#the way we never got to learn kunikida's past either

[evilkaeya]

This panel actually breaks me because I don't think I've ever seen Kunikida look this relieved and peaceful. He's not frowning, he's not angry, he's not in agony. He knows that even without him, his ideals will live on. He'll live on. He has great students after all, he believes in them.

[nikadoesanart]

Why I think Bones animated the light novels in the order they have so far

Before I start, I will preface this by directly quoting Asagiri as he did say himself:

“...each of the plots in [novel] Volumes 1 through 4 are independent with their own timelines that follow different protagonists, meaning you can start them in any order.” (55 Minutes, Afterword, Yen Press translation)

This was of course written at the time of 55 Minutes being written (which was first released in October of 2016), but this has so far held true for all of the following light novels except for Storm Bringer. So officially speaking, you don’t necessarily have to read the bsd light novels in numerical/release order or chronological to the story order either, though you’d probably want to have read or watched 15 Years Old before Storm Bringer. Also, considering that 55 Minutes and Dead Apple are the only ones that take place during the main story, you may want to have at least finished season 2 or read up to the end of ch 37 in the manga so that you’re familiar with the characters (because these two take place shortly after where s2 left off).

Now that that’s out of the way, let’s get to why I personally think that Bones has decided to adapt the light novels that have been animated so far in the order that they have. Seeing as Dead Apple was pretty much requested by Bones for Asagiri to write (according to his afterword in the novel), I won’t really be going over it.

Anyway, my theory is that they chose to adapt Entrance Exam>Dark Era>15 YO because in that order the light novels are most relevant to which part of Dazai’s past and mental state are tied to the current main story arc being animated. This doesn’t make Dazai the protagonist in the main story, in fact he never has been as of yet, but this is how the audience is able to slowly uncover Dazai’s past and try to learn about how his mind works. Keep in mind that even the novels with Dazai’s name in the title and even what few scenes there are focused on Dazai and his POV in them, they are not actually from his POV and we are given the absolute minimal clues as to what he may be thinking.

In s1 we don’t know much about his past yet but Entrance Exam/Azure Messenger helps to highlight his eccentricities while also showing his cunning, but also addresses the question of how Dazai and Kunikida are able to work together. Atsushi himself starts the arc off by questioning how two people with seemingly such incompatible work ethics and personalities are able to work together and even became work partners in the first place.

This was cut out from the anime but the novel also shows how Dazai can act sketchy at times and acts on his own behind people’s backs. There were also a lot of overall changes from the Entrance Exam novel to the point that I find it more fitting to refer to the novel as Entrance Exam and the animated arc as the Azure Messenger arc due to how much was cut and changed, but that’s not the point here.

Next, Dark Era shows not only that Dazai used to work in the Port Mafia, but also some of his closest connections within it and why he left, which becomes relevant during the Guild arc. It also introduces us to the Lupin bar, which Dazai is later shown holding a match box from there as a relic of Oda, who he always thinks about/remembers in difficult situations. Dark Era is also where we’re introduced to Ango and what led to Dazai pretty much despising and refusing to forgive Ango.

15 Years Old mainly shows us the relationship between Dazai and Chuuya. This includes how they first met, the earliest instance we know of when Dazai can act his age, but also touches on the topic of Mori’s leadership. It takes place shortly after when Mori became leader, so the choices Mori makes during this time are crucial to both him and the PM. The importance of Mori’s leadership is later mentioned again during the Cannibalism arc, and we see Chuuya respecting Mori as a fellow leader at the end of 15 YO. We also see in 15 some of Dazai’s mentality as a strategist and leader when directly under Mori’s influence, and it is Mori’s teaching that got Dazai to a point that the only reason Fyodor was able to be found in s3 was because Dazai claimed that it’s how he would act in that situation. This is shown in some of Dazai’s unnecessary cruelty and use of excessive force during the arc (ie. continuing to shoot a dead body). 15 also shows not only how Dazai and Chuuya first met but also how they are both able to act their age around each other. Their constant bickering shows that they can both act like the teens or young adults that they are (depending on when we’re looking at) but also that they already have at least some respect and trust for each of them being their own person and each having their own strengths. They’re both being used as very important and powerful tools by their respective groups during 15, but they still realize that the other can each make their own decisions. Dazai is the one that tells the Sheep that Chuuya is his own person and Chuuya assures Shirase and Yuan of the captured members safety and he later realizes the extent of Dazai’s foresight after asking him to spare the kids, which Dazai mentions was part of his original plan anyway.

What’s interesting to me is how during the Rimbaud fight, Dazai claims that he’s started to become interested in living again yet only 1 year later in Storm Bringer, he is at his absolute worst in terms of what we’ve seen so far of his mental health. In regards to everything that went into Dazai’s mental health plummeting between 15 and SB and then improving again between SB and the Dragon Head Conflict, for now we can only hope to one day learn more about the DHC, how Dazai and Oda first met and what happened to Dazai during Chuuya’s first year in the PM. Also do keep in mind that 15 Years Old was originally written at Bones’ request (you can read the full afterword here).

In my opinion, when you think of these as some of the reasons for the order of the light novel adaptations so far, it makes sense to me. I do still question why we got Dead Apple instead of getting 55 Minutes animated, as they take place at around the same time on the timeline. However, if Dead Apple and even the Walking Alone OVA have proved anything, it’s that Chuuya’s mere presence alone brings in the money. Entrance Exam and Dark Era are respectively light novels 1 & 2 but #3 is Untold Origins of the Agency, which has a short story about Atsushi’s entrance exam being planned (A Day at the Agency) followed by the story of how Ranpo and Fukuzawa met and how this led to the need for the ADA to be founded. Personally, I don’t think Untold Origins is too necessary to the main story until Bones gets to animating chapter 71 onwards. In fact, if you want to look at the order of the Japanese release dates for the novels, Gaiden (January 2016) came out between Untold Origins (May 2015) and 55 Minutes (October 2016), yet with the official translations for the novels it’s been skipped over. But at the end of the day, the order Bones has chosen so far is by no means wrong or right. I’m not sure if the information regarding who chose which novel to adapt when is available to the public (if it’s in an interview or one of the guidebooks, hopefully there are translations available so please lmk if you know anything!), but hopefully Asagiri was involved in that part of the decision making as bsd is originally his story.

If you want to see my more in depth predictions for when the remaining light novel anime adaptations would take place (as in which order they’d be animated) and my estimated screen time for each, you can check it out here.

Also last minute thought/realization but they probably could’ve animated A Day at the Agency instead of Entrance Exam and achieved almost the same goal? I think I’ll revisit this idea later after rereading the novels eventually.

[leonawriter]

Y'know, I thought of a thing when I read the manga version of Akutagawa in BEAST handling Odasaku's kids, and the one who had got hold of a gun.

Unpopular opinion, but I don't think Dazai's abuse changed the core tenets of Who Akutagawa Is, and perhaps even more "strangely" for the fandom, I think that despite having suffered much in canon, I think he's happier there, in general. For the same reasons why I can't see Chuuya in the ADA (desperate circumstances notwithstanding).

Akutagawa in BEAST still defaults to violence first. He still tries to kill the people who try to help him before agreeing to work with them. His method for getting the kid to give up the gun was to show how useless it is... by aiming it toward his own head, with Rashomon devouring the bullets before they could kill him. Like, yeah, he succeeded. But he probably traumatised the poor kid with his methods!

I tend to have a habit of wanting to re-write BEAST so that Dazai doesn't die and his relationship with Chuuya is less strained and - let's face it - abusive due to the power imbalances (I ship them so much, but because I do That Scene just hurts) but... with regards to Atsushi and Akutagawa, people assume that Atsushi is suffering and because Akutagawa has found his way into the ADA, he must be finding the same sense of found family that Atsushi does in canon.

I'm not so sure.

For one thing, Dazai's absence is palpable. You see it in the way Kunikida's ideals are left unchecked, but also in the general tone of the office. Canon Dazai brings a certain amount of levity and a relaxed atmosphere to the office by means of his antics. Without that, and with Dazai as Boss of the Mafia, the overall tone us more sombre and sharp. The sense of family is still there, but Odasaku taking Dazai's place here - I will be honest, I love the guy, but he strikes me as an emotionally distant autistic man who isn't sure how to bond with others all that well. Despite adopting Akutagawa, I don't get that sense that he's a close family figure in the say Dazai is to Atsushi. He cares, but I feel that something between him joining the mafia and then leaving and joining the ADA made him actually have less... he's colder, somehow.

Akutagawa in canon has the mafia, he's had Chuuya, Hirotsu, and his sister ever since he joined. Neither he nor Gin wanted for anything after that point, other than to show their worth to the organisation that took them in. They fit, and they don't seem to have any issues with the nature of the work - either of them. Whereas in BEAST, Akutagawa was abandoned in the forest that day, arguably in some ways worse than Dazai taking him in and then abusing him via his training. He was forced to survive on his own, and was never taught either control or kindness. Under his OWN tutelage, his first instinct is to kill first. The lessons Dazai taught him via brutal means in canon (and likely he had his sister even if not the mafia medics to patch him up after, unlike here) were instead taught in other ways, with his life in danger for reasons other than a mentor who had no idea how to refine someone whose destructive mentality reminded him so much of himself.

As well, as touched on, there's Gin, who is put into a supposed position of power but is actually being used, and there's no positive connection between the two of them.

And to be honest, I feel that Akutagawa in canon making and keeping that promise helps him UNDERSTAND why the lives of others are important, while I feel that in BEAST he operates on "just do as I'm told even if it doesn't make sense" until he'll eventually become the mask, so to speak.

BEAST is a story that is "better" in literally only one way - Odasaku lives. But in every other way, even for the characters who get to be on the "good" side who were hurt in canon, they're still suffering way more than they should. That's the thing. BEAST is a story where no one gets to be *happy*.

And for those who say Akutagawa in BEAST can see Dazai as he really is - um, no. In BEAST, Dazai has cut himself off so thoroughly that there isn't a single person who can understand him. He's isolated, alone, in a position of power that he likely hates (given how he shit is his duties in canon), and has no support network. In canon his suicide thing is less purely "I want to die" and more "I want to find a reason to live" and he finds that in Odasaku's last words, in saving people. In BEAST he no longer has any "reasons to live" so he gives up. But no one in-universe can see that, and if they know then they can't see past who he's become to care enough to save him. So all Atsushi and Akutagawa and the others are seeing is the terrifying outer shell that Dazai shows the world. It's what he's capable of, sure, but he's also capable of what we see in canon, and of being seen as a human being instead of as a force of nature.

Tl;dr: Akutagawa isn't "better off" in BEAST by means of being in the ADA, and learned his lessons in ways just as harsh as Dazai's teaching methods, and is (or will be) happier in the long term for having been in the Port Mafia, current status notwithstanding.

[dazaithefirst]

AtsuLucy & AtsuKyou

Disclaimer:

I do not hate any of the characters, except Fukuchi Ochi, and I respect every ship BSD has. If I could marry every single one of 'em, I would. This is a post of my opinions about AtsuLucy and AtsuKyou. Also, there are manga spoilers here so I hope you wouldn't mind. I hope I won't get canceled here like how I got in Facebook because I ship AtsuLucy and not AtsuKyou/Shin Soukoku. As I've said earlier, I respect all the goddamn ships and I just want somebody to here my opinions or I just want to simply say it here. If I've said a wrong thing, please notify me. Thank you and take your time reading it!

I am a big AtsuLucy shipper. To be honest, I like how they look out for each other. Here are some of my insights and why do I ship them:

They experienced the same type of abuse (not that I wanted to be abused lol) so there might be times that only the two of them can know what's this and that (okay, is head canons alrighty? I hope so);

Atsushi is a good guy. In fact, he is a cute adorable fluffy little angel but we all know that he doesn't like his enemies like the Port Mafia and The Guild. But when they defeated Lucy's Anne of Abyssal Red, he felt sorry and said that he understands what she feels;

The way Atsushi sympathizes with her despite knowing just a part of her past, I love it. I need more of it. It makes my heart flutter;

Also, the way he approached Lucy after losing to him, is so cute, awkward and soft all in one. Imagine your enemy asking if they can do anything for you, damn Lucy is one lucky girl;

Manga Spoiler, when the ADA was accused of being the nation's terrorist, Lucy made a rallied outside the government just to say that "Atsushi is not evil" and "The Detective Agency is innocent", oh how I wished she worked in the ADA even as a part time (it was Ango who spilled that Lucy did it and maybe the latter didn't expect that);

Atsushi was certain that he saw Lucy after the Three Way War and said that he hopes Lucy isn't teaming up with the criminal organizations (Port Mafia's one of the organizations I guess) to take revenge on them. And please, notice how Atsushi was straight looking at the paper he was holding and then BAM! he saw Lucy, I mean if it's the tiger's ability then otay, I'm not gonna be delulu anymore *sniffs*;

Lucy gave Atsushi the parachute she was saving for her own escape. She let him escape Moby Dick through her ability and Atsushi was worried about her safety for she's gonna be trapped there. He even promised to save her there and he was going to went he infiltrated Moby Dick but sadly, Shin Soukoku suddenly sailed so even I have forgotten that Atsushi promised that he was going to save Lucy. It was funny for me when they got a chance to have a little casual talk when they've retrieved Kyouka's parents' documents;

Manga Spoiler, lastly, Lucy was a great asset when AtsuKyou are heading next to the Sky Casino, where Sigma is. After some events happened in the Sky Casino, Sigma fell on the sky and Atsushi jumps out of the Sky Casino and catches him but he eventually let go of Atsushi. Nathaniel's ability hits Atsushi's tail, which is his support, and he was knocked out. Then my girl Lucy saw it and jumps off the Sky Casino too (like it wouldn't cost her life), she reached out for Atsushi's hand and then voila! Welcome to Anne's room;

Another one is Lucy calls Atsushi by the name "Toraneko" which means tabby cat like how Akutagaw calls Atsushi "jinko." And then I just realized that Kyouka never called Atsushi's name or maybe it's just me?

Anyways, I am itching for Bungou Stray Dogs Season 4 ackk!!

Yes. I did shipped AtsuKyou at the beginning of the series. Okay, lemme just share some of my insights about this ship:

I shipped them when I literally thought she was 16 but it turned out that she's 14. It's the first red flag for me. I know that Atsushi is a baby but Kyouka is literally a minor.

At first I thought it's was fine 'cause they only have 4 years of gap;

But had anyone never thought that Kyouka's behavior towards Atsushi is like Akutagawa's behavior towards Dazai;

Remember that one scene in season 2 where Atsushi was finally caught by The Guild and Kyouka just stood there crying and just said, "Why? Why did you show me the light? Why did you give me hope? Goodbye. Please don't give me anymore light."

