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

Chapter Twenty Four

Dazai had dragged Y/n to a bar as soon as they had both gotten off, saying that he wasn't going to let her go home alone and mope all evening about something that should be celebrated. Reluctantly, she let him.

"What is this place?" she asked as they walked through the doors of Lupin.

Dazai waved to the bar tender with familiarity.

"I used to come here with my friends when I was young."

He had found them a table in a shadowed corner and as soon as they sat down, they were met with two glasses of whiskey.

"With Chuuya?" she asked.

"No." he answered, pulling a faded old photograph from his pocket.

He slid it across the table to her and Y/n picked it up. It showed a younger Dazai, a Dazai much closer to the way he had been when they first met. He was accompanied by a pair of older men.

"Who are they?"

She slid the photo back over to him.

"Ango and Oda." he said, picking it up with a fond smile.

Y/n nodded, the connection having been made.

"I see. Why bring me here?"

"I figured you might be thinking about the past."

Taking a sip from her glass, Y/n leaned back in the leather cushioning of the booth.

"I had a dream," she suddenly announced, "when I was younger."

"What prompted that?"

"Chuuya asked me one time about dreams and the other lives we could have lived."

Y/n knew that wasn't the answer Dazai was looking for but she didn't care. If everyone was insisting tonight was her night, it was going to be her night. Dazai didn't complain, it was a rare thing to hear Y/n say anything about the time before she had met Chuuya, he wasn't going to stop her now.

"I thought you promised not to talk to him." was what he chose to say next.

Y/n frowned.

"I never reached out to him first, I didn't break my promise. Aren't you gonna ask me what my dream was?"

"What was your dream?"

"I dreamed of a simple life. One like all the girls in my books were trying to get away from."

"Really. Did you think something like that would bring you peace?" he answered, unamused.

"I don't know." she shrugged, "I still haven't gotten to try."

"Are you saying you want to leave the Agency?"

Y/n thought for a moment before shaking her head no.

"I see you Y/n." he said suddenly, "You give pieces of yourself to people, little hints and half told stories. You never give them the whole picture."

"Haven't given it to you at least."

"I don't need the whole picture to know you. We are one in the same."

"How are you so certain of that?"

"What happened when Mori imprisoned you?"

Y/n sighed, meeting his eyes again.

"Did Mori ever mention his executioner?"

"Was that you?"

"He caged me like an animal. He set me on men like a hunting dog. I was there for his amusement."