#one way chuuya may have been vampirized

[kitsquared]

It's 'human turned weapon'

It's 'power to combine bodies and abilities '

It's having control

[seaskate]

I know that it's been theorized who from the ada is going to the PM because of the deal and everyone has been drawing parallels and ideas on who it could be, but one thing that I dont see may people looking at is behavior.

Personally I think that it will be Dazai that will go, he's the logical choice and would act as the best bridge between the ada and the pm, especially since Kunikida was named to become the next president and Dazai is his partner, so if Dazai were to go back and become boss at some point then that relationship is already there and is better than Mori's and Fukuzawa's from the start.

There has been a lot of points made about Dazai not being with the Agency when they are all gathered together (like that one manga panel or the party after the Guild or Kyouka's party) and how he appears more with or parallels Mori more in the intro than before (all of which is true) but we dont talk enough about how his behavior had been changing since episode one.

Dazai in episode one was only serious for maybe a small handful of seconds of screentime during the tiger debacle in the warehouse, when no one else was around to see. We can easily assume that home acting like a class clown happened more often than not from the way that he acts in the series. However, ever since the introduction of Atsushi and the Port Mafai in the series, Dazai has been slowly acting more serious than before.

In the first season alone, He sets it up so that the Azure Poet is killed and doesnt show any emotion when Kunikida tells at him for it. He bugs Higuchi and listens in on her and then basically goads Akutagawa into declaring war. Small instances, but close together.

When the Guild came there were more. There was the Q incident at the train where he all but threatened to kill the child and then slapped Atsushi out of a panic attack (which pain is actually one of the easier ways to remove someone from a panic attack, which is why people often dig in their nails or snap bands at their wrist when they feel one coming, but that's another argument to be had) which was effective but anyone else in the ada would have attempted another method. There was the Moby Dick and how he acted with Akutagawa there. And the meeting between the Ada and the pm where Dazai talked about war strategy. He blew up Lovecraft and allowd Chuuya to kill countless Guild hired guns when they ambushed him during that same instance.

None of those actions were things that someone at the ada likely would have done before the current arc. But now Dazai is continually acting in such away more often. Acting less like a detective and more like a mafioso.

He's relying on the mafia more often too.

Dazai had gone two years without any mafia contact while at the Agency, but now he's going to art museums with Hirostu and met with Akutagawa in the woods. That's not counting Chuuya and how they have worked together three times now in as many months, if you count Dead Apple, this current time in which Mori even helped with the fake vampire teeth. Not only that, but Dazai still calls Chuuya his partner. Not former partner, current.

Dazai dances on a fine line between good and evil, even as he believes in neither, but if it means that he could save those that he’s come to care for then he doesn’t hesitate to cross it (murder isn’t exactly condoned at the Agency, yet that’s exactly what he did to Fyodor - I know that he came back, but still - and has set up for Chuuya to do to those that had stood in their way since reuniting. Like the prison guards). Mori - who still has the executive seat waiting for Dazai to reclaim it, and had told Oda four years ago that Dazai would likely be boss in a few years time - knows this.

Yosano thought that this deal was a ploy for Mori to get her back, but she wasn’t the only child that he lost to the Agency. If we adds this to the paraless in the opening that exist and the fact that Dazai had been acting more and more like the Demon Prodigy with each season, Chuuya, and his place as an executive, it wouldn’t be surprising if he was the one chosen.

[diary-of-frost]

confessions

It's quite obvious to anyone who has seen them. Akutagawa and Atsushi have feelings for each other, yet for some reason neither of them have seem to realize the other feels the same.

Fast forward to the present day, the Decay of Angels is taken care of, Yokohama is safe, and everything is back to normal. Well as normal as it can be. You see, the tension has been high between the two men, ever since Akutagawa came back from vampirism with his teeth in Atsushis neck. Neither of them decide to bring it up, why would they? they don't want to be the one to bring up this awkward conversation, Atsushi doesn't want to bring up the fact that maybe he actually enjoyed it, and Akutagawa doesn't want to admit how his heart fluttered when he was that close to the weretiger. So, neither of them talk about it, they go on missions together since the Port Mafia and Agency have come to a mutual understanding that they may need to rely on each other from time to time.

Now, the problem isn't the fact they get paired together on missions, no, that's the opposite of a problem they actually work together amazingly, they don't need words to communicate, they can just look at each other and the point gets across. The problem is Dazai. You see Dazai is perceptive, to perceptive for his own good sometimes. So Obviously he has seen the tension, and obviously he has teased Atsushi about it. But every time Dazai has brought it up, Atsushi has shut it down, albeit he has the biggest blush dusting his cheeks, and a slightly inflated flustered tone while speaking. Akutagawa doesn't have it any easier. Yes he doesn't have Dazai poking fun at the situation, but he does have Chuuya. Chuuya who means well. Chuuya who doesn't want him to make the same mistakes he did. So Chuuya pushes Akutagawa to confess, to realize his feelings for Atsushi is more than just tolerance of him, but genuine feelings. Eventually Akutagawa tries his best to tell him he really does. But he is only human.

"Weretiger we need to talk" No, that will stress Atsushi out. "Atsushi want to get dinner together this weekend?" Is he really asking him on a date. and since when does Akutagawa use Atsushis first name? After many days, and many unsent text messages, they get paired on another mission. The mission goes to plan as it always does, until the end, Atsushi is standing in front of Akutagawa, his face flushed in the prettiest way that Akutagawa has ever seen. Nervously Atsushi asks Akutagawa if he wants to get boba together, only because they had extra time since they finished the mission quickly, no other reason. Of course Akutagawa accepts, only because he is feeling fairly parched, not because he actually wants to spend more time with Atsushi, that would be absurd. Now here they both are, sitting outside the café together, in silence. Which is weird for them, not necessarily Akutagawa, but Atsushi, Atsushi tends to fill the silence. And Akutagawa always thought he hated it, but now that it's not there, he's realized how much he like Atsushi talking. So, he goes to break the silence, but, so does Atsushi does too. After a couple awkward chuckles from the two men, Akutagawa lets Atsushi speak first. When he does, Akutagawa couldn't believe his ears. Atsushi was flustered, he was stumbling over his words, and it wasn't smooth at all, it was embarrassing to be fully honest, But Akutagawa didn't care, he loved every second of it, every stumbled word, every nervous giggle, every little thing Atsushi did. Akutagawa never looked away, he held his breath until Atsushi was finished talking, and when Atsushi finished, the biggest smile crossed Akutagawa face. Akutagawa didn't know how to respond though, how was he supposed to, someone he's seen at his lowest points, someone he sacrificed his life for, was sitting here next to him, acting as if Akutagawa wasn't as in love with him as he was. So instead of using words. Which were never his strongest suit. Akutagawa did what he thought best, and he leaned forward and kissed him. After a couple moments he pulled away smiling softly at Atsushi. "You really think I wouldn't return the sentiment weretiger?" Akutagawa says almost teasingly, yet with a hint off affection laced in with it. After that the rest was history, they started a relationship with each other. No it wasn't perfect, but it was theirs, and no one could take that away from them. Not Dazai with his overbearing teasing. Not Chuuya with his over protectiveness towards Akutagawa. No one could come between the first time Akutagawa felt genuine love and happiness.

[originalaccountname]

There are some posts I've seen floating around that at the start Dazai may not of known that Chuuya wasn't a vampire which I kind of agree with. I'm at work currently so I cant double check but when he goes "that's a nasty trick you've pulled fydor" im pretty sure its in his thoughts?? To which why would he think that if he knew the whole time. I think dazai must of caught onto the fact Chuuya was faking it at somepoint but not sure when that would of been. Also at the end of the ep Dazai said he didn't have a plan. (I did watch the episode at just after 2am my time when it came out and then fell asleep afterwards so my memory could be not correct). I do think chuuya not being a vampire at all is a little disappointing tbh but this idea softens the blow. Would like to know your thoughts on this idea if you are open to sharing?

I'm in that category too, yes. I've left a few tags saying basically the same thing on some posts.

First, there are a few things the anime didn't answer (more than failing to justify Chuuya faking it since the start, there's Sigma's case about needing to help the ADA, which... didn't happen at all) so either we haven't seen the repercussions of this arc yet, or we got the shortened version of what the manga will offer. Which could work either way. (not ideal necessarily, but besides huffing what can we do huh)

Dazai not knowing though! Dazai did admit to his "plan" being to mostly adapt on the fly and trust his allies to help him back. He implied this prison break was one big trust fall. But that's how I've always interpreted Dazai's way of planning! I even made a post about it a full year ago!

Since Dazai knows Chuuya slowed down the elevator (which I can accept, Dazai's ability shouldn't affect random objects he touches, and Fyodor had told Chuuya through a comm to go finish off Dazai because he wasn't in the room), I assume that by then he was aware. Maybe not before though. Definitely not at first. Because this?

I refuse to believe was entirely scripted. Why is he acting? For Sigma? For corpses? I'm of the opinion that no matter what is going on through Dazai's head, his expressions are always genuine (ex: he might react with surprise at something he completely expected, if only because of how sudden it was, or when/how it ended up happening. Here? genuine distress.)

And I extend that feeling to Dazai having an emotional moment, complete with flashbacks, while "drowning" Fyodor and Chuuya. He did say he wasn't expecting to kill them that way, but perhaps it really was a moment of weakness triggered by concern or guilt.

I can accept Dazai having caught on during his face-off with Chuuya. That's Mr I-know-your-breathing-patterns we have here, so if they didn't high-five after the elevator crash-landing (still broke Dazai's leg), I would say Dazai knows physics enough to go "hold on" and connect the dots. So yes, that baiting of Chuuya, the light taunting, the bratty attitude he only really has with Chuuya, the angry YELLING and insults when Chuuya shot him in the shoulder? The destiny talk? Yeah I can re-contextualize those as Dazai over-acting his part. And then not being able to shut up after being shot in the head.

Maybe there's some reaching here, maybe this will not be totally accurate to the source material. But Asagiri does have a habit to write scenes from an outsider pov while knowing whats happening in the characters' heads and behind the scene, but then not give us that input directly. Never before today was it confirmed that Dazai improvises a lot in his plans. And yet! That's something I've believed in for a very long time.

This all could very well be covering Asagiri's poor decisions, but between this being the adaptation and bsd being an unfinished story, I have a hard time deciding at the moment how much of a poor decision this was. Maybe it's worth a raised eyebrow. Maybe it deserves some criticism in hope the author takes notes. Maybe this was an anime-original resolution due to time constraints (think of the Fifteen final fight). I can only raise concerns for now, and wait.

[bunglegaydogs]

Episode 61 BSD spoilers ofc xoxo

I know a lot of people are upset at Fyodor's death this episode, but can we all just remember that this was probably one of the better options that could have happened of all the options?

I always knew that Fyodor would die - it was just a definite thing I had in my head. He couldn't stay alive like Fitzgerald, that's not the way his character is. He's too much of a danger to everyone else when he's alive. I thought this was a pretty great ending to his life, it's not perfect but it is? I don't know. Something about burning in the flames and succumbing to them in the vehicle you were supposed to escape in after being fooled by a cheap party trick.

For all the people saying "But Fyodor's the smartest character in BSD! How could he be fooled by Chuuya just pretending to be a vampire?"

May I remind you of the fact that Fukuchi fooled Ranpo? You know, the one who's known for never being wrong and solving things like this constantly? Because even when Mushitarou used his ability, the same ability that has hidden thousands and thousands of esteemed criminals with deplorable crimes to their name, and not one person has been able to find them, Ranpo was still able to solve it with only a few clues.

