A/N: ~guess whose back. ~back again. ~His name's Dazai. ~He aint your friend.
Vol 1.
Ch. 9
"Honestly, so hopeless, needing a girl to save you," a boy said, with bandages over one eye, jacket a little bit too big on him, carrying Chuuya now on his back to some unknown destination.
"You admit you're a girl?" Chuuya weakly retorted.
There was a pause.
"Chuuya, did you do all that to have me save you?" Was his leering retaliation.
"Hurry up and die," Chuuya weakly mumbled. "Dazai…"
The boys didn't say much beyond that. But Chuuya knew better. He knew that this bastard was the only reason he hadn't completely lost control. Why did his life have to be left in the hands of this shitty bastard in the end?
The robot Adam had once told him that it's good to have someone by your side in a near-death situation but honestly, this felt like the absolute worst option.
Without another word, Dazai merely put Chuuya down in an alley. Chuuya's vision was blurry but he lifted his head, weakly, to see Dazai just standing there, gazing at him. Chuuya furrowed his brow. Why wasn't the bastard just walking away? It felt like something he would do. Chuuya recognized where they were after a moment.
He had a bad feeling. It only grew.
The boy's face held no emotion. He just turned away from Chuuya. "Wait…" Chuuya struggled to his feet, still dizzy, still recovering from the force he'd been forced to unleash for just 0.3 seconds.
Then, he recognized the sign. It was the bar his friends and he had been celebrating inside earlier, but something was off. Stumbling towards the bar, like a baby animal who didn't have any feeling in all of its limbs, Chuuya gazed upon the carnage and horror before himself.
Everyone was dead.
Just like he had figured out before from the girl.
But worse than that.
"D-Dazai…." Chuuya uttered, but when he turned to share this excruciatingly painful view with the other boy, slightly younger than him, it was to see that there was no one there. It was like he'd dissipated like a fog. Why fog? Because even after he was gone, he left one feeling blind and clouded.
Chuuya couldn't even shed a tear.
The pain of everyone being dead. The proof that Dazai was just a heartless bastard. The reality just slammed into him . A reminder that the girl who had been helping him was for all intents and purposes, dead, rolling around Chuuya's muddled brain.
He stumbled inside.
Even if it was just one. Let there be just one, he begged absolutely no one.
"Chuuya?" A voice weakly called out to him. Chuuya's head snapped to attention. There was Albatross, sprawled. He immediately went to Albatross's side.
"I'm here," Chuuya said, though his voice shook with barely contained pain and anguish.
"Oh….good…hey, I can't see, and my legs don't work anymore…" Albatross stated, as his glazed expression stared at nothing. "But I managed to save Doc…couldn't save myself…haha…please tend to him…"
Chuuya looked, and could barely contain his scream though he forced it down. Doc was gripped by the collar, but his lower half was completely missing even though his upper half was untarnished and it looked like he was only sleeping.
"Yeah," Chuuya forced out, "I'll take care of him," he suffered towards another breakdown but held it back—somehow.
"And…Chuuya, I have a motorcycle…real proud of it, she's a beauty…I want you to have her," Albatross said softly.
And then, Chuuya was left alone again.
The silence was deafening.
But Chuuya's resolve was a loud clap of ground-shaking thunder. He stood up, letting go of Albatross finally and turning to the robot who stood, undamaged somehow but still at attention near him. It was apparent he had just followed Chuuya.
"You survived even after all that?" Chuuya's voice was quiet, angry, resentful.
It wasn't fair that this hunk of junk survived while his friends …hadn't. Humanity was weak. Maybe machines were better company. That was a bitter joke.
"I have begun immediate repairs for some damage as a result of physical contact from Verlaine's battle tactics. The extent is not as severe, you make a good observation. It is because I was kept from harm by the girl," Adam admitted. "I would have suffered damage to my face and internally otherwise from the force of the antigravity."
"I see," Chuuya thought subdued. That would have been nice if she could have… no, there was no point in dwelling on it. Verlaine had no doubt kidnapped her so she couldn't interfere. But what Chuuya didn't understand is why it took so long for her to be of any help in the fight. She had mentioned that he had killed the flags which meant she must have been there to witness it.