Okay, I admit. That was very pathetic. But as I think about it, she had trauma and was literally abused for three years or so, so I really can't blame her. Kyouka was told that she is more suited in the dark and all she knew that time is that she killed her parents with her ability. What a sad life, bub;

When I've read the manga, I've read it after season 2 'cause I was growing impatient for season 3, there were so many changes to the anime like the second picture of AtsuKyou up there. Atsushi was supposed to land on Kyouka's shoulders and not in her lap;

The scene where Atsushi asked Kyouka how's the bathwater was so cute. They looked like a couple to me and it just reminded me that I'm gonna be single forever;

And when Kyouka passed the entrance exam, I was so happy (of course who wouldn't). I dunno why but I saw a platonic relationship in my laptop's screen. (Their "Welcome home", "I'm home" of them looks like they're a married couple tho). But when Kunikida scolded the both of them, I saw siblings. ISTG THERE IS SOMETHING WRONG WITH MY EYES!

To be straight to the point, I think she's either unhealthy attached to Atsushi because he showed her light or she's just overprotective of him (seriously, a 14 y.o girl protecting a 18 y.o baby? otay).

Kyouka is one the characters with a great character development. Some say her character is boring and I can't blame y'all 'cause she have a lil bit of Sasuke's aura, like that one quiet kid sitting beside the window with the face saying that her clan was murded (Kurapika is now drowning in an indescribable emptiness) but Kyouka has a visible soft side so she cute, otay? Tho I wonder where did she learn to drove that car on Dead Apple at the age of 14 'cause my 14 y.o ass can't even step on the gas and brake without shaking in fear. Long story short, despite everything happening on BSD, I'm still a AtsuLucy shipper. I'm still rooting for Shin Soukoku, but AtsuLucy is my heaven.

[dapper-ships-herself]

I hear wedding bells 💜 ~

So yeah, I figured I would probably just do the one prompt from yesterday for @fofebruary that I posted, then last night I got soft thinking about the poetic beauty of mafia! Gillian and Dazai finally getting married, so here we are.

The proposal actually happens a while before they start for real dating.

There's a moment sometime during the story, where they've kept having to see each other through all these events and having to confront their feelings and their pasts and each other, and one night after an arc gets wrapped up, Dazai comes home and I'm just sitting in his house like "what's up, we need to have a talk."

And we pour our hearts out and it's a struggle because we're both pretty emotionally supressed, but we both know this is long over due and needs to be done, and we talk about why Dazai left me and the mafia without a word, how we've both been feeling and dealing with everything, and so on. Then I get up and walk by him on my way to the door but he catches my wrist (a little parallel to our reunion, if you remember from that piece I turn away from him and he tries to grab me but I vanish into the shadows before he can, so this is like, there's no more running from each other, no more turning our backs, we're connected and we can't deny that), and he says "I've missed you, Gillian."

And then:

Gillian glanced down at their joined hands, the soft moonlight making it seem as if they glowed in the faint light. She looked back up into Dazai's earnest eyes. "I... I've missed you too, Osamu." Her smile is small, but it's genuine.

He's not done talking yet, though. "I know I abandoned you, I left you alone in a horrible nightmare, and I'm sorry for that. I'm sorry. I can say I thought I was doing what was right and best for you all I want, but that will never change the fact that I was wrong. Hurting someone like you is the greatest sin I've committed, and if nothing else what I will likely burn for. But, if there's any reason for me to stay alive it's to spend my life making up for that mistake."

His eyes hold hers in an iron gave, so captivating and strong that she wondered for a moment if his true ability is some kind of hypnosis. "What are you saying?" She whispered.

He moved, still looking her in the eyes and never letting go of her hand, so he was kneeling on the floor in front of her. "I promise that you will never be alone again, that I will never leave you alone again. I will never let you go again, and I will remain with you forever, dedicated to you."

"What, you know I'm still in the mafia right? And you're in the agency? How- How are you supposed to stay by my side when we're enemies?"

"I know all that, but that's not what matters to me. Even if our organizations clash, no matter which side either of us is on, the mafia, the agency, light, or dark, it won't make me break my promise. Not again. I betrayed your trust once, please let me spend every opportunity I can fixing the bond I broke." His series face changes to have a small smile as he gazes up at her. "You've said before that we were the only ones keeping you sane within the mafia. I always thought that was funny, as I never particularly felt I did anything to warrant that. If anyone was a bright spot in that place, it was you."

Her hand trembled and she had to bite down on her lip "I'm nothing but darkness, how can someone like me be anyone's light?"

"One day, I promise that I will tell you everyway you've made this life worth living." His thumb rubs across the back of her hand, and he breaks their eye contact only to close his eyes and kiss her skin. "Will you wait with me for that day? When we can both be together?"

They both knew that whatever this not fully spoken thing between them could not bud in their current circumstances, but... but could it really one day bloom into something beautiful?

"Okay," she said "I will wait with you."

---

That's basically how it goes!

Then there's more story stuff, eventually everyone thinks I get killed at one point but I survive and spend some time with an all girl biker gang (more on them later) and have a fun female empowerment adventure, come back to Yokohama after a bit and reveal I'm still alive, but I learned some stuff and finally decide I no longer have to feel chained to Ogai and after a tense talk he lets me leave the mafia because no matter what I am his daughter and he does care, and not right away but I do join the agency and a bit after that Dazai and I start for real dating and a while after that we make good on that proposal~

Dazai's wedding party consists of Kunikida as best man, Atsushi, and maybe Tanizaki and a sort of begrudging Ranpo (who's mainly there for the cake).

Ango could be in his party to, but he might also just be a guest.

My wedding party consists of Yosano, the leader of the biker gang (the whole gang wanted to be in the wedding party but it was agreed the leader would represent them), and Chuuya.

Yumeno is the ring bearer, and Kyouka is the flower girl along with maybe Kenji.

Ogai does walk me down the aisle, and the whole thing is a neutral occasion for the Port Mafia and the detective agency and there's quite a few mafia members there including Higuchi (who cries), Akutagawa, and the black lizard. It's a whole party of celebrating not only live but also our differences and it's a night of no fighting and coming together!

Kouyou definitely cries but pretends she's not.

Fukuzawa is the official. Or maybe it'd be funny if that guy who heads the special abilities division did it, that guys definitely there and gets drunk either way.

And Odasaku is watching the whole time, proud of these two crazy kids who managed to find love in the dark.

Bonus, the wedding outfit sketches:

(the skirt is not see through, though there is a see through fabric around it, I just wanted to sketch the shoes too. The sleeves are see through save for the embroidery.)

(not to be completely shameless but reblogs are appreciated ✌️)

[autumn-foxfire]

So like i think its important to acknowledge the context here for some of this. The context being that between chuuya being introduced and us getting chuuyas backstory its been A WHILE. Like for a good while i used to joke that they were really wasting chuuya cuz they had a fan favorite character who we had like no information and backstory on. Like i wanna say its been at least two years between chuuya introduction n backstory but honestly im terible with memory n even worse with time progression so all im gonna say for a very very long time the fandom didnt know shit about chuuyas backstory. The most we got in guild arc was the hint that kouyou was his mentor n of course that he n dazai formed the ace in mafias sleeve n for a long while that was pretty much it. Fans ran wild with that n everybody had their own headcanon n there were a lot of fics exploring his possible backstory. From him being a french (flashbacks to french chuuya era) immigrant/ child trafficked for his ability to him training to work in kouyous borthel (that was a popular headcanon for kouyou but i dont think it has any base in canon) until they discovered his ability and were like oooo this baby dangerous. My favorite was anything that included kouyou just picking up a half feral kid chuuya n being like ahhh im keeping this, mine now. Feral Chuuya gives me life n i still like to read about it. The point being when chuuyas backstory came out it was going to have to contend with A Lot of fan content some of which was really really good.

Anyway i dislike the whole oh there was a god shoved in him when he was a kid bit. I wont stick to this a lot cuz im honestly past the point 'ugh this is So stupid' n to the point 'i dislike it but i also dont really care' but ye, im not super big fan of throwing gods around so randomly cuz i feel bsd isnt really built with that in mind, n i considered that whole part a really boring explenation to corruption and eh, im not gonna pretend that the fanwork didnt influence me n that i might have liked it better if i didnt read so much speculative fanfiction cuz it really comes down to 'its not like in my headcanons so i hate it :/'n thats p much all there is to it n thats no fun to talk about.

I did like sheep parts tho loved dat.

No what im here to talk about is how KOUYOU GOT FUCKIN ROBBED. Like we barely get any chuuya kouyou interactions anyway despite her being shown as his mentor like how mori was to dazai n kouyou herself really only had time to shine with kyouka n like this was the perfect oportunity to explore her more. She was shown as chuuyas mentor from the start, she was included in every fanwork that included chuuyas backstory, if ur gonna do chuuyas backstory you need to have kouyou there she is his mentor after all

Nope nope what do we get instead

FUCKING RANDO SAN

LITERAL GUY NAMED RANDO

Like ok fine u needed a villain for the novel thats fine, make it the person who tried to grab chuuya out good good great BUT WHAT WAS ALL THAT SHIT ABOUT FUCKING RANDO SAN BEING THE ONE TO RECRUIT CHUUYA INTO MAFIA. WHAT WAS THAT ABOUT CHUUYAS FUCKING HAT BEING RANDOS, WHAT THE ABSOLUTE FUCK WAS THAT SCENE OF CHUUYA SITTING ON HIS GRAVE LIKE FUCKIN DAZAI WITH ODA

WHAT THE FUCK

I will not stop yelling

Like honestly it made me so upset. I dont mind fucking rando san as a villain or whatever but i do mind him kinda being pushed into the spot of chuuyas mentor (whos kouyou) or recuiter (whos dazai) n him being tied into his character so significantly like the tradition of a mentor giving their student something is obvs a big thing in mafia what with dazais coat n all n it just made me so upset that chuuyas hat was given to him by some fuckass named rando n not kouyou. Or that rando seemed to impact him so much to be considered some sort of great influence when he p much just busted him out n then dazai did all the work. Like it just made me so upset that this random one but villain named literally rando was shoved as an important figure in a story of a character whos backstory we've been clamoring for so long when kouyou was literally right there like 'hi im here ready to be relevant forever.'

Like we already got a nice view of her with kyouka what with her wanting to protect kyouka but being willing to let her go wgen she sees thats the best for kyouka n that she will be happy n protected with the agency. Like i doubt she would be as protective with chuuya since their age difference is a lot smaller (4-5 years i think) so shed probs view him more as a friend or a younger brother than a literal child she has to protect but like i wanna see that i want them to have a bond, why hint at her being his mentor n then do nothing with it when mori is of such significance for dazai.

Like i think all this comes down to is obe of primary problems i had with bsd n one of the reasons i ended up growing tired with it: bsd really likes introducing new characters n new groups while at the same time doing very little with ones it already introduced if they arent like atsushi akutagawa dazai n sometimes kunikida n chuuya. N like that just gets boring after a bit i dont care about new evil group no 65 i care about the characters i already know so BLS DO THINGS WITH THEM BLS

...I’ll be honest, I didn’t notice that Kouyou was supposed to be Chuuya’s mentor. Did I just miss that in the anime or something? I didn’t know they had a bond at all.

As for Chuuya’s backstory, I also... didn’t really mind it either. I know the god part was a bit random but I also thought it was kind of fitting that Chuuya’s ability, or a part of it?, was born from something out of this world. It really does fit the “corruption” theme too, in my opinion, in the sense that his body has been corrupted by a god and it would also explain why his body isn’t able to handle the body too.

I also thought that the point of Rando being the one who “gave” Chuuya his hat was symbolism of Chuuya finding a piece of his past because of him and that’s why he visited his grave (almost as a silent thanks in a way). Plus I think it was another one of Dazai’s manipulation to get Chuuya into the Port Mafia, he knew he would never accept a belonging given to him by Dazai (he even pulled a face when he heard that Dazai, as his recruiter should be the one to give it) but when he learned it was Rando, a person who while had attacked him but had also helped him learn a tiny bit more about the god inside him, made accepting the hat more easier for him.

At least, that was my take on it.

I am a little disappointed myself about the lack of attention some characters have recieved compared to others (cough Kenji cough) and I wished they were given a little more, but I also understand why new criminal groups are introduced as bsd wants to draw a stalemate between the Agency and the Port Mafia.

I guess this a matter of different opinions XD

[capisback]

hehe, hello there! first kiss + did they or didn't they, with dazatsu please?

Tropes: First Kiss + Did they or Didn’t they? 

Pairing: Nakajima Atsushi/Dazai Osamu (Dazatsu) 

Notes: Sorry this took a while, dear anon! I actually worked on 4 ideas for this prompt for a while, fully intending to post all of them, but then I realised with how slow I am, this would never get finished like that, so I picked this one and discarded the other three. I really hope you like it, anon!!

Kunikida comes in to the Agency, after a long day on ajob with Atsushi and Dazai. His appearance looks a bit frazzled, since the jobdid involve some dangerous types. His coworkers greet him, as per usual. Then,one of them notices he seems a bit out of it, and asks him what’s up.

After a few seconds of silence, Kunikida answers in abreathy tone, an unsure lilt to his voice: “I think I just saw Dazai andAtsushi kiss.”

The whole Agency freezes. 

And then - 

“WHAT?!”

All Hell breaks loose.

They’re all yelling over one another, some closing inon Kunikida, trying to get all the “juicy” details out of him. The poor, tired,does-not-get-paid-enough-for-this man tries to placate and says that “I couldhave seen wrong. We don’t know for sure.”

To which Naomi cries out that that’s bullshit and shewon’t have it. “I’ve been waiting for this moment for the past six months of mylife and you’re not going to take it away from me, Kunikida!”

She’s seen those boys pining for months, to the pointshe had to almost physically restrain herself from yelling at them to justfucking kiss already. They HAD to have confessed and kissed, because if not shemight actually die on the spot.

Tanizaki, of course, tries to calm his sister down,but he backs down the instant she shoots him a rather terrifying glare. He’snot entirely convinced Dazai and Atsushi did finally confess to each other, buthe’ll wisely keep his mouth shut about that, lest he fall victim to hissister’s wrath.

Yosano voices his objections in his stead.“This is Dazai and Atsushi we’re talking about”, she says. “Those two idiotswill probably die before confessing.”

Noami tries to protest once more, but Yosano levelsher with an unimpressed look. “Do you really think they’d suddenly confess andkiss after nearly a year of obliviously pining?”

“You never know!” Naomi objects. She’s not going togive up hope, even if the memory of the two making such obvious googly eyes ateach other, with somehow neither of them noticing, makes her just a taddesperate.

Haruno, on her way to the file cabinet after havinggiven Ranpo some Ramune, says that perhaps Kunikida did see wrong, but that itwould be quite nice if they actually did confess.

This only fuels the supporters, and soon the Agencyhas divided itself into two camps: Did and Did Not.