Yet due to his unwavering trust and faith in Fukuzawa, that led to him being completely oblivious to Fukuchi being Kamui. He didn't think that he'd need to look beneath the surface level, because Fukuzawa trusts him so much. He never thought that he'd need to look any further.

The same goes for Fyodor and Chuuya.

Fyodor isn't the smartest character in the series, nor is he meant to be! He's simply just one of the smartest. He can still be outwitted by the rest. Not everyone can win everything every single time. Eventually, no matter how good you are at chess, someone else will beat you.

Anyways lol.

We don't even know how Fyodor got Chuuya to Meursault, or how he had proof that he'd turned him into a vampire. Of course, it will all be revealed soon, but disregarding that for a second.

Chuuya has broken into Meursault after Fyodor tells him to, mowing down all the guards and killing them all and saving Fyodor's ass from getting shot or being thrown back into jail. It all adds up in Fyodor's head so far. Chuuya says nothing, only growls, hisses, and screams. Typical vampire. (Other than his weird yowl LMAOOO)

Nothing is fishy to Fyodor yet. Chuuya is helping him and doing as he says. Then, they both get almost drowned by Dazai. Again, this is all pointing to the fact that he is not on Dazai's side if Dazai is actively putting him in his plans to kill Fyodor too.

Fyodor assumes that their bond is shallow and fragile, easily breakable if he presses down hard enough and severs the knot, which is what hes trying to do. He teases Dazai because, in his head, it's a one-sided relationship in SKK.

Fyodor doesn't understand human emotions well. He sees people as pawns and is not afraid to use them to get what he wants. But he is different from Dazai in the way he thinks about them. He dislikes humans; he thinks they're sinful and boring and a waste of his time, whereas Dazai thinks humans are fascinating and complicated and wonderful. Fyodor does not see the appeal. Which is what separates him from Dazai. Fyodor uses the people around him until he has no use for them anymore, tossing them aside. He has no regard for their feelings, and anyone he associates with he automatically tries to see what he can get from them and what he can do with them. Dazai does not. Dazai uses people as a means to help the Agency, or to save someone else, or to get information on how to not let the fucking world end, and the character development is wild.

Dazai used to be much more like Fyodor than he is now. He was cold, ruthless, and heartless back then. Whilst Dazai still sees no point in living and wishes to die, and he sees no point in anything, he has still grown more compassionate and a lot more self-aware and he has become capable of more emotion and wanting to save people thanks to Oda. Yes, he still doesn't really care about much, but he genuinely does care about those closest to him and saving and protecting them.

That is why Fyodor couldn't understand - he didn't know just how much trust Soukoku had between each other. He underestimated the bond between them. How much they rely on each other, and always have, for seven years. He thought he had Chuuya under his thumb this entire time, but Chuuya had bested him and tricked him.

This also just goes to show Chuuya's intelligence that a lot of people seem to forget. This type of shit will come easy to Chuuya - he's a Mafia executive for a reason, God damn it. He can lie, he can manipulate, he can be sly and cunning and discreet and careful. He's not a fool, he knows how dire this situation is. And so of course he's going to put his all into a completely fool-proof performance. He literally fooled us, and we're the ones shouting at Dostoevsky for underestimating Soukoku's bond.

But see? This is precisely why this was a suitable "death" for him. (I'm only saying "death" in quotes because you never fucking know with this series.)

Burned in the flames of hellfire as he perishes with the thought that he was completely beaten.

I made a post a while ago about how Fyodor's downfall was going to be how he thought he was too untouchable, how everything is simply but a trial for him and how he is the messenger of God, forcing his will onto other people and just spreading what is God's plan to wipe the world of sinners. How cocky he gets in his own way about his intelligence. How he underestimates, undermines and belittles the people around him because he genuinely thinks that they're worth nothing more than a pebble on the ground to him. He has no empathy or compassion that we've seen so far. He tricked Sigma and stabbed him with absolutely no remorse despite them being in the DOA together. Nikolai was happy to see him out of prison, and he pretty much just blanked him and went straight to the topic at hand, despite apparently having all the time in the world to kill (not really he needed the antidote not to die tbf lol). His downfall was the very thing that sets him apart from the others and typically gives him the upper hand - lack of regret, compassion or empathy or remorse. He was prepared to (and did!) kill children. He lobotomized two people. He manipulates everyone.

I really don't think that Fyodor's story is over at all, but I do think he's actually dead. Maybe not though. As I said, you never fucking know with this series.

Anyways. My point in this post was the fact that whilst we're all upset about his death (well, not all?), it was suitable. You can't complain about BSD not having the balls to kill off any characters, and then when it does, complain that a character has died. Or that "Well, it should have been somebody in the Agency." And what logic would that bring to the table? What would an Agency member dying accomplish? Atsushi is the protagonist, so he's off the table. Things would be very fucked up if Yosano died because then none of them could survive the shit they get themselves into. We don't know enough of Kunikida's history for him to go, plus he's the next leader of the ADA, plus his story is not finished, plus it wouldn't give us anything but grief if he was to die. If Ranpo died, that would also be a big no no, because it would only possibly send Fukuzawa into some sort of corruption arc, and it would crumble the foundations of the Agency, considering he and Fukuzawa are the two founders and he was the first member, and the Agency was made for him. Kenji, I don't see any point in killing our guy off. Leave him alone <3 Kyouka, maybe. She seems, I guess, slightly reasonable. Give Atsushi something more to fight for. Give him reasons to go feral, give him something to be absolutely fucking distraught about. But after that... then what? What would her death bring but grievances to Atsushi? Tanizaki, also no point in killing him off. They'd lose a valuable ability that could get them out of so much shit, Asagiri wouldn't kill him off like that, especially when we hardly know anything about him.

And for people saying "Dazai should have died instead."

That would be really fucking unreasonable - we still have far too many unanswered questions and loose ends. Atsushi would lose his mentor and obviously not handle it well. What about Akutagawa? Kunikida? Chuuya?

Dazai is such an integral part of BSD and an integral part of Atsushi's life - my one hope whilst waiting for the newest episode was that Asagiri wouldn't kill Dazai because there was no logical reasoning behind it. Yes, it would cause some great angst, but if he died, it would have actually just been the turning point for this conflict to get worse. Fyodor would have escaped, and then what? The world would have been wiped, because I guarantee you even if that wasn't Fukuchi's plan, it sure as hell was Fyodor's and he gets what he wants. If Dazai had actually genuinely died, what happens to Chuuya who has to look at his partner's lifeless body in front of him and is like "I did that." If he was a vampire through this and came back when Aya pulled the sword out, imagine what the fuck would have happened when he saw what he'd done. We all remember him going absolutely fucking feral and off the rails in Beast, and he hadn't even killed him there. Chuuya comes to, looks at the gun in his hand, looks at the dead partner of 7 years in front of him bleeding out. My safest bet is that he'd use corruption. But, Dazai is dead. He can't nullify it. Fyodor is escaping on the helicopter. Sigma is still in that room unconscious. Nikolai is doing God knows what he can teleport and shit. Chuuya unleashes corruption, destroys himself and the building, and Fyodor is far away and so is Nikolai, and Sigma is caught in this wreck. That's three important characters all killed in one swoop, whilst the "bad guy" escapes and is free to enact his plan without them hindering it.

?!

I'd rather not see that ending of BSD I can't lie to you <3 (However, I do want an angsty SKK scene of Chuuya going batshit insane at realising what he's done whilst he's been controlled and used as a puppet which is fucking awful for him... maybe I would like to see a little snippet of what this world would be like. Anyways.)

Sorry this got SO off-topic.

MY POINT BEING FYODOR'S DEATH WAS ALWAYS GOING TO HAPPEN.

TL;DR: Fyodor's death was always going to happen. It was inevitable.

He's been likened to Jesus so much throughout this series. He's a messenger of God and God puts him through so much suffering, and so many trials, and he sees it all as a simple test that he'll be sure to overcome. He's so blinded by his faith and his Jesus Complex that he can't see where he goes wrong or where he has failed because he's so sure that he can win and doesn't understand human emotions and underestimates everyone around him therefore leading to his demise and being fooled by Soukoku, who he doesn't understand the bond between because he doesn't look beneath the surface of anything intwined with complex emotions.

An angsty outlook would be that Fyodor may be scared of emotions because he doesn't feel them, and therefore takes the approach of "what you don't know can hurt you" and he's afraid of what he doesn't know, much like Dazai. But hey that's just my brain wanting to be scratched and itched the right way and making all my favourite characters tragic.

ANYWAYS goddamn this was so long-winded to just say that.

I hope everyone has a lovely day/night <3

[uneducated-author]

Okay but these frames show legitimate emotion on both of their faces. Chuuya's is from Dazai directly 'provoking' him, about Chuuya's shoddy martial art skills, and Akutagawa is from Atsushi's imploring question, that doesn't he want to be strong?

And these are subtly important conversations being referenced. Strength and the types it can take has been a major theme for both Atsushi and Akutagawa, and relevant to their overall arcs and bond. Initially Akutagawa utilises strength as a way to measure whether Atsushi is worthy of being Dazai's new mentee, and then they're paired as a battle union because of how well their strengths compliment each other. Meanwhile Atsushi is driven to use and develop his strength to protect others, so that he can earn the right to live. And both of them use the other as a motivation to get stronger, not wanting to fall behind the other.

With Dazai and Chuuya, it's a little more subtle. But we see Dazai comment on Chuuya's fighting style often.

First, when they reunite in the cellar for the first time in years Chuuya says something along the lines of 'I want to fight you, and crush you along with your schemes' but Dazai later responds with 'you aren't the top martial artist in the port mafia for nothing' to which Chuuya thinks 'he's predicting my attacks' to which Dazai responds with his line of 'I know your moving, pacing and habits. How else could I have been your partner?'. Chuuya's last dialogue there is that 'You can't beat me just by predicting my moves'.

Then, when they team up to save Q. It's brief this time, but Chuuya kicks at Dazai, and Dazai bounces out of the way with a cocky remark of 'Give it up, I'm familiar with your attacks, thrust, timing etc.' and Chuuya bites back with 'If I was serious I would have decimated your skull.'

The two conversations run the same. Dazai doesn't discount Chuuya's strength as a martial artist, there's no point. He knows, and Chuuya knows that he's a phenomenal fighter. Instead, Dazai simply says that all your training is for naught, because you can't hurt Me. The threat is in being known too well. Dazai can't help but hammer it in, that You are Known by Me. And Chuuya always responds with a warning. Chuuya, who surrenders control to a beastly ability that kills indiscriminately always says 'If I am out of control, if I am serious, reading my moves will not save you'.

But here? Dazai tells Chuuya that he has a flimsy punch, that he's weak. The line feels strange in all honesty, because Dazai may use deceit, but he doesn't lie in this way. He doesn't tell Fyodor 'I deduced your location' in the cannibalism arc, he references and gives credit to Fitzgerald. He tends to win by controlling the circumstances, not bluffing. He's good at lying, but it isn't a habit, and it certainly wouldn't work on Chuuya.

So Dazai utilises this rhetoric, a weak one to provoke Chuuya. But it's interesting, because that's genuine emotion on Chuuya's face.

Both Akutagawa and Chuuya prove responsive to the external stimulus. Akutagawa even repeats Atsushi when he says 'stronger' showing evidence of internal thought. And the damning evidence.

A literal point of view shot from Akutagawa, anime exclusive. The vampires aren't puppets or drones. We know that Bram has converted humans into vampires before, and since he's ostensibly a good guy, having 'converted vampires are glorified muppets' wouldn't really work.

They're trapped. They're inside their bodies, watching themselves work for villains who killed and manipulate them, and forced to watch the people they care about suffer under their own hands.

