To my dear Chuuya...

CHAPTER 21

!TW: MENTION OF SUICIDE!

After their conversation in the library, there was a mutual understanding between the two boys that they would never mention it again. Chuuya noticed the way Dazai brushed everything off, as if putting a mask back on and concealing his true self from the world once again. But not from Chuuya. The redhead got a glimpse of what the boy was actually like under all his lies and the façade he made for himself. He might be a monster or The Demon Prodigy to everyone else, but to him, Dazai was just a boy who desperately needed help but didn't know how to ask for it.

There was also a mutual understanding that they would be each other's salvation. They didn't say it out loud, but it was so obvious from the way their fingers gently interlocked, or from the way their shoulders brushed against each other; their gazes held that promise.

"Well, would you look at that?" Dazai mockingly laughed as they walked through the hallway.

Chuuya looked at where he was staring and couldn't help a smirk from appearing on his face. The white haired boy noticed their presence and quickly averted his gaze. Shirase was covered with bruises and his face was swollen. One of his arms was in a cast and he was limping.

Dazai whistled as they walked past him, saying in a louder voice so that he made sure Shirase heard him, "Wow, chibi! I sure hope I never become your enemy if that's what you're gonna do to me. I can't afford to have my beautiful face all swollen like that," he shuffled Chuuya's hair as he said those words, annoying the redhead.

Chuuya accepted the fact that he felt the need to be close to Dazai and to comfort him quite a while ago. But sometimes he felt the urge to clock him in the jaw. Like right now.

"I'll punch you in the face if you don't stop being an idiot," he said, slapping Dazai's hand away from his hair.

The bandaged boy laughed, putting his hands up as if he surrendered. "I don't know how that much anger can fit inside such a tiny person," he said. It seemed as if he wanted to make another joke, but his words were cut off by Chuuya's leg, which kicked him in the abdomen, making him fly across the hallway and land in front of a group of students. They stared at Dazai who was on the floor, grunting in pain in front of them. Nobody moved, unsure of what would happen. After all, that was The Demon Prodigy, the person they all feared, so they were sure he would do something to get revenge on the person that just kicked him.

"Get up, mackerel. We're gonna be late to class because of you," Chuuya said as he walked past him.

To everybody's shock, Dazai got up from the floor, still holding his abdomen in pain, and followed the redhead. "You're so mean," he whined, a big smile on his face.

The day passed without anything unusual happening. The only thing that was different was the attention that Chuuya and Dazai got. Everywhere they went, whispers and fearful gazes followed them. Here, at Yokohama school for troubled teens, rumors spread faster than a wild fire. So it wasn't a surprise that the rumor about how Dazai and Chuuya were responsible for the murder of that teacher spread everywhere. A lot of people didn't believe it at first, since so much evidence was found against Yuan, but after Shirase came back, beaten to a pulp and saying that the two boys were "a pair of demons", pretty much everyone was convinced. Now it wasn't just "The Demon Prodigy" that they had to be cautious of.

And, besides that, there was one more thing that was different. Chuuya and Shirase still had some classes together, but the white haired boy no longer sat with him or pretended to be his friend -which was understandable, since he had no reason to do that anymore. Not only that, but it was obvious he was absolutely terrified by Chuuya. The redhead felt a wicked satisfaction from that, purposely watching Shirase just to see his scared reaction when he noticed.

The white haired boy constantly mumbled under his breath, his eyes fearfully scanning his surroundings as his body trembled. When Chuuya walked past him, he heard the word "Yuan" being constantly mumbled by him.

Dazai told him that Yuan was the brains of their team and that Shirase would be useless without her, but he didn't expect the boy to be so completely and utterly broken without her. This thought made Chuuya feel even better.

"Chibi!" a voice made Chuuya snap back to reality and he saw Dazai approaching him with a smile on his face. "Let's go out for a while. I brought your coat and your ugly hat," he said, handing him the clothes.

The redhead snatched them from him, putting them on. "It's not ugly," he said, adjusting his hat.

Dazai burst out laughing, annoying Chuuya even more. "Yes it is. And you wear it all the time. Do you just want to add a few inches to your height with it, hat-rack?" he joked.

"Call me hat-rack one more time and I'm actually going to kill you," the redhead threatened, but he couldn't help the small smile from forming on his face.

The two boys sat down on a bench outside, talking for a few minutes. Suddenly, chaos erupted around them, all the students and teachers running around wildly. Everybody was screaming or talking, making it almost impossible for Chuuya or Dazai to understand what happened.

"Call an ambulance!" someone screamed.

"He's not breathing!" somebody else shouted.

"He killed himself!"

"What's the name on his student ID?"

"Buichiro Shirase."

That's when the two boys finally understood what was happening. They silently stared at each other before walking back inside the school, going towards where a big group of people were standing in front of a room. They made their way past everyone and they saw Shirase's lifeless body hanging from the ceiling.

"He was even weaker than I thought," Dazai said in an almost amused manner as he watched the dead boy.

"Did he do this because of what we did?" the redhead asked, shifting his attention to Dazai.

"Yes," he shortly answered, looking at Chuuya.

Chuuya knew he should feel bad. He was waiting for the guilt or remorse to eat him alive, but he felt neither. As a matter of fact, he was feeling exactly the opposite. "Good," he said with a smile, taking Dazai's hand in his and walking away as the sound of sirens could be heard.

As they walked back to their room, Chuuya noticed the way Dazai was carefully watching all the teachers moving in a frenzy. Then, his gaze shifted towards the cars that were parked in front of the main gate, which were usually watched by the security guard, but he wasn't there now. He wasn't there because he was leading the doctors to where the dead boy was.

Even before Dazai said anything, Chuuya knew what he was thinking about.

"Let's escape from here, Chuuya," he said, holding his hand tighter. "I have a plan. We'll be able to get out of here before next week."

"I hope this plan doesn't involve killing someone else," Chuuya half joked, but he also held his hand tighter. "Ok. I trust you. We'll escape," he said after a moment, giving Dazai a trusting smile.

They opened the door to their room, stopping in their tracks when they saw that Chuuya's bed had finally been repaired. There was a brief moment of silence between the two of them before Dazai spoke, "You're not allowed to use that bed anymore. I got used to cuddles so you can't leave me alone now," he said, attempting to make Chuuya feel bad for him.

"Shut up," the redhead told him, walking to their bed and getting under the covers, waiting for Dazai to join him.

To be continued...

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