女面 - Bungo Stray Dogs Fanfiction

Osamu Dazai's Entrance Exam - Seven -

"The bomber is a foreigner?" I repeated out of surprise.

"Yes, and likely a professional at that." said Dazai, taking a sip of his coffee.

We were still inside the cafe, taking our time with our drinks as we read a message we'd received from one of Sasaki's colleagues. Apparently, our victim turned out to be a world-known researcher of criminal psychology. Not only was she a young associated professor, but she'd been presented with quite a number of awards at famous research conferences. Given this, it's no wonder she had conducted her own investigations into previous similar cases from her colleague's files for us.

"There don't seem to be any cases among my fellow criminal psychologists' records of previous cases that detail an explosion with over one hundred casualties within Japan itself." she explained. "Of course, this is ignoring the bombings of the World Wars."

"What about international cases?" I asked.

To which, she replied, "Yes, there are many international cases related to political conflicts or ideological struggles. But there are precious few details, even about the types of bombs or their manufacturers. My apologies."

"No, this is good information." assured Dazai. "In other words, this Azure Apostle, being as they created this bomb, should know about the makeup and composition of the bombs in those cases. Now that's the first step to building a criminal profile for them, isn't it?"

"I disagree." said Kunikida. "We're still no closer to finding either the bomb of the Apostle. Do you really think this is good enough?"

In a way, he was right. At the very least, we needed the criminal's name and face. Otherwise it'd be very time consuming if we were to conduct the investigation with nothing but assumptions.

Dazai tapped his thumb to his lips, looking like he was lost in thought. "This criminal is in disguise... we'll never find them. I suppose... I have no other choice."

"What are you thinking?" I asked out of curiosity.

"Why, I'm glad you asked, Enchi-san!" he chirped. "The threat letter plainly said they 'manufactured' the bomb, correct? But it's not a simple thing to manufacture a bomb capable of killing over a hundred people."

"It would indeed be a difficult task for the layman, but an expert would find it simple enough." agreed Kunikida. "On one hand, there are several recipes through which a professional can build a bomb on their own, but I have also heard of commercially made brands available for purchase-"

"That must be it." intervened Dazai. "It can't be as simple as all that to create this 'twin to a bomb from a certain case'."

"So..." My colleague trailed off, apparently very stunned. "You're trying to say... that the same person created the bomb for this case and the aforementioned case...?"

"Not only that." continued Dazai. "Didn't you think the letter's description of the explosion was unusually graphic and realistic?"

"Now that you mentioned that..." I quickly whipped out my phone, flipping it open to access the email once more. I read aloud, "There will be an unquenchable white flame as bright as the fallen sun. Nearby buildings will crumble to their foundations; people will attempt to flee while on fire. The roads will melt, and fragments of exploded cars will lodge in the ruins of blazing buildings."

"That's it." he confirmed. "I thought the writer of this letter surely must have witnessed such a scene themselves."

"What?" Kunikida muttered, still stunned by this revelation.