I've seen a lot of theories of 'Chuuya wakes up and sees the blood', hell I've made some myself, but that's not the case. It's not that Chuuya will wake to a corpse. It's that he'll remember putting a bullet in one.

(unless of course Shenanigans happen and Mr Bungou Stray Dogs is Okay)

[no-brain-just-akutagawa]

A quick analysis of the new official artwork

Who would've expected haha Time for my first analysis of this year! As always, more underneath the cut ^^

To begin with, Fyodor and Dazai look beautiful here. I’m especially enchanted by Fyodor, because as far as I’m concerned it’s the first time we’ve seen him in colour while he’s wearing his usual outfit, but not his hat and he looks absolutely stunning. I’ve been wishing for a depiction like this and my wishes have been heard. He looks so comfy, I’m jealous. This time his shirt is also a turtleneck and now I have a theory that the shirt is for spring/summer and the turtleneck is for autumn/winter. Dazai of course looks beautiful as well, and I always appreciate it when Harukawa draws his shirt with details such as buttons.

My next observation is concering the screens. They’re obviously meant to represent the prison screens and who’s on whose side. On Fyodor’s side we have Nikolai who has this cheeky smile on his face that reminds me of that time when he asked Fyodor if he already had a plan, but it’s also a very typical facial expression for him, so I wouldn’t pay too much attention to that. Underneath we have Chuuya who has this eyes averted and I think it’s partially because he’s a vampire and partially because he’s not actually on Fyodor’s side. On Dazai’s side we have only one person and that’s Sigma who’s not having the best time.

For the 3 remaining screens I want to start with the 2 on Dazai’s side, because the top one shows a room being targeted and it’s most likely the drowning room as I like to call it (the room where Chuuya and Fyodor are currently drowning) and the bottom one is broken. Now, the broken screen could symbolize many things such as Chuuya leaving his side, but personally I think it’s meant to symbolize Oda who was Dazai’s biggest ally and is now dead therefore he cannot physically impact the outcome any further and can’t switch sides. Both Sigma and Chuuya have switched sides (whether willingly is not important right now), so a broken screen representing Chuuya would mean he can’t come back to Dazai side, but that’s still possible.

I find Fyodor’s top screen more intriguing, because it looks as if it was hacked. It displays the letter R (which may stands for Rats, but also for something entirely different), has 3 stripes (and we have 3 doa members present in Meursault now) and blue and yellow colours, which were probably chosen for the aesthetic purposes, but thise are also the colours of the Ukrainian flag and Nikolai is Ukrainian, so it could be a possible reference if Nikolai plays a really big role in this arc. There’s also one more think I’d like to mention and it’s the black markings on the screen. The top one definitely reminds me of an eye, which is a nice symbol for being observed and the 4 of them are being recorded on CCTV. There’s a possibility of someone who we haven’t met watching them as well. Unfortunately the rest of shapes don’t remind me of anything, but if anyone has any ideas what they could symbolize, I’d love to read them!

Another interesting thing is the yellow line, and it’s a really short point of mine, because it simply reminds me of blood and cutting throat, because of the way it’s drawn and positioned. It runes from one side to the other, connecting the two sides and it’s located directed over Fyodor’s and Dazai’s throats. It could be a strong of fate too, but as we know I always think of the most morbid possibilities first haha

Next thing I’d like to mention are the black creatures in the background. Personally I have 2 theories. The first one is that they’re butterflies, which symbolize rebirth and in the context of bsd being save from death’s door. Them being present could suggest Fyodor and Chuuya surving the drowning room even if that seems impossible, escaping the certain death. My other idea is that they’re moths and moths are known as creatures of the night, so it would fit this eerie picture. Also if butterflies symbolize life, moths could be used as a symbolism of death, and I find this implication interesting since in bsd’s context it could mean a sudden death when someone seems safe. In this case, my bet would be Sigma dying in this arc despite not being a target. But who knows.

Now, let’s look at the bottom of the picture where there are hands reaching out to the two characters. I find it a bit ironic, because both Dazai and Fyodor are known for using their abilities through hands, but not necessarily in a good way. Dazai’s ability nullifies other abilities and Fyodor can kill through touch, so they’re not really people one would want to touch. I wonder if those gestures appeared in the manga beforehand, but I’d have to make an extensive research to try and figure this out, because it first glance they don’t remind me of any particular scenes.

Lastly, there’s the tree in the background that seems like it was taken out of the horror movie. The branches, the tied strings, it all created a spooky vibe, and with the context of the yellow line, I’d also add that it could be a hanging tree.

In conclusion

This is without a doubt one of my favourite official artworks. It looks quite scary for the standards of bsd and it makes it even better. I love how characters are positioned, that Dazai, Nikolai and Sigma look directly at the viewer, and Fyodor looks somewhere else (something very characteristic for him to always be scheming), it created a nice effect and will look gorgeous in print. It has this feeling of symmetry, while also not being perfectly symetrical and that’s something that always brings me joy. Oh, and I also aboslutely adore the colours used here, I nearly forgot to add that haha

[bungoubongoboys]

Thoughts after BSD Season 5

(spoilers ahead)

1. Fyodor is alive

Fyodor has been one of the driving villains and I don’t believe that even his defeat at Meursault is the end of him, especially since all we see is his arm. Further, Sigma was able to touch him and live.

While Sigma is currently unconscious, due to having taken all of the knowledge in Fyodor’s mind into his own, there are several possible ways for him to return. This includes him being able to process through all of the information due to having so little life experience (only three years of memories), and possibly receiving help from Ango and/or Chief Taneda with their own information based abilities.

Back to Fyodor. We still, after all this time, do not know his ability. But now Sigma does—assuming he can wake up. Which means the moment is perfect for a big reveal of Fyodor’s true ability. Would it truly make sense to set up such a big reveal for an already-dead character?

Lastly, Asagiri very rarely kills off significant characters (at least not permanently). So I really doubt we’ve seen the last of Fyodor.

2. New Agency Members and Allies

Ok, so this is exciting! I think there are gonna be a looootttt of new Agency members very very soon (in the aftermath of…the aftermath?). Namely Lucy (officially) and Sigma, but tangentially Aya and Bram (they may or may not be “official” ADA members, but will be closely related). Fitzgerald probably won’t ever officially join the ADA, but he will have established himself more closely as an ally for them. Similarly, the remaining Hunting Dogs will remain distinct from the agency, but I doubt they’ll just disappear after their significance in this last arc.

3. Unresolved aspects

Most things were (seemingly) wrapped up really well with season five/vol 24. And yet…

- Fyodor’s body wasn’t seen (I won’t accept he’s dead until it’s cut into pieces and ritually slated and burned)

- The immediate aftermath of Fukuchi’s death and Bram’s restoration is fully unknown (before the ‘2 hours later’ bit); what happens to the vampires? To the page? To the One Order?

- Fukuzawa’s grief and the aftermath of it, both for him personally and for the agency

- The page—was it fully used? If so, is it powerless now? What happened to it?

- Full “resolution” of the arc, bringing everyone back together

- Did Chuuya get the vampire teeth off?

…

- What the fUCK was that “2 hours later” scene?????????

4. The “two hours later” and other personal theories

**Disclaimer that everything after this point is my own personal theories

- The two hours later scene was absolutely wild, and I don’t have too many theories yet, but it seems most likely that the page (or a page of the book) was used to alter reality yet again, potentially creating an AU? Idk but those outfits are insane and I love them

- The time between Dazai’s “death” and his appearance to Fyodor—Chuuya absolutely was concerned about Dazai and helped (at least partially) carry him to the landing for Fyodor; the idiot insisted on walking by himself to not appear weak in front of Fyodor, but before that? He absolutely was leaning hard on Chuuya (and after too)

- Sigma and Atsushi—so, it’s easy to lose track of in the many twists of Bungou, but the overall story is still moving towards finding the book, in its entirety, rather than just a singular page.

Back in Season 2, Fitzgerald was told by Fyodor that Atsushi was key in finding the book. This still hasn’t been fully explained. Now, many have noticed the similarities between Sigma and Atsushi. In particular—their unique, two-toned eyes. Additionally, Atsushi lacks much background in the same way as Sigma—we know very little about him before the orphanage, or even how he came to the orphanage.

The only pre-orphanage event we know of is from Dead Apple, where Atsushi is shown to have been experimented on by Fyodor and Shibusawa (before killing Shibusawa). But where was he before that? How did they get him? Well…if Fyodor had one page…

I think Atsushi himself, like Sigma, was written out of the Book. Created to play a role he had no idea about from the start. And why is he key to finding the book? Because Atsushi himself is a product of it. He is fundamentally connected to it in a way no one else is (until Sigma).

This also contributes to my theory that Fyodor is not truly dead. He has his own motives, apart from the Decay of Angels, and would use the book for his own purposes (to effectively become unstoppable, though he’d enjoy any attempts to fight against him). He’s nowhere near finished yet.

Anyways this was way too long but AHHHHH waiting till February for the next Manga chapter is going to kill me

[robsterskellington]

Okay, so this is our way to blend in aspects of both Vanitas' world and the world of Bungou Stray Dogs, and has a bit of a new interpretation of events that happened in Stormbringer, so there will be some spoilers for those who haven't read it.

Context: this is just after Noé has appeared in Yokohama, so Vanitas has been there for over a year and has his memories. Noé realises that the gift he had in his world is now an Ability in this one, and as he's human now, he can't use it in the same way as before.

Noé's Ability was a bit strange, especially when he didn't quite understand it himself. It wasn't as simple as it used to be: all he'd do was drink blood from someone once, and get a glimpse at most, if not all of their memories, sometimes feel the emotions they felt at that time, and just walk it off, but he wasn't a Vampire anymore. Now he needed consent to take someone's memories, not just out of politeness anymore, but because it physically *hurt* Noé, and made him sick; it could happen completely by accident as well, if he brushed against someone and their skin touched, *boom*, instant headache and a flood of unnecessary information.

He'd heard that Ranpo could figure out anything and everything with what information was at hand, so Ranpo laid out all of the information about Noé's Ability for everyone to hear, so they would know what to do and what not to do: "Your Ability is called *Fangs that Lay Bare Blood*, and it allows to to see memories through skin contact, but that's not all. You may have a chance of allowing the person you touched to see their own memories, like a flashback of sorts, or they may see *your* memories." That was when he tilted his head, "Isn't that right, Vanitas?"

Noé immediately stared at Vanitas, who looked uncharacteristically sheepish, though all it did was make Noé... well, it actually made him happy. The one person he wanted to understand him the most, got to see everything he went through. And Noé saw the pain and grief that Vanitas went through as well. They knew and understood each other's trauma, and they knew better than to talk to the other about it- one might think that it was better to just let it all out, but not everyone had the mind of a therapist, and some people just needed to move on in their own ways. Noé just kissed Vanitas' cheek, and grinned when his love leaned into him in response.

This information however, lead to Dazai's mind racing. After all, what would Noé see if the person he used his Ability on had amnesia, or at the very least, couldn't remember things before a certain age? Chuuya didn't know anything about his family, or life before N ruined everything. Mori had claimed to have found his parents, but Dazai had looked a little deeper and found that they were too old, though certain characteristics and appearances matched, leading him to believe that they were likely his *grandparents*. All he knew was that something was off, so if Noé could help him, then...

Ranpo yawned and leaned back, "If you take memories with the other person's consent, it won't hurt at all, and it will allow the memories to flow into your mind smoothly without overloading your brain. It'll feel like a lot of time is passing for you, but it'll be mere moments to the outside world." He glanced towards Dazai then looked at Noé, "Would you be willing to help someone discover their past?"

