I don't want to be an elf!

Although Edogawa Ranpo made a deal with her, in Nakajima Atsushi's mind, Tokisaki Kurumi was the most chaotic of all evils, and it wouldn't be surprising if she unilaterally broke the deal at any time.

Moreover, the initiative is now in Tokisaki Kurumi's hands. If she really wants to break the contract, no one can stop her.

Kurumi Tokisaki glanced at him casually before continuing to trim her nails.

"Mr. Nakajima, you may think I'm cunning, but please don't think I'm untrustworthy, okay?"

Did you notify the Armed Detective Agency?

"of course."

"But you've been here the whole time! You haven't even made a single phone call!"

"Sigh, have you forgotten that I have a clone?"

"Oh...oh oh."

Atsushi Nakajima lowered his head in embarrassment.

Having been captured by the Port Mafia and spent the night in a dungeon, only to be dragged onto this ship early the next morning, the ordeal had made him somewhat mentally sensitive.

Even after receiving Kurumi Tokisaki's affirmation, he still couldn't put his mind at ease.

As time ticked by, Atsushi Nakajima's unease grew stronger.

My phone was taken away, and there was no clock in the storage room. In this situation where I had no concept of time, every second felt like an eternity.

The cramped space and the isolated atmosphere made Atsushi Nakajima pace restlessly, sometimes muttering something to himself, sometimes squatting on the ground with a pale face, and sometimes closing his eyes tightly and hugging his head.

From the moment he left the Armed Detective Agency, he lost his sense of security.

Although Atsushi Nakajima truly believed that his companions would come to rescue him, what if they got lost? What if they didn't catch up? What if they were stopped by someone else?

If that kind of thing really happened, and he continued to travel by ship all the way to North America, what kind of treatment would await him?

Thinking this, his body couldn't help but tremble.

"It's just like a puppy that's been abandoned."

Kurumi Tokisaki sighed, tossed the nail file into the shadows, and said with a half-smile, propping her cheek up with one hand, "But I'm a cat person, so if you're thinking of playing the victim to get my pity, that's probably impossible."

“I have no such intention…” Atsushi Nakajima looked at Kurumi Tokisaki with a resentful expression. “Besides, I don’t think you are kind enough to have feelings like pity.”

"This is a huge misunderstanding. I never expected that Mr. Nakajima would be so hostile towards me, even though we've only met a few times."

Kurumi Tokisaki clasped her hands together in front of her chest as if in prayer, blinking her bright eyes with the innocent look of a young girl: "Actually, I'm the kind of person who will treat an injured cat if I see one on the street."

"Hmm... do you think I believe that?"

"I'm incredibly kind, you know. There's no more kind-hearted superhuman in the world than me."

"Kind people usually don't say they're kind!"

Atsushi Nakajima barely suppressed the urge to roll his eyes and retorted.

If I hadn't been captured by her, looking at her innocent face, I might have actually believed her.

However, under the daily influence of Dazai Osamu and his group, Tokisaki Kurumi's image in Nakajima Atsushi's mind was not much better than that of Akutagawa Ryunosuke, and in some ways, even more terrifying.

However, seeing the girl in front of him make such an expression, Atsushi Nakajima's eyes widened slightly.

In his mind, the face of the chuunibyou girl he had met a few times, the bandaged Kurumi, gradually overlapped with the face of Tokisaki Kurumi.

Edogawa Ranpo was absolutely right.

Bandage 3 is simply Kurumi Tokisaki's past self.

"Feeling a little more relaxed?"

The naivety vanished, and Tokisaki Kurumi's expression quickly returned to the elegant indifference he was familiar with: "That's good. I don't want the Armed Detective Agency to find a mentally unstable Nakajima Atsushi when they come to pick you up, otherwise my reputation will suffer again."

The two faces that overlapped in Atsushi Nakajima's mind suddenly stopped matching.

Perhaps to dispel the panic and anxiety of being at sea, or perhaps because of a growing curiosity about the other person's past, Atsushi Nakajima perked up and took the initiative to strike up a conversation with Kurumi Tokisaki.

"That girl... I mean the girl you were chasing before, was she your clone?"

"So you already knew? Well, that makes sense. If you couldn't even deduce this much, the Armed Detective Agency would be a disgrace."

"She is you from the past, isn't she?"

"Hehe, although I don't really want to admit it."

"So, why do you want her to stay in our company?" Atsushi Nakajima asked, puzzled, posing a question that even Edogawa Ranpo couldn't answer.

"Because she was sent by me, and she's staying in your company to coordinate an attack from within and without," Kurumi Tokisaki replied casually.

“No, that’s not how it is.” Atsushi Nakajima shook his head and said, “Mr. Ranpo said that with your strength, you don’t need to send clones into the Armed Detective Agency as spies. You can defeat us directly with your strength. I originally thought Mr. Ranpo was exaggerating a bit, but after seeing those twenty clones yesterday, everyone is sure that Mr. Ranpo was right.”

The curiosity in his eyes grew stronger, and he even temporarily put aside his unease and anxiety.

"Miss Nightmare, can you tell me why?"

Chapter Seventy-Eight: Is Nightmare a Good Person...?

