Everything or Nothing

Stay with Me

Dazai finishes his call, turning around, his eyes scanning the bar—only to find that Chuuya isn't waiting behind him, which is a little odd—but he doesn't worry about it at first, walking over to Gin. "Did you see where the chibi went?"

His stomach sinks, however, when he sees the look on their face. "I'm not sure—I don't know where Yuan went either, I just saw them running down the street, and she's not answering her phone—"

Dazai doesn't need more of an explanation than that before he makes a beeline for the exit, with Gin on his tail—and when he makes it out onto the street, it's crowded, which isn't weird—it's Tokyo on a Saturday night—

But he doesn't see any sign of Chuuya—or Yuan for that matter—and Gin is ready to just give up and try calling them again—but Dazai is more resourceful than that.

"Hey!" He jogs over to a nearby street vendor, tapping his hand on the counter. "Did you see a short redhead run by here? With some girl with pink hair running after him?"

The magazine vendor grumbles, looking back, "I suppose I did—but I don't have time to be talking to people that aren't paying customers—"

Dazai slaps a wad of bills down on the counter, and his tune is suddenly changing. "Which way did they go?"

"..." The older man picks up the pills, making sure they're real before he gestures with his thumb. "Turned the corner onto Namikibashi street around five minutes ago."

Dazai nods, taking off in that direction—because he doesn't know why the two of them would run off like that, but it's out of character enough for him to be concerned—

And when they reach the end of the street, rounding the street—it becomes abundantly clear.

Something's wrong.

About three hundred meters down the street, there's a small crowd gathered, panicked voices cutting through the sounds of nightlife, and he hears someone yell—

"Someone, call an ambulance!"

At first, when he's running towards it, with Gin right behind him—he can feel them panicking, because they're both assuming it's Yuan.

She's not famously coordinated, and if she was running after Chuuya in those shoes after drinking? It's possible she fell and hurt herself, but—

But when they get close enough, Dazai can see her hunched over on her knees, leaning over someone on the ground, her hands clasped together in a familiar position, like she's giving someone—

Like she's giving someone CPR.

And when Dazai's eyes follow her arms down, it's...

They never tell you how it feels, when it's your person.

Dazai grew up around hospitals. He was raised in waiting rooms, doing his homework while his father gave people the worst news of their lives in the background. And it felt distant. Removed from him.

It's Chuuya.

Dazai doesn't feel his legs moving anymore, he doesn't even know if he's breathing when he violently shoves his way through the crowd, and when one irritated, slightly drunken observer snaps at him, he snarls back, so violently that they jump back, "Get out of my way—"

And then he's dropping to his knees next to Yuan, where she's unsteady and exhausted, tears running down her face. He wants to ask what happened, but there isn't time—"Does he have a pulse?"