Kunikida sits to the side, exasperated, wishing he’dnever opened his damn mouth. Kyouka places a silent, comforting hand on hisshoulder, as she watches the battle with a stoic expression.

The bickering continues until Kenji speaks up (and weall know everyone has to listen when the good boy speaks): “We won’t reallyknow what happened until we ask Dazai-san and Atsushi-kun themselves, right?”

The Agency bursts into quiet mumbles of agreement, andin the end they decide to wait for the duo in question to return so that theycan pry into their private lives. After waiting for what seems like forever,the door finally opens, and an unusually quiet, smiling Dazai enters, followed by acontently (and slightly flustered) smiling Atsushi.

Naomi can’t contain herself, her excitement burstingat the seams. “OH MY GOD, YOU GUYS DID KISS!” she yells-slash-squeals.

A bouquet of red dashes across Dazai’s face andAtsushi simply descends into being a flustered mess.

“We don’t know that!” Yosano admonishes, beforeeagerly turning towards the duo, expectation shining in her eyes. “But you guysdid kiss, right?”

“You guys – ” Kunikida growls, about to say somethingabout his co-workers’ poor behaviour.

“Why are you so interested?” Dazai says, trying toappear aloof. At the very least, he’s not really appreciating his co-workers’prying.

Yosano rolls her eyes. “Because we’re detectives”, shesays, sounding quite done. “Or maybe because we’ve been watching you two pineand drool over each other for a year.”

“Please tellus you confessed”, Naomi whines.

Atsushi squeaks out an answer before things can take abad turn: “Um – Y-yes. Dazai-san and I are…” The red in his face darkens ashade “We’re a couple now.”

The Agency “cheers” (Naomi literally so, while Ranposimply loudly says “Finally”) and take turns saying their own forms ofcongratulations to the newly formed couple (It feels surreal to them, how happytheir coworkers are. It’s like they’ve just announced they’d gotten engagedafter years of being a couple and that they’d decided to adopt a child, and hadsomehow saved Yokohama of destruction in the process. But they suppose they’lltake it just as is.)

Ithink I’d maybe even put a second chapter to this one (I’m a one-shot type ofgal most of the time, so), describing how their first kiss came to be. Basically,they’re coming back from that dangerous mission, and our dear fool Atsushi’sbeen a bit reckless again, probably got himself stabbed or something.Kunikida’s already far ahead of them as they hang back, walking together a bitsolemnly, covered by the low rays of the tired sun. Atsushi says “I’m sorry”,and Dazai plays the oblivious fool. “Hmm? For what, Atsushi-kun?” 

“For…”Atsushi pauses. “For worrying you.”

Dazaiblinks at that answer, but then breathes out an amused breath. Of course that’swhat Atsushi’s sorry about. “You’re really too reckless”, he says, whichprompts another “I’m sorry” from Atsushi. He looks a bit sheepish. “I can’treally help it.” Dazai tuts his disapproval. “That’s not true, Atsushi-kun.It’s something you can learn. You just need more training.”

“Maybe”,Atsushi relents, looking back in front of him. “But my body moves on its ownwhen Dazai-san’s in danger.” Not really realising the effect his words have onpoor smitten Dazai, Atsushi continues in a teasing-slash-slightly scolding tone:“If anything, this means you’re theone who needs to be more careful, Dazai-san.” Dazai scrapes his throat to tryand dislodge the feelings (the pure fondness) getting stuck there.

“Ah,well,” he says, trying to collect himself, “I can try if it’s for you,Atsushi-kun.”

Atsushi’sface shows his surprise, and then it morphs into something entirely too gentle.“Really? You’d do that for me?”

 Dazai swallows. “Yeah.”

Atsushismiles. “I’m glad. I don’t want to see you hurt.”

Dazaichuckles, humourlessly. “Nor I you, Atsushi-kun, but you seem to have a way ofdoing that.”

“Ireally can’t help it,” Atsushi pouts. “I don’t want to get hurt, either, butdanger always seems to find me.”

“Andthen you rush into it.” Dazai quirks an eyebrow and Atsushi’s pout deepens. “Can’thelp it”, he mumbles. “It just… happens.”

“It’sbecause you’re too kind”, Dazai says.

Atsushiwants to both protest and to say ‘I thought it was because I’m too reckless’.

“You’retoo good for – us.” Too good for me,Dazai thinks.

Atsushisimply stares at him for a few long seconds, before he averts his gaze. “I’mnot”, he says, finally. He lets out a breathy laugh. “If anything, I don’t deserveall of this.”

Not asurprising answer – it was the answer Dazai was expecting. He didn’t sayanything in response, no matter how much his soul cried it wasn’t true, nomatter how much he wanted to say Atsushi didn’t deserve to have such a warpedview of himself, no matter how much his body wanted to wrap itself aroundAtsushi and never let him go, to let him know just how wonderful he was. 

“But”,Atsushi continued, mellowed sunset eyes meeting Dazai’s. “I’m so grateful Ihave it, anyway.” Atsushi smiled. “I’m so lucky, Dazai-san. I’m lucky I’msurrounded by such wonderful people. I’m lucky to have people who worry andcare for me. I’m lucky to have a place to belong.” A small pause, and a flashof something in Atsushi’s eyes. “Butmost importantly, I’m lucky to have met you, Dazai-san.”

Dazai’seyes widened just a tad. “Atsushi-kun – ” he breathed, though he didn’t knowwhat he wanted to say, why he was saying anything at all. His brain wasn’tcomputing with him, not when the object of his affection was looking at himwith such adoration.

“Dazai-san”,Atsushi said, voice just as gentle as the rest of him. “I love you.”

(Aaaandthere went Dazai’s ability to function. Just like that.) Stunned into silence,Dazai didn’t do much more than stare at his subordinate. Was this real? Thiscouldn’t be. No way. This was probably just a dream. A really, really gooddream. Dazai dug his nail into the palm of his hand. A flash of pain. Okay, nota dream then. But how could this possibly be real? What had Dazai done todeserve something like this?

Hissilence made Atsushi falter, and he stuttered when he next spoke “I – I knowit’s… weird. And I don’t – I’m not everything you deserve. I’m just me andyou’re – you.” The way Atsushibreathed that ‘you’ sent a shiver down Dazai’s back. He wasn’t used to peoplecalling him ‘you’ with such warmth ensnared in their voice. “But I hope you canaccept my feelings. You don’t have to return them. I wouldn’t ask you that. Icompletely understand. But, I thought, you should know that I…” Atsushi trailsoff when Dazai cups his cheek. Dazai doesn’t think he’s ever touched anythingor anyone so gently before. 

“You’vegot it all wrong, Atsushi-kun,” he says. His voice isn’t soft, not likeAtsushi’s is, but his molten brown eyes shine with warmth and love, and Atsushiwishes he could freeze the moment and live in it forever, to be able to stareat Dazai’s beautiful eyes for all eternity. “I don’t deserve you.”

Andthen he’s leaning forward, and Atsushi’s reaching up to meet him halfway, andthen they’re kissing. It’s nothing too grand, it’s quick and simple, but it’sperfect. It’s everything they’ve been waiting for. When they part, they’re bothsmiling.

“So”,Atsushi breathes. “Does this mean we’re…” He trails off, unsure, but the smilewon’t stay off his face. Dazai’s smile widens just a tad. “Yes.” Atsushi beamsand kisses him again.

Andthen they’re late because they hang back to make out lol

(No,actually, it’s all really cute. They’re both quite hesitant and genuinely justso happy, and they just can’t get enough of each other or snap out of themoment.)

(It’swhen they sun has dipped down low, when the night colours are bleeding into thecity, that they realise just how late it is, and that Kunikida has effectivelyleft them behind. They laugh about it as they make their way back to the Agency(none the wiser about how much turmoil they’ve brought to their coworkers).)

[ko-shichi]

what's your opinion on the latest bsd chapter ?

A warning. This is going to be a fairly long opinion post. I have a lot of feels and opinions on it. This is also HUGE in spoilers. 

Chapter Highlights: 1. HOLY SHIT CHUUYA IS BACK AND HE IS THROWING BULLETS. I LOVE HIM SO FUCKING MUCH MY BOYFRIEND. You’re so amazing and beautiful and I fucking LOVE YOU CHUUYA. Being able to fling bullets is so beautiful, even if the science doesn’t exactly back your Ability as much as one would like. You are also the king of entrances. Like baby, they not only gotta catch your hands, but they gotta catch your bullets too. OH WAIT THEY CAN’T, BECAUSE YOU ARE A GOD. 2. The fact that Chuuya and Yosano appeared in the same chapter again under circumstances like those (with the exchange) really backs a ChuuSano headcanon I have (I will speak about that later).3. KuniChuuZai is now an OTP of mine. Like Chuuya looked as though he held so much respect for Kunikida when he saw him? KuniChuu fuel?  And most people know I am also a Soukoku fan and a KunikiDazai fan. If you take my fics as anything. KuniChuuZai has always been a favourite of mine, because in one way, shape, or form, they all come across as compatible. It also is a huge angst party, seeing as Chuuya is Dazai’s past, Kunikida is Dazai’s present, and Chuuya is collectively their enemy. 4. Finally, I am bringing up the exchange once again. I find this super, super fascinating and I can’t wait to know the outcome. I have a few ideas, rest assured, and I will get to them.OVERALL OPINION.I absolutely loved this chapter and everything about it. From Chuuya returning to Kunikida getting his morals bashed by Jouno, essentially, when it comes to saying Tecchou should cut Yosano’s head off, to Kunikida jumping in to sacrifice himself for the entirety of the ADA, even stating that he was well aware it was essentially an act of suicide.I have to hand it to Asagiri, however, about planting Chuuya in as a supposed hero when in actuality Kunikida ended up being the true hero of the chapter, and arguably of the past few chapters. We all have to admit, Kunikida has recently had it very rough. His ideals have never been more evident in the series than the past maybe 10 chapters. It has been challenge after challenge for him, and quite honestly, while I much enjoy conflict in a manga, I do believe he needs a break. And rest assured, to those who read this and maybe got concerned about the turn of events with Kunikida, he is not dead. Asagiri isn’t necessarily the best writer, but he isn’t all about that life. Kunikida would not die in something as mundane as self-sacrifice. And Asagiri would pass up an entire opportunity to put Kunikida into despair if Yosano were lost. Or rather, even this entire situation has already tossed him up in the air. After this event, if Kunikida lives, which he will, he’s going to go through a midlife crisis. 

Remember, just remember, Kunikida has a tendency to blame himself if anything goes wrong on his watch, and Kunikida is the type of person to take the entirety of the blame and be immensely hard on himself. That’s part of his life as someone with strict morals such as his. There is no way Asagiri would kill Kunikida. Especially with Chuuya and Yosano being there, Yosano, if she goes down at the right time (which she could, with Chuuya’s help) she could save herself, Kunikida, and if any damage were done to Chuuya, him too.

The Trade

I believe the trade is of the utmost importance to the plot, in some way, shape or form. I believe that there are three primary choices for who would be chosen (I would assume by the Port Mafia and Mori himself because he would not pass up any chance of no success in this trade by letting the Armed Detective Agency decide) : Yosano Akiko, Kunikida Doppo and Dazai Osamu.

I will provide explanations.Yosano Akiko(Most Likely): Yosano has a very prime Ability, one Mori would most certainly desire. Being able to heal people while on the field would give Mori the upper hand when facing many of his greater enemies, this counts for the Port Mafia by default. She also has acquired the title, “Angel of Death”, despite us having little to no knowledge of what that means. Yosano also has a past with the Military and therefore has some sort of offensive (I’m assuming) experience in combat. Not like Kouyou or Chuuya, but certainly enough to get by. If Yosano’s past with Mori has shown her love for life, it would give a disadvantage for Yosano, because he would know just how desperate Yosano would be to heal individuals. Yosano would have no hesitation, most likely, to go if it meant the Agency would be helped, if only temporarily, and would be loyal if the conditions were met to help the Agency.

Kunikida Doppo(Third Most Likely): This chapter in itself has been a very prevalent example of how Kunikida would sacrifice himself for the good of the Agency. He wouldn’t kill anyone, though, but his selflessness is very much something to note. One thing that makes this a challenge, though, is if his morals are broken, if he isn’t able to save people, will he die? Will he turn out like Oda? Many people make references to how they are similar, and I can see it too. Mafiosi who wouldn’t kill. But, it is to be noted, that Oda broke, and killed. Who is to say that Kunikida won’t do the same if something happens to ruin his ideals? If something causes him to break more than he already has? Kunikida, despite having many emotions, can be ruthless if need be. Another reference to Oda that you could use to justify this would be the fact that Kunikida is very close to Dazai as far as the Agency is concerned. And we all remember what happened when Mori knew how close he was to Oda. If Mori wants to break Dazai back into being with him in the Mafia, Kunikida is arguably the way to go about it. If Mori knew this, he would probably also have plans to eventually get Kunikida to die during a mission after he broke. Kunikida would be Dazai’s second Oda. No one can deny the fact that Kunikida has done some wonders for Dazai, had taught him in the Agency, had taught him how to be a better person. And that is something Oda told him to do. Kunikida helped him be on the side that saves people.

Dazai Osamu(Second Most Likely): Mori has dictated that Dazai’s Mafia Executive position is still available for him should he ever decide to go back. Mori would choose Dazai because Dazai has a mind as similar to his, built to manipulate and control. Of course, Dazai has learned that there is more to life than that, that life is actually slightly worth living. Though, despite probably not belonging in the Mafia anymore, having done too much good, having learned how to be a decent person, when given the opportunity to choose whether or not one should experience a life like that, he would say no. He wouldn’t want someone as idealistic as Kunikida, someone as young and almost naïve as Atsushi, one who cherishes life like Yosano, to experience what life in the Port Mafia would be like. He would most certainly figure that he would be saving a lot more people if he sacrificed himself in this. Dazai wouldn’t admit that the Port Mafia destroyed him, probably destroyed most of his opinion on life. He was empty at that point in his life. He may not want to subject himself to it again, but he would rather do that than let anyone else experience it.HONOURABLE MENTION: ATSUSHI NAKAJIMA: It is entirely possible that Atsushi, with his ability being so strong, that he would be chosen by Mori to join the Mafia. It would be good in terms of plot development, but I also think that Dazai himself wouldn’t allow that. Akutagawa wouldn’t necessarily be fond of the idea either, given how much they ‘hate’ each other. As the main character, it also wouldn’t surprise me if he were chosen to join the mafia because that’s the life of a protagonist.Now, I am going to focus on RELATIONSHIPS:Dazai Osamu and Kunikida Doppo, Dazai Osamu and Nakahara Chuuya, Yosano Akiko and Nakahara Chuuya, and Yosano Akiko and Kunikida Doppo.               

