Natsume Soseki and Dazai
November 16, 2023 at 8:53 PM
We learn about Natsume Soseki during the Cannibalism arc, where Dazai tells Tanizaki that this man helped create the agency. Then, after some time, the cat of one of the agency employees comes to his hospital room, he gives him dried fish, inside of which there is a memory card with information about the whereabouts of Fyodor’s people. It turns out that the cat is Natsume Soseki, who decided to take an indirect part in the conflict between the Agency, the Port Mafia and the Rats.
Fast forward to seven years ago when Mori and Dazai became accomplices.
In the first episode of the third season of the anime, Natsume Sensei stood next to the clinic in the form of a cat. Mori then gave the silver oracle to Dazai and assigned him to investigate the case of the resurrection of the previous boss. In the slums near Dazai you can see our cat sitting on a trash can. He watches the boy for a while. He can then be seen in an abandoned building, where Dazai has prepared a “party” for Chuuya (although there is no cat at all in the light novel).
We next meet him sitting next to Dazai as he waits for Oda and Ango at the Lupine bar. When Odasaku appears, he moves to another seat, for which Dazai apologizes. Towards the end of the adaptation of Dazai Osamu and the Dark Age, we see Natsume Soseki sitting outside the establishment where Taneda was drinking. At the moment of conversation between Dazai and Taneda, the cat is already inside and sitting near their table (Natsume-sensei is not in this light novel either).
Think about it: Dazai is highly intelligent, a good strategist, and can come up with a plan that leaves us fans in shock. But in the agency he is second only to Rampo, he is the key figure of the agency. So why did Natsume-sensei share information with Dazai during the Cannibalism arc?
Although in this arc, Rampo, having gone with some members of the agency to fight the Port Mafia, behaved irrationally for the first time. And Kunikida was so broken that he could hardly do anything if he received information about rats.
After some thought, I thought that Natsume-sensei could be a relative of Dazai that Dazai is not aware of, or was he a friend of his parents, for example? Hence his trusting attitude towards Dazai.
In general, this may turn out to be complete nonsense, until we think about it, everything has its time.