Chapter 64

The car drove all the way to the famous opera house in downtown Yokohama.

Glancing at the poster by the entrance, Takizawa Sei realized with a start, "Is it an original production today?"

Dazai Osamu had actually brought him to the opera!

It was not as if they had never experienced such outings before. After all, unburdened by financial worries, they had already exhausted every conceivable form of entertainment, and immersing themselves in artistic cultivation was sometimes a far better pursuit than formal lessons!

Yet, the plays they used to attend were mostly classic operas, whereas this one appeared to be an adaptation of a classic.

The adapted classic opera was titled *Faust*. The original story roughly tells of a noble scholar who makes a pact with the devil Mephistopheles, wishing to attain infinite joy and satisfaction. Once the deal is sealed, he is granted youthful vigor and encounters a blissful romance. However, in his pursuit of power, love, and pleasure, he abandons his moral codes and values, causing his soul to wander and degenerate in endless desire.

Yet Faust was merely a wager, and the parties to this wager were the Devil and God.

Mephistopheles, despising human reason, wagers with God, confident that he can lure a diligent and accomplished scholar into depravity and drag his soul down to hell. God, on the other hand, believes that while man inevitably errs in his struggles, he will ultimately recognize the right path.

Although the story ends in a tragedy, it still imparts to the audience a glimmer of hope and consolation—the feeling that things are not entirely hopeless. Faust, having abandoned his pregnant lover and suffered several disillusionments, decides to step out of his personal world and eventually establishes an ideal utopian state on earth. Just as he dies and his soul is about to be seized by the devil, angels appear and escort him up to heaven.

"It was originally a story of complex human nature with many twists and turns. What kind of innovation are they aiming for by adapting it now?" Takizawa Sei asked, holding the poster as he followed Dazai Osamu to their seats.

Their seats were close to the front, though not the optimal ones. Takizawa Sei was even somewhat surprised that Dazai Osamu hadn't spared any expense in this regard.

Most people coming to watch the opera were formally dressed, whispering among themselves before the curtain rose. Takizawa Sei remembered the last time he and Dazai Osamu watched such a work dissecting human nature; Dazai had grown thoroughly uninterested halfway through and pulled out a handheld game console to play. Even in the VIP seats, such behavior was far too audacious, leaving Takizawa with no choice but to quietly spirit him away.

Upon stepping out of the opera house, Dazai Osamu had instantly shed his half-lifeless demeanor, bossing Takizawa around to buy this and that, as if he were frantically squandering his scarce consumer desires merely to mask some madness driving him to the brink.

Yet Takizawa Sei could sense the restless anxiety in his heart, so while laden with bags and packages, he had asked quite seriously, "Do you dislike Faust?"

"That kind of cliché plot is not interesting in the least," Dazai Osamu had replied with unsparing harshness. "A man who appears noble in the eyes of outsiders due to his learning and refinement proves unable to resist temptation and falls, only to wake up with a jolt from his deep depravity and accomplish great things—it's utterly dull. Artistic works always portray it this way, singing praises of the complexity and greatness of human nature. But in my view, Faust rotted away the very moment he fell. The woman he abandoned was executed for unwed pregnancy; by what right does such a man ascend to heaven?"

Occasionally, Dazai Osamu would complain at great length just like this, exactly as he was doing then. "It is simply because this work features hell and heaven that his faults become redeemable, capable of being made right."

And Takizawa Sei, listening with absolute sincerity, had told him, "Dazai, you know, you might actually become a good person in the conventional sense."

Dazai Osamu's expression had looked like he had just heard a curse far more bizarre than a horror joke.

Yet Takizawa Sei offered no explanation for why. The elusive essence of Dazai Osamu that he vaguely perceived was difficult to put into words. He continued on his own, "One of Faust's lines is: 'Let me indulge in immediate pleasure while I live, and let the deluge come after I die.' Frankly, I think that's something uttered by an irresponsible coward." The green-eyed youth had flashed a smile at him. "So I hate this story too, even if it's considered a successful example."

The two youths had heaped scorn upon a handed-down classic with none to care, vowing never again to watch such boring drivel.

And now, here they were, seated in this very opera house once more.

This time, however, Takizawa Sei found himself focusing on the transaction between Faust and the demon.

The middle-aged man who had bartered away his soul was granted a youthful physique, much like being gifted a second life. Faust in the traditional tale, feeling a sense of existential emptiness after spending his entire life pursuing scholarship, immediately goes out to squander, indulge, and pursue everything he never had once he acquires a handsome appearance.

Watching the actors on stage belt out their lines with all their might, Takizawa Sei tilted his head and leaned against Dazai Osamu's shoulder.

"Are you bored?"

Dazai Osamu lowered his voice and asked right beside his ear.

His vocal cords did not vibrate; Takizawa Sei only caught the breathy sound that required careful discernment. Yet their familiarity with one another hindered no communication between them. He replied, "A little bit."

This remark was undoubtedly a bit of a damper, so Takizawa lowered his voice as well and said, "But this is probably just because we haven't reached the good part yet."

Aside from its inner core, the performance format of the opera was undeniably artistic, and the actors possessed consummate skills.

Gradually, as the plot unfolded, Takizawa Sei straightened up.