"Oh, of course! Who needs my assistance?" Dazai held his hand up, while texting Chuuya to ask if he was even up for it. Noé watched him using that strange device that he'd learned was a communication gadget called a phone. Vanitas had managed to explain, and his memories of using it helped, but it was still an odd sight.

After a while, Dazai smirked and looked towards him, "My boyfriend Chuuya went through a number of traumatic experiences that we believe suppressed a lot of his memories. If you can dig through his mind and tell him what happened in his past, it might help him."

The truth was, Chuuya only pretended that he didn't care or that he'd moved on, but the fact of the matter was that he'd always been curious but scared of knowing the truth. It had destroyed so many people's lives, and lies had been laced into the truth, tainting it. Now it was difficult to separate fiction from reality, and all Chuuya wanted to know was why it all happened to him. Did he have a family? And the one thing that always bothered him was Arahabaki- it was a seemingly mindless being that could only come out when using Corruption, but if it was mindless, how did it know what to fight and know to save Dazai against Shibuzawa's Dragon or Lovecraft? It was Arahabaki that called out to Dazai, for fucks sake!

Noé hummed, "As long as your beloved agrees to this, I'll use my Ability. I'll take a look then tell him as much as I can." Vanitas' memories of Chuuya were all positive, so he was more than willing to help.

They went ahead and gathered on the roof: Dazai, Vanitas and Noé, all waiting for Chuuya. If the memories hurt either Noé or Chuuya or both, their partners would step in to ease their pain and rush them downstairs if necessary. They'd set up mats on the floor so they'd be comfortable- it was better than a table and chairs in case anything unexpected happened. Dazai knew he had to be prepared for anything, because he knew that even if nothing went wrong, and Noé discovered everything about Chuuya's past, Chuuya would still need Dazai in the end. To comfort him, to treat him like he's human...

"Hey, I'm here!" Noé's jaw dropped when he saw the man who must've been Chuuya practically flying across the rooftops of other buildings to get to them. He reminded him a little of Jeanne with his movements. Chuuya landed on the Agency roof and immediately laughed when Dazai pretended to swoon, "Yeah, yeah, I know. But my bike is getting a new paint job, so it was quicker to run along the rooftops instead of waiting for a cab."

Dazai grinned and Vanitas chuckled before introducing Noé to Chuuya, who immediately gave Vanitas a knowing look and making him blush. Vanitas never used to openly show how he really felt before, so this was strange to Noé, but appreciated. He already knew that when Vanitas regained his memories and realised just how much he'd lost, he finally accepted his feelings for Noé, which was good considering the feelings were reciprocated. He must've really trusted Chuuya to allow him to know about all of this.

After the explanation, Chuuya took a breath, "I don't know if you'll see anything, but I'd like to try. I mean, people..." he looked angry for a moment, hiding his eyes beneath his hat, "People *died* because of me. *For* me in some cases. I'm still scared to reach out to the people the Boss located in case anything happens to them."

"I know the gist from what Vanitas told me and what his memories showed me," Noé admitted, looking contemplative, "Truthfully, I'm just as curious as you and I hope I can help. But this will mean I'll be all up in your business, as they say. Are you okay with this?"

Was he? Chuuya was scared, not that he'd admit that. He had Dazai with him, and Vanitas too. Noé was always described as a good person, and while an entire year had passed and people change, if Noé had changed for the worse, Vanitas wouldn't have let him come close to his new family. He took a breath, nodded and sat down on the mat. Noé sat down in front of him, while the others sat at the side of them both.

Noé removed his gloves, Chuuya doing the same with his. Noé held out his hand, and Chuuya hesitated before grasping it. And Noé's vision went red.

*****

Diving into memories was still disorienting, but with the other person's consent, it wasn't as painful. Noé's power was stronger than before, it was like it had improved a lot with age, and after a few meetings with Marquee Machina, he'd learned how to deep dive and find even the most suppressed of memories. It was like walking through a forest shouded in fog, but the fog cleared with every step he took.

Eventually, he found a small memory- there was the sound of a child laughing, and Noé focused on it, watching as the scene changed: he was in Yokohama still, it was a quiet day at one of the local parks. That was when he saw a little boy with red hair, mismatched eyes, and a pale blue kimono running away from someone, giggling. The person chasing him was quite a bit older than Chuuya- Chuuya was about 5 years old, and this boy was at least 10 years older, with icy blue eyes and blonde hair.

This wasn't anything threatening, it was merely a game of tag. Despite being a teenager, this boy was happily running after the young Chuuya, who shrieked with laughter when the teen caught him by scooping him up in his laugh, "Ah, you got me!! No fair, you've got longer legs!!"

"And that's why you should listen to mom and drink your milk in a morning, little brother!" Noé paid attention to the teen. Yes, they did have similar facial features, and actually one of Chuuya's eyes was the same colour as both of this person's. So Chuuya had a brother at some point... where were their parents, then?

"Chuuya! Daichi! Come on, boys!" Oh, that answered that question. Noé looked over and saw a tall woman with gorgeous flowing red hair and the same icy blue eyes as the boy Daichi, and a man who was a fair bit shorter than her, with blonde hair and chocolate brown eyes. Taking a look at them, Noé got the feeling that the woman wasn't a native to Japan, but the man absolutely was.

They ran over to their parents, and hugged them. It was a very simple memory, but Noé had picked up so much already: Chuuya was a normal child at some point, with a brother who was willing to play with him despite being older and more mature, and parents who had nothing but love in their eyes for them. Their mother was a French woman who adapted well to the Japanese lifestyle, while their father was born and raised in Japan but encouraged their sons to learn both lifestyles. Chuuya spoke English, French and Japanese fluently, and preferred French food and clothing, but still appreciated Japan's culture and never failed to embrace it.

There were a few memories like this, of their parents, and their family. Chuuya's grandparents seemed to work in the medical area, though only those on his father's side. There wasn't much information on his mother's side yet. His father had two older brothers, one was a detective and the other seemed to be a scientist, though whatever he was researching, Chuuya didn't know, so it wasn't recorded in his memories. All Noé could tell was that Chuuya felt uncomfortable around that uncle, since he always seemed to talk down to him.

That turned out to be because the two brothers were Gifted. But nobody on either sides of the family were. Daichi had the Ability to manipulate gravity, while Chuuya seemed to be able to amplify the Abilities of those he touched. Noé frowned to himself- that didn't seem right. Wasn't Chuuya's Ability, Upon The Tainted Sorrow, gravity manipulation?

When it came to memories about Chuuya's mother, that was when Noé thought for a moment that he had gone insane. Chuuya's mother wasn't from Yokohama, obviously, but she also wasn't from this world. She had lied about having an Ability to her brother-in-laws, she actually had the Ability to locate hidden pathways that connected two worlds: the world that Noé knew, and this other world. And in world he knew, she was a Vampire. Not a Curse-Bearer, thankfully.

It was obvious that she must have gone through a pathway to the other world while being chased by Chasseurs, where she started a new life and met her husband, before they had two beautiful children. When she told them the truth, her husband learned how to protect her and their sons, so that they could go back on occasion, and show their sons this new world.

They had a house in Yokohama, and a cottage in both the other Paris and Altus Paris. Daichi and Chuuya became dhamps when they entered their mother's world, and knew to hide their eyes behind fake glasses, but that never stopped them from enjoying their lives there as well. Noé grinned when he even recognised one of the boys that Chuuya played with in the village, a boy with long silver hair and grey eyes. Chuuya was born of two worlds, just like... just like Vanitas. But unlike Vanitas, Chuuya couldn't and wouldn't choose one or the other, he loved both and spent time in both.

Some memories were still hard to see though, too vague to focus on. Some that he made note of was Daichi becoming friends with a French exchange student who seemed to have terrible circulation and was cold all the time, to the point of wearing a scarf and earmuffs in the summer! Daichi and this boy were the same age and got along very well, and this boy was the one who encouraged little Chuuya to write poetry.

Another was slightly sadder- they were in the other world and saw a boy who was obviously from this world, and from Japan. He was terrified, claiming he just wanted to run away, and Chuuya helped him. The boy was a little younger than Chuuya, by a month or so, with messy brown hair and bandages across his right eye. Chuuya called his parents and Daichi over, all of whom lead the boy back home, and Chuuya's father even promised the boy that if he ever felt unsafe and needed to run away again, that he could go to their house and stay. That was when the boy finally smiled before running home.

That promise could never be fulfilled, though. And Noé witnessed the reason why.

The family were in the world Noé knew best, though without Daichi. Turned out he'd stayed behind to help his new friend with tests before he had to inevitably leave, so he stayed behind with his nicer uncle, the detective. That ended up being the better choice, as their mother's luck ran out. A Chasseur recognised her from all those years ago, and called her out as a Vampire, chasing the two.

There were too many, and she knew she wouldn't be able to protect her child. So she knelt down to look him in the eye: "Go and find your dad, Chuuya. Get home, and get back to Daichi. I'll meet you all back in Yokohama, do you understand?"

He didn't want to leave her, of course he didn't, but he was only little, only 6 years old at this point, but he nodded and managed to give her a kiss on the cheek, and she kissed his forehead, giving each other a final "I love you", before Chuuya ran for his life.

But things went from bad to worse, as Chuuya made it to their little cottage, seeing that it was being consumed by flames. He wished that he was Daichi in that moment, he could have easily lifted the rubble to see if their dad was in there, and save him if he was! But he was all alone now. He couldn't get home without mom or dad, and Daichi didn't even know all this was happening. It all became too much, but Chuuya couldn't just sit and cry. Even though it was dangerous and incredibly stupid, he had to try and save his dad!

As he dashed towards the burning cottage, someone grabbed him by the arm and pulled him back- Chuuya didn't recognise him, but Noé absolutely did: lush red hair, one amber eye, the other covered by an eyepatch, and an air of pure power. This man was none other than Lord August Ruthven. Noé looked back at the raging fire and immediately paled, hazarding a guess at what was about to happen.

Ruthven gently pulled Chuuya away and knelt down, "Please, don't do anything rash, little one. I'm sorry, the man that was in there stopped screaming long ago." That made Chuuya's heart stop, and his tears fell, though he made no sound. Ruthven carefully wiped away his tears, and spoke softly, "Come with me, I'll keep you safe until we can find you somewhere to live."

Noé felt his blood boil. Ruthven clearly wanted Chuuya, though for what purpose, he had no idea. So he burned down the cottage with Chuuya's father still inside, and then appeared as a kind hearted hero in order to gain Chuuya's trust. But Chuuya's mother didn't raise a fool.

Chuuya tried to pull away, glaring at him, "I ain't going anywhere with you. Let me go, and get away from me!" That's when he cried out in pain as Ruthven bit his neck, his vains growing a black colour. After being forced to swear his loyalty and to fulfil any command upon request, Chuuya passed out.

Noé was prepared for a time shift, but not a perspective change. That never happens, nobody has two sets of memories. Except *Chuuya*.

He was suddenly at... Lord Ruthven's castle, and froze. The perspective he was seeing was from an *Archiviste*. Noé immediately focused on the man, seeing that he was a little on the short side, with long white hair that had purple halfway down, and lilac eyes. Because of how Vampires age, it was impossible to tell how old he was, but by seeing things through his mind, Noé found information that made him sick to his stomach.

This Archiviste was a Curse-Bearer. And a powerful one. He was stood against the wall with his arms crossed, one of his legs chained to the floor. When he looked up, he froze, "My Prince. You shouldn't be here."

"Oh, my. So you've resigned yourself to your fate?" That voice wasn't one of a Prince! Noé immediately saw his Teacher, the Comte de Saint Germain, who absolutely hated Ruthven. So why was he here?