Kunikida Doppo and Dazai Osamu: An important thing to note, is that should Kunikida die at the end of this chapter, what would that do to Dazai? As aforementioned. It would send Dazai into an unspeakable pit. He would be full of despair. Dazai isn’t one to really acknowledge guilt when it comes to him, but I do think it’s plausible for Dazai to feel guilty if something happened to his partner. I think it would send him into a rut because Dazai is aware Kunikida probably trusts him with his fucking life.When it comes to the trade, it takes little to no knowledge of Kunikida to understand that should Dazai ever rejoin the Port Mafia, even in the situation like this, that he would certainly disapprove of it, he would try to convince Dazai not to. Kunikida may not have considerate knowledge (personally I don’t believe anyone other than Oda, Mori, Ranpo, and possibly Ango would) of what royally fucked with Dazai’s life, and what the Mafia had done to him. So, it is a given that Kunikida wouldn’t want to let Dazai back to that. Despite it all, much like Chuuya, Kunikida does care about Dazai and his wellbeing, even if he believes that Dazai’s suicidal antics are a façade. Nakahara Chuuya and Dazai Osamu: Now, Chuuya, he isn’t a given.  We don’t exactly have knowledge about how much Chuuya knows about what the Port Mafia and being a ploy of Mori’s did to Dazai. Of course, Chuuya would have an opinion, but we don’t know what Chuuya knows. It was shown that they knew each other quite well as partners, but that doesn’t mean anything, either. We don’t know if Chuuya was aware. And I am not going to stereotype it and be one of those people who will say that he’d be definitely okay, or definitely not, though I lean more toward not. I think it depends. Regardless, Chuuya has shown genuine care for Dazai’s wellbeing, so basing it on the fact that Dazai fucked up their partnership is not reliable. If Chuuya was aware, even to a small extent, I don’t think Chuuya would be okay with it. I believe that Chuuya would rather Dazai not go back to that state of mind. We don’t know if Chuuya is also aware of how much Dazai has changed, that he has found more of a reason to live, but if he has, he wouldn’t wish the worst on Dazai.Conversely, if Chuuya wasn’t aware, I think it would settle more on Chuuya’s perception of self. I said that I wouldn’t bring their betrayal out in this, but it is undeniable that Chuuya is in some way still hurt. Being over something doesn’t mean you aren’t affected by it, still. Chuuya doesn’t perceive them as partners anymore, that much is for certain. No one could blame him for that. It depends on the person; if you are one of those individuals who thinks that Chuuya can’t live without Dazai, then sure, you can go and say that Chuuya would prefer to have Dazai by his side. I’m one of those people who doesn’t necessarily believe that. Because they’re Soukoku, they get under each other’s skin. That’s what they do. It would be easier to do that when they are together. And Chuuya probably did like that. This one is really iffy. I don’t think he would want Dazai to come back to the Mafia, though. EDIT: My friend brought up an interesting point about the plot of Dead Apple, where it was very evident that Chuuya has a lot of faith in Dazai, like that Dazai wasn’t truly on the side of Shibusawa and Fyodor.

Yosano Akiko and Nakahara Chuuya: Now, I have a lot more to say about that, but I want to focus on the opinion I have on how Chuuya and Yosano met, and it wasn’t in the underground in the Guild Arc. We all know that Yosano has connections with Mori and that she used to work in the military as well. It wouldn’t have shown it, but my personal headcanon is that one time, ONE TIME, Chuuya was healed by Yosano from Corruption’s damage before the Armed Detective Agency was formed, and was sworn to secrecy by Mori, who had probably paid her. At that time, Chuuya had probably been out of it in one way or another and was to leave right before he woke up. Though, I imagine, when she is offered the chance to heal someone, given the fact that she really does treasure life. One thing I do wonder, is did Yosano have control of her Ability before the Agency? She probably did, or else, the “Angel of Death” would have not been employed by the military. If she did not have control, maybe she just healed anyone within her vicinity on the brink of death. But, that is why I doubt it. This chapter could have been a lot of shock to Yosano, seeing Chuuya once again. Yosano doesn’t seem like the type to lie, rather seems very blunt when she opens her mouth, so to withhold information, like the fact that she was hired to save and heal Chuuya, and act as if she doesn’t know him, probably did more numbers on Yosano than she would like to admit. I believe if Chuuya suggested for them to save Kunikida, she would agree and go along with it.

Off topic: The two probably find each other really pretty. They would most definitely be drink buddies and Chuuya would take Yosano out shopping.EDIT: Yosano worked in the military, and Chuuya was ‘made’ and ‘experimented on’ in the Military, presumably during the Ability War. So perhaps there is connection to that in them as well. It is a possibility, and this is only to be noted, that Yosano could also have an artifical Ability like Chuuya? Or something of the sort? That is something we can’t say for certain, though.

Yosano Akiko and Kunikida Doppo: This is my very last topic, but I want to shed some light. Kunikida, Ranpo, and Yosano were the first ones (other than Fukuzawa) to join the agency. Yosano kind of views Kunikida as her little brother. She most certainly wants to protect Kunikida no matter the cost, and I think that is going to put her in a situation that could get her killed. I also think that between the two of them (Dad and Mom of the Agency), they would try to prevent any other member of the Agency younger than them, say, Atsushi, Tanizaki, Kyouka, or Kenji from being subjected to the life of the Port Mafia. Yosano and Kunikida are shown to be quite close as well, and they look after each other. They also have familiar morals, so that means they could work well together, and probably would for the sake of the Agency. They also have close bonds with Ranpo. All three of them, but namely Yosano and Kunikida, care most about the success of the Agency.

This was a long post, and this is about what I think about chapter 61.5 of Bungou Stray Dogs.

[dazaran]

title: you're still here ship: oda sakunosuke/edogawa ranpo   ft   'Oda was adopted by Fukuzawa too during the events of ln3' au rating: G AO3 link: here!

day two of rarepair week -- prompt : your hand in mine / scars.

The sound of loud, hard footsteps echo down the hall of the hospital building. Nearby nurses and doctors turn to focus on the source of the noise that breaks the silence of the peaceful and melancholic establishment, though it zooms past them before they can give a complaint warning. More accurately, the source is not an ‘it’ but a ‘he’ - Edogawa Ranpo, fresh off a case on the other side of the city, but one phone call from Kunikida was enough to make him order the nearest policeman at the site of his case to drive him straight to the hospital as quickly as possible.

He makes a sharp turn down another hall, and when he reaches the second door to his right, he grabs the door handle and swings it open with too much force. It bangs against the wall protector in the process, but he pays it no mind as he looks at the other side of the room with a frantic expression.

“Sakunosuke!”

A man with red hair sitting up in a hospital bed turns to meet Ranpo's gaze. There's a fresh scratch against his cheek, and gauze is wrapped around his chest from where it peeks out of his hospital gown. “Ranpo...”

Ranpo strides quickly across the room to the man’s side, palms nearly slamming on the edge of the bed before fingers grip tightly against the sheets. It makes the bedridden man wince, but it’s conveniently ignored. “You idiot - you idiot, Oda Sakunosuke! Do you know how I felt, getting a call from Kunikida that you were in the hospital?” he says, voice almost trembling.

Oda lowers his gaze in shame. “... I'm sorry.”

Ranpo shakes his head, lifting his hand to use a sleeve to wipe his nose. “Stupid... You just had to get hurt when Yosano-san’s out of town...”

Really, no one's to blame here. Not Yosano for a trip she planned months in advance because someone up north had some medicine she was eagerly anticipating, not Oda’s... Maybe a little of it was Oda’s selfless personality and the fact some amateur bombers tried to rob a bank, but still.

Ranpo doesn't take injuries of his family well. A concern drilled into his heart from an incident 12 years back, while he didn't have much of a policy for work, he did have a policy of making sure to protect his ‘family’ - the agency. Seeing them get hurt, seeing a possibility of losing them, it was something he hated. After having grown up with the master detective for over the past decade, Oda knew this all too well. He knew, but at the same time... He couldn't let civilians get injured if he could help it. That was the agency’s policy.

Carefully, Oda reaches out to grasp one of Ranpo's hands. Ranpo flinches at the touch, but soon lets his body relax when he meets those warm red eyes. “I'm sorry. I didn't mean for this to happen,” he explains, tone gentle. “Atsushi and I were in the building at the time and had to act. The criminals targeted a woman and her child. We couldn't stand by and do nothing.”

He can't help it. Similar to Kunikida, Oda had a policy about letting people die in his presence. Many years ago, he was on the other side of the spectrum known as ‘life and death’ - he was the hand of death itself, looking into the eyes of many people and never feeling moved whether they begged for help, nor did those glassy lifeless eyes perturb him. Oda is sure he would have remained on that path forever had he not met Fukuzawa, Ranpo, and most importantly Natsume. He was given a new goal in life, a second chance, and while he certainly didn't want to allow it to go all to waste... Oda was no longer a man who could bear the idea of letting someone die.

From the way Ranpo looks at him, he can tell the detective knows it too. After a decade together under Fukuzawa’s leadership, they understood each other; they had a bond with one another that was undeniably strong, even if it all started with a scared young boy possessive over his savior because he didn't want to be alone and a child assassin who didn't know how to feel. Somewhere along the line when distrust faded away and Oda learned what it was like to be a normal person, the two of them had a new issue to overcome - though feelings for each other is relatively much easier. Stupid and cowardly, the fact it took them until they were 22 and 23 to say anything or act was amazing in itself.

Yes, they were stupid in their own ways. They were stupid in a way the other loved more than anything in the world... Like right now, as Ranpo can't keep up his displeased face in front of Oda’s honest expression and concedes with a sigh as he lifts his hands to cup the redhead’s face. He leans forward, just enough to press their foreheads together.

“Jeez... Alright, I'll let it go this time.” Ranpo says, bottom lip jutting out in a pout. “But you better not end up like this again any time soon. I don't... want to see the man I love the most in a hospital bed of all places, when he should be in bed with me at home.”

Oda chuckles softly, lifting a hand to rest atop one of Ranpo’s, leaning forward to press a chaste kiss against his lips. “Knowing you, you planned on climbing into bed with me right now anyway.”

“Oh, great! Less explaining for me, then!”

With a wide smile, Ranpo kicks off his shoes, jumping into Oda’s bed in one fluid motion. The force of his weight against the redhead’s chest makes Oda groan in pain, gritting his teeth as he shifts to make room for the detective. Ranpo doesn’t apologize for it, instead making himself comfortable at Oda’s side with his head resting against one of the man’s broad shoulders. Oda can only sigh, moving his arm to wrap it around Ranpo to have a more comfortable position as he presses a small kiss to Ranpo’s temple.

“Comfortable?”

“If I wasn’t, I’d keep moving until I was~”

“That’s true.” Ranpo did what he wanted, when he wanted, until he was satisfied. That was just the kind of person he was.

There’s a moment of peaceful silence between them, but considering that one of them is a busybody, it’s not long until the detective shifts to slip a hand underneath Oda’s hospital gown to drag fingers over the gauze wrapped around his midsection.

“... How bad are your injuries?”

Oda hums, letting his head fall back against his pillows. “They threw a hand grenade, and I jumped in front of that mother and her child. It was near a window, so I had a fair share of it in me. My life’s not in danger anymore, everything is just going to hurt for a while.”

“Hmm. When Yosano-san comes back, are you going to ask her to heal you up?”

Silence again, this time it being completely Oda’s fault. Eventually, the redhead clears his throat, then shifts in his bed. “I’d rather heal up the old fashioned way for this, no offense to her...”

Ranpo throws his head back with a laugh. “Even after all these years, you’re still scared of her treatment!! You’re the senpai, you know.”

“I know...” Oda looks away, scratching his cheek in embarrassment. “It’s not as if you act like you’re a fan either. Her ability is terrifying, after all...”

“I’m not a fan of getting hurt, but if it comes down to my life, I’d trust her with it.” the detective speaks with complete confidence, a smile on his face which soon softens as green eyes move to look at Oda’s face. “And I trust you with my life too. You’ve saved it enough, after all.”

“You’re still going on about that...”

“Ehh? Not just the first time, of course, but the first time is the most important!”

Understandably so, as without Oda exposing the location of some men who tried to hire him, Ranpo would have most likely been sold on the black market as a slave. It was on nothing more than a whim that Oda told the then-bodyguard Fukuzawa, but never did he think that what transpired afterwards would lead to his own life changing as well and now - Well, here they were. The agency was created so that Ranpo and Oda could use their talents in a safe environment, while Fukuzawa watched over as their guardian.

Of course, the two of them weren’t children anymore and lived in their own apartments now. (Sometimes, as Ranpo was rather flighty and enjoyed company over the loneliness of his messy apartment.)

Tracing circles on Oda’s abdomen idly, Ranpo exhales. “... Do you think they’ll scar?”

“Who knows.” a pause as Oda sinks more into the bed, bringing Ranpo closer. “Are you just asking that because you have some sort of fetish for mine?”

“How crude of you to say~ You say that as if I like to watch you get hurt!” the detective smiles, knowing that Oda’s accusation isn’t exactly completely wrong. “Well... I do like them, but not for no reason.”

Oda arches a questioning brow. “I don’t understand.”

A small hum, and soon Ranpo allows his hand to merely rest against Oda’s body. “They just remind me that despite everything you’ve been through, despite all your struggling, you’re still here. You’re still alive and fighting.”

“Ranpo...”

Ranpo gives a childish, incoherent noise, burying his face in Oda’s shoulder. “This is embarrassing, I’m not saying anymore! Bottom line, I’m just happy you’re okay - okay? Got it?”

That didn’t last very long. Oh well, Ranpo’s genuine sentiment never did before he got embarrassed and immediately closed in on himself. Oda personally always found it rather endearing, which is only made evident now in the way he grabs for Ranpo’s hand resting against his abdomen to bring it to his lips, pressing a kiss against Ranpo’s fingertips.

“Thank you, Ranpo. I love you too.”

“... I-I didn’t... say that.”

“You don’t have to. I’m a part of the Armed Detective Agency too - I have some skills. And... I should know the personality of my lover after we’ve been together for years.”

This quells any further argument from the detective. Ranpo is quiet for a moment, lacing their fingers together before squeezing lightly. “You should rest for a while. You’re still healing.”

“I should.” Oda returns the squeeze, nuzzling into Ranpo’s hair. “Stay here and rest with me?”

“Well, I did finish my case...” Ranpo curls into the redhead’s side with a content noise. “I guess there’s no helping it~ Alright!”

Yosano returns to Yokohama by 3 in the afternoon. Atsushi is quick to inform her of the situation with himself and Oda under Kunikida’s order, even though his knees shake and buckle under her unnerving stare and sing-song question of ‘do you need treatment?’ . Of course he doesn’t. Atsushi rarely does, but Yosano loves getting a rise out of him regardless, as he’s quite the theatrical one like Tanizaki. She says she’ll go check on Oda’s condition at the hospital in Atsushi’s stead, and struts off out the door with her medical bag in hand.

