits were.

"Actually, you can go outside now, you know." Mori Ougai felt he might have been cooped up for too long. "That incident happened several years ago. If you show up now, perhaps it won't cause a massive ripple; acquaintances might just mistake you for your brother, or simply someone who happens to look similar."

He even deliberately used himself as an example. "Besides, there are no acquaintances of ours in this area at all; it'd be fine even if I went out for a stroll."

Takizawa Sei gave him a look that said he truly was naive. "Boss."

When this form of address came out, Mori Ougai froze for a moment.

Anyone hearing someone address them by that title right now would surely consider it sarcasm.

"Your face is an absolute classified secret, but I'm not—"

Takizawa Sei let out a long sigh. He raised his head, held it in for all he was worth, and suddenly shouted as if driven to exasperation, "I fucking want to go outside too—!!! But this face of mine isn't just famous in the underworld; it's also quite well-known with the Yokohama Metropolitan Police!!"

He grabbed his head in frustration. "Do you understand! Back in the day, Chuuya and I played games of cat-and-mouse with the detectives, and that face of mine was captured by their security cameras from the front, side, and rear angles! And I can't leap across roofs and vault over walls like Chuuya; my two legs can't outrun them! Plus I'm so handsome, so handsome! So handsome!! One-in-a-million handsome!!! Unless the city police force has completely turned over generations in the past few years, I will definitely be recognized."

Takizawa Sei gnashed his teeth. "It's even more infamous in the mafia circles—I'm Dazai Osamu's dog—!"

Mori Ougai: "..."

Mori Ougai: "..."

Mori Ougai: "Why did you say that word so easily?"

Takizawa Sei glared with blazing eyes. "And the Military Police! The Special Division for Powers! I definitely have a dedicated, exclusive file folder in their intelligence department too. Haha, thinking about it this way, a nobody like me actually enjoys VIP-level importance in Yokohama!"

Using such a self-deprecating tone filled with extravagant boasting, Mori silently watched Takizawa Sei. The green-eyed young man's mental state seemed to have begun running wild in reverse, making him look exceptionally agitated and driven to extremes.

"...Well, it certainly sounds tough."

Mori summarized.

The day after Takizawa Sei's massive rant brought a particularly rare and clear sunny day—the first of early spring—with temperatures climbing quite a bit.

Takizawa Sei put on the camel-colored trench coat he had been longing for and took two or three children out to enjoy the spring scenery. There were too many children to look after all at once, so they always went out in batches to scout the area.

In the shaded spots untouched by sunlight, there was still a small mound of unmelted snow, but it wouldn't last more than a few days. Takizawa Sei even spotted speckles of green on the branches; he could practically calculate the time it would take for the leaves to sprout wildly and imagine what the flowers would look like in full bloom.

"Tch."

Thinking of vexing matters, Takizawa Sei clicked his tongue in annoyance.

"What is it, Big Brother Sei?" a little radish-top asked him.

"I thought of a promise I made with someone." Takizawa Sei had nothing to hide; the little ones loved listening to the life experiences of adults, finding them as novel as listening to stories, and instantly turned their focused gazes toward him.

Taking the cue, Takizawa Sei continued, "I used to be super arrogant. I thought whatever I said I would definitely accomplish."

The little ones had never heard anyone use unflattering descriptions for themselves. "Isn't that right, though? Doesn't Big Brother Sei always keep his word?"

"Keeping your word and a promise actually being guaranteed to come true are two different things," Takizawa Sei sighed inwardly. "It's like if I said I'm going to go buy an amusement park tomorrow, and tomorrow I actually go find the person in charge of the amusement park to negotiate the relevant matters, but obviously, I have no money—how could I possibly buy an amusement park? To be even more realistic, I have no connections; I probably wouldn't even be able to find the person in charge of the amusement park in the first place. Even if I threw a tantrum at the amusement park, I'd probably just get arrested by the police without even knowing what the person in charge's name is."