Bandaged Man of Mystery

Goodbye

"Are you ready?"

"Mhm."

Kunikida and Atsushi followed Dazai outside. The fresh air made Dazai feel slightly better.

The walk was rather short compared to what Atsushi thought it would be. He didn't have any complaints though. The faster this was over with, the better.

Tiny children were always adorable, but it felt wrong knowing they were future terrorists (imagine being unable to spell terrorist, couldn't be me) (except it is haha). It also felt wrong with Dazai asking earlier that day if Atsushi and Kunikida wanted to do a triple suicide with him.

While the three were heading to find the criminal who'd started this all, Yosano was talking with the other three kids back at the agency.

"So..... What're your lives like?"

"You mean our pasts?"

"Yeah, that."

"Well, Sigma can go first. Then Nikolai, then me."

"Why do you go last, Fyodor?" Sigma asked.

"Because mine is the most depressing."

"Ah, fair point," Nikolai replied.

"Anyway, so long story short, I live with my grandparents because my mom died in a car accident and my dad isn't around anymore."

"Huh. Well that's not too bad."

"Exactly."

"Fyodor, we know you're super angsty and all that, but can you please shush for ten seconds?" Nikolai asked with a forced smile.

Fyodor was so surprised he was speechless.

"Anyway...." Yosano said.

Nikolai nodded and told her what had happened in his past.

"I live with my mom currently. Not my actual mom, my adoptive mom. My real one was murdered by my dad when she tried to take me out of Ukraine. And then my real dad killed himself, and locked me in the basement without food with the rats for two days. My neighbor found me and I got to go to Russia."

"Holy jeez that's dark-" Yosano said.

"Yep."

"Want a break?" Sigma asked Yosano.

She shook her head no and then looked at Fyodor, who looked at his shoes.

"And what about you?" Yosano asked.

"Um..."

"If you don't want to tell me, that's fine," Yosano said.

"I'm just not used to telling people things like this, that's all. I was locked away for my ability. I was used for it for years, and some people even used me as a human experiment for research on people with abilities. Eventually, I escaped, and Nikolai and Sigma helped me find a place to live."

"And we'd do it again any day," Sigma said proudly.

"Yeah we would!" Nikolai yelled happily.

Fyodor thanked them both and Yosano smiled. Being used for an ability was something she could definitely relate to. Therefore, it made her very happy to see Fyodor had his own support system just like she'd gotten.

Then, she imagined if Ranpo were to die. She knew very well that there was no way she'd handle it as well as Fyodor had.

Pushing those thoughts aside, she offered to get the kids ice cream.

A few hours later, Yosano returned with the kids to the ADA office. When they walked in, they saw Dazai sitting in Kunikida's chair with a big smile on his face. His hair was messy and somehow had syrup in it.