Brown and Orange - Soukoku

25

Dazai's POV

Today was another unsuccessful day of trying to get a new job. How fun. I should get going now, my legs are getting tired from walking around everywhere.

As I was waiting for the stoplight to turn green, I saw a little puppy on the street. I couldn't make out what breed it was, the only thing I could see was the color of its fur.

Brown and orange.

Suddenly, a huge truck started driving towards the puppy. The driver's seat was up high and the truck had big wheels. The driver probably couldn't see the puppy from where he sat.

Out of impulse, I ran in front of the truck. Partially because i didn't really want to live in the first place. The car horn made a loud honking sound and the driver stopped his truck.

He rolled down his windows. "Hey you in the brown coat! Watch where you're going kid, I could've killed you" he shouted. It would've been better if I got ran over honestly.

I picked up the puppy and brought it to the sidewalk where it was safe. It looked very young, probably only around few months old. It didn't have a collar and I didn't see any missing dog posters while I was checking out the streets.

A stray dog.

I should bring it home right? If I put it in the pound, it will probably just end up getting put down. What a cruel place, did this puppy have an owner before?

It was getting late now, the change in light signaling the transition of noon to night. The sky was a pretty pink color, how I wish I could watch it with him.

If I could I would.

.

"What if we get caught?" we snuck into the Port Mafia building on a day that it was closed. It was mostly my idea, he went along with it though.

"Do you think I would let us get caught?" we were walking up the stairs to the entrance of the roof. He pushed on the door but it wouldn't budge.

"Chuuya, it's a pull door" I giggled as I opened the door for us. No gates, fences, or anything. There was nothing restraining me from just jumping off the building. Nothing except him.

I walked over to the front side of the roof where we could see all the buildings of Yokohama. We sat down with our legs dangling over the edge of the building.

The sun was just now setting, it looked like a semicircle in this side of the hemisphere. The golden rays of the sun penetrated the clouds and shun right through them. The sky was an ombre of two colors.

Brown and orange.

"The sunset is beautiful isn't it?" I questioned.

"Don't say that" he answered.

.

7 years into the future

I couldn't help but giggle as I looked at his clueless face. "What's so funny?" he questioned. "Nothing, you should go look in the mirror though" I replied.

He got up from the bed and went into the bathroom. "Dazai! I'm actually going to kill you!" he screamed from across the room. I may or may not have scribbled all over his face with ink while he was asleep.

I walked into the bathroom and appeared in the mirror behind him. "Relax, I didn't use permanent ink this time. It's washable marker, it'll come off with just water" I explained.

I took a cotton wipe and wet it with some water from the sink. "Lift your head up" I had one hand under his chin to keep his face in place. My other hand was occupied with wiping the marker off using the damp cotton wipe.

His hands were trying to push mine away from his neck. "You're acting like I'm going to strangle you or something" I rolled my eyes. "I'm ticklish you asshole" he muttered. "I know" I responded.

"Keep your head still" I was trying to scrub off the mustache I drew right above his lips. I didn't want the marker to get in his mouth and cause ink poisoning or something.

"Why are you helping me clean the marker off if you drew it?" he asked. "I already got some pictures, there's no need for you to walk around like this all day" I smiled. "I'm fighting the urge to slap the shit out of you right now" he grumbled.

"See, it only took a few minutes" I turned him around to face the mirror. All the marks on his face were gone. I threw the wipe into the trash can and headed towards the kitchen.

"How long did Mori give me this time?" he asked. "I don't know, I think he said around a few weeks" I replied. "A few weeks? He's being rather generous don't you think?" he questioned.

"Why do you have so many pots and pans if you don't cook?" I was trying to make us some breakfast. "You left them here you idiot" he mumbled.

I want to say sorry for leaving him without a word. I've been wanting to say sorry to him. I just don't know how to word it, I never genuinely apologized to someone before.

"I'm sorry Chuuya I-" he cut me off. "Stop apologizing, don't remind me" he signed. Do I take that as a yes or no for forgiveness?

"Dazai, can I try cooking for us today?" he asked. "Of course you can, I was getting tired of making all the food for us" I remarked.

"First you wash the rice" this was more of a private cooking lesson but whatever. He scooped up a few cups of rice and put it in the pot.

I had a rice cooker because I made fried rice so often. He dropped the egg on the counter. "How am I meant to crack it in the bowl? This is stupid" he complained.

"Now put some oil in the pan" I instructed. "How much do I put?" he asked. "It doesn't really matter, just eyeball it" I responded.

"Chuuya! That's way too much!" I stopped him from pouring more oil. "You said it didn't matter! It's not my fault!" he defended himself.

"Well, I didn't know that you were such an idiot and would dump seven tablespoons of oil for two servings of fried rice" I signed.

After adding the oil, he went in and added all the other ingredients which he mostly spilled. Rice, eggs, scallion, bean sprouts, and crab meat. "Why do you only have canned crab?" he questioned.

.

"Look Chuuya! The crab is moving!" I exclaimed. "Of course it's moving, it's alive dumbass" we brought a live crab from the supermarket and it was now in the sink.

I started poking the crab with chopsticks. "Stop abusing the poor thing" he signed. "As if we aren't going to eat it in ten minutes" I said sarcastically.

Suddenly, the crab used its claws and pinched onto my hand tightly. "Ow! Chuuya help! The crab is going to eat me!" I was shaking my hand trying to get the crab to let go.

"Cutting off the bands that kept its claws together was a great idea Dazai" he turned on the hot water on and the crab let go immediately.

.

"I dunno, didn't feel like buying live crab" I responded. Seeing him move the spatula in the fried rice was hurting my eyes. He was doing all the wrong movements. Each time he flipped the rice, spoonfuls fell out of the pan.

"Chuuya, do it like this" I was standing behind him and I held onto both of his hands with mine. I rested my head on his shoulder. "Hold onto it like this" I helped him properly hold the spatula and started guiding his hands around.

"Let go of me I can do it myself" he tried to get out of my grasp but failed. By the time we were done cooking, we had made a huge mess in the kitchen.

"I am not cleaning that up for you" I giggled with a mouth full of rice. "Fine, whatever I'll do it myself" he grumbled. "You seriously suck at cooking Chuuya" I signed.

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1370 words