When she gets there, one of the nurses is more than happy to direct her towards Oda’s room, and Yosano bows her head politely before walking down the hall. She stops just outside the hospital room with a gloved hand on the doorknob, inhaling before giving a smile and entering the room.

“Oda-kun, Atsushi-kun tells me that you were injured,” she coos, closing the door behind her first before turning around. “Shall I tend to your-”

Her voice is soon cut short when her gaze settles on the man. He’s fast asleep in the afternoon sunshine, not even the opening of the door capable of waking him from his slumber. His arms are wrapped around Ranpo’s small frame that is so contently sleeping atop his chest, curled into Oda as if he were a cat. Their hands are still holding one another’s - and Yosano can’t help but give a smile as she rested her hands on her hips.

“Geez... Now how can I think about bullying you when you and Ranpo look so content?” Yosano thinks aloud, knowing very well they won’t be able to respond to her.

Well, ruining such an endearing sight would be too much of a shame... Yosano opts for walking over to ruffle Ranpo’s hair affectionately, then Oda’s.

“Sweet dreams, you two.” she says with a soft smile, and quietly makes her exit out of the hospital room.

Oda and Ranpo don’t even stir from their slumber, all too content and safe in each other’s arms.

[detortum]

Dazai’s thought process:

|| I figured I should write some more about the psychological process behind the way my muse’s mind works. I have my own headcanons, which can be just as easily entirely not canon, because I base a lot of them on the real life counterpart, specifically the book No Longer Human since I finally got to read it during my vacation. 

As I’ve written before, Dazai comes from a family with several siblings and I portray Dazai as having been mentally and physically abused by his father and perhaps, if we take into count what happened to rl Dazai, the servants and cousins too. Afterwards, he was taken in by Mori, which couldn’t have been very healthy either.

To start things of, when I see younger Dazai, so 18 years and younger, I sometimes see the children with autism i taught during my several internships. 

Allow me to explain why I sometimes use that experience~

Dazai finds humans difficult to understand. Emotions and feelings are part of this. Rl Dazai shows in No Longer Human that the MC often thought differently than everyone else around him. He often seemed emotionless and was constantly figuring out people’s motives, drive, feelings and thoughts, how they came to be and why they think the way they do.  One example that really stuck with me is when the MC, as a young child, couldn’t figure out why humans had to eat three times a day. Why did humans follow this ritual? Why was it needed? Food was bland to him, had no taste, he didn’t like it and didn’t want to eat, but he did eat every time because that was what everyone else did. He followed the ritual to be ‘the good child’. Later at night however, when he was supposed to be asleep, he’d be frustrated at the thought: why do humans have to eat three times a day? 

I headcanon that Dazai had similar struggles as a child. He couldn’t figure most things out. When I talk to a child with autism, i find it important to keep a neutral stance and expression, only show the necessary emotion when needed, because they need more time than a child with a normal development to process what I said and what they want to respond in return. Expressions are often confusing to them.  Another thing is sarcasm, while I’ve known teens with autism who make sarcastic jokes themselves, whenever I make one however, they will just stare at me confused and I can almost hear them thinking: did she mean that? Is that true? Was she making a joke?

One thing I really like about Dazai and Odasaku’s relationship is that Odasaku has this neutrality around him. He doesn’t judge, doesn’t scold or praise. Instead, he listens to what Dazai says and needs from him. He asks questions and makes remarks to encourage him to ramble on about whatever Dazai is chatting to him about. I think this is partly why Dazai found solace around Odasaku. He didn’t have to figure him out as much as he has to figure out other human beings. Odasaku was calm, confident and honest. 

Another thing when it comes to emotions and feelings, is whenever Chuuya shows genuine concern or does something out of the ordinary, like avoiding and ignoring him in one thread we have. It confuses Dazai a lot because it is something he fails to comprehend. The genuine tone and expression that shows worry makes all the radars in Dazai’s mind go haywire because he wants to figure out why Chuuya is concerned about him. Surely, he doesn’t have to be? Why isn’t he his usual snappy self?  And about the ignoring and avoiding, Chuuya has been a constant ‘pillar’ in his life after he was adopted by Mori in HS verse, so seeing Chuuya avoiding him all of the sudden straight up makes him want to panic.  

He spends a lot of time trying to figure out what is happening and why it is happening when it comes to his romantic relationship with Chuuya. ‘Suddenly’ he has all these feelings (which were there before, but he very slowly takes notice of them) and has to figure those out on top of everything else. 

I am specifically talking about 18yo Dazai, and younger perhaps, but not his current 22yo old self because I think being with the Agency, a good environment and one where people are used to others being ‘odd’ and not ‘like everyone else’ helped Dazai to learn a few things, such as taking on certain habits like drinking coffee every morning and then start working afterwards (though, Dazai never stops procrastinating and messing with Kunikida instead). He also learned the value of protecting the orphans, as Odasaku ‘ordered’ him to do. It is his main drive to follow Odasaku’s example, because I also headcanon that Dazai’s alignment is true neutral and not specifically ‘good’. He does ‘appreciate’ humans more now and their ‘good nature’ and need to protect. He will do anything in his power to give children like Atsushi and Kyouka (I suppose Akutagawa now too since he is a different story in this case) a future they deserve, a future he received thanks to Odasaku. 

Another point is Akutagawa. He didn’t treat him well, far from it, Dazai was never raised with kindness and patience. First the upbringing from his confusing biological family and then after he turned 9 and ran away, Mori Ougai, which could not have been a good environment for Dazai either. I guess Mori did have patience for Dazai, but did mentally abuse him so he could turn him into his puppet and pull the strings for him. In either the anime or the light novel he mentioned he didn’t see why he should treat Akutagawa any different than he’s been treated in the past. At that point in time he never learned how children need to be taught (patience, care, stimulating environment etc). He only knew the harsh upbringing he received. His lack of understanding humans and feeling empathy (at that point in time mind you) didn’t exactly help the situation either. 

I do think Dazai found several coping mechanisms to keep himself from ‘going mad’ as he likes to call it sometimes, such as reading books because he does understand those, it’s clear language to him, alcohol and drugs (sadly), since they help slow his rapid and intelligent thought process, so to escape that from time to time helps him. 

His bandages are also a coping mechanism for him. There are both physical and mental scars. When Odasaku pulled off the bandages around his eye, there was no scar to be found, from there my headcanon came forth that Dazai has mental scars and ‘covers them up’ by wrapping bandages around that part. Maybe he had a wound on his eye in the past and it healed, but his mental recovery wasn’t nearly as quick as the physical one, so he kept the bandage around it, as if it would help him ‘forget’ and ‘heal’. The physical scars are from his childhood with his biological family and the wounds from hurting himself, like cutting himself, having hanged himself, etc. 

[bungou-stray-dogs-indulgences]

May I have a few headcanons for highschool Atsushi, Dazai and Naomi?? A few with a s/o and a few just in general please

Nakajima Atsushi

If you’re out sick for a few days and need review materials, Atsushi’s your go-to guy. His notes are absolutely impeccable. Once you decipher his slightly messy handwriting (he rarely dots his ‘i’s and sometimes his ‘m’s look like they’ve got one too many humps), his notes are practically a student’s holy grail. Not only are the sheets color coded, they’re practically word-for-word copies of the teachers’ lectures. Atsushi even triple-underlines what’s going to be included on future tests.

How he got roped into Dazai’s squad, Atsushi can’t quite figure out. He’s not totally dull, but he’s nowhere near Dazai’s caliber. All Atsushi knows is that one day, Dazai unexpectedly defended him from the school’s resident assholes and now he’s squashed between Ranpo and Kenji at the lunch table, nervously trying to mediate the Dazai and Kunikida’s daily spats.

Atsushi’s universally known as the school’s nice guy, a fact that eternally befuddles him. So what if he carries your books if you’ve got full arms, or always cleans up his groups’ lab station after Biology, or brings in donuts sometimes on Fridays? It’s not like he’s going that far out of his way! Atsushi’s convinced that he doesn’t deserve the title.

Despite the fact that he gets quite a few sideways glances, Atsushi always brings in adorable bento boxes for his lunch. Rice balls end up decorated with kitten faces, sporting seaweed whiskers and cubed ham eyeballs. Fruit’s always arranged in a bright rainbow, sprinkled with sugar and perfectly arranged. Any dish from bits of grilled pork to noodles looks straight from the pages of a cooking magazine.

Romantic

The mere thought of giving you affection in front of classmates sends Atsushi in panic mode, cold sweat breaking out and stomach churning. He wants to show everyone you’re together (especially since none of the girls that ask him out—there’s a surprisingly long list—actually believe he’s in a relationship when he denies them), but even summoning the courage to grab your hand is beyond him. Getting Atsushi to show love in front of classmates is probably an impossible task; you’ll simply have to initiate and enjoy it while you can before he passes out from embarrassment.

Atsushi often plans study dates, but they rarely turn out as anticipated. When he’s around you, his mind just starts shooting in all different directions like a rabbit on steroids. Textbooks can’t catch his attention like the shape of your lips, or your eyelashes, or the smoothness of your skin. Eventually he just ends up suffering as he stares at you, trying to force his eyes back on his notes and dramatically failing. Only when you snap your book shut, suggesting that the two of you take a break, does he get any relief.

When your back is turned, Atsushi stashes tiny messages inside your textbooks. Nothing elaborate’s written on these notes— just a few sweet words, like ‘You can make it through the day!’  or ‘Atsushi adores you more than anything!’. Hiding these sticky notes for you is his way of holding your hand, guiding you through your toughest classes even when he’s ten rooms farther down the hall.

Dazai Osamu

All of the teachers are downright shocked Dazai hasn’t dropped out yet. He swings average grades, sure, but the boy just seems horrendously unmotivated. After his best friends left—Odasaku dropped out to care for his younger siblings, and Ango transferred—the staff thought for sure Dazai would only be sticking around for another week, at most. Why he still shows up to class puzzles them completely, though they’ve all agreed it’s probably got something to do with you and that oddball crew he’s been hanging around.

Showing up on time for class is not Dazai’s strong point. First hour usually sees him casually sauntering through the door, coffee thermos in hand and clad in sweatpants, half an hour late. The teachers have tried cracking down on his less-than-punctual habits, but detention never seems to shake him. At this point, they’re tired of dealing with him, so they leave the classroom door unlocked and settle for giving Dazai the evil-eye as he settles in his desk.

Nobody’s neutral on Dazai; either you love him, or you hate him. Judging by the flood of love letters that spill out of his locker every morning, most students—the hormonal females, at least—adore him. Really, the only people in the ‘we hate Dazai’ camp are the brothers of Dazai’s ex-playthings, pissed off that he fooled around with their sisters.

More often than not, Dazai’s high in class. While he doesn’t pop pills like he used too, the boy’s still fond of a blunt or two when he rolls out of bed in the morning, and his first-to-third hour bloodshot eyes clearly show it. He’s built up his tolerance enough so that he’s barely affected by starting the day with drugs, but when he shows up to school floating on the edge of a high it’s still relatively noticeable (especially when he gets the giggles in Logic II. We all know binary’s not that funny, Dazai, cool it before you get expelled.)

Romantic

Getting away with getting frisky in class is child’s play for Dazai. He rarely even warns you before his fingers subtly slide into your pants in the middle of Biology. ‘Can I make ________ moan in class without getting in trouble’ quickly morphs into Dazai’s favorite game, and soon he’s springing his nimble hands on you almost twice a day.

Unfortunately for the custodian, Dazai often tugs you into the janitor’s closet for a bit of break-time fun. It’s cramped, sure; being crowded by brooms and shelves of bleach doesn’t do much to set the mood. It’s private and it locks from the inside, though, and that’s all Dazai is really after. As long as he can slide your pants off for a bit of dessert after lunch break is over, he’s satisfied.

Although in the past he’s fooled around quite a bit, Dazai makes it perfectly clear that he intends to take his relationship with you seriously. Every flirtatious look or lingering touch is immediately shut down with a cold glare and an eerily cheerful ‘You seem to have forgotten about _______; that’s alright, though, because I certainly haven’t.’ Dazai’s a reformed flirt now, and his mind’s only on you, no matter how short the cheerleaders’ skirts get.

Tanizaki Naomi

While Naomi’s not a big fan of classes in general, Culinary Arts manages to get her excited for one time slot, at least. Cooking’s a piece of cake—especially when convincing her brother to do it all for her is simple as batting her eyelashes and handing him a whisk. Mainly, Naomi samples the dishes and that’s about it; if she’s feeling ambitious, she might frost a cake or chop some vegetables, but that’s where her efforts stop.

Naomi never shows up to first hour without her trusty Starbucks in hand. It’s the same drink swirling around in that cup every morning, too; a chocolate chip frappe with extra whip and chocolate drizzle.

Naomi’s caused a bit of a civil war in the staff; half of the teachers hail her as an angel, and half regard her as a goddamn problem. Naturally, Naomi’s a sweetheart; until she’s angry, that is. Too many teachers have learned the hard way that giving Naomi a lunch hour for whispering to Haruno during a lecture is not worth it. Once she’s holding a grudge against a teacher her personal mission becomes giving them hell. Every word out of a teacher’s mouth is met with some sassy comment, and if Naomi despises them enough, she’ll resort to just plain, malicious insults. Naomi made a substitute cry once all on her own, and since then the teachers generally try to stay far away from the girl’s bad side.

All of Naomi’s school supplies are absolutely adorable. Animal motifs remain her favorite; most of her notebooks and binders are emblazoned with cute foxes, kittens, or some other equally-huggable mammal. If illustrations don’t cross the cover when she buys a book, she’ll sketch them in herself (after all, what else is she going to do during Geometry?).

Romantic

Enrolling in all of the classes that you’re in is Naomi’s number-one priority. Even one hour away from you is enough to send her into a pouty mood. ‘Clingy’ is practically Naomi’s middle name, and while she can handle time apart from you, she just doesn’t want to.

Hopefully you’re not flustered by PDA, because Naomi sure isn’t. Rarely do you make it two steps down the hallway before Naomi’s twining her fingers through yours, pecking a tiny kiss on your cheek in greeting. If her desk ends up behind yours, Naomi’s constantly burying her fingers in your hair, massaging your scalp and working her way down until she’s chasing the knots and aches from your shoulders (as long as you return the favor when you’re sitting behind her!). The lunchroom, however, is her favorite spot to shower affection. Naomi spends the entire break perched on your lap, demanding you feed her yourself. Every successful bite is rewarded with a sweet kiss.

Naomi’s locker is practically a scrapbook of your relationship. Pictures smother every surface, all of your favorite memories lined in washi tape and propped on the metal. If anyone criticizes her mini-shrine, Naomi’s instantly pouting; what’s wrong with having pictures of the two of you, she wonders. Not often does she hold grudges, but if someone insults her collage, Naomi’s complaining to you about them for the next three weeks.

