𝙎𝙐𝙄𝘾𝙄𝘿𝘼𝙇 𝙈𝘼𝙉𝙄𝘼𝘾 ᵗᵒᵏʳᵉᵛ [𝗱𝗿𝗼𝗽𝗽𝗲𝗱]

022

"Mikey."

"Hm?"

"Tell your brother to stop going to his shop for a while."

Dazai mused while handing him his cold milk that he asked for when she and Kazutora went to the convenience store. When Mikey got the drink, he tilted his head at her with a single raised eyebrow.

"Hm? Is it another hunch of yours Sa-chin?"

"Yup~ now come on, let's go drown in the deepest part of the ocean!" She pulled his left hand while cheerfully laughing like she didn't just say anything morbid.

"W—what !? Hey—- wait!" Mikey stumbled over his footing while being pulled by Dazai, making the familiar butterflies fly around in his stomach.

Mikey regretted not telling his brother what she said that beach day.

The month was august.

The year was 2003.

The clock made a ticking sound from every second that passed by in a young boy's room. Streetlights were open outside, lightening up the dark alleyways in every corner of the street.

The world outside his room may be noisy, with all chatters of random passing people— noisy sounds of passing vehicles and screams of a neighbour next to his home fighting— yet, all those noises to his ears were silent. They were tuned down, like a music player that you just muted.

As he went home after their little beach day with the gang, a certain brunette's conversation with him kept ringing in his little corrupted mind.

"Life is a fair game.. it's just us humans playing dirty."

That was what Dazai told him, what she claimed the world as while Kazutora who was intently listening to her words, marked it right in his brain.

While every second that passed by with him lying on his soft yet sturdy bed, while also  staring at his ceiling, those words began to replay in his mind like a recorder permanently set on repeat.

Then, recalling the last thing she suggested to him before they went to their friends from the convenience store, he abruptly sat up on the comfy bed and began walking to his door.

"Ask Draken."

That was what she suggested to Kazutora when he asked where he could get Mikey's dream bike. So— he will ask Draken. He could and would always trust Dazai, no matter how many times he saw how manipulative she could be.

Walking right out of his house while snatching a random jacket by his closet, he began to leisurely stroll over to Mikey's place while looking around the streets he's passing by, enjoying the many different shades of lively colours there are, livening up the chilly atmosphere.