Atsushi Nakajima's heart pounded, and he nervously swallowed his excessive saliva.

He acted so naturally that even Kurumi Tokisaki didn't realize he was actually putting on a brave face.

Yes, although it may seem like he was just making small talk to pass the time, the question he asked earlier was one that Nakajima Atsushi had thought about carefully before deciding to ask.

The veterans of the Armed Detective Agency have always been troubled by the lack of information about Nightmare.

Now that he has the opportunity to be alone with Nightmare, it would be a waste to let time slip away if he doesn't seize the opportunity.

Although deep down he was still that timid, cowardly, and introverted orphanage child, he had at least worked at the Armed Detective Agency for nearly two months. If there really wasn't any Zhang Jin, wouldn't that mean Dazai Osamu had a problem with his judgment?

He could not betray the kindness of Osamu Dazai in recommending him to the society.

We must not let down the time and effort that the senior members of the Armed Detective Agency have invested in him.

So even though his heart was racing and his legs were trembling, every word he spoke to the heinous nightmare felt like a step closer to death, and he had to take action.

"According to Mr. Ranpo and Mr. Dazai's reasoning, our 'chance encounter' with Nightmare chasing that girl was not a simple chance encounter, but rather a staged event by Nightmare to make us save her, with the purpose of getting us to take her in."

"Yes, that's right. My goal was to have her infiltrate the Armed Detective Agency."

"But what good will doing this do you? You already have a legion of clones, capable of easily crushing the Armed Detective Agency, so why bother with this troublesome thing?"

"..."

"So, Miss Nightmare, the reason you asked us to take in that girl wasn't because you wanted to work with her to destroy the detective agency, was it?"

Looking at the silent Kurumi Tokisaki, Atsushi Nakajima's confidence increased slightly, and he tried to reason in a serious manner, imitating the senior members of the detective agency: "Even if you really want us to take in that girl, your purpose wouldn't be to work with her to dismantle the detective agency from the inside."

"Oh? If that's the case, what's your guess?"

"My guess?"

Atsushi Nakajima paused for a moment, then thought it over carefully before saying, "My guess is that you want to mislead us into thinking that child is a spy, and then use the Armed Detective Agency to get rid of her."

“Logical reasoning.” Tokisaki Kurumi nodded calmly. “That’s right, you saw through my second layer of plan. No wonder you’re the person that Mr. Dazai has his eye on.”

"Ha... thank you for the compliment..."

Despite being praised by the enemy, Atsushi Nakajima showed no sign of joy.

Is this really the truth?

Looking at Tokisaki Kurumi, who appeared completely calm and didn't seem like someone whose conspiracy had been exposed, Nakajima Atsushi couldn't help but feel a little suspicious.

Could it be that he missed some important clue?

Recalling the information about Bandage 3 and Kurumi Tokisaki, and the knowledge and experience taught to him by his seniors at the Armed Detective Agency, Atsushi Nakajima's mind was churning with thoughts.

Something is wrong.

Nightmare must have some other purpose.

The reason given for eliminating Bandage Three by using the Armed Detective Agency seems impeccable, but is it really true?

Ultimately, the Armed Detective Agency could never kill anyone, let alone the person they saved.

Does the Nightmare not know this?

Does she really... not know?

No! She definitely knows!

She knew we wouldn't kill anyone! Yet she still sent that girl over!

Her goal was not to kill the child at all!

With the emergence of a breakthrough, a corner of the truth shrouded in mist seemed to be revealed.

“Your goal is not to use the Armed Detective Agency to kill that girl, because you know we don’t kill people, not even bad people.”

Feeling increasingly excited as he got closer to the truth, Atsushi Nakajima's voice trembled with excitement: "Besides, she's just an avatar of yours. Compared to the troublesome method of using someone else to do your dirty work, it's much faster to just get rid of her directly! Your goal isn't to kill her, but rather..."

"But?"

Atsushi Nakajima, who was getting into the conversation, suddenly stopped.

As if something was blocking his throat, his expression became confused, as if he were bewildered by his own reasoning.

"Your goal isn't to kill her, but... to protect her?"

He had barely finished speaking when he burst out laughing at himself.

Simply because he thought his reasoning was too absurd.

Nightmare, one of the most dangerous people in the Port Mafia, was a born villain who was on par with Ryunosuke Akutagawa on his first day in the organization. Not only did he not intend to kill his traitorous clone, he even sent him to a safe place.

How can this be?

Just then, the face of Bandaged Three reappeared in Atsushi Nakajima's mind.

The bandage represents Kurumi Tokisaki's kindness, but does the nightmare necessarily represent Kurumi Tokisaki's evil?

Even if it is... is it necessarily pure evil?

"Your clone betrayed you because of differing ideologies, but you still have a kind heart. Under the guise of execution, you actually sent her to the Armed Detective Agency, putting that noisy and naive girl under the supervision of the Armed Detective Agency."

Atsushi Nakajima revealed his final deduction, staring incredulously at Kurumi Tokisaki: "Are you really a good...?"

However, before he could utter the last word, seeing Kurumi Tokisaki's smile grow increasingly dangerous, and sensing death approaching, Atsushi Nakajima swallowed the last word.