Dazai Doesn't Want to Grow Up

[The neighboring danmei novel, Dazai Sensei Is Being Secretly Watched, is complete, and the new novel, Dazai the Cat Is Farming and Slacking Off, is now underway. Interested readers are welcome to check them out =3=] Koharu Hiyori, twenty years old, currently works as a shrine maiden. By day, she works at a shrine. By night, she exorcises evil spirits. One more thing: she's been twenty years old for... several decades already. Over those decades, she has traveled all across Japan, never aging or dying, all to carry out the sacred tree's orders to slay demons and banish evil. Now the sacred tree has told her that she can find somewhere to settle down and retire in peace. Once her successor has finished training, she can finally welcome the long-awaited death that will let her retire with her work complete. So she came to Yokohama and picked up a child she found along the road to raise. - Twelve-year-old Dazai was taken home by a young woman who looked twenty. He asked her why. She smiled brightly and gave him an answer that had nothing to do with his question: "Because I don't have long to live. At least until then, let's live together." But one year passed, then two, then three, and even six years. The woman didn't die, and her appearance didn't change at all. Dazai: "...Are you messing with me?" Koharu Hiyori: "What can I do? My successor is so hopeless that he's been learning for six years and still isn't ready. I can't die, so I can't retire. I'm desperate too!" Later, her successor finally arrived, and the little Dazai bunny she'd raised seemed to have found his direction in life as well. So Koharu Hiyori dusted herself off, closed her eyes with a clear conscience, and fell into a deep sleep beneath the sacred tree. But four years later, for some inexplicable reason, she woke up again. Her successor was so hopeless that the sacred tree had temporarily woken her up again. Seriously, is this how it works? She goes into a deep sleep, and whenever she's needed, they can just wake her up again? Looking at the little bunny in front of her... no, the big bunny, Dazai, whose gaze seemed distinctly off, Koharu Hiyori thought... She might be in danger. Tips: 1. A story about raising Dazai. Purely familial affection early on, then it turns into something else in the middle and later parts. 2. I'll borrow some settings from other series, but this is a Bungou Stray Dogs story, with lots of original interpretations. Any out-of-character moments are on me. 3. Everyday-life style. The plot serves the story of raising Dazai and the romance. If anything isn't for you, feel free to stop reading. No need to tell me if you drop it. 4. Koharubiyori means a brief, calm, windless, sunny spell, usually referring to the period from mid-November to early December. It's also called "little spring." The heroine's name is Koharu Hiyori. 5. Gugu is a delicate little bird who only wants to hear people praise Dazai. Comments that aren't nice to Dazai will be eaten, but praise for him is very welcome! 6. Weibo: Douqi, Have I Written Properly Today? Here's the blurb for one of my upcoming novels. It's a sweet little story, so interested readers are welcome to take a look~ Dazai Sensei Is Being Secretly Watched Tsukimi Tsubaki has liked someone for a long time. She hid it ever so carefully, never letting a single hint slip to anyone. And yet someone found out. The person she's secretly in love with. - Dazai realized that his colleague had been secretly in love with him for a while. She'd actually hidden it very well. Most of their coworkers hadn't noticed how she felt about him. But he had. She thoughtfully remembered his little habits and secretly indulged his whims. Normally, Dazai had encountered plenty of people who pursued him, including some who played hard to get just to see how he would react. But Tsukimi Tsubaki didn't seem to have any intention of confessing to him or pursuing him. For no particular reason, Dazai would sometimes find his gaze settling on her, like a cat secretly watching her, or as if... they were sharing a secret that only the two of them knew. Hmm? Maybe... - The great detective Ranpo had been holding it in for ages. Why on earth were these two mutually lovestruck idiots at the office still not together?! He was about to burst! How could someone start getting force-fed couple envy when it was only a one-sided crush, and keep getting force-fed all the way until the two of them were in love with each other? Tomorrow, he was going to spill the beans to everyone! - The next day, Ranpo received two identical deluxe snack gift boxes. To clarify, they came from two different people. Ranpo: "..." Theme: Even if your life may be short, you should still do your best to live.