This time, Faust 2.0, who had signed a pact with the devil and bartered away his soul, did not immediately rush off to a bar. Instead, he went to share his fantastical experience with his friends and family—an episode entirely absent from the original work.

The subsequent plot grew even more absurd—yes, Takizawa Sei used the word absurd to describe it. It completely shed that lingering sense of gloom characteristic of Japanese literature, transforming into a story of an ordinary person maintaining his self-identity and matching wits with the devil.

Faust 2.0 still clung to the cultivation and kindness he possessed while pursuing scholarship, declaring that he now had more time to delve into his field, a chance to find a second spring of love, and the ability to accompany his friends so they might be spared the agony of his premature departure.

Discovering that Faust had not degenerated as he had expected, the frustrated demon grew furious, subjecting him to various temptations and sparing no effort to engineer traps, frame-ups, and tragedies to make Faust feel terror and resentment toward his current reality. The devil would then display the ripening fruits he had prepared right before Faust, waiting for him to pluck them—for the moment he plucked them, he would attain happiness.

He would instantly command power, love, and wealth—everything humanity strives for throughout a lifetime.

"Yet what is happiness?" Faust asked the demon. "That is something you bestow, not something I desire. You are dedicated to making me satisfied with the status quo, yet even I do not know what I am pursuing. I only know that whatever I desire must be won by my own hands—do you understand my meaning? What I pursue is the value of the self, the eternity of the soul."

The handsome actor sang out to the audience in the hall, "None can imprison me. Even if you confine my flesh, you cannot shackle my soul."

Faust said to the demon, "The most foolish decision I ever made was to sign a pact with you, yet the wisest decision I ever made was to sign a pact with you."

O friend, all theory is gray, but the golden tree of life everlasting is green.

Though the good man may wander in his strivings, he will surely recognize the righteous path in the end.

All transient phenomena are merely symbols. The deficiencies and regrets of life find their compensation here, and realms beyond description have here become reality.

Behold his beautiful, brilliant, and indomitable soul.

Yet in the end, Faust still yielded. He murmured, "Mephistopheles, you have won. Harm my world no more—I am willing to admit defeat. So long as you return everything I once possessed, I shall feel content."

And their wager stipulated that the moment Faust felt content with his life, he would forfeit his soul to the devil.

At the story's climax, Faust brought this farce to an end by cutting his own throat.

As the final line of dialogue fell,

the actor drove the sharp blade straight into his abdomen.

Takizawa Sei, who had still been seated, leaped abruptly to his feet. "Koyo-dais姉!"

It seemed he had called out the wrong person; Ozaki Koyo's Ability was fiercely flamboyant, yet it had not manifested at all here. However, the sharp blade in the actor's hand halted, stopping precisely at the point where it punctured the skin without causing massive bleeding.

The audience reacted with surprise, instantly breaking into murmurs of discussion, while the actor's expression turned exceedingly bizarre.

He raised his gaze toward the audience, as if searching for someone.

Takizawa Sei, the only person standing, locked eyes with him from afar.

Inexplicably, Takizawa Sei glanced over at Tachihara Michizo.

Sometimes his instincts were honed entirely by the system. At a time like this, apart from their own group, who else could possibly stop the man from committing suicide?

Right at that moment, the actor on stage flashed a grim, tragic smile.

Abandoning his obsession with the blade in his hand, he reached inside his coat, as though triggering some hidden mechanism.

"Bang—!"

A tremendous roar erupted from the stage, and the exquisitely decorated theater was instantly swallowed by blinding fire and roiling smoke.

"Aaaaaahhhhh—!!!!"

Piercing screams instantly echoed through the audience. Panic-stricken, people bolted from their seats, rushing desperately toward the exits.

The chaos sparked in a split second. Takizawa Sei felt his scalp tingle and instantly thrust out a hand to the side. "Dazai!"

"..."

His hand grasped empty air. Takizawa felt a chill strike his heart as he turned his head to discover that the seat beside him was already empty.

"Dazai?!!"

Where on earth was Dazai Osamu?!

"Tachihara! Where's Dazai?!"

"Huh? Huh?" Tachihara Michizo looked even more bewildered than he was. "He was just right here... Ah!"

The other seemed to have caught sight of something, instantly snapping his mouth shut before speaking in a hollow voice, "Maybe he was led outside by Old Man Hirotsu, or perhaps dragged away by Koyo-dais姉's Golden Demon? Given a terrorist attack of this magnitude..."

Takizawa Sei was frantic with anxiety, yet the surrounding crowd had already descended into utter pandemonium. Jostling one another, people scrambled toward the steps, fleeing upward while the emergency exits consisted of merely a few doors.

"Everyone, don't panic—!"

Only after the words left his mouth did Takizawa Sei realize how utterly useless they were, whether drowned out by people's screams or devoid of any meaningful content.

Watching the panic-stricken crowd shove one another and trample people underfoot, he shoved Tachihara's shoulder. "Go find Dazai first. And also, that child in Row 13, Seat 5 seems to have been left behind—it's dangerous, go look after them first."

Having issued instructions in a flash, Takizawa Sei sprinted toward the stage.

The blast radius was not large, and even so, Takizawa could still feel the shockwave from his previous spot, though it had been vastly attenuated by distance—at the very least, it wouldn't cause mortal injury.

Rushing past the crowd and leaping onto the burning stage, he snatched a microphone away from one of the actors.