Chuuya felt a little selfish. It wasn't like she owed him anything. But she could have done more. That fleeting selfish thought made Chuuya disgusted with himself.
"According to my readings, she prevented any casualties—human— during the fight," Adam said. "I do not know why she included me. That was illogical and irrational, a sign of being human."
Chuuya pauses.
Then he grits his teeth.
No. That, he wanted to say, was the action of someone who simply cared.
Without needing a selfish reason to.
"Is she alive?" He found himself asking, not caring if Dazai or the whole damn Mafia heard at the moment. Even just this he grasped at.
"…undetermined, I scanned no signs of human life in the direction Verlaine threw her," the robot said monotonous but almost simulating an apology.
The girl was gone then.
Just another casualty.
It didn't matter to Chuuya why Dazai would allow this outsider robot to casually tail him, but then again, Chuuya did hate Dazai. He genuinely hated him. He was at his lowest point here and Dazai didn't even give a damn to pretend to be sensitive. Chuuya didn't need a sudden sparkly friendship between himself and Dazai, but his five friends were dead, that girl too, and Dazai had just lazily dumped Chuuya outside of the carnage as though taunting him—saying, 'it should've been you.'
Chuuya grit his teeth.
Yeah. That bastard would probably find enjoyment in all of this!
So, Paul Verlaine wanted to sever his ties and isolate him that badly huh? Chuuya glared at the robot. "Hey, you said you wanted to protect me or whatever, right?"
The robot nodded. "That is correct?"
"I don't need protection. I will take my revenge," Chuuya balled his hands into fists by his sides, squaring off the robot with a glare that could light up the dark. His eyes were blazing. His own form of fire but unlike Paul Verlaine, his fire wasn't blue or white or even both. "And you're going to help me."
No, Chuuya's fire in his eyes was a crimson color tinted with an ochurus glow.
No one messed with the family of a mafia member and lived after it.
Especially a member of his family.
—-
Alu knew thanks to her fight with Verlaine that she was currently probably on a lot of radars. It didn't help that she ran into Mori literally the moment she stepped out of that building before and was forced into a strained exchange with him.
Alu got the feeling that if she hadn't gotten involved with Chuuya her transition to this time wouldn't have been so dramatic. Well, no point crying over spilled milk right? Besides, she felt vindictively pleased that she was able to lecture that pretentious complainer about how he was treating Chuuya.
And, Chuuya knew his own worth better now—Alu hoped.
People can't grow without the acknowledgement by others, but it's also true that without encouragement and standing up for someone, that no one grows at all as a person. Treating others well; Or just denying them the basic identity of being human was a cruel thing to do. It was something Alu found disdainful. At least, she hoped that Chuuya knew that his own worth wasn't meant to be determined by how others view him but how he views himself.
Alu huffed.
She was currently sitting on top of a moving train, but the destination it was going to, she wasn't sure. She just knew that it would be best if she did get out of Yokohama for a bit. She'd managed to wound Verlaine and hopefully that would give Chuuya and Dazai the opportunity to defeat him. Clearly they had before without her help otherwise there was no way either of them would have been alive at the time that Alu met them.
Ah, and she was running very low on demonic fox energy. Literally staying alive took everything she had. Damn, that Verlaine guy had been something else.
Dazai was like her in a sense. He was a cockroach. Honestly, another great reason to avoid him like he was carrying the moronic plague at the moment. Alu wondered if she could just bide her time, maybe try to get to know Odasaku and Ango better—and wait for Dazai to catch up mentally in the -not so crazy— department.
Ah, Ango. Ango Sakaguchi. How old would he be in this time? Hmm, Alu sat up, rubbing her jaw, thinking. She still didn't actually know what the 'time' period was. She knew it was 2 years in the past but that was it. She had no idea what events—besides Verlaine, to expect at this point. But, she knew that the 'Dragon Head' incident happened around this year. Was she already in it? No, it didn't feel like it had been triggered—-yet.
Alu sighed a mushroom cloud. Ah, her head hurt. Since her demonic energy was simmering for now, her human self had resumed control. So she was hungry. There was a rule about being a host to a demon to use its power. A demon isn't as powerful without a human soul, fun fact! The reason she and Juubi were bonded was because they had mutually exclusive goals in mind but a partnership that worked well in both of their interests.
