Rart 1. Chapter 9

The barbarian artist with a sleepy brush

The picture of a genius is blackened

And your drawing is lawless

He draws pointlessly over it.

But the colors are alien, with the years,

They fall off with dilapidated scales;

The creation of a genius is before us

It comes out with the same beauty.

This is how misconceptions disappear

From my tortured soul,

And visions arise in her

The original, clean days.

Pushkin

Dazai and Gogol followed Lermontov, who, in turn, walked very fast, as if in a hurry.

They went downstairs and continued down the stairs, which curled in circles. Moreover, the steps were quite high. «Is it really that wet in here? - Dazai thought, looking down.»

It was dark downstairs. He couldn't see anything, when suddenly he slipped and felt that he was falling down.

- Oh, my God! Careful, Dazai! - Gogol shouted, grabbing Osamu by the arm.

Lermontov was closer than Nikolai, but he didn't even blink to help the detective. - Don't be so offended by Misha. He's a good guy, but he needs to get used to new acquaintances.

It was visible, or rather, it was not.

Dazai got up carefully, dusted himself off and walked on.

- We are already close. - Lermontov said dryly, not looking back at the guys.

«What's wrong with him? - Dazai thought disgustedly of Lermontov,»

He didn't like Mikhail's attitude towards him. After all, even Fedor was better than their brother from Russia.

***

Sigma was already in the forest and was looking for the car that had Khachigawa Shigure in it. «How many sacrifices will it take to revive Dostoevsky?- Sigma thought desperately. - and then? When will he make his plans come true?»

This thought haunted the young man, so he even began to doubt his actions. Is he doing all this right? Is it right that he joined Gogol and forced Dazai to do the same?

-After all, Dazai saved me....- Sigma said sadly. - and I'm supposed to repay him by putting him and the Agency members at risk?

In any case, there is no turning back. Things have gone too far. Since Sigma was able to survive, he found out that Osamu was alive, he joined Dazai with Nikolai and now they probably met with Lermontov, who hates Osamu and He would try to kill him in any way...

from such a thought, Sigma wanted to disappear somewhere and no longer be seen by any people. He was too tired.

But there was nothing to do. Of course, he could have hidden somewhere from Gogol, but probably Gogol would have found him and forced him to find Khachigawa anyway. Moreover, they had an agreement...

The young man turned his head «We should get rid of these thoughts,- he thought, focusing on searching for a car with a dead body. - I'm already here.»

Here Sigma turns behind a tree, here he sees a tire print on the ground, and here is the car itself; it stands in all its glory. Now all that remains is to inform Gogol about the find and he, using his ability, will transfer Sigure's body to the right place. Namely, where the rebirth will take place.

The young man opens the door of the car where the girl was sitting and picks her up; an unpleasant smell hit his nose.

- Gogol. -Sigma put his finger to his ear. - I found Hachigawa.

-- Great, great! I'll be right there! - - His partner's cheerful voice was heard.

Then Nikolai appeared out of thin air.

- Give it to me. - Nikolai said, holding out his hands towards the Young Man. He, without objection, gave the body of the dead lady. - how glad I am that she suffered seeing her husband die a painful death. And then abruptly, for her, came the liberation from shackles and feelings. That's when she died, seeing the face of the policeman who betrayed her.- Sigma shuddered at such words. - Well, my dear friend. Come on!

He threw Sigma back to Sigma and, activating his ability, transferred all three of them to Lermontov's lair.

***

Dazai and Lermontov were sitting at the table and playing the fool.

- The nine of hearts. - Lermontov said, throwing the card on the table.

- The Queen of Spades.- Osamu smiled.

«A trump card? - Mikhail was surprised. - for a simple nine? Well, then the victory is mine.» - bito.

- That's great. - putting the cards in the deck for the beaten ones, Osamu said. - Well, take it.

An ace of trumps appeared on the table.

- You have a strange strategy for playing cards, Dazai. - taking the ace, Lermontov said.

- Apparently, yes. - He grinned. - I won.

There were four 6 cards on the table.

- Well. Congratulations on your victory. - Mikhail smiled.

- Another batch?

- Yes, just slightly change the conditions.

— great.

Osamu got up from his seat and took out a pistol. Lermontov, in turn, is a musket.

- Great reaction. - Dazai continued to smile.

- Thank you. And now, whoever pulls the trigger first wins.

The silence began. The guys stood with their arms outstretched and waited for their enemy to take action.

- Oh, my God. - Gogol said, appearing out of nowhere. - What are you up to here?? After all, they played normally.

Lermontov lowered his musket.

- Let's go back to our plan.- Mikhail grinned.

- Yeah! Moreover, Sigma and I have brought a victim! The final stage remains!

- Find Dostoevsky's body? - Osamu interrupted.

- Yes! - Nikolai shouted joyfully. - who's going to do this? Am I really??? Yes! You said it right! It's going to be me! Moreover, I know where to look for him!

- Really? - Dazai grinned.

- Yeah. - Gogol pulled on a foxy smile.

- Then he entrusts this matter to you. - Lermontov smiled.

- Wait for me with Fedya! - Gogol shouted and disappeared.

- Well, are you playing cards? - Osamu grinned at Mikhail.

