Parted Entanglement { ② }

Chapter 4

''DAZAI ONIII-CHANN~~'' The girl with long wavy black hair chirped as she rubbed her face against his arm. Chuuya stared at her, then at Dazai, screaming for help with his eyes. But Dazai stuck his tongue out at him and smirked playfully. He wasn't going to save him. The girl wore a black leather jacket with a plain white t-shirt inside, dark blue jeans not even long enough to get close to her knees, and black leather shoes. She blinked her orange eyes at Chuuya.

Chuuya had the urge to just smack her expectant face and kick her off her seat, but Dazai wouldn't do anything like that, and he had to act like him. ''Uh... hi... ??'' He forced a fake and awkward smile. Dazai was trying his best to hold in his laughter as he watched the comedy play before him. She smiled. ''Hi~''

Chuuya was basically panicking. ''Um... what are you doing here... '' He glanced at Dazai, whose mouth gestured the girl's name. ''... Rin ?'' The girl chuckled. ''I'm here for breakfast, of course.'' Chuuya realized that he had asked the most stupid question on Earth.

Right.

Then she spoke, arms still around Chuuya's. ''But I didn't think I'd see you here, Dazai oniii-chan~ it's been almost a year since we last contacted~'' Then she noticed the ginger head across them, she looked back at the brunet and asked. ''Who is he ?'' ''His boyfriend ,'' Dazai finally spoke. Rin smirked. ''Neh Dazai oni-chan~ you do still remember the favor you owe me right ?'' Chuuya glanced at Dazai, whom slightly nodded. ''Yeah, yeah of course I remember.'' He forced a fake smile again. ''I want you to return that favor now ,'' Rin blurted, then she leaned closer to the brunet. ''It's simple, really.'' She pointed her finger at her lips. ''Kiss me.''

Chuuya was again, dumbfounded.

???????????????

''Ah maybe next time.'' He tried pushing the girl away, but she was stubborn. ''Mmm Dazai oni-chan c'mon~'' Dazai knew exactly what she was doing. She was trying to flirt with him to get Chuuya jealous, but little did she know, they had been switched. She pressed her lips against Chuuya's, making the latter freeze in place, eyes widened in shock. As much as he enjoyed watching the scene played out, he could see the struggle in Chuuya's eyes, so he did what Chuuya would do.

''That's enough.'' He stood up and walked over to Rin. ''Get away from him ,'' he commanded in a firm voice. Rin looked happy that she succeeded in making the ginger head jealous. She finally pulled away from poor Chuuya and stared up at Dazai, then she turned back to whom she thought was Dazai and winked. ''Till we meet again~'' she whispered and stood up, brushing past Dazai as she walked away with visible satisfaction.

*

''WHAT WAS THAT ?!!'' Chuuya wiped his mouth with his palm as he walked on the streets. ''Her name is Akiyama Rin, an intelligent hacker who's had a crush on me since she was fourteen ,'' Chuuya was still processing on what had just happened, then he asked. ''And you were ?'' ''Fifteen.'' Rin was one year younger than them. ''So she's had a crush on you for two years ?!'' Dazai shrugged. ''Yeah. Actually you should thank her, she helped me in saving you last year you know.'' Chuuya grunted.

''You've never told me about her, stupid Mackerel.'' Then Dazai teased him, ''Is someone jealous ?'' ''... no'' Chuuya hesitated. Dazai sighed lightly as he slipped his hand into Chuuya's. ''She's got a crush on me, but that doesn't mean that there's anything between us.'' He softened his voice. ''You know I love you, not her.'' Chuuya blushed a little and said, ''She's pretty tho.'' The ginger head sensed Chuuya's insecurity. ''Forget about her, Chuuya, she's just an acquaintance.'' Chuuya nodded, slightly pouting. ''Okayy.''

*

''Dazai put that down !'' It has been two days since they had gotten switched. Dazai was getting used to Chuuya's ability, it was like muscle memory, he learnt how to control it pretty quickly. ''Quit playing with the knife, idiot ,'' Chuuya paced towards Dazai to grab the floating knife by its handle, nullifying the ability used on it. ''Wow... so this is how it feels like to nullify other's ability huh.'' He looked down at his hand with the knife. It didn't feel like two forces fighting to overcome each other. On the contrary, it felt like he freed a bird from its cage, it felt refreshing.

''Come on, touch me ,'' Dazai urged as he stretched out his hand. Chuuya held his hand, then white glow filled the room momentarily. It was one of the best things to look at, white beams swirling in the place, illuminating the already lighted living room they were in.

Chuuya put the knife onto the coffee table and laid down on the couch, his head on Dazai's lap. ''Ew it felt disgusting. I felt helpless when you used my ability on me juz now.'' Chuuya gazed up at him. ''It's a different story when it comes to Corruption tho. I feel relieved and relaxed when you do that.''

''You look tired, Chibi.'' Chuuya sighed. ''Yeah, I am, but your body wouldn't let me sleep. Do you always feel like this, or have you gotten used to it ?'' Dazai smiled. ''There's nothing for me to get used to, my sleep pattern isn't even regular. Sometimes I feel sleepy in the morning because I didn't get to fall asleep the night before, and sometimes I go on a few days without any sleep.'' He glanced down and saw sadness in Chuuya's eyes. ''That's... awful ,''

Chuuya had known about Dazai's sleep deprivation, but now that he experienced it first hand, he couldn't possibly imagine all the suffering he went through in all these years. Then Dazai smiled bitterly. ''It's fine, Chuuya, you'll be fine. Whatever this is, it'll be over soon and you'll get to sleep as much as you want.'' But Chuuya didn't mean that for himself, he was feeling for Dazai. He didn't feel any better at hearing that, he knew that these two days were a bliss to Dazai as he could sleep every night, and him trying to comfort him by saying he would be taking all the suffering back to himself was just... sad.

Dazai's phone rang, abrupting the short silence in the air. ''Hirotsu-san ,'' he picked up and addressed the caller. ''Mm, okay, we'll be there.'' Chuuya sat up. ''He's got a lead ?'' ''Yeah, we'll have to meet up with him in Mori-san's office ten minutes later.''