Of course, Juubi was a lot to handle and Alu could be a bit reckless, but together they had made a pretty solid team for a decade now. They traveled together and Alu had met a lot of interesting people and seen some peculiar worlds. But this one? Oh man, it was probably one of the more aggravating worlds to be in.
But, she'd had a vision of that Odasaku guy and it meant something. Apparently, according to Azuki, there was more meaning behind it than Alu realized. But it was up to Alu to figure it out. What a pain.
Alu took an inhale and then an exhale.
Juubi's presence was there within herself. She could feel it. Honestly, she'd spent so long without utilizing his demonic prowess that she had forgotten how useful and nice it was to just let loose sometimes. Jeez, and in this timeline she could tell that 'rewrite' was no longer an ability she possessed.
Must have been the 'price' paid for coming here.
It was a small price.
It was a better price than the life of Juubi. Alu wondered if this Juubi was aware that he had 'died' in the future of this world once before. She couldn't talk with him so she couldn't actually ask him. But, she hoped, beyond hope, that this time she would be able to prevent that from occurring again. She just had to. She smacked her cheeks, and looked up at the darkening sky, as the train continued to chug on the tracks.
Things will be different…and I'll definitely bring you back to full power, Juubi!
—-
Chuuya felt restless.
He had returned to his apartment with Adam and just wanted to sleep for a while. The annoying robot had been commanded to go sit somewhere and so he had complied in the eerie robotic way. Now, Chuuya just lay on his bed, staring up at the ceiling, knowing that once he closed his eyes, to his disdain, that he would be once again in pitch black nothing.
Because Chuuya couldn't dream.
He hadn't been able to for a long time now.
He couldn't explain why it was this way. He did feel a sense when he closed his eyes, not a pressure but like something was pressing on his mind but that was it. But this time when he closed his eyes, Chuuya gasped softly.
His eyes looked at the window. It was clearly night-time. But what time of the night? Crickets were chirping and a dog bellowed balefully somewhere. But these sounds were inconsequential. Chuuya was to say the least, a little startled. Had he fallen asleep? Because he wasn't one to dream but somehow, he found himself 'thinking' so to speak while not actively awake.
He saw his friends behind closed eyelids, smiling at him.
But that couldn't be right.
His memory showed him what he wanted to see.
Reality reminded him of the truth.
That's when Chuuya had woken up. Not like he usually did. But this felt worse, somehow than he had imagined. The weight on his chest and mind was heavy and his limbs felt bogged down. Chuuya covered his face with his arm. If he even could dream, would the first thing really be about those idiots? Chuuya trembled. "Haunting me already? Bastards…" his voice broke as he choked out the half taunt, half wounded sound that reverberated on his vocal chords.
If Chuuya had to dream about that momentary bliss he had with the flags, he wanted it to swallow him up whole and never spit him out.
BANG!
BANG!
BANG!
Something startled Chuuya awake even more now. Adam's voice could be heard speaking in the other room with some distress.
"Chuuya-San wishes to lie down— excuse me, according to my database, a human that barges in without warning is a very rude person!"
Chuuya's entire face dropped immediately. He sat up quickly. Oh hell no. Not at this time! As if cued, the door to Chuuya's small bedroom slammed open and standing there, beaming in the doorframe was f—-cking Dazai.
Adam showed up behind him but Chuuya didn't have the brain capacity to deal with the robot. "Oi, Tin Agent, just go sit somewhere! This doesn't concern you!" Chuuya barked at the hovering robot.
Adam blinked but he looked sad?
Whatever.
Not Chuuya's problem.
"As you request, I will enter into 'sleep mode'," Adam went over somewhere and comically, just sat down, before his robotic body slumped forwards—appearing asleep—or dead, lol.
Dazai's eyebrows couldn't help but raise at the odd robot's behavior. "Honestly, Chuuya, you're meeting so many weird types today," he chided Chuuya. "Also, you should have told me that you had a girl in your life! I thought we~ were ~friends!"
Chuuya's heart clenched. That girl was dead along with his other friends. This guy was just here to taunt him about it. Rub salt in the wound. He grit his teeth, his voice honestly the texture of gravel as he snarled at Dazai, eyes ablaze and angry at the mention of the girl so casually by Dazai—as a joke—- of all damn things.
