Chasing Strays (Soukoku- Dazai X Chuuya)

Chapter 2/ The Hero of Drinks

Life is a repeating cycle for Dazai. He wakes up, takes an order from his boss, goes and completes it, (and most definitely gets beat up), then drinks to forget about it.

He deals with a lot of drugs, and collects money from people after his boss has his underlings do some work for them.

Mostly consisting of killing or stealing things for people who don't have the balls to do it themselves. So a lot of sketchy underground work.

It was tough work though, work further from what he ever thought he'd be doing in his lifetime.

But when his parents died in a mysterious house fire he had no choice. The money he inherited only went so far before he had to start scraping for anything he could get.

The money was a hefty sum, but because he spent it all on alcohol and random things that sparked his interest, it quickly went dry.

Dazai having fully expected to be dead before he ran out, so it didn't occur to him to save or invest it.

Dazai was "lucky" to be out of the house when the fire happened, having snuck out to see the stars at the park that night.

(It having been one of the only things he enjoyed doing at the time.)

Just for him to come back to everything gone. Though in his eyes he wasn't that lucky, since it would have for sure wiped him out as well along with his parents if he just decided to stay indoors that night.

(And made it so he didn't have the burden of having to kill himself later.)

And since then he's had to deal with his families sympathy and condolences until he was old enough to cut ties.

Because truth was, he wasn't as upset as they were. He knew he should be sad, he knew he should have felt guilty.

But he felt absolutely nothing.

Besides, he would have been a hypocrite to feel sad or angry at them for leaving him behind, because he tried to leave them behind already when he was only 16, and still planned to later, so it wouldn't be right to go around moping around.

But despite trying he couldn't fully bring himself to end his life, even when his money started to grow thin and he had no other source of income, or even when he was a kid with not even a home to his name.

That's when he met his boss, and made the huge mistake of making a deal with him, putting him into a huge debt.

He didn't make much with the work given to him, so paying off the debt was probably going to take more years than he had left to live if he didn't kill himself.

Though he didn't care, because there was a slight thrill in the job, a thrill that gave him something to do with himself on this boring earth.

-

"Hmm, this place is new." Dazai mumbled to himself, looking at the sign of a bar across the street.

-Yokahoma Tavern- The sign read, peaking Dazai's interest.

"Guess I'm going to have to betray my main spot tonight." He said to himself, walking into the new building.

The area was well decorated, lights stringing from the walls, plants in each corner, and even a small dance area for those who are feeling energetic and frisky.

This is a very nice place for being new. Dazai thought to himself as he went to sit at one of the stools at the bar.

It didn't take long for a waiter to come up to him, the service here being quicker then Dazai's go to spot was.