"The Queen has fallen, by her own guard." The Archiviste looked at the Teacher, "I apologise. I know you weren't close to your mother, but still."

*You're kidding.* Noé had to make sure he discussed this with Vanitas. If Queen Faustina- *Naenia*- was the Teacher's mother, then what would that mean? Not much was known about the Shapeless one, so it was difficult to determine what could be good or bad.

Sure enough, the Teacher scoffed, "I'm more worried about you, dear friend. You didn't tell me you were afflicted by one of the malnomens." He walked over to him, "You'll be destroyed. Ruthven is working with a scientist from the Livre World, some man who just calls himself N. Something about developing a weapon, creating artificial Abilities."

So the Teacher knew about the Gifted. But why was he telling the Archiviste this instead of just freeing him and helping him escape?!

He got his answer rather quickly: "I have nothing left. My clan are all but dead, my parents and siblings... though they never loved me, they were all I had, aside from you and the Queen."

Small flashbacks played, but all were brief; this Archiviste was the youngest and weakest out of seven siblings, and was bullied and mistreated by all of them for it. Much like Marquee Machina, all of the other siblings had black in their hair, not purple. She explained that it was a way to show how much strength an Archiviste had in terms of magic and what they could do with the World Formula. Black was more powerful than purple, apparently. Noé had felt embarrassed by that, but Marquee Machina had to remind him that he had been shielded, and his power stunted.

The Teacher took a breath and nodded, "Very well. I have other priorities to attend to. My dear Louis is still far too young to be left at home alone. I bid you farewell, then." Just like that, he vanished, and time sped forward.

Now the memories were *both* perspectives. Noé started tearing up when he realised that the scientist N that the Teacher referred to was actually Chuuya's uncle, and he really didn't seem to care that it was his own nephew on the operating table. Above the retrained Chuuya was a tank, containing the Archiviste.

N looked over at Ruthven, and to Noé's disgust, Doctor Moreau, and grinned, "You're certain this will work? A weapon like this could change the tide of the War in our world, and open a new range of possibilities in yours."

"Why do you continue to doubt me? We already performed this same experiment with your other nephew!" Moreau tilted his head, "Who did you leave him with again?"

N rolled his eyes, "Pan. He's... capable, he's putting all the safety procedures on him now, but it could take months, or even years. I suppose we'll have to focus on this project and leave him to that one."

"Have you a name for this being you're creating?" Ruthven was watching the boy weakly trying to break out if his bonds, not knowing that he was attached to the back of it by tubes and wires, while the Archiviste just had his eyes closed in the tank, "The modifications you're adding... the other subject's Ability, black flames, the power to fly, it's all interesting. One would think he's a messenger of the Gods."

That seemed to make N think before he nodded, "With that knowledge, I dub this new being *Arahabaki*. He was a messenger of the Gods, who decimated their enemies, or heretics, using flames darker than a black hole. Or so the legends say. Now, enough stalling."

Moreau cackled before pulling a lever, causing the tank to flood with water, and once it was full, N pressed a button, which electrocuted the water inside, causing the Archiviste to scream, or attempt to. He endured several minutes of this before his form started to break down, turning the water a strange, almost glittering black.

Ruthven slowly walked up to Chuuya, as N ordered for the new liquid to be injected into Chuuya's vains via the tubes that were stuck in his back, his arms and his legs. It hurt, it was unbearable, Chuuya couldn't stop screaming and trying to fight it. Ruthven still had an order to give, and Chuuya would have no choice but to follow. So Ruthven bowed his head down, and whispered in Chuuya's ear: "*Submit.*"

Chuuya's body relaxed and his eyes glazed over, the liquid filling his vains without resistance, the boy and the Archiviste becoming one entity that could be activated on command. *Arahabaki*.

*****

Noé was suddenly thrown back as Chuuya clutched his head, screaming with unbridled rage and agony, the whole building shaking from his Ability that created such a powerful shock wave that Vanitas was flung off the roof. Dazai was thrown into Hanako's pen and grunted when he hit the back of his head.

Ranpo had been right. There had been a chance that Chuuya would witness his own memories and begin to remember, but what they hadn't considered was that Arahabaki would also remember what happened to them. There was no point calling the being that fused with Chuuya *Archiviste* anymore, this being was a new version, worthy of the name Arahabaki. Which lead to a new problem: Chuuya essentially had two personalities now, and nobody knew how to handle this situation.

Noé couldn't focus on helping Chuuya, so he ran to pull Vanitas up while Dazai came out of the pen and looked up at Chuuya, his expression unreadable, "Oh, boy. You don't need to be so shaky, slug. I'm here to help you."

"Don't send me back down! Not yet!" Dazai's eyes widened- that wasn't Chuuya's voice. He carefully walked forward, which prompted the man to lower his hands. It was absolutely Chuuya's body, covered in those red markings that symbolised the use of Corruption, but now his eyes were a shimmering lilac colour. He was shaking again, trying to suppress his powers, "Dazai..."

"...Arahabaki?" He was stunned. So Arahabaki actually knew who Dazai was. Then... did he willingly..? "I didn't realise you were a conscious being. Why did you never speak to me whenever Chuuya used your powers?"

"He's too fragile." Interesting choice of words: he wasn't calling Chuuya weak, but all humans have limits and Arahabaki was scared to push Chuuya to the brink. "I can't stay for long, yet I've seen and felt everything."

The first time Chuuya spoke that stupid incantation, Arahabaki felt nothing. He was just a mindless thing, no memories, no feelings, no life. But he had a purpose. So he killed whatever he was pointed at, be it a monster, an organisation, or just a pathetic man who didn't realise he was already dead. It was after that particular death that Arahabaki began to pay attention to his Vessel and the feeling it held.

Dazai stopped both of them from dying at every opportunity, and looked after Chuuya every time he nullified Corruption. Arahabaki suddenly started being curious as to what it felt like, to be taken care of like that. He wasn't always conscious, he was mostly suppressed within Chuuya's soul, but there was always brief periods where he could begin to think.

When Dazai left, Arahabaki just watched as Chuuya nearly destroyed his life, picking fights, getting way too drunk, but never getting to the point of activating Corruption. Never to the point of wanting to die.

The next time Arahabaki had seen Dazai again, they were fighting some kind of tentacle monster that didn't look like it should be alive, so he corrected that. Seeing Dazai stare with such wonder, it made the Vessel's heart beat a little faster. It took a while before he realised that Chuuya was still in love with Dazai, and *Arahabaki was feeling it as well*.

Then there was the incident in which the first thing Arahabaki heard from within Chuuya's subconscious was, "It's likely that Dazai has already been eliminated," and he was grateful that Chuuya knew Dazai better than anyone, otherwise he probably would have set that jet on fire. Chuuya just wanted to give Dazai a smack to wake him, but Arahabaki decided to punch him instead for daring to scare them.

Dazai didn't take another step, but was within reach now. He looked at the thing controlling Chuuya's body, then slowly grinned at the realisation, "Arahabaki... I don't mean to sound full of myself, but do you have feelings for me as well?"

"Is that so wrong? All my life, I had nothing. No love." He managed to face Dazai properly, but he focused on trying not to burn Chuuya's body. He remembered everything, and he hated what he allowed to happen. Chuuya wasn't meant to be a Vessel, he was meant to be a normal guy, but those bastards-

"Arahabaki. I love Chuuya more than life itself." He knew that. Obviously he was just an unnecessary add-on. But then Dazai continued, "If we can find a way for you to come out on occasion, maybe I can grow to return your feelings." Arahabaki's eyes widened, and Dazai shrugged, "I love everything about Chuuya, and my first time seeing you showed me that there was beauty in the world. I think it's fair that I have both of you, if you're willing to share me."

It was such a cheeky request, but it was oddly sincere. Were they willing to share? "*We are.*" Both their voices spoke in unison. Obviously they needed time to properly process and discuss this very bizarre situation, but right now, it was too much.

Dazai held up his hand, and Arahabaki took it. They smiled at each other as Dazai whispered: "No Longer Human."

The lilac colour faded from Chuuya's eyes, and before he collapsed in Dazai’s arms, he murmured softly, "...*we* love you, 'samu."

Dazai scooped Chuuya up into his arms and looked over at Noé and Vanitas, who just looked relieved that despite the drama, there was now an air of calm. They started to walk back down into the main Agency office, but Dazai couldn't help but try and make light of the stressful situation:

"Two in one boyfriend, bitches!"

[larathia]

One last thought.

This panel. This panel....bugs me?

Mainly, this panel made me realize...we've got three 'dead' people and at least two of them are dead from things that actually...should not have killed them, or at least if it had killed them it'd look different.

Now I'm NOT saying "oh they're definitely alive". I'm absolutely leaving myself open to the idea that what I see is what's actually there; I don't want to get caught up in "I really can't stand the idea of x happening therefore this is not x" kind of thinking. I'm just saying...this is kind of off? And I will be...not-surprised, if that turns out to be a Cue or Clue, and mildly-surprised if events stand as apparently presented.

Dazai:

Has been known to be 'killed' before. (Dead Apple's a big one - got stabbed with a poisoned knife, separated from his Ability, still managed to recover. 55 minutes was just as egregious.) He can slow his heartbeat way, way down, which reduces blood flow (and blood loss), and ...there's not a lot of blood on the ground for having been shot in both shoulders there. It is theoretically possible, based on stunts we have seen him pull/survive before, that he is (again) pretending to be killed so that Fyodor will look away.

This leaves open the question of "why did vamp!Chuuya not kill him", because Chuuya is still a vampire - we see that after the shooting. I don't have an answer, so I have to leave this question open.

Atsushi:

Has been shown to have an incredible healing factor. In fact one of the very first things he's shown doing with it is in fact restoring a severed limb. So why is this what kills him? Akutagawa knows full well that Atsushi has this healing factor, he's been the one to push those limits. So if this were meant to be "Atsushi's really dead" I'd expect a severed head, not a severed limb.

Again, this leaves open the question of "why did Akutagawa not kill him", but in Aku's case that's been a question for his entire little vamp-life and we haven't gotten an answer yet. I don't see any particular way for the ADA to have collaborated with vamp!Aku on a deception, so...again, I'm not really sure whether what I'm seeing is meant to hold up as 'the truth of the matter'.

Fukuzawa:

This is the only death for which I have very little to go on. We've rarely seen Fukuzawa in action, and never against an opponent like Fukuchi. Even in Dead Apple, he was fighting something other than human. I mean. It's totally possible that yeah. Fukuzawa may have decided that it was Necessary to let Fukuchi cut him down as part of some emotional arc between the two of them. Like maybe Fukuchi wouldn't...calm down/relax/move on until he'd Settled That Score, sort of thing, and Fukuzawa went in and got into that fight as a massive distraction. Whether it kills him or not, I truly couldn't say.

What I can say though, is that Fukuzawa went into that fight with Ranpo at his side. Ranpo, who's gone on record as saying if he's in the hands of the enemy it's because he chose to be there.

Is it possible that Ranpo foresaw that if Fukuzawa faced Fukuchi, he'd die, and therefore chose to go with Fukuzawa to die beside him? Yes, I suppose it is, since that's kind of what we're being asked to believe. But Ranpo is not Dazai. That kind of ending would be Dazai's thing.

Personally, I can't help but notice that those two in specific were the agency members most likely to be able to hold Fukuchi's attention for an extended period of time. Do I know why? No, of course not. But there's room in this for a Big Reveal if there's going to be one.

I will say that if this is a deception, it's a dangerous and risky one. "Down" is necessary, if this is a plan that relies on otherwise very intelligent people figuring they've Won. But the line between "Down" and "Dead" is pretty narrow. It's always possible that the save will come too late, if one's on the way.