"Oh go get bent, contract an S.T.D. —and then die," Chuuya hissed, ignoring Dazai, scowling.
"Chuuya~" Dazai smiled brightly. "You are in my spot!"
"Hah?" Chuuya twitched, glaring at Dazai from where he was sitting upright now. "This is my apartment!" He snapped.
"Actually the apartment belongs to The Port Mafia~" Dazai beamed brightly stating. "And in the chain of command I have seniority! So, as your senior, you will do as I say, okay?"
The menacing sweet tone made Chuuya shudder.
"Just go away and die," Chuuya hissed rolling, his back to Dazai now. He would just ignore the shitty bastard.
"Oh hmm, you don't seem to be understanding," Dazai said with a disappointed huff. "You don't sleep in the bed."
"You're not staying here," Chuuya said bitingly.
"Boss's orders~" Dazai said cheerfully.
"Screw the boss's orders! I'm not living with you for any reason!" Chuuya hissed, sitting up again and glaring at Dazai.
"If you go against a direct order you know that makes you a traitor right?" Dazai stepped closer to Chuuya. Chuuya quivered, like a tightened bowstring. Dazai had his hands behind his back, casually, but he just stepped closer, the tap of his polished shoe making Chuuya flinch.
Chuuya felt like he swallowed glass. Actually he would prefer that to dealing with this insensitive bastard. Chuuya ground his back molars. "Fine. Stay. Whatever."
"Good! Now, Chuuya, will you listen to my order and get out of the bed?" Dazai asked with the politeness of a hidden knife.
Chuuya got up from the bed immediately, not wanting Dazai anymore in his space than he already was. "Have it your way, I'll take the damn couch. Tch. Bastard."
"Oh no," Dazai said lightly, as Chuuya passed by him. "Dogs sleep on the floor~"
Chuuya snapped.
Already in a bad mood, Chuuya just swung back a fist, with inhuman speed to punch Dazai out of the vicinity of the apartment, —consequences be damned— honestly.
However, Dazai caught the super enraged fist like he was high-fiving a kitten's paw, and smirked darkly, interlacing his own fingers over Chuuya's trembling fist, stopping the smaller boy in his tracks, —effortlessly.
Chuuya strained, but he knew that Dazai had activated his ability, preventing Chuuya from putting in any superhuman strength into the blow. That was fine. Chuuya smirked darkly. He swung back his other fist.
"I'm. Not. Your. Dog." Chuuya's voice shook like an earthquake.
Dazai's expression was unreadable but he blocked Chuuya's other blow with his arm, before Chuuya tried to knee him in the stomach, furious. But Dazai flinched, despite himself. Chuuya was using far more force than usual. It actually hurt. "Chuuya, I'd say you 'hit like a girl' but she was the one carrying the weight of that fight today~"
Chuuya snarled. "Don't talk about them—any of them, bastard!" He screeched like a pained animal.
Dazai grimaced, finding himself suddenly shoved backwards as he lost his balance due to Chuuya suddenly gripping the collar of his shirt and sweeping a leg under Dazai, causing him to lose footing. Chuuya pushed down on Dazai, not caring if Dazai hit him back.
Chuuya could barely see anything past the tears as it was. What was this terrible feeling he was feeling?
It was like nothing he'd ever truly known.
"Chuuya, you're hurting me," Dazai sighed, like he was chastising a puppy who was biting too hard on one's hand. Dazai knew why Chuuya was emotional —well, more emotional than usual. After all, the five reasons were all being currently put back together by the mortician. It was because of this, that Dazai was willing to make an exception—tonight at least— to not have Chuuya quietly killed for attacking the Port Mafia's Right Hand Man.
Chuuya was grieving, plain and simple.
Dazai wasn't interested in Chuuya's emotional state. But he knew the faster Chuuya vented, the better it would be for the sake of the assignment from Ogai Mori. Of course, this included babysitting Chuuya which was always a pain—almost always physically so.
He sighed, almost bored.
"I'll kill you…" Chuuya choked out, breath shaky.
Chuuya pinned Dazai to the bed now, using his body to stop Dazai from being able to kick him, holding Dazai's wrists by his head, before — with lightning speed, Dazai pulled one wrist free of Chuuya.
