To See You Again (Chuuya Nakahara x Reader x Dazai Osamu)

Chapter Twenty Three

The dinner had been nice. The restaurant was warm and the food good. Y/n was a bit taken aback by how easily they all slid into their old ways once the truth of their former occupations had been revealed.

After four hours of chatter and something close to belonging, Y/n found herself walking home with Dazai and Atsushi. Dazai had long since given up the pretenses that he was walking with her to make sure she wasn't in contact with the Mafia. Now it was just something they did and since Atsushi had joined them as the only other member living in the Agency's dormitories, he frequently walked with them as well.

"Do you want to do anything to celebrate tomorrow?" Dazai asked.

"Celebrate what?" Atsushi cut in before Y/n could answer.

"Tomorrow is Y/n's first anniversary since she joined us." Dazai said, checking his watch, "Or, today is."

"Thats so exciting!" Atsushi exclaimed, looking around Dazai to Y/n who was walking quietly on his other side, "We should definitely do something to celebrate."

"I don't think I really want to." she responded softly, "It's a little bit of a complicated day for me."

"You don't have to do anything, I just thought I would offer." Dazai said in response, putting his hands in the pockets of his coat.

"How exactly did you come to join the Agency, Y/n?" Atsushi questioned, looking over to her again, "You don't have to tell me if you don't want to." he quickly added, catching the far off look in her eyes.

"No, it's okay." she said after a moments thought, much to Dazai's surprise, "My life at the Mafia wasn't... wasn't good per say." she carefully began, "I had tried to defect twice before, and just gotten roped back into it all. On top of everything else going on at the time, my ability had started changing. My friend set everything up with Dazai and tricked me into defecting again. He... saved me."

Her story finished, she fell silent once again.

"Sounds like a good friend." Atsushi noted.

"The best." she answered softly.

"I'm hurt!" Dazai playfully interrupted their exchange, a hand to his chest, "I'm not your best friend?"

Y/n nearly smiled as she watched his dramatic display.

"You certainly are my oldest friend." she relented and Dazai smiled happily, wrapping an arm around her shoulders which she quickly pushed off.

"What is your ability?" Atsushi asked, "I have a pretty good idea about everyone else's, I've never heard about yours though."

Dazai expected Y/n to fall silent, to grow cold once again as she had done so many times before.

"So many questions." she mumbled, and there was a sense of endearment under the annoyance.

"You're changing again." he commented.

Y/n ignored him, turning to look at Atsushi as they walked.

"It's been called a lot of things. I've been called a lot of things. Most recently, I've called it pharmakos. It's an ancient Geeek word, it means both poison and medicine."

"What does it do?"

"I can grow anything." she answered simply.

"What do you mean?"

"Here, I'll show you."

They stopped walking and Y/n turned to a nearby tree bed. The dirt was covered in snow, the tree itself bare of all its leaves. She crouched down, uncovering a bit of the earth.

"Tell me what to grow."

"Ummm..."

"A daffodil." Dazai answered for him.

"They symbolize new beginnings, how poignant."

She tapped the dirt gently with the tip of her index finger and a small, bright yellow flower sprouted from the earth.

"Thats amazing!" Atsushi exclaimed as she stood up from her crouched position.

Y/n nodded her head slightly in thanks and they began to walk once again.

Before long, they had reached the dormitories and said their goodbyes, each disappearing through their own door.

Y/n kicked off her shoes and took off her coat, hanging it in the closet before making her way over to the couch and collapsing onto it. A sense of nostalgia washed over her as she spied the open bottle of wine and two clean glasses on the table next to her.

It was odd to consider, the shape her life had taken in the past year. Hard for her to wrap her head around.

"I thought you'd never get back." came a voice and she looked up to see Chuuya exiting her kitchen, "What took you so long."

"Got roped into some dumb company dinner." she groaned, making space for him on the couch, "Why are you here?"

"To celebrate of course." he answered, filling the glasses before passing her one.

"The anniversary is tomorrow." she noted, holding the glass up to her eyes and examining the dark red drink within.

"I know." he answered, taking a sip from his own, "I figured you'd be busy tomorrow because of it."

"Actually, I cleared my schedule for you."

Chuuya seemed taken aback by her revelation.

"You knew I'd come."

"I thought you might."

They fell silent for a moment.

"I'm glad that you did."

Her voice was soft and hesitant as she admitted that fact. Chuuya watched as she at last drank from her glass.

"What's on your mind?" he asked her.

Since Y/n had left the Mafia, he'd come to visit her like this a handful of times. They had grown much closer through the time spent, he could tell when something was bothering her.

"Just stuff about my past." she answered, "Nothing you need to worry about."

"If you don't get it off your chest, you'll never be able to breath."

She sighed.

"You don't have to tell me, I'm just saying."

"No, you're right. I know that you're right." she admitted, eyes fixed on the contents of the glass she cradled in her hands, "Are you sure you want to know?"

"And that I wont leave when you're done."

He had heard the real question hidden under her words, Y/n laughed softly.

"Alright, you asked for it."