I want to be an idle teen.

38. The Corpse

The date itself was…so good. It ended so fast, time itself seemed to move differently, whilst he was with the two, yet seemed to last an eternity. They ended up talking, about everything and yet nothing.

With Chuuya ranting about how annoying it was to actually have to sort through Dazai's paperwork at one point, and how they went from that topic to the best smoothie ingredients beat him, but they've basically jumped from work, to each other and then back to random things in span of seconds.

One rant lead to another, which in turn lead to even more random topics popping up with each new word.

And just like that, they ended up eating the entirety of their meal, and then the desert.

Now, as Chuuya paid the check and Dazai picked up his coat off of the chair, he almost felt like it ended too soon.

"Atsushi-kun." Dazai smiled, lazily, as he stood and reached his hand out for Atsushi to take, making the tiger snap out of his hazy thoughts and smile, as he took the offered help.

He already guessed that the man wouldn't let go of his hand even after they exited the restaurant, but he was sort of fine with that, in a way.

That was just how clingy the brunet was, and Atsushi didn't really mind that about his boss.

Turns out, he was completely and utterly right, the tiger chuckled to himself as they walked out, with Dazai intertwining their fingers and humming to himself as Chuuya and Atsushi once more entangled themselves in a mindless conversation, one about how pretty the stars looked once they exited.

"There doesn't seem to be a cloud in the sky. Makes 'em shine even prettier, if I'm being honest." The redhead chuckled, making him nod in confirmation.

Their walk was slow, with Chuuya going ahead the slightest bit while him and Dazai settled for a slower pace.

He knew that the fact that there was no car to pick them up probably meant that Dazai remembered their talk about how Atsushi prefers to walk at night, which did indeed make him slightly giddy.

The air might've been cold, and the people around him did slightly overwhelm him, but he still enjoyed how pretty the sky was, and how pleasant the lighting of the moon made everything seem.

Then, he saw him.

His hand tightened around Dazai's own, and pace staggered.

He saw a corpse , better said.

And he…he just couldn't move all of a sudden.

There was a big commotion, one that seemed loud, with Ranpo, as he saw in the glinting light, kneeling beside a dead man.

In a somewhat familiar, plain suit.

"Atsushi." Dazai suddenly spoke, or maybe he just didn't hear him before, as he grabbed the tiger's attention.

But he couldn't respond. There was still white noise in his ears, as he released Dazai's hand and came slightly closer to the scene, just to make sure, hoping and praying to whatever deity was out there that he was wrong. in time to see Ranpo take off the covering off of the corpse and show the face of the man that still haunted Atsushi to this day.

The director.

There he laid, still, unblinking, cold dead eyes looking directly at the boy.

And he screamed.

Screamed so loud like he never has in his life.

Screamed so loud that even he could hear the sound ringing out.