THWACK.
Chuuya coughed, his mouth filled with the sudden taste of copper, as he felt Dazai twist and sock Chuuya in his jaw. Chuuya's head snapped back and that momentary surprise was all Dazai needed to wriggle free of Chuuya's pinning, instead kneeing Chuuya in the stomach with full force, causing the smaller boy to roll off in pain, doubled over.
Dazai sat up, gazing at Chuuya who just hugged his own stomach, on the ground now, cursing under his breath shakily. He rested his chin in his palm, drawing his knees to his chest, as though bored with the entire drama. "Are you done?"
"What do you care…about how someone is feeling?" Chuuya's voice shook. He looked at Dazai, with a fire burning of pure hate.
Dazai felt a small shiver. But it was momentary. It wasn't a shiver of fear. It was just a shiver. Honestly part of the reason Dazai poked Chuuya is because weirdly doing so made him feel something over nothing. Unlike with other candidates to poke, Chuuya seemed to be the best to come back to when bored.
Dazai honestly didn't care. Much. Things happen. People come and go. It was like being in a spinning door. One that just kept moving, spitting out different people every time. Still, he could tell that if he pushed Chuuya too much harder, that Chuuya may actually turn on the Port Mafia out of spite for him.
While the thought was entertaining in a darker part of Dazai's mind—a form of flattery— if you will, Dazai also knew his objective. He decided the best thing to do while Chuuya was feeling down, was to lift him up a bit. After all, Dazai could be a decent person too—-when it benefited him.
"Alright, I won't tell you the good news," Dazai shrugged.
Chuuya sniffled, wiping his eyes furiously, upset at himself for having cried in front of this insensitive asshole. "Good news?" He honestly didn't know if Dazai was messing with him while he was down or not.
"You hit me so my feelings are hurt," Dazai sighed, resting his arms behind his head, leaning back on the bed now.
"Just tell me!" Chuuya demanded.
Dazai had his eyes closed but he cracked open the unbandaged one to peek at Chuuya. The boy looked so desperate. It was so…Chuuya. To have optimism even at a low point like this? Dazai was honestly a little surprised that Chuuya reacted positively to anything at this current time. Still, Chuuya's unpredictably predictable reactions were what made him so much more entertaining.
"That's right…" Dazai sighed. "We have our orders from Boss, but you'll have to make me feel better before I tell you!"
Chuuya stumbled to his feet, still wincing in pain from Dazai's blow—Dazai was not lacking strength in any sense. "Tell me!"
Dazai approved of the eagerness. "Alright. But first, I want an apology! With some meaning, preferably! Something like, 'Dazai-sama, I am sorry for being an unfilial hound,~" he beamed at Chuuya.
Chuuya looked ready to murder.
Dazai pursed his lips together, and giggled. Honestly, this kid knew so much and yet so little about self-reservation. You could practically see how he wanted to murder Dazai all over his face and yet, he was holding himself back now.
"You're just fucking with me, aren't you?" Chuuya glowered. "Forget it."
He turned on his heel and stormed towards the door.
"The girl is alive," Dazai casually said.
Chuuya halted, hand on the door. He felt like his breath left his body. Had he heard right? Was Dazai just messing with him? He knew that he had already stated earlier to Mori and Dazai that he didn't know anything about the girl—that she had literally been in the car that Verlaine had used to capture Chuuya.
But this?
"You… are you… telling the truth?"
Dazai paused. The tone Chuuya used was soft, uncharacteristically soft? It wasn't a tone Dazai had heard someone like Chuuya even use before. It was like hope but the kind that was as vaporous as a cloud and about as easy to touch as one.
For someone who was a 'stranger' to Chuuya, she sure knew how to make an impact. The streets of Yokohama reflected as much. Dazai tilted his head at Chuuya. "Chuuya, are you really going to put this much emotion forth for someone you only just met? What about the time it took for you to accept your real friends?" He chided the bristling boy.
Chuuya glared. "She counted."
"Pfft," Dazai put a hand over his mouth, holding his stomach. Chuuya really could be childish. While Dazai didn't give a rat's ass about Verlaine's agenda, he did have to agree with Verlaine when it came to Chuuya trusting people way too easily. After being in the Port Mafia for a year, one would think better than to trust easily—or at all. But not Chuuya. Nope, a cute girl comes along claiming to understand him and totals Yokohama's grocery mart for him and he's all ready to throw down his loyalty.
