Chuuya's Secret Child

A Familiar Face

Third-person POV:

"Yui!" Chuuya said. "Come back here! I told you that you couldn't buy candy! Yui!"

Chuuya was chasing the poor child around, but what could you expect? He was just trying to protect her, especially after the dentist just told her that she had 3 cavities and needed to get them treated immediately.

"Sure, I come back, once you catch me!" the playful girl exclaims.

"I'm being serious, Yui. Come here right this instant!" Chuuya used a rough tone, one that indicated that Yui needed to listen. "If you don't come here, I swear to God!"

Yui knew that she needed to listen, so she started slowing down until she saw a man about to jump off a bridge. Her papa had always taught her to help people, so instead of listening to her father, she ran to the stranger and yelled, "Hey, mister, stop! Be careful!"

The man stopped and looked in her direction with a confused look. The voice that called out to her sounded so young. It made sense, though, because the person who stopped him was a little girl. He inspected her. She had dark brown hair, like him, and she had light blue eyes, just like the color of the sky and like someone he knew.

"Well, hello, young girl," he said. "How can I help you?"

"How can I help you? How can I help you?! You were just about to jump off that bridge, and that's how you responded, mister?! Are you mentally ill or something?" Yui bolted.

This caught the man off guard. "Oh, well, uh, sorry? I'm not mentally ill-just-never mind, little girl. You're too young to even know this."

"Young?!" She basically lost it right there on the spot. "I am not young for your information! I may look like I'm three years old, but I'm actually 5! (Chuuya and Dazai are 23 here) My height has nothing to do with this! Plus, I'm young and still growing!"

The man couldn't help but laugh. Where had he heard that before? But before he could say anything back, a familiar young man with ginger-colored hair ran up to the little girl.

"Yui! Are you alright?!" He nearly cried. "I thought I lost you there! Don't scare me like that and run off and talk to strangers! I already told you a million times!"

"I'm fine, papa. Sorry that I ran off." The girl named Yui said. "I just saw this man about to commit suicide, and since you also taught me to help others, I stopped in just in time."

Chuuya looked up to take a look at the man, but when he saw his face, he immediately started breathing heavily and started shaking.

"Uhm," the man started. "Are you alright? Do I personally know you from somewhere? You seem familiar for some reason."

Chuuya tried to cover his expressions and said "no" too quickly, which made the man suspicious of him.

"Well," the man said. "My name's Osamu Dazai, but you could call me Dazai