[akutagawaprize]

You'll talk someday about how the Port Mafia is portrayed? ( not the bightest bulbs in the chandelier huh. Not the most subtle either) im not trying to rush you, it bothers me too and im just curious. I like your analysis. Have a nice day

Haha all kidding aside, I’ve been meaning to talk about them for quite a while now. It’s just that I want the stuff I write to make sense, because usually they’re self-indulgent rambles. And this one won’t be an exception, especially since I have so many feelings about Port Mafia.

Usually it’s the protagonists who are outmatched, outgunned, outnumbered, or just generally outclassed. Through sheer force of will and nakama power perfect teamwork do they come out on top. Even then sacrifices have to be made. At the start, the Armed Detective Agency seemed like it will follow this mold, but soon we are introduced to their abilities.

On paper and in practice, the abilities of the members of ADA greatly complement each other. This means that even with few active operatives who can work on the field, they got all bases covered. If this were an MMO they’d have Atsushi and Kenji as tanks, Atsushi again and then Kunikida for DPS, Tanizaki going for Assistance/Crowd Control, Fukuzawa as Buffer, Dazai as Debuffer and of course, Yosano as their Healer. Not to mention Ranpo, the formidable brains behind their operations (with Dazai as backup, or even vice versa).

Now let’s take a look at the mafia. Not counting Odasaku, in their group who doesn’t have an offensive ability? Ace? Sure, but his ability only applies to his subordinates, and anyway he’s also dead. See the problem? Chuuya probably has the most versatile ability in the mafia right now, but it’s either he takes great pride in his prowess as a martial artist or he just can’t think of creative ways to take advantage of the fact that he can, well, manipulate gravity. There’s also Elise, who seems to be “programmed” to be able to do feats no ordinary human can, but we don’t know much about her. Outside of these two, the one who impresses is Kajii. His ability sounded like a joke sure, but he knows how to make use of it and in the right circumstances, can be that one member to watch out for. There’s also talks about another executive member or two. Whether one exists we don’t know, but I can only hope they’ll possess an ability that is a supportive one, or something gamechanging like mind reading or memory wipe.

Don’t get me wrong! It is rather refreshing to see a team full of competent people, especially in their line of work where they’ll find themselves smack dab in the middle of dirty matters the police and the military would rather not handle. That they are well-rounded means it’s easy to imagine why the government would want their help, why they get the requests they do, and why they are favored to take on cases that will pit them against criminals/evildoers who have their own deadly abilities.

But at the same time, the agency members seem almost… overpowered. They have limits and restrictions, true, but these barely influence how they use their abilities. The times they get into action, the enemies have done absolutely nothing to counter them or anticipate their movements… which is a shame really! Heroes are only as good as the villains who oppose their ideologies and this time, Fyodor has Port Mafia beat in spades.

Imagine Chapter 47 with Tanizaki using Kunikida’s note (while he can materialize objects remotely we didn’t know if anybody else could activate it or if distance was gonna an issue, but this does not break previously established rules so it gets a pass) to materialize a switchblade. Wouldn’t it have been far more interesting if one of them saw the trap, retaliated, and then caught Tanizaki off-guard, causing him to use his illusion to play mind games, make them question each other, heck make them question their own senses. But we don’t see any of it, we just see Tanizaki tricking everyone and it’s frustrating to watch, especially since they are already aware of what Tanizaki can do and have taken no measures to ensure he won’t be able to pull the same trick twice.

You see this with Akutagawa and Chuuya too, both preferring brute strength over anything else. Would it have been too OOC to have a panel of Chuuya looking/glancing around, trying to eliminate any possibilities of a trap? I’m sure Ranpo would have succeeded in luring Chuuya regardless but no matter how hotblooded Chuuya is, he’s a mafia executive still! There should be an ounce of logic in that brain. If the one at the top is this hopeless, what about the others?

I wasn’t particularly affected by that scene in Episode 4/Chapter 5 where the ADA systematically wrecks Black Lizard and mops the floor with them because I knew they were the equivalent to Red Shirts despite being properly introduced and being called commanders of an elite fighting squad… Okay, okay, reading what I just typed and looking back, it does make you wonder whether the mafia’s full of jobbers like these guys or if the ones at the top are just much, much scarier. Akutagawa was beaten by an untrained and inexperienced Atsushi who had been with ADA in just, what, a month or two? Chuuya’s an executive who looks cool and has an ability that is even cooler, but stick him next to Dazai and he becomes a sheepdog who’s all bark and no bite. Let’s not forget how he can only activate the “true” form of his ability if Dazai’s there to cancel it or else his body will give up on him. Kouyou looks like she means business, but she goes soft for Kyouka. Despite saying she’d stay in the mafia to help run their organization, one couldn’t help but wonder based on her recent actions whether she’s having second thoughts. The Black Lizard… No comment. Higuchi… She’s a badass Muggle, but a Muggle nonetheless.

Mori? Now we’re talking. In episode 21/Chapter 30 we learn that the previous leader had gone delirious and started giving out illogical orders, resulting to confusion and punishing losses on the mafia’s side. Mori relieves the leader of his duty, with a young Dazai as the sole witness. Mori has ambitions, but the exchange also implies that if the leader hadn’t let things escalate to such a sorry state then Mori wouldn’t have needed to go that far. Remember, at the conclusion of the 3 Way War Arc, he gave Kouyou the option of staying or running away. He may be coolheaded, but he’s not coldblooded. All of the actions he takes are to ensure the continued survival of the mafia, which is why unless some other canon information comes out, I’ll choose to believe that until now Mori is wrestling with the idea of killing Dazai for good or letting him be. I won’t put it past Mori to think up of a plan to convince Dazai to go back willingly, even putting his life on the line. Just as he won’t kill Dazai, he’s sure Dazai won’t kill him because once that happens there will be no turning back. So as long as the chance of Dazai returning is not at 0%, Mori will keep Dazai alive until he is sure he won’t have any need for him in the future.

Moving on, this is all rather awkward, but one glaring weakness of Port Mafia right now is just how damn good Mori is at his job. His absence leaves such a vacuum that everything is thrown out of order. There is no one to assume command the same way he can; the successor he’d groomed has long jumped ship. All other candidates for his replacement are woefully inadequate and ill-prepared. It’s a fate which calls to mind those great conquerors whose kingdoms fell into ruin not too long after they have passed away. Again, this is probably why Mori had invited Dazai back even if he was the one who chased him out in the first place.The thing is, no one has shown awareness of this. There has been no talk about any fear for the future, about what would happen post-Mori. The way the mafia acts, they think they’re invincible, that the halcyon days would never come to an end. Never mind that the ADA and maybe even the police had cornered them with their backs pressed against the wall a few couple times. To maf members, their strength and number are enough; sense, caution and tactics can come later. Ironic, considering these are things Mori presumably values and holds in high regards.

The Port Mafia has no unifying goal, so to speak. Of course, the ultimate point of the mafia is to make money, with violence as a currency they are willing to spend on those who won’t bow their heads. It’s a choice of lifestyle for those who enjoy crime and the taste of power… for those who find it easier to be dishonest… and maybe those who simply have nowhere else to go back to like that kid who became Ace’s collared subordinate. The mafia is their home, but unlike with the ADA, they didn’t join to make friends or play house. Again, most of them are probably motivated by money. That’s why when Mori was incapacitated, they didn’t have the same desperation as ADA, even with Hirotsu saying they are fighting to prove their worth by protecting their boss.

Finally, while the Port Mafia are heralded as “wardens of the night” and are comfortable in monitoring and participating in underground dealings and criminal activities in Yokohama, outside of their jurisdiction they hold little power. They have no ties to other organizations, no allies to back them up. ADA can count on the government for support for example. Add to that, Lucy and Poe from the Guild are practically unofficial members now. So how about the mafia? Is it possible that other port cities like Kobe and Nagasaki have their own mafia, and are affiliated with Yokohama’s Port Mafia? What about international ties? Knowing Mori, they should have built up a network of clients and freelancers, ones the executives or the mafia’s Intelligence Division could have called upon once it was clear Mori was in grave danger and that the enemy knows mostly everyone in their organization. Outside help, one which the enemy wouldn’t have suspected, would have gone a long, long way and would have at least messed up some of ADA’s plans.

In wanting to give the heroes some spotlight, Asagiri-san has forgotten that the mafia has just as much as stake as the agency, but are not fighting like it. They are old dogs who won’t learn new tricks, while ADA has this “adapt or die” mindset. They have smartly split up into two groups (or 3, if you count Ranpo by himself) to explore all the options that could save Fukuzawa’s life. It’s probably this difference in their way of thinking that for a “rival organization”, the mafia has become bland and underwhelming.

scanlation credit: Dazai Scans, Easy Going Scans

[leonawriter]

Home Territory

Read it on AO3

Fandom: Bungo Stray Dogs/Mononoke

Pairings: Dazai/Chuuya

Characters: Kunikida, Dazai, Atsushi, Ranpo, Chuuya, Fukuzawa, Mori.

Summary: Kunikida has concerns over Dazai's living arrangements, and fixes things with paperwork. Chuuya is having a crisis of his own, of a far more benign nature. And both Fukuzawa and Mori are reminded of how difficult being the leader of an organisation is when your subordinates aren't always human.

(Part four in the “Not All Kitsune Have Nine Tails” ‘verse. Follows “Smoke and Fox-Fire.”)

...

Once could be passed off as a fluke. A case gone south didn't always end up with everyone back at the agency, or even back home, so with Dazai having gone missing partway through things taking a turn for the strange, he hadn't even questioned Atsushi on why he hadn't come back with a bandaged nuisance in tow that night.

The next morning he'd been similarly distracted by the fact that despite not having seen or heard him arrive or leave the Agency's dorms, there Dazai had been, in all of his red and fluffy glory on his chair, and making more trouble than usual. And that was saying something, given that what was usual was making Kunikida want to tear his hair out.

He had started to actually notice on the second night, when the dorms - despite it being late enough that Dazai should have been back, in theory - were yet again noticeably quiet.

He must have gone out drinking again, is his first thought on that, although something about it feels off. Possibly because Dazai hadn't on one of his notorious pub crawls that would inevitably end up with the police calling him up in the middle of the night for quite some time now, and- it struck him as he continued that train of thought, why it felt wrong. Dazai had been arrested not all that long ago. Not for something as minor as disorderly behaviour, either, but his actual crimes. The serious ones. Surely he wouldn't put himself in that sort of situation again so soon after such an experience...?

Even so, Dazai never showed up all throughout Kunikida's own nighttime preparations, and he wasn't about to interrupt his own schedule and routine for one man just because that was probably what Dazai wanted. 

So he came into work again the next morning... and there Dazai was. Again. 

Whatever he had been up to, it certainly didn't seem as though he could have been drinking, or at least not to the degree that he had found him in countless times before. There was no lingering smell of alcohol on his clothes, or smoke, that would follow him around the room if that were the case, as had happened before. If anything, there was a sort of musk that followed him now that hadn't before, which confused him until he realised that it was the scent of fur.

None of which explained where Dazai had been the past few nights.

All he was left with was the vague idea that he couldn't have been roughing it in a park - and why do such a thing anyway, when he had a perfectly warm and dry bed to go back to? - or drinking until he rotted away in a cell, and he was clearly going somewhere.

Somewhere that both Ranpo and Atsushi, it seemed, were aware of. Which... while reassuring, and made him at least feel that wherever Dazai had been it couldn't have been anything that would put him in any sort of danger, or anything would be a cause for concern, was still frustrating. 

Somewhere that made him at least several minutes to an hour later to work each day, he noted, a glance at the clock telling him that it was closer to the latter this time than the former.

The door to the office opening inward disrupted his thoughts as he prepared for either a client having come on foot, or Dazai, and at this point either was a distinct possibility - only for the first thing to come through the doorway to be an impossibility he had somehow grown used to over the past several days.

A single red ear made way for brown hair and then a second red ear, and then the rest of Dazai followed suit, attempting to saunter into the office and take to his place without being noticed, by the seems of it.

"Dazai."

Dazai froze, and then turned- no, first he flicked an ear in his direction, and then he turned to face him properly. Which was still going to take some getting used to. Ears - anatomy in general - wasn't supposed to work like that. It just wasn't. Not on human beings-

And there it is again, he thinks, catching himself for not the first or last time. Because Dazai, not that it should have even come as a surprise given how inhumanly irritating he could be, wasn't a human being. At least not entirely.

"Eh?" Another ear flick. "Did Kunikida-kun want something or did he just want to make sure I hadn't forgotten my name?"

Breathe, he reminded himself. Do not twist the damn fox's ears just because he's trying to deflect on purpose.

Because, he had to be. Dazai hadn't said a word about this to anyone in the past several days, and... even if no one else was bothered, even if no one else was wondering what was going on or felt concerned at all, Kunikida wasn't anyone else, and the entire situation was starting to grate on him.

"I don't suppose you could explain to me exactly where you've been for the past several nights?"

And there was the up side to the strange new body language. It was harder for Dazai to completely mask his reactions to things unless he used what he had somehow figured out the previous day about his newfound ability to use illusions - not that Dazai had ever needed illusions to make trouble in the first place - and hide his non-human features entirely. In which case it would go without saying that there was something he didn't want to to share.

"I could," Dazai said slowly. "But I don't see why I should have to. I'm not in any danger anyone needs to rescue me from, and I'm coming to work each day-"

"Not that you actually do anything that could be called 'work'," Kunikida couldn't stop himself from correcting.

"-so it isn't as if there's a problem, if-"

"You're late every single day, and we don't know where you are! I fail to see how there isn't a problem with this!" He cuts across Dazai's excuses and the next thing he knows, he's leaving a report half-written to stand up at his desk. "Do I really need to point out that there have been several times in the past few months when you would vanish, and you'd turn up some time later - hours, days, weeks - only for us to find out that actually, what we," and he was perfectly well aware that when it come to some cases, the earlier ones especially, "we" was mostly "him", "had assumed was just more of your slacking off was actually a serious incident that we should have been made aware of!"

The incident with Dazai getting captured and imprisoned by the Port Mafia back before the alliance - before, not that he had been aware at the time, Dazai had been in more danger than any other Agency member due to being seen by the mafia as a traitor. With that in mind, even with it being Dazai who was as slippery as the kitsune trickster he apparently was, it was nothing short of a miracle he had made it out alive.

The serial apple suicides. Getting shot right before the Agency and the mafia went into disarray. 

No one had even known where he had been or what had happened to him to even know that he had been arrested until much later, an entire period of time spent not knowing what his status was, whether he was alive or dead, to say nothing of if he had a plan.

At some point, Dazai's ears had flattened back onto his head, staring at him. 

"But I'm... I'm fine," Dazai was saying now. Weakly, as if he really didn't see what the issue was. Looking around, only to realise that the office had quieted down to the barest hush of voices, and only then in the direction of the clerks who had come back in spite of everything.