How stupid can one get?
"Don't laugh."
Dazai blinked, but the fist connects with the side of his face that is bandaged before he can properly react. Chuuya holds Dazai by his collar, gritting his teeth, but he glares at Dazai.
Dazai was momentarily stunned. But just for a moment. His mouth, slightly open, closed again. He just gazed at Chuuya from his one good eye, the murky depths hard to read. Light seems to bounce off of Dazai's eye, rather than being absorbed into it.
"One may question your loyalty to the Port Mafia if you keep jeopardizing it for cute girls," Dazai brightly chided him.
"Shut up. It isn't like that, at all!" Chuuya snapped. "Is it so wrong to have someone who acknowledges you have worth in this godforsaken world? I never had one person on this planet who told me that I have a right to exist—before she or The Flags came along! "
Dazai quieted.
He smiled and put his hands on Chuuya's shoulders. Chuuya flinched, quickly letting go of Dazai, waiting for another hit to connect. He felt Dazai's arms wrap around him. He felt no connecting blow.
Wait.
No connecting blow?
Arms around him?
Chuuya was confused.
Were they hugging?!
Dazai pat Chuuya on the back. "There, there," he said sagely, "if that's the case you don't need her then. You already have someone who acknowledges you, standing right here!"
He pulled back, one arm still draped over Chuuya's —quivering with silent rage— shoulder, pointing to himself with a smile on his face.
Chuuya wanted to punch him again. "You're just teasing," he snapped, face suddenly very hot from Dazai's random hug. What the hell was wrong with this freaking moron?
"Oh? Hm! Am not! What, don't believe me?" Dazai pouted.
Chuuya just felt his skin crawl and tried to part from Dazai like he was a goo-monster. Dazai let Chuuya free himself from his embrace but continued to eye the frazzled smaller boy. Chuuya just took a shaky breath, running a hand through his hair. "Everything out of your mouth is a lie. Or shitty compromise."
"Not true," Dazai said, "Sometimes it's two truths and one lie!"
Chuuya didn't have the capacity to deal with Dazai's torment. But he also knew that Dazai was testing him. Why did Dazai think he'd just betray the Mafia over one girl? Sure she was pretty strong and odd and really nice…
Chuuya paused.
Then his entire face turned red.
He held hands with a girl.
Dazai just watched this process and thought belatedly, Wait this is Chuuya. He wouldn't realize if a girl was into him if she literally crashed into him like a bus.
"Look at that, you're a healthy shade of guilt and shame, after all!" Dazai teased, with a grin.
"S-Shut up!" Chuuya stammered, heart suddenly pounding. "You did this to me, you bastard!"
Dazai paused.
That implication sure had its branches. Chuuya realized how it sounded a second later and just whirled on his heel leaving the room as Dazai just casually followed, amused to see Chuuya spiraling in a downwards spin of embarrassment.
"I-I mean, forget it! I'm going for a walk! And don't try to follow me! Shitty bastard!" He huffed and puffed. "And you, don't follow me either!" He barked at the robot which had just decided to wake up, sensing Chuuya was on the move.
Adam looked sad. "Having me along would increase your chances of a good defense," he calculated.
"Having you along will only make my sanity decrease!" Chuuya griped.
Dazai chuckled. "Chuuya."
"What."
"Don't forget your leash."
The door slammed shut leaving Dazai alone in the apartment with Adam.
Dazai sighed. "Tch, I'm bored."
Ah, his source of entertainment was on the move.
Adam meanwhile sat down on the couch. "I must ensure he is safe," Adam worriedly said.
"Leave that to me," Dazai brightly said, opening the door. "I'll go after him!"
Adam, frowned at Dazai. "I am detecting your heart rate change. You are lying."
Dazai blinked. "Me? Lying? No, I mean it, Mr. Robot. I, Osamu Dazai, plan to ensure that Chuuya remains safe from harm!" With a wave, he slammed the door shut.
Adam paused. His gears worked. "Strange," he commented to no one. "This time, he is telling the truth?"
—