And in the meantime, the "wait, that...shouldn't have gone that way" feeling gets to Bug me for a whole month.

[iwritenarrativesandstuff]

So, after reading this post I noticed that the water motif always seems to pop up in Chuuya's character. The tank from SB, the ocean, him almost drowning, etc. WHAT IF, JUST TO PISS OFF ME SPECIFICALLY, DAZAI FUCKING DROWNED CHUUYA TO TRIGGER CRAZY PTSD FROM THE TUBE TO SNAP HIM OUT OF THE VAMPIRE THING. NOW, I KNOW THAT THIS IS PROBABLY NOT WHAT HAPPENED BUT. WHAT IF. IT WAS. WHAT BETTER WAY TO REMIND HIM OF HIS OWN AUTONOMY THAN TO MAKE HIM REMEMBER WHEN HE WAS HAVING AN EXISTENTIAL CRISIS ABOUT WHETHER HE'S A HUMAN BEING OR A FUCKING LAB-MADE CLONE. SEEMS LIKE A DAZAI THING TO DO.

Also, water=ocean=fish=mackerel=Dazai. Dazai is the water to Chuuya's fire. Like how he can "douse" Chuuya when his flames get a little too out of control, aka corruption. (Ouhghghghghghhg character foils and parallels.) Wait, since Fyodor is a greasy rat wouldn't he be like oil to Dazai's water?? Constantly at odds and literally impossible to combine??? Sus. Him using Chuuya, who's like fire. Using him to make him "stronger"????? Idk. Do with this what you will.

"WHAT IF, JUST TO PISS OFF ME SPECIFICALLY" <- Do you have ANY IDEA how hard I laughed at this?

Hello again, by the way.

Oh! That's @carrotkicks's Code 01 Stormbringer art! It's so good, huh? The tags on it got to me too.

I had been thinking along similar lines to you when I first read Chapter 101. See, I think I may have mentioned before, but that chapter was actually the first one I read when it came out - up until that point I had been frantically trying to catch up on everything I had missed. I think I had just finished Stormbringer maybe two days before? And then that happened. Yeah. :') (<- face of pain)

So, Stormbringer was still fresh in my memory when I read it and I instantly went "why would you drown him Asagiri??? why the hell would you do that to him?" And then I came to a similar conclusion. The last time Chuuya was entirely submerged was the lab tank, and that memory is distant, vague and associated with the violence of Corruption. So, that's what I seriously thought might happen, especially since Stormbringer all but confirmed Chuuya has PTSD, and trauma tends to activate fight or flight. Even more so because there was no way Dazai would just go "welp see ya Chuuya nice knowing you". Yeah, I really thought he was intentionally trying to piss him off (though I think the water trap was set in advance, before he knew Chuuya would be there).

I went online to see what people were saying and everyone was upset, and I was like "yeah! me too!" but then people were talking about how mad they were at Dazai for killing Chuuya and I was so confused because well. This is why I was upset.

Look at their faces! Both of them! They are both miserable.

Anyways, while I don't think the water was intentional on Dazai's part, I do think that whole "sorry there weren't any" with the big fake smile was done to make Chuuya angry enough to fight back and regain control. I'm pretty sure he's in control of himself now, but I'm not 100% certain how - Was it the water? Was it the words? Had it just finally been long enough for him to snap out of it himself? Had he secretly been in control the whole time (doubt it but don't want to rule out the possibility)? Guess we'll find out. Eventually.

Also WATER-OIL-FIRE galaxy brain! Nice nice nice! Water being our introduction to Dazai, the way it flows and can erode rock and soil, change the course of things. Oil being used to lubricate machinery, and power engines, so that every cog runs smoothly in Fyodor's plans. Wildfire that rages and burns and can go out of control but is also warm and protective for those in the night - the duality of Chuuya. Also with the idea of oil adding fuel to flames - I had just commented on how it seems likely Fyodor has something up his sleeve on the off-chance Chuuya shakes off the brainwashing; could be information on singularities, or skk's bond, or even Chuuya himself. It may even be part of the plan, honestly - he's seen how these two work before. For him to make the "mistake" of gloating to Dazai that he doesn't know how to "use" Chuuya's ability concerns me.

Hm. I will chew on this. Tasty.

[just-a-dinosaur-i-guess]

eternal winter au you say

img from here btw

YESSS i fucking LOVE that au

okay so

lemme just set the scene. fantasy au basically.

it has been winter for as long as anyone remembers. the sun hasn't been seen in centuries, only covered by clouds. sometimes the edges of it will peek out, but never for long. the nights are bitterly cold, and if you do not have a shelter, your blood will turn to ice and your flesh to frost. cities are few and far between, the only way to get to them being dangerous treks on paths only barely there, even with use. the snow does not falter. those who live in seaside villages know that not even the ocean was spared; the waves have long since stopped moving, ships now still, ice as far down as anyone's dared to look. perhaps there is a depth at which its crusade halts, but no one would know.

and in one of these cities, this one being a theocratic city, is nathaniel hawthorne, a priest who has warm lodgings and steady meals. his life is good, it is easy, and then it is not.

walking home one afternoon, he gets bit by a vampire. (they, too, cannot survive in the cold and so must do their hunting in the day. the sun is not there to scorch them, after all.) he's horrified; as anyone else would be, and attempting to go to the church for some kind of help only gets him kicked out.

night is soon arriving, he can feel the chill in his bones, but then the vampire comes crawling back. he learns his name (nikolai gogol), and that he is taking him to his shared home.

he does not have an argument as to where else nikolai could take him. as what little light there is disappears beyond the horizon, they arrive safely.

nikolai lives with a butcher named fyodor, his apprentice sigma; and now nathaniel. fyodor is a fairly devout man and is pissed, to say the least, about nikolai turning a priest. nathaniel and sigma awkwardly get to know each other while fyodor and nikolai argue in the back.

sigma is a rather special person; they have no city that they came from. instead, they came out of the unyielding winter, shivering, having no idea who or what may have made them.

there's others like them; those whose origin comes from nothing but snow and ice are rumored to have powers; magic in their blood, though sigma does not know what type is running through their veins. it has not surfaced yet despite how long fyodor has been waiting.

(it is worth noting that there is another person around like this, a redhead who used to be called arahabaki, but we'll get to them in a bit.)

nathaniel just prays the magic sigma holds could turn him back, to save him from this fate; but perhaps he should have prayed for luck getting used to it.

sigma is interested in helping nathaniel, and fyodor won't argue if it means that sigma gets to hopefully finally unlock his abilities.

as this goes on, elsewhere in the city, two lives once again intertwine. the famous bard, osamu dazai, walks into town, strumming his instrument as always. on the other side of town, chuuya nakahara enters, blade worn from use against elemental constructs that lurk outside of civilization. they meet again as they met at first, in a warm bar with too many people in it.

they used to be a traveling duo, chuuya accomplishing feats while dazai sung about them, but they split up for reasons unknown. dazai still holds onto the songs he wrote of them, but their tunes have all soured.

but he still remembers their softer moments together; chuuya coming to him one late night, telling him arahabaki was not a name they liked being theirs any longer. he told them he'd love them regardless. he said arahabaki was a stupid name anyway.

back to the priest's troubles; eventually, fyodor's friends come to visit. they call themselves the hunting dogs, and they hunt the same things as chuuya does. fukuchi is a good guest, his pack of soldiers the same, albeit a bit chaotic.

nathaniel notes how tachihara seems to get along so well with sigma before he goes and asks fukuchi and the others if they have any cure to the vampirism.

he does not get any results there, and his search to save himself continues.

and that is the plot of my eternal winter au. i hope you like it :)

also i have a pinterest board of it

[junipersrambles]

Alright, so I just finished watching the season 5 finale of BSD and I have a lot of thoughts, most of them unprocessed but I'm going to try and summarize them anyways!

Its not shocking to me that there was a bit of a twist ending with everything being tied up quite nicely (for the most part, I'll get to the 'two hours later' thing in a bit). Kafka Asagiri has a habit of subverting expectations when concluding complex plots. Now is it a bit convenient that it ended the way it did? Perhaps, I would argue though that we were left with a lot to explore in the upcoming chapters/season of the show (assuming the manga follows the same plot beats when released in the upcoming months). Lots of great character moments and parallels occurred which I will likely write in future posts.

Do I think Fyodor is dead? I'm not entirely convinced, considering the circumstances though its the most likely conclusion. Not how I assumed it would play out, but it was an interesting conclusion to the mind games between him and Dazai that have been playing out since the prison arc started.

I'm curious to see why there was a lack of focus on Sigma. It probably has something to do with wherever the next arc is going. I would hope that he isn't dead as his arc feels like it hasn't been properly concluded. If he isn't dead its possible that he gained knowledge about whatever the next incoming disaster is. The best we can hope for is that he survived and we can learn about what Fyodor knew and what his ability truly is (if we are lucky).

I could gush forever about Nikolai and how he talks about Fyodor after the helicopter crash. It feels like an interesting conclusion to his story, one that seemed inevitable in my opinion. Though I am curious to see where his character is taken from here, I think it would be okay if this was his final appearance. I have a feeling that he may get a few more scenes processing his feelings about how his worldview may have been altered/shifted after the events of this episode. Only time will tell.

Bram gets his body back!! He is probably one of my favorite characters if not for his interactions with Aya alone, then definitely for his characterization (and the way I know the real Bram Stoker would be rolling in his grave). No idea where he'll go from here, but all the moments with him were nice and its my hope that he can at least be a fun father type figure for Aya in the future.

Its nice to see Dazai and Chuuya interact (as always). Was it a bit convenient that Chuuya was pretending to be a vampire? Yes of course, though it provides a reasonable explanation as to why Dazai isn't dead, so I suppose it works. Glad they aren't dead, their arcs don't feel complete yet. I don't have much else to say about their time in the episode unfortunately.

All of the scenes with Fukuzawa and Fukuchi were excellent and I am very glad that they took up the most time in the episode. The emotional resonance in their scenes is palpable and I'm really glad that they had time to talk things out while in Poe's book. Those moments had too many literary quotes and references to count, but I really appreciated that their motivations were laid bare for the audience. I think the final scene between the two of them will stick with me for a long time. If you have yet to see the episode this moment alone makes it worth watching in my opinion.

I don't think that there is a complicated answer as to why Akutagawa appears to be human and alive again in the 'two hours later' segment. The simplest answer likely has to do with aspects of Bram's powers that have yet to be explained. If this is not the case I'm sure there's another convenient explanation.

I always think that its an interesting choice when a studio releases the conclusion of an arc or season of a show before the story line has concluded in the manga, that being said the final part of Twilight Goodbye makes me nervous for a couple of reasons.

One, kind of wild that it progresses to a big super-powered fight only a few hours after the conclusion of the last arc. Not that BSD hasn't done something similar before, but this seems like a bit of a rush for the timeline. I will hold my extended worries on this for now. It reminds me of the Bad Apple story line and how quickly all of that plays out. Perhaps this will proceed similarly? Though with how many characters are in focus right now we can't be entirely sure.

Two, this mystery character seems quite powerful and is seen wielding the "space-time sword" that Fukuchi had previously been using. I can't help but notice that this mysterious figure also looks a lot like Fukuchi. Same scars on the face, same hair. I am not saying it is him, but I think that him being the 'final?' enemy of this story line would interfere with a lot of the meaning infused into the end of the current arc. I sincerely hope that its not him, but I would be interested to see where everything goes if it Fukuchi.