"Even if that's the case, it's still not something that I can stand to let lie, when I'm fine doesn't tell us where you've been."

Dazai has his mouth half open to say something else, whatever it is, but he doesn't get the chance.

"Kunikida has a point, you know." Ranpo, it seemed, was finding the conversation topic serious enough to put down the pastry he'd been eating, even if there were still crumbs on his mouth and fingers. "We're not asking you to come back, if that's what you're worried about."

"We aren't-? I for one would much prefer it if he did come back! At least then-"

"No, we're not. He's a fox, Kunikida. You can't make foxes go where they don't want to go. If Dazai's fine where he is, then he's fine where he is - but at the same time, like I said. You've got a point, because we don't know where he's been."

The last was aimed directly at Dazai himself, with all the authority of Ranpo's extra years and - apparently - extra experience in terms of other matters, that Kunikida had learned during the latter part of the previous day.

"And what if I don't want to tell anyone where I'm staying?"

"Then I'd say you're being a selfish brat," Kunikida ground out, taking only some small amount of satisfaction in the way that Dazai's eyes widened, and he backed away a step, seeming for all the world as though he was just giving them all the same bratty attitude as always - if it weren't for how his ears and tail were quivering like a cornered dog. Which Dazai himself didn't seem to even be aware of.

He sighed, hand pinching the bridge of his nose and then re-adjusting his glasses.

It takes only a few paces to get around his desk - leaving the half-finished report still staring back at him from his computer screen, and wasn't that just like Dazai to interrupt his work even when it wasn't on purpose - and find the filing cabinet with the forms that he knows have rarely had any use, and perhaps that should be fixed, and for more than just Dazai, but with the way everyone in the Agency is... they'd simply never gotten around to it, and for one good reason.

"Kunikida-kun, what are you...?"

"Most of the agents tend not to bother with these, but that's usually because it's seen as unnecessary. The Director doesn't enforce it for the same reason. Would you care to guess what that is?"

"Because it's boring?"

"Because everyone else lives in the same place. The Agency's dorms mean that it's harder for something to just plain happen when no one is watching or aware. And if something happens, we all know- and because we all know, there's no need to contact anyone else." He pulled out the form that he'd been searching for. "If you really aren't coming back, you could at least fill that in."

"...you want to put my new address on the system," Dazai said after a full minute of reading the thing. "I can't do that."

"Dazai-!"

It confirmed his rising suspicions that there was a new address involved, that Dazai hadn't simply not been returning back to the dorms for any other reason, but the outright refusal-

"He's gonna need the next one, Kunikida," he heard, Ranpo's voice pulling him back from the brink of outright throttling his infuriating partner. The next one. Of course he had thought of that, but who could possibly...? And yet, Ranpo seemed certain.

So, out came the "next" form. The one that usually went with the first one. The one that he hadn't even thought Dazai would be able to have filled out, if he had just found somewhere else to stay, somehow. 

Something shifts.

Atsushi, who had been looking between the two of them with some level of anxiety, attempted - and succeeded - to get behind Dazai to look past him at what Kunikida had given him. When he saw, the kid's eyes widened, brows rose, and then he looked first at Dazai and then at Ranpo.

"Oh," the kid said, "I get it. I never needed one of those because... but... d'you really think that person will..?"

Which outright confirmed that Atsushi knew who Dazai was staying with, that he was staying with someone, and hadn't told anyone else. Ranpo he could understand, because he was Ranpo - he'd probably been able to take one good look at Dazai over the past several days and could have figured how exactly what was going on without any help at all.

Dazai, meanwhile, just shrugged and folded up both forms, putting them in an inner pocket of his coat and leaving Kunikida to wonder if they'd simply disappear over the course of the day, or turn up with immature doodles all over them.

...

Dazai wasn't sure when the words come love, sleep had somehow turned into the sound of Chuuya closing the door behind him and kicking off his shoes, or hearing him call out I'm home just like he had ever since his third night staying over. Because the first night had just been the two of them collapsing into bed together and not being sure who would still be there come morning, and the second hadn't really been expected-

But somehow, somewhere along the way, Chuuya has been letting him make himself at home.

There's his own sleeping yukata waiting on the bed, since it's more comfortable now than pyjamas, and his toothbrush is in Chuuya's bathroom. Chuuya has started to buy canned crab (again; he remembers when they were partners and Chuuya would just shove it in his face when he hadn't been eating at all, because he hadn't seen the point, and looking back it was probably the fact that Chuuya had wrestled him into it and remembering that there was worth being there for and paying attention to, rather than the crab itself).

The previous night, they'd somehow wound up with Chuuya sitting normally - more or less - on his sofa, while Dazai's head rested in his lap, half of Chuuya's attention on the reports he'd brought home and had brought out despite Dazai's protests, and half on Dazai's head, including his ears, which he knew were soft and, when he was in his more human form, by far more accessible than the only other fluffy part of him.

Especially with the fact that being a hanyou apparently came with sharp bits - claws, and teeth, and sometimes he could control them, but he couldn't always, and sometimes... sometimes Chuuya's furniture suffered the consequences. 

He kept expecting harsh admonishments, because he'd often caused less harm when he'd done things on purpose - maybe Chuuya didn't see it that way, but at least shifting all of his belongings an inch to the left just to see him come to work the next day covered in bruises had been harmless, as had been covering everything Chuuya had owned at the time with (unused) old bandages, just because of some insult he had wanted his partner to regret having made.

But Chuuya... Chuuya noticed, and made strange, odd noises in the back of his throat like he was trying to strangle something back there, and he'd breathe, and just... move on. He had to notice, when there were scratches in the upholstery and the carpets and the woodwork. Dazai had been on the receiving end of more than one headache-inducing tirade on how the chibi wanted him not to touch his things and not to damage any of his things, but now he had been-

Nothing.

The worst he'd had in response had been what he could only assume had been a joking suggestion that maybe we should get you a cat scratching post, which he couldn't imagine being much help if he did go through with it.

There was fur all over the place.

From his tail, but also from the few times so far that he had simply gone around on all fours, the novelty not quite having worn off. He still had a puffy soft coat that had plenty of fluff to spare, so every so often bits would just... snag. He wouldn't even notice most of the time. But it had reached the point in even just this long, less than a week, and no matter any of the other things-

Chuuya's home smelled of Dazai.

When he'd first arrived earlier in the week, it had been full of the scent of smoke and wine and freshly laundered clothes, as well as the barely hidden tang of old, dried blood and steel that came from his knives and that lingered in the doorway, and all the places that Chuuya would linger after a mission.

Now, the scent of kitsune followed into every room. The scent was still light, hadn't settled into the pores of the house, could still be exorcised with time and deodoriser, but there was something heady and frankly terrifying to the idea that this was happening, that he could tell that it was happening when previously he'd repressed everything so far that he'd barely noticed that his senses were any more sensitive than those of a human being who tended to notice a little more than most.

The entire house felt like potential, and two pieces of paper burned holes in his coat pocket. Despite the well-meaning intentions of his co-workers, they felt more like a threat than anything nearly as encouraging as they must have intended.

Except-

Ranpo had been the one to suggest the second form. Ranpo, who knew youkai better than Dazai, and who had a good nose like the cat he was, and who had meet Chuuya before. 

And Dazai... trusted Ranpo.

He just wished that he trusted himself - trusted whatever this was that he and Chuuya were starting together - even half as much.

...

The first thing Chuuya thinks when he calls out and doesn't get a response is that Dazai must have been out late on a case, or that he'd stayed at the dorms again, or... any number of things he hadn't felt the need to tell Chuuya about, never mind the fact that apparently they live together now-

But then he sees the shoes in the genkan, and that means that Dazai had to be in here somewhere. 

He thought, at least, given how quiet it was. Weirdly quiet, for a place that should have a Dazai in it. After all, Dazai didn't even have to have his shoes on to go out, and for all he knew, he might wind up halfway through the night and hearing scratching at his door-

He goes through the motions of putting his coat up, but he's still wearing his knife when he walks into the living room and the first thing he sees is that there's something on the coffee table, and he's already picked it up by the time he realises that Dazai's not just still here, but still in the room - not that he'd have noticed if he hadn't caught the smallest movements out of the corner of his eye.

Just a week ago, and a fox in my living room hiding under the sofa would be cause to grab the thing and throw it out as far as I could so it didn't come back, and now...  what?

He blinked. 

The words on the page he'd picked up without thinking didn't change, or rearrange themselves. And after yesterday, he half expected they would. That this would be some sort of new prank, and Dazai was on all fours just to make sure he could run off faster than Chuuya could catch him.

As far as he could see, it was just a normal form. The words were printed in black and white, on normal print paper. Hell, it was the sort of generic thing that he'd had to fill out just working for the mafia a few times, because no matter that they were a criminal organisation, gods forbid they didn't have their internal paperwork and filing systems in order.

So he knew what it was. He wasn't an idiot. It was just the context that was... 

Unable to finish that thought, he reached out mechanically to the next sheet of paper that'd been hidden under the first, and nearly drops them both.

Notification of Change of Address was the first one.

Emergency Contact Details was the second.

Both of them had the Armed Detective Agency's header on them, just in case he wasn't sure where they'd come from.

"Dazai?"

He's not sure what, exactly, his voice is doing, but it feels like he must have gone through several different emotions in the space of saying that one word.

Dazai whining normally is just something to roll his eyes at, because whatever he's going on about and making eyes at him for, is probably just something he could have handled himself if he'd only been bothered to deal with whatever it was earlier, or that's not actually a big deal at all but he's just being an attention-seeking brat about things.

Dazai whining as a fox is just a pitiful sound that he really... doesn't know how to deal with.

"Whether either of us like it or not, I can't speak fox, Dazai. You're gonna have to work with me here." He glanced back at the forms. They still said the same things. "I don't get... this."

He stared, mind blanking out the longer he stood there, hoping that if he just waited long enough Dazai would give in and explain what was going on. It was more than a relief when red fur wriggled out from its hiding place and jumped up onto the sofa only to be Dazai-shaped - or rather, mostly human Dazai-shaped - before he hit the cushions.

"Kunikida-kun got mad at me," Dazai said, and maybe if someone didn't know him as well as Chuuya did they'd think he was relaxed, but Chuuya could see the tension in his body and in all the ways he did and didn't know he was showing it. The way he wouldn't meet Chuuya's eyes, instead concentrating on something on the ceiling. "I haven't been sleeping at the dorms since..." he trailed off, and didn't have to finish that, since Chuuya already knew what he was talking about. "It's only been a few days, but given it's Kunikida-kun I shouldn't really be that surprised."

Which explained just about as much as it didn't - not enough.

"What... exactly, did you tell them, then?" No, that wasn't- "Why did you wind up with these?"

Dazai blinked up at him, and for a moment he was afraid he'd just wind up with a sorry-looking fox again.

"Because," Dazai half-mumbled quietly enough Chuuya almost couldn't hear the words, "I sort of let slip that I wouldn't be going back to the dorms." A blink, as they both stared at each other, and a widening of Dazai's eyes. "I mean - that I didn't want to- I..." He deflated somewhat, and brought his knees up, tail curling around himself and making him look far younger and more innocent than Dazai had any right to be, after all he'd done. "I didn't tell them where, or that it was you, though."

"Dazai..."

The name came out more as a slow exhale, a sigh than anything, full of emotions he couldn't quite put names on. At least, not yet.

Brown eyes narrowed, and then the next thing he knew Dazai was on his front, face in a cushion.

"If Chuuya wanted to say something all he needed was to say it."

The words that's rich, coming from you gathered at the top of his tongue, but he bit them off with as much patience as he could muster up.

A dozen different things he could say all went the same way. 

Usually, people don't move so fast. 

Most people don't move in so quickly.

We don't even know what we're doing half the time.

Or what we are to each other other outside of-

Come, love. Sleep.

"I thought... I guess I just thought that when you'd figured out who you were again, you'd just... I dunno. Go back."

"I thought Chuuya didn't want me to go back, or go anywhere. I thought Chuuya just wanted me to come back to him."

There was something about the words that was dizzying. Dazai was a fickle, changeable bastard fox who just left, who left and didn't care and who was... saying that he wanted... that he thought...

Chuuya sat down. Still holding the two forms in his hand.

Dazai lifted his head up, squishing one ear against the cushion in an odd way that didn't seem comfortable, but that Dazai didn't seem to notice.

"What... is this what you want?"

Dazai doesn't just stay. Dazai doesn't do anything without some sort of backup plan, or motive. 

He only came with me because I asked first, if the weretiger had asked first, that'd be where he'd be staying. Not here.

Just because I "called dibs."

"Chuuya's being particularly stupid right now." Maybe he was. But it wasn't like Dazai was being much better, and that made him feel more okay about the whole ordeal. "I want to stay here. Didn't I just say that?"

Oh.

In some dim corner of his mind, he realised that this would take a fair bit more than just this one form - not that Dazai would likely be all that bothered, because as long as his letters could be passed along through his coworkers, he'd just be lazy and not bother with it - but that... that could be later. 

He wondered, considering it was Dazai, what whoever had given him the second form had been thinking, when they'd thought of that.

"How much do they know?" he asked with a slight frown. 

There were some things that'd happened that night that... were the entire reason he'd half dragged, half carried Dazai into his home and let him get away with so much in the first place.

"Hm? Ah. Oh... that. I... haven't really told them," Dazai said, now picking at a loose thread on the sofa that wouldn't have been there if it weren't for Dazai's claws picking at it in the first place. It was almost funny. As a kid, he'd never even dreamed of having upholstery that wasn't at least a bit ratty. Even the best the Sheep had been able to get their hands on had holes in places, because the adults had taken the good stuff first. And then when he'd been half-dragged into the mafia, he'd gained an appreciation for how he'd been able to afford furniture that didn't even have a nick or scratch. Now here he was, and Dazai was tearing holes and scratches in everything- something he wasn't about to stop doing, either. The future seemed full of imperfect furniture, and the more he thought about that, the less awful it became. "Atsushi knows," Dazai was saying, pulling Chuuya out of his own thoughts. "Because he was there. And he knows enough to notice things. He's a good kid." Chuuya nodded along, because from what little he'd seen, he'd agree with that. "Ranpo probably does, too."

Chuuya scowled and shuddered at that name - that detective. Just because they were back on the same side again didn't mean that hearing the name and knowing that the detective knew - or even just suspected - that one sore spot of Dazai's right now wasn't rubbing salt into the wound.

"And you trust them?"

The more they talked, the more Dazai relaxed, his tail and ears twitching from time to time, and this time he even grabbed at the extra limb he'd gained in the past week, losing his hands in the fur.

"Neither of them have told anyone else," he said. "I might tell the others. Sooner or later. Maybe. Or I might just leave it and see who notices first."

"Whatever you want to do, really," Chuuya found himself saying. "They're your people."

