Atsushi was sad.
But he wasn't aloud to be sad because he has no family. At least, that's what the people at the orphanage told him. So when Dazai-san found him crying and trying to stop it he asked a question that Atsushi thought he wasn't ever going to hear. That he was unworthy to hear.
"Are you okay?"
"Am I okay...?" The words tasted foreign on his tongue.
"Yeah. Are you okay?" Dazi-san asked again.
Dazai-san looked at the child's face and saw the confusion in his eyes. It unnerved him a little.
"I-I am. Don't worry," Atsushi gave him a fake smile that Dazai-san would have bought if he hadn't seen him crying.
"No you aren't."
"What do you mean? Of course I am!" Another fake smile.
"What happened to you? Why do you hide your pain?" The suicide maniac questioned gently.
Atsushi crumbled. He couldn't lie to Dazai-san. He was the first person to look at Atsushi like he wasn't scum to the Earth.
"They told me that I wasn't aloud to cry or be sad because I don't have any parents," He responded quietly, looking away.
"Who?"
"The people at the orphanage."