Lastly, I do truly hope that this is the intended direction of the story moving forward for Asagiri's sake. I don't think Studio Bones would conclude or move on with a story without more of the manga being written. They tend to be more patient than other studios when it comes to waiting for enough material for new seasons. That being said, season four and five did not necessarily need to be produced separately and back to back. Then again, I am not that familiar with the inner workings of the Anime industry. In conclusion, I just hope that this is genuinely what the author intended and that whatever is made moving forward carries the spirit of BSD as it has been portrayed so far.

[scriveyner]

chase forever down 28/31

chase forever down | 28/31 | bungou stray dogs | 👿🐯 / sskk | #smarch 🔞| ~2600 words

Atsushi sat upright with his back against one of the few undamaged pillars, his arm over Akutagawa’s shoulders as he lay against him. Akutagawa was sleeping, head on Atsushi’s shoulder, and Atsushi’s ear was trained on his every breath, every gentle rise and fall of his chest. It was the Most Important Thing right now and he didn’t really care about anything else going on around him.

Continue on AO3 or:

Aslanov clearly had no subordinates because there was no further fighting. Just Dazai and Chuuya arguing softly in the distance while Chuuya bandaged up Reina. Eventually, though, Chuuya came to sit with them. He brought Atsushi some water that he didn’t think he wanted until he opened it and drained the entire bottle in several large gulps. It actually cleared his head a little and made him feel more like himself.

“What happened to Aslanov?” Atsushi asked because after Akutagawa fed from him and passed out, he realized there was just calamitous silence. “Where is she?”

Chuuya folded his arms and sighed. “You don’t want to know.”

Atsushi swallowed and looked down at the top of Akutagawa’s head. He set his jaw. “I do want to know,” he said, quiet and determined. He wasn’t sure what he was going to do with the information just yet, but….

“You fucking ate her vile ass,” Reina said, wobbling over on a makeshift crutch. “Tore that bitch to shreds, it was incredible. I’ve never—” she realized Chuuya was glaring at her and making a cut-it-out motion, and she shrugged with the shoulder not employing a crutch. “Well. You took care of a major problem for me, at least.”

He stared into the distance for a long moment, eyes hard, and searching for even a shred of remorse. “Good,” he finally said, vehemently, and squeezed Akutagawa’s shoulder.

Chuuya gave Atsushi a sidelong look. “I may not know you that well,” he said, “but that really doesn’t sound like you, kid.”

“I don’t care.” Atsushi wouldn’t meet Chuuya’s eye. Throughout his life he had lost and lost and lost, and now when he finally gained he nearly lost again. Atsushi was beginning to realize that he would do some pretty horrible things to protect the people he loved. If he thought about it too much, it terrified him.

Losing Akutagawa terrified him more.

Dazai was the last to join them, having disappeared into what were apparently offices and living quarters on the far side of the warehouse. When he reappeared, he scooted over in a wheeled office chair liberated from one of said offices.

He’d rolled right through where the rain poured in from one of the many new holes the roof was sporting, so his hair and bandages were damp. Dazai looked just the same as normal now, no longer the pale shade of a creature he had been when Atsushi first stepped foot in the building. Atsushi watched him sail by on the wheeled office chair without expression.

Don’t swallow.

Atsushi licked the blood from the corner of his mouth.

“Dazai-san,” he said. “Why…why did this work? I thought vampire blood was poison to another vampire.”

Dazai scooted back the way he’d come with exaggerated leg movements before rolling to a stop. He tilted his head, looking over at Akutagawa’s still form, and kept his face very carefully neutral. There was something behind his usually warm brown eyes that Atsushi rarely saw.

“Akutagawa-kun is a very young vampire,” Dazai said. “As his sire, my blood can still nourish and heal him.” He was silent again and then exhaled. “Make no mistake, though, it still shouldn’t have worked the way it did. And yet, it did work. Because of you.”

“Because of me?”

“Your tiger, more precisely.” Dazai pointed at Atsushi’s chest. “Your blood is in his belly, and your tiger’s healing ability with it. It tried its best to keep his body intact, and it did, long enough for my blood to get inside and do what was needed.” He shook his head a little. “It’s incredible because it really should not have worked.”

“They’re blood-bonded,” Reina said, and Dazai looked over at her, and then back to them.

“Yes,” he said. “They are two parts of a whole, now. Stronger than any I’ve seen, just this quickly too.” He propped his elbow on the back of the chair, putting his chin in his hand, and Atsushi felt pinned by his eyes again, scrutinized on an uncomfortable level. Then Dazai closed his eyes and grinned, and said in a sing-song voice, “just like us, Chu~uya~!”

“We are not fucking blood-bonded,” Chuuya said. “If you try to put your blood anywhere near me, I am hammering a stake through your eyes and into the floor, and setting you on fire for good measure.”

Dazai very clearly pouted, but Atsushi ignored him, looking down again at Akutagawa, feeling his heart beating in sync with his own. “So, what did Aslanov really want with you, Dazai-san? If she’d actually meant to kill you, she could have at any point before we got here.”

“Ah,” Dazai said. He waved his hand dismissively. “One of the Children of Judas needed me for some weird and nefarious as yet unexplained scheme. That about sums it up nicely, I think?”

“Dazai,” Chuuya said quietly. “If you don’t tell them, I will.”

Dazai’s somewhat-lighthearted expression shifted again, settling back into that same careful neutral. He met Chuuya’s eye for a long moment and then glanced at Reina before settling on Atsushi. “Atsushi-kun,” he said. “Akutagawa-kun is my kin. I sired him when he was near death, to save his life.” Atsushi remained quiet because he knew this much already. “But not only for that reason.”

He tilted his head, eyes shifting from warm brown to a glittering red. Now, in the gloom outside of the shipping crate, Atsushi could see it was an even more vivid red than Akutagawa’s, Dazai’s eyes like fresh-spilled blood. “I sired him so that he would one day kill my sire.”

“Why?” Atsushi asked.

Reina sat down heavily, and drew his attention, although Dazai did not look away from him. “A vampire cannot kill their own sire,” she said, staring directly at Dazai. “So you made your own kin, specifically to do so.” The expression on her face kept changing, eyes wide as she put together the pieces in front of Atsushi, who had so few of them himself. “But, if you’re a scion…” her eyes landed on Akutagawa. “He killed a pureblood?”

Dazai remained quiet.

“Someone really needs to explain this pureblood shit to me, because I keep hearing about it and no one tells me anything,” Atsushi said sharply.

“A pureblood,” Chuuya looked over at Dazai, who seemed content to let Chuuya take this, “is a vampire that was turned by the progenitor. The father of all vampires. They are the most powerful and oldest of vampires. Scions, like this shithead,” he kicked the wheelbase of Dazai’s chair, which made it turn slowly, rotating Dazai away from them, “were turned directly by a pureblood. Any vampire created by a scion on down are just normal, run-of-the-mill vampires.”

“Unless,” Dazai said, still no longer facing them, “they kill a pureblood. Then they inherit some of the pureblood’s power.” He scooted his feet on the floor, turning his seat back to face them.

Atsushi stared at Dazai. “So, Akutagawa isn’t a normal vampire?” Normal vampire would have been an oxymoron in his life a year ago, but he was long past that at this point.

“Nope!” Dazai’s voice was cheerful. “Not even a little bit normal, but you,” he pointed at Atsushi, “are not normal either, Atsushi-kun. Which is why you were so able to easily blood-bond with a pureblood-queller.��

It was all too much information, and Atsushi was achingly, unendingly tired. His head was throbbing right behind his eyes but he resisted dearly the urge to rub that spot. “Why do any of this, then?”

Dazai folded his arms over the back of the chair, leaning forward slightly. “Because, Atsushi-kun,” he said, grin as sharp as nails, eyes glowing again. “I’m going to kill the progenitor.”

=====

Akutagawa slept deeply. He didn’t wake when Atsushi carried him home on his back, nor when Atsushi stripped him and tucked him into their bed. He sat on the edge of the mattress for a while, watching Akutagawa sleep, his body slowly restoring itself.

There was a scar on his neck, all the way around. It was an angry red, but not as big as it had been. Atsushi swallowed hard and brushed his fingers over it, then closed his fist, nails biting into his palm. He’d nearly lost Akutagawa, and for what? Dazai’s feud with some elder vampire?

Akutagawa slept for nearly three whole days, waking only occasionally to feed off Atsushi, barely conscious of what he was doing. Atsushi let him do so with abandon, draining him to the point he was almost too light-headed to walk straight, although as soon as Akutagawa fed he would drop right back into the deepest of sleep.

Atsushi stayed by his side the entire time, ignoring his phone and knocks at the door. Chuuya barged in once, just to make certain they were alive, and he nearly had his own head knocked off for his trouble by startling Atsushi awake. Chuuya left groceries in the kitchen and quickly left them be.

Dazai had very much not told them why the Children of Judas were involved, and Atsushi hadn’t even realized until much later. It bothered him, as a lot of things did, but he let it be, keeping vigil by Akutagawa’s side on the off chance he woke and needed to feed.

On the eve of the fourth day he woke to a hand around his throat and a snarling mouth full of fangs in his face—which, after a moment, became a gentle caress and a deep, impassioned kiss.

Akutagawa drew back, staring down at Atsushi like he’d never seen anything like him before. Atsushi took Akutagawa’s face in both hands, pulling him down into another kiss, and another after that. “I missed you,” Atsushi said into his mouth, tears running down his face. “I thought I lost you, Ryuunosuke, I was so afraid, I thought—”

“Shh,” Akutagawa said and kissed him again.

Atsushi wanted, so much, right there in that moment and it was all held in his arms. There was so little separation between them, warm body on warm body, Akutagawa’s skin sliding against his own; hazy and out of his head Atsushi couldn’t even tell where he ended and Akutagawa began. Maybe it didn’t matter.

Akutagawa on his lap, back arched, hips moving languidly, back and forth; the two of them on their sides, Atsushi’s leg slung up over Akutagawa’s thigh, skin and face burning, panting little hitched breaths into the sweat sliding down the back of Akutagawa’s neck; Atsushi on his back, legs wrapped around the small of Akutagawa’s back, hands above his head and gripping the headboard so tight he distantly heard it crack…

Akutagawa’s mouth on his, crushed together, fangs and teeth and metal, the entire universe between them collapsed into something small, brilliant, infinitely dense, and threatening to burn them both to ash.

Atsushi found his anchor and was never, ever going to let it go.

=====

Akutagawa sat at the kitchen table while Atsushi made a valiant attempt at cooking. It wasn’t going well. Akutagawa stared at the blackened meat, clearly attempting to judge if it was worth saying anything or not, and Atsushi sighed. “Sorry,” he said. “I can go get some take-out or something if you prefer. I just…haven’t gotten used to the burners on your stove.”

“Oh, it’s the stove’s fault, huh,” Akutagawa said.

Atsushi nodded vigorously, and Akutagawa snorted before smiling fondly at the food laid out in front of him. Atsushi had done his best to make a decent repast, and when he looked up at Atsushi gratefully for a moment Atsushi saw a hint of the person he might have been without any of the terrible things that had happened to him. Atsushi smiled back.

They bathed together, and Akutagawa even deigned to let Atsushi wash his hair for him, as well as scrub his back. They rinsed and got into the tub together; there was barely enough room for them both but they sat opposite each other, water splashing out over the side.

Akutagawa pulled his knees to his chest, watching Atsushi for a while. “I died,” he said, finally. “Didn’t I?”

Atsushi swallowed and nodded, because of all places he didn’t expect to have this conversation in the bath. “Yes. Aslanov….” He trailed off, didn’t want to relive it even by speaking it. “Dazai-san saved you.”

“No,” Akutagawa said softly, “he didn’t.”

“It was his blood—”

“Atsushi, he was giving his blood to you.”