People who Chuuya would end up interacting with a lot more than he'd ever planned on, the moment he's finished signing his life and what little remained of his peace and quiet away. But if Dazai didn't want to say anything just yet, then neither would he.

"Mm," Dazai hummed out. "They are." Dazai tilted his head. Chuuya wasn't even sure if Dazai really understood what he'd just said, how differently youkai saw their connections with people compared to normal human friendships. Then again, Dazai barely understood that sort of thing anyway. "So... you agree to both?"

"I didn't just let you into my home for shits and giggles, Dazai. Or to just kick you out the moment I felt like it." Dazai was still watching him. Waiting. "That's a yes."

He just hoped this wasn't going to come back to bite him in the ass in the middle of the day and a call from some poor Agency soul who'd drawn the short straw to contact him when Dazai starts acting like the brat he is just for the attention. It'd hardly be the first time he'd have done a thing like that.

"....Chuuya?"

So there was something else.

"What?"

"Talking of telling." Dazai was now wearing his serious face, although the effect was marred somewhat by the fluffy ears, and the fact that he was still holding onto his own tail on Chuuya's sofa. "About that. If there are going to be records, I want you to tell Mori what's going on before he has a chance to find out for himself."

"I thought you didn't want me to tell the Boss."

"And now I do. I just told you why. Are you going to do it or not?"

"You say that as if it'd ever be easier to not tell him something. Of course I will. Though if it weren't for the what I'd be making you tell him yourself - and you're still going to owe me for this."

Dazai had the gall to stick his tongue out, which just emphasised the effect of making him look ridiculous. 

"What's mine is yours, Chuuya."

"We're basically housesharing, Dazai. We're not married or anything."

He stood up abruptly, taking the two forms with him and neatly avoiding the - thankfully socked - foot that Dazai tried sending at him, and doing his best to look straight ahead at the kitchen instead of looking back. And wishing he hadn't just said that, or that he could just put his hat back on and hide his face without getting called out for it.

You've told him you love him already days ago, he thought to himself, inner voice calling him an idiot as he heated up the water for tea, and started the food prep because gods knew Dazai wasn't going to. Most people who share their house with someone don't sleep in the same bed as that person, either.

At this point, he didn't think he could tell Dazai to sleep in another room. And not just because it'd feel like a betrayal.

Dazai, who he knew damn well was a chronic insomniac... had been sleeping. Dazai had been sleeping, and he'd been doing so in Chuuya's arms, for the past couple of nights.

Not to mention, he... could hardly say he hadn't been feeling better for being able to wake up to fluff and fur and bandages and noodle limbs and the ever-present cool sensation of Dazai's ability nullifying his own.

...

Fukuzawa Yukichi took one look at the two forms that Dazai had handed him, from which could be gathered the exact home address and contact details of someone he knew to be a mafia executive, and then looked back at Dazai himself.

Dazai, who was standing there, waiting patiently with a purposefully neutral expression on his face.

For a moment, for all their differences, he couldn't help but be reminded of Yosano, and wondered how many times Dazai had stood in just that sort of way in front of Mori Ougai, to ask something of the man that in all likelihood should have been given freely, and without such worry or concern.

An ear flicked, and then went back to its alert position.

Only kids do that sort of thing, Ranpo had said to him just the other night about the way Dazai wore his fur, distressed but quiet. Kids and hanyou! I should've known before. But because it was Dazai I just didn't- but I should've known.

It wasn't often that Ranpo came to him with frustrations about not knowing something, and even less frequently about those things that concerned the non-human side of things. And now that he did, it was about a coworker. One of Yukichi's own subordinates, even.

He sighed.

"By the way that this is coming to my attention, it seems that this is more to inform me of something that has already been decided, rather than to seek my approval." The changes - the minute shifting of Dazai's posture, the twitches of his features - might have remained invisible to most, but to Yukichi, who had experience with reading far more subtle signs than this, the nervous tension was as clear as day. "Dazai."

"Director, I-"

"There is no need to apologise for doing what you felt that you must after what was clearly a stressful situation," although simply describing it as stressful felt like he was understating things, here, given what he understood had happened. "Or putting your trust in someone. I merely wish to know that the two of you have thought this through. Although the Agency and the Port Mafia are currently at peace, we are both well aware of how easily such a truce could be affected by events outside of our control."

If anything, discomfort he could see and sense in Dazai rose, but that was hardly outside of expectations given the subject and situation.

"You can trust that I wouldn't allow my living conditions to affect my loyalties, or to become a danger," Dazai said. In just as much of a carefully neutral tone as he had made sure to put on his features.

"Dazai, it isn't your loyalty that I am concerned about," he said, eyes shutting for a moment as he thought about all of the potential repercussions of this. In the past two years since his entrance exam, Yukichi had never once, not even since he had first been made aware of the boy's previous occupation, questioned that loyalty - never had he been given any reason to.

"In which case," as if that had been something they had needed to have made clear at all, "I can only say that should anything come up... Chuuya and I will need to deal with such things as they do."

"Then it seems that you have thought of everything already, and the Agency can merely do the best we can with regards to keeping the information that the two of us have trusted us with as safe as possible."

From Dazai's expression, that wasn't what he had hesitantly knocked on his Director's door and expected to come away with. That, along with the sharp but uncertain way that Dazai bowed his thanks and left, made him relieved at the quiet and privacy that enabled him to rub at his forehead, at the premonition of a headache as well as hoping that Dazai's situation turned out to help him – and that whatever came their way that threatened such stability that he had managed to find for himself didn't break him.

Then again, that was the reason he had built the Armed Detective Agency up around Ranpo in the first place, was it not? Not simply just to ease the burden on one boy and ensure that he was safe, but for them to support each other.

...

Mori Ougai watched Chuuya leave with most of his expression covered up by his hands still steepled in front of his face. He closed his eyes the moment the door closed, allowing himself to let out the breath that he had been holding in, which wasn't - quite - a sigh.

"I've started compiling an offline database of people in the communities who'd be good to have on side. Not even necessarily outright working for the mafia, just good to have owe us a favour or two."

That was what he had started with. And if Ougai were to be honest, he hadn't expected anything of the sort in such a short period of time. Granted, the list of names on the handwritten sheet of notes was small, and with the way things Chuuya had explained to him, no matter what he said or how he spun things, it would be more Chuuya that any of these people would be answering to, than him.

A minor note, and one that he was more than willing to let slide for one reason - that Chuuya himself was still loyal to him. Just as importantly, loyal to the mafia as an organisation. As long as that were the case, then there was nothing for him to be concerned about either way.

And then the bombshells had fallen - two connected pieces of information that he had known he would have to tread carefully with the moment he heard them, because of how he knew he could so easily break the two involved with one wrong move.

"There's a name that isn't on the list, Boss," Chuuya had said. "Dazai's got kitsune in him." Strong enough to be affected by the rules of these communities, evidently. And interesting though it may have been to have pressed on the matter and find out just how much, how strongly, and when either of them had found out this fascinating new development... said rules had confined him into a mere nod and a gesture to continue when he could see that Chuuya wasn't finished. "He's also moved in with me."

On the one hand, it would have been appreciated if he had been given some fair advanced warning to such a development; Dazai being able to potentially see whatever work Chuuya brought home with him was not a thought he liked to dwell on, considering his former executive's current mode of employment.

But on the other hand - it was hardly as though he could have stopped them, and nor could he now, if he wanted to.

It was as he had told Kouyou in reference to the incident in which she had been captured by the Agency; just like her, if Chuuya wished at any time to leave, then there would be very little that either he or the entire mafia behind him would be able to do to stop him. And with Dazai at his back... Double Black had been feared for a reason. From the picture he was beginning to paint of the youkai culture and mindset, the very action of opposing them only could end in a bloodbath.

Perhaps Chuuya liked to tell himself that he was as human as the friends he enjoyed socialising with, or even the body that he owed half of his very existence to. But the more Chuuya told Ougai of what to expect, the more his mind drifted back to innumerable instances that now made more sense, just as he was sure that the same could be said for Dazai's own behaviours. Even the very loyalty that made him so invaluable was merely a symptom of the whole, and now left him wondering just how much of Arahabaki was subsumed into being Chuuya's ability, and how much had survived in other means.

Questions, perhaps, for another time. Or at least to ponder privately.

In some situations, the most optimal solution was a swift strike, to act first before the opponent could so much as formulate a plan; in others, the only thing to do was to accept the way that the board had presented itself, and trust that things would sort themselves out in the most beneficial manner for all involved. In this case, the latter.

A downpayment in trust indeed, he thought to himself.

...

AN: If there are things that don't make sense in the Dazai-Chuuya section, there's a reason for that. You don't have the (full) context yet. 

(That’ll be shown in “Fox-Faced,” so please read that too. Although I’d love to know what you think it is with only this and the previous fics to go by~)

[leonawriter]

Stray Dogs and Tiger Cubs (pt.8)

Read it on AO3 from the start

Fandom: Bungo Stray Dogs

Characters: Dazai, Yosano, Atsushi, Kyouka.

...

He's humming to himself, when he hears footsteps. Several dozen plans being created and then tossed away like the beginnings of drafts written on scrap paper in hid mind, because it isn't as though he hasn't got the time to think right now.

No Kunikida harassing him for paperwork or reports, or... anything, really. No fieldwork. No- well, no, he'd almost prefer to be hounded by a cute young waitress for his unpaid tab than be strung up here by his wrists. It does hurt, after all, and once he's out of here he's going to have to change the bandages around his wrists because he knows it's chafing, and it'll be sore for a while.

But, it's not like he's in any rush.

The information he's after isn't going anywhere, after all, and Atsushi himself should be safely back at the Agency, being looked after by everyone else in his absence. If anything comes up, he trusts that someone can handle it; there hadn't been anything worse than their normal investigations, escorts, and so on ever since that one day, when he'd first found out that there was a bounty on the boy's head.

A bounty that wasn't going to go away just because it would be convenient, and if Mori was sending people like Akutagawa to take in Atsushi, then it had to be something important, even aside from the monetary value of it.

And so he hums, a song about suicide and death that doesn't have any true thought or meaning to it, and can only barely be bothered to stop when the sharp tendrils of Rashomon cut past the bandages on his neck before reaching his skin and dissipating into so much mist as the ability is nullified.

"Oh..." He looks up, something far colder in his eyes than he's ever let anyone in the Agency see, let alone Atsushi. "You... were here?"

...

Yosano is there when Kunikida attempts to question the girl once she's awoken, both because she's got every right as the doctor who'd been treating the girl's injuries to know if she winds up tearing anything open again, and also because, even more than Kunikida, she'd been there.

Atsushi had woken up not all that long ago himself, and a single question of asking where "Kyouka-neechan" had gone at least told them what her name was, even if asking anything else had just come up with a shrug or a shake of Atsushi's head.

For a while, they had both thought that the boy was just being difficult, but hadn't been able to do anything about it.

Now, seeing the girl - Kyouka - barely react at all to any of Kunikida's questions, Yosano wasn't so sure. In fact, she was starting to think that maybe, Atsushi really didn't know anything more than her name... and, probably, the fact that she'd been meant to kill herself, along with all of the passengers on the train.

She couldn't help the way that her hands clenched and tensed at odd moments when Kyouka just kept staring into space, no matter what was said, no matter how loud, with eyes that stared blankly ahead, and might as well be dead for all the life in them.

"...so answer me. Who's the person 'above' you?"

At first, it seems like there'll be no answer to that, either, and to top it all off, she feels a pressure on her skirt - the hand too small for any of the remembered attempts at groping that she's had to endure, she knows before she even reacts reflexively, no matter that no one at the Agency would so much as dare.

Atsushi gets a pat on the head, for reassurance.

"...the boiled tofu at Tachibana," comes a quiet voice, one that she's only heard speak once before. "It's... tasty."

Atsushi blinks up at her as Kunikida huffs in annoyance. Tachibana - that place is expensive, if she remembers right. And yet...

"You'll talk if you eat, huh?"

Kunikida levels an incredulous stare at her. But the girl nods, and that's all Yosano needs.

Don't even try telling me what I can or I can't take on, she tells Kunikida when they're both out of earshot of the kids. She respects him well enough, but she'll press the point home if she has to.

Thankfully, she doesn't have to, because he's smart enough to know when to let the matter drop.

...

He expects the blow, rolls with it as best he can when all he can do is adjust the angle of his head against the stone wall behind him, but it still hurts, his face stinging and growing hot in the way that says he'll have a fresh bruise there, which he isn't happy about even if he'd anticipated it.

"You are not entirely impervious," he hears Akutagawa say, as he breathes in to accommodate for the ringing in his ears before turning his head back to face his ex-mentee, and current opponent. "You still get hurt when stripped of your ability. I can kill you any time I want."

Dazai bites back a sigh, a roll of his eyes, a scoff - instead putting everything into a smile, and a few words.

"Really? How dreadful." Akutagawa stared, and Dazai could almost see the anger simmering away beneath the surface. Which is fine by him. "If you don't mind my saying... training you was such an ordeal, back then. You were dumb as a brick, and so very headstrong... not to mention, that trashy ability of yours."

Perhaps he shouldn't rile up the one who had already had no qualms against attacking a boy to get at the tiger within once before, but they were words that had been kept locked inside for so long, frustrations borne of how Akutagawa had never made full use of himself, nor of his ability, in all the time he'd made so many attempts to train him, much like a dog that could only understand the one command.

Chuuya, at least, had always been capable of learning, of adapting, of working with him and strategising, even if those strategies were never exactly things of finesse. 

"You won't be cocky for long," Akutagawa said, holding onto his restraint by the tightening of his fist, by the looks of things. "We will annihilate the Detective Agency in a few days, and seize the weretiger. Then, we will execute you... after forcing you to helplessly witness the destruction of your organisation, and everything you've built up... including that boy."

Those words, more than anything else Akutagawa had said up until then, strike like a snake at some part of Dazai's guts that makes him feel a cold sharpness digging in, in a way that he hadn't since-

Since- 

Not since the threat of seeing Odasaku's back retreating into the distance, as he watched helpless to stop him.

The memory of a trailer filled with dead children enters his mind, and the insidious thought that this time, he would have personally trained the one responsible for such an act.

For a moment, the fear he feels is paralysing, enough that he feels that he can't breathe - is this what anyone else would feel, if they were drowning?  - and then, he almost feels like laughing.

Atsushi is stronger than that. The Agency, is stronger than that.

The fear abates, for the most part. Leaving only pure anger in its wake.

"Do you have it in you, though?" he asks. "In all this time... all you've ever done is kill whoever's in front of your face. Even an eight year old child knows better how to use their ability than that."

This time, the punch comes fast enough and is backed by enough hatred and strength that Dazai's sharp inhale of breath at seeing it coming isn't enough to stop him from coughing out blood, stars dancing in his vision, and the reverberating sound of the door closing leaves him in a darkness deeper than merely that of the dimmed lights of the interrogation room.