- With pleasure, Dazai.

***

The morgue where Fyodor's dead body lay was guarded by people from the Port Mafia. After all, Mori doesn't want his organization to be harmed. Gogol appeared outside the building; right in front of its entrance. «There are a lot of extra eyes here. - He thought at once. - you have to be careful.»

He used his disguise skills and went to the morgue.

A young man, about 20 years old, entered the building. Shoulder-length black hair, a red sweatshirt with a cat print, black trousers with a white belt and red shoes. There was also a black jacket on top of the jacket.

- Hello, can you tell me where the morgue is located? - Gogol asked in disguise.

- I'm sorry. - The girl standing at the administration post interrupted him. - but only employees can go to the morgue. Do you have a written permission?

- Oh! Yes, yes! Of course there is! I'll get it now! - Gogol put his hands under his jacket and said softly to the girl. - here's my permission. - and shot her with a pistol.

The girl fell to the floor and blood began to spread on the floor. Satisfied, Nikolai put the gun away and proudly walked to the morgue.

- Well, well, well. - He began. - where is my friend Dostoevsky?

Gogol was inspecting the building. It was quite old. The white paint was already cracked in many places, and the doors were half-cracked. «Couldn't Fedya have been put in a newer building? - Gogol thought indignantly, but decided not to be distracted by these thoughts.»

Then he noticed a door where it was visible that it led to the basement. For some reason, Gogol was drawn here. He went through this door and, indeed, there was a staircase further on, barely illuminated by green light. Nikolai began to descend.

He came across a room. It was completely dark to the point where you couldn't see anything. Fortunately, he had a flashlight. Gogol turned it on and first of all went to the documents to make sure that Dostoevsky was here.

- Well, well, well. Where, where is Dostoevsky? Where did he go? - Gogol hummed to himself, examining each piece of paper- And....Bingo.

He picked up a piece of paper with Fyodor's name and photo, as well as information about the time of death, place of death and cause of death. «He's lying in cell 43...- Nikolai thought, walking to the right place.- Oh, I find »

Nikolai smiled broadly and, touching the handle to open the small iron door, looked forward to their meeting after a long separation from his best friend.

He slowly opened the camera, took the handles of the iron carrier and did not find Fyodor.

«W-how is that?.. - having thrown back this carrier, Gogol thought in a misunderstanding. - Where is Dostoevsky?!»

He changed his clothes and went back to the others.

***

- the queen of spades. - Lermontov smiled.

- The King of Spades. - I put my card on Mikhail Dazai's card.

- The King of diamonds. - Sigma added.

- The Ace of diamonds. - Dazai grinned.

- Ace of hearts. - Mikhail said.

- the nine of the cross.

- Bito. - said the young man and Lermontov

— great. - Osamu closed his eyes.

- Guys! - Gogol shouted, interrupting their game. - Dostoevsky is gone!

- Is he missing? - Osamu asked.

- yes! I found his camera, opened it, but he's not there!

- That means... - with a tremor in his voice.

-He's alive,- Dazai added.

Then the guys heard slow clapping from around the corner. He was a rather tall and slender young man. Medium-length black hair, long bangs covering the forehead and bridge of the nose. His eyes are narrow and almost always half-closed, which gives him a tired look. This man has a wide smile and smooth facial features. He is wearing a shirt similar in cut to a caftan, with a high-standing collar. The bottom of the shirt has a triangular neckline. The delay on the shirt, as well as the «embroidery» , is purple. He wears red knee-high boots with white trousers tucked into them. A long black coat with rectangular lapels. The upper part of the collar is made of white fur. He wore a white hat with earflaps on his head. (Wow, who is this).

- F-Fyodor?.. - Gogol asked immediately. - B-but how did you end up here? Did someone resurrect you before us?

- I came back to life myself.

- Wait, but you can be returned until the next Sunday after death, then how? - Dazai asked.

- Everything is elementary. You made a mistake. - Dostoevsky smiled. - I have the opportunity to be reborn by myself on the third day after my death.

- So everything that Nikolai and I came up with turned out to be down the drain?- The young man asked.

- Exactly. - Dostoevsky continued to smile. - moreover, I planned not to appear in front of your eyes and develop a plan completely from the very beginning.

- What's the plan?- Osamu asked.

Dostoevsky grinned.

- Rid this world of Espers, what else?

- R...id? - Sigma asked. - B-but how?

- with the help of his ability. My Crime and Punishment ability allows me to kill people just by touching them, as well as kill them with my blood.

- That is...

- That is, if someone drinks even a drop of his blood, they will die painfully. - Lermontov said.

- That's right. - Fyodor added. - But for every crime there is a punishment.

- What kind of punishment?- Dazai asked.

- What do you think? - Dostoevsky asked with a foxy smile.

- Wait! - Gogol shouted. - so you wanted to leave me all alone?

- Yes, why?

-Then why were you following us?- Nikolai continued to shout in disbelief.

- Have you been watching? - Osamu asked. - Oh, yes, I also noticed the extra eyes that were watching us all the time. So it was you. I should have guessed before this incognito revealed his identity.

- That was the essence of my plan. I will say that I am very lucky that you did not pay attention to my surveillance.