Atsushi shook his head sharply. “He wasn’t. He even told me not to swallow, and that you wouldn’t take it from him…” Now there was a seed of doubt, planted. Atsushi looked away, considering this, it didn’t make any sense. “He wasn’t,” he repeated, trying to convince himself as much as Akutagawa.

“What happened with Aslanov?”

Atsushi kept his gaze fixed on the side of the tub, watching the water splash gently over the edge. “Dazai-san told me everything,” he said. “About the progenitor and the purebloods and what you did.”

It was a successful derailment. Akutagawa stared at him levelly. “You already knew.”

“I knew you killed Dazai-san’s sire,” Atsushi said. “I didn’t know anything else about it.” He hugged his own knees to his chest defensively.

Akutagawa’s mouth barely twitched. “And…?”

“And what. It doesn’t change anything between us. We’re…” Atsushi knew his cheeks were cooked pink by the water, but still felt like his face flushed even darker. “We’re soulmates. It’ll take a lot more than you killing someone to make me walk away, at this point.” He paused to reflect on this. “That’s not a challenge, by the way. I would very much prefer you refrain from killing anyone unless they’re trying to kill you first.”

Akutagawa cocked his head. “And did you kill Aslanov?”

Caught, Atsushi looked away again. “My tiger did.”

“You did.”

He nodded.

Akutagawa took in a deep, long breath. Then he leaned forward, toward Atsushi, putting his palms on Atsushi’s knees. “I’m only going to say this once,” he said, “so I want you to listen very carefully.”

Atsushi looked at him.

“Thank you.”

Atsushi continued to stare at him as he settled back into the water. “Seriously?”

“Weretiger, you killed someone for me. My only regret is that I didn’t get to witness it myself.” He smiled. “I would suck your dick right now if you wanted.”

Atsushi folded his arms and looked away. “Can we not glorify it, please? It was my tiger, not me. There was no conscious thought involved that I’m aware. I don’t even remember it happening.” Fractured light, emotions so enormous he could no longer contain them…

“That only makes me happier. The vaunted weretiger goes feral and destroys a werewolf. For me.” Akutagawa looked very pleased as he settled fully back, bumping his knees into Atsushi’s. “How will your ADA fellows take that, I wonder?”

“With any luck, they won’t have to find out about it at all,” Atsushi said with a sigh.

Akutagawa raised his eyebrow, but Atsushi wouldn’t meet his eye. “Weretiger,” he said again, nudging his leg. This drew Atsushi’s gaze. “You chose to save my life,” Akutagawa said. “Thank you.”

“I thought you said you were only going to say it once?”

“You always seem to be the exception to everything,” Akutagawa closed his eyes, arms folded, but was smiling. “Might as well include this, as well.”

<< Chapter 27 || Start || Chapter 29 >>

[applepi00]

Because I’m not done talking about it, here’s some meta nobody asked for about When the Sun Goes Black

I’ve probably mentioned before that it was originally conceptualized as a Chuuya centric fic, but as you all probably know by now I have a thing about guilt so writing this story from Dazai’s perspective just came so much easier to me. It just felt more natural to be writing from the observer position, unable to actually do much but watch and note and feel about it.

I’ve also mentioned that part of the hospital scenes, particularly the first one with Dazai crunching himself in a chair was inspired by some fanart. Further more the repeated image of lying awake next to some one was inspired heavily by Famous Last Words by MCR, particularly the bridge: “I see you lying next to me / With words I thought I'd never speak / Awake and unafraid, asleep or dead / 'Cause I see you lying next to me / With words I thought I'd never speak / Awake and unafraid, asleep or dead”. Though on that thing about keeping watch, and how it does come up a few times, I thought it would be a really nice touch for care without it being too touchy-feely? Because it almost comes off as practical, but it’s so firmly entrenched in motivations that it does feel like something skk would do for each other: Dazai, private as he is, would want his privacy maintained should he be unable to uphold it himself, likewise Chuuya would want his autonomy in place wouldn’t want to be poked and prodded at more than necessary, and because they know each other so well this is a thing they do for each other: Dazai watches that nothing more than necessary is done in hospital, and Chuuya watches that nobody sees any of Dazai’s private moments of weakness.

The fic itself was written with the intentions of being gen/platonic, because I don’t think knowing someone is inherently romantic and I don’t think intimacy whether physical or emotional has to be romantic either, however I did tag both the platonic tag and the ship tag when I actually posted because I know some people would be inclined to read it as slash or pre-slash, which is their prerogative and I don’t particularly mind. (And also maybe I hoped it would boost interaction, I’m well aware that gen fics don’t often get as much attention as ship stuff, as of yet that may have been a good call considering the stats). So however you want to define the relationship in this fic is I suppose based on your perceptions, I define it simply as partners but whether you want to call it friends or QPPs or romantic or whatever else is up to you the reader.

I also realized while writing it that I have kinda conflicting thoughts in my head of Dazai with medical stuff: there’s old headcanons rattling around about medical based traumas that I don’t really vibe with as much now that we have more canon to work with, another marble thinks it’s funny if Dazai doesn’t know anything medical —like doesn’t even know how to take blood pressure doesn’t know— despite being fostered by a doctor, and a third part (the part that reared during this) was that Dazai just has medical terminology rattling in his skull with no actual use for it (hence, listing phenomena by proper terms in the fic, a specific bone being where he lays his head by habit, etc). That last marble is entirely because I had to take anatomy for three years as part of my animation program and then fell down way too many medical rabbit holes and decided to make it everyone else’s problem. I kinda like the flavour of it though! I might use a bit of it in later things too, like the vampire fic or Tattoo, but we’ll see.

I think the vampire fic would be a good fit, it’s gonna be whack because I never write anything set in the current canon or later because I don’t know what I want to do with the Rats or Decay of Angels or the Hunting Dogs or any of the other factions we have running around now. (Probably I’ll not deal with it at all and just do a little one room, two man play for the vampire thing, look guys I have no idea how they’re going to resolve this current arc and I’m very stressed that the British are going to be even worse somehow and bigger stakes and as much as I think Agatha’s design is nice I’m SCARED)

Anyway. I’m really happy with my gen fic even if it took me multiple years to remember to actually write it (thanks Savvy for listening to me ramble in 2019 —I hope you see this because I can’t recall if you have a new account and your old one is deactivated, and thanks @feralrookie because I definitely rambles at you about it too and I appreciate you a lot)

[lake-archive]

Fine Taste

AO3 Link - Bungo Stray Dogs Selfship / Yumeship Masterlist

Fandom: Bungo Stray Dogs

Characters: Chuuya Nakahara, Annette 'Ann' Droste-Hühlshoff (OC)

Pairing: Chuuann (Chuuya/Ann)

Words: 1,104

Content Warning ahead!

Talk about alcohol

If you have a hard time handling this or it just makes you uncomfortable, I advise you to not proceed!

When he found Ann in front of a display of wine bottles, Chuuya couldn’t believe his eyes at first. For some reason it felt surreal, to say the least. For some reason it had never crossed his mind. It was something he didn’t imagine nor see. Her? Taking a closer look at a wine display like this? Maybe he had some false image in his mind, an image which one may describe as… Pure. Yes, pure. In some way at the very least. Or wait… Maybe not pure but… Ah he didn’t really have any word for it. He just didn’t expect her to be interested in these sorts of things. She just never struck him as the type. 

Although… Maybe she also just happened to stand there? That was also a possibility of course. It had to mean nothing in the end. Though he was a little curious why she had been standing there for so long. So he just shrugged to himself for a moment and decided to just go for it. May as well ask her or something like that. 

Thus he took a few steps and then tapped her shoulder, even if lightly. “Oi, what are you standing here for?” He asked. It didn’t take long for her to notice. Thus she swiftly turned around, first seeming a little surprised yet the smile he was more than used to soon graced her face, an utterly cheerful yet pleasant one. “Nakahara–San! What a surprise meeting you here.” She greeted him. “Are you busy with errands today?”

“Eh? Uhm… Kinda.” More or less. He was just passing by and had gotten curious, nothing else. Though that smile of hers made him lose his composure slightly. It was a little difficult to keep calm yet he had to. Don’t be too excited now. Just don’t. No need to look like an idiot. “And what’re you doing?”

“Ahaha… W… Well…” Suddenly Ann’s face went slightly pale. She moved her gaze to the side for a moment, back to the bottles of wine on display, then at the price tag before coming eye to eye with Chuuya yet again. Though once they had taken a look at this price tag their face went even paler than before and they were at the brink of collapsing from the looks of it. Not to mention that their body nearly shivered at that point. “Debating if I should apply somewhere full time I guess…” 

She was a little paler than most by default. It was natural, or so Chuuya assumed. It was nothing vampiric or something, she still looked fully alive. Nothing like a zombie or anything of the sort at least so there was that. So it was easy to tell when she got paler than she usually is or is supposed to be. Though his gaze soon wandered to the side as well, eyeing the selection and— Wait, hold on, was Brunellodi Montalcino!? It was one of those which tasted great the more it aged. It is why it is best to keep it for special occasions. Even if you keep it around for more than 20 years it should still taste great. No, it will taste even better than when opened right away! A true, fine Italian wine! But you had to pay a price if you wanted to keep one bottle alone. But the taste made it worth it! Well… If one could afford it. 

“Never thought they’d sell that here.” Chuuya said out loud as he himself got a closer look as well, his gaze wandering between the bottles and the price tag. “Wait, it’s on sale or somethin’? The price for it isn’t so bad.”

“Yeah, it’s not. I admit but…” He heard Ann respond, their voice a little more weak than before, as if defeated by the sheer thought alone. “But it’s still a lot, not in our budget. And Dad praised it too… Said I should try it when getting the chance.”

“Your old man huh?” But after a few more seconds it kicked right in, making him turn back to her in one swift motion. “Wait, you drink?”

“Yeah, sometimes. I’m ready to try new things but nothing beats red wine.” She continued. “One of my favorites is one of the sweet tasting ones! I think it was Port.”

Port… Vinho do Porto. Yeah, that one. He had kept a bottle or two of those. A red wine known to taste sweet. It usually goes well with desserts too. Hearing that had him chuckle for a moment. “Oh really now?”

“I’d like to try it again but I’d probably drink it up too fast.” She responded with a sheepish although also embarrassed looking grin while rubbing the back of her head. “Last time I had an entire bottle quickly without realizing. And… You can imagine what happened.”

“Ya got drunk?”

“Pretty much.”

Ann being careless like that, having a little too much to drink… It had something funny to it. At least for Chuuya that was the case. He wasn’t making fun of her for it internally but it would be a sight… To say the least. “Who knew you were the type for that.”

“Hey! I’m trying to be careful and not get drunk in any shape or form! But… If something tastes too good I can hardly stop myself.”

“Oh I know that feeling all too well.”

In the end both were nodding in agreement, staying like this for a while, all silent. Never had he thought— 

“I assume that you like red wine too Nakahara–San?” She asked him and he responded quickly. 

“You could say that, yeah.I have a glass here and there. Didn’t expect you to like it though.”

“Really now? Then you were wrong. Dad showed me the ropes when I was still… Younger.”

He only raised an eyebrow at that. “Younger huh?”

“It was under parental supervision! For the most part…”

Yeah, this was something he certainly didn’t expect to hear. “Are you implying—”

“Anyways! How about we go out drinking sometime? Could be fun, couldn’t it?”

And the quick topic change. In any case, she had some taste. A fine taste rather, at least somewhat knowing what she was talking about. That and she really enjoyed beverages too, didn’t she? He wasn’t complaining. Yeah, maybe he will take her up on that offer.

But to think about who introduced her to this sort of thing… Let alone when it probably started… That was something Chuuya didn’t necessarily expect either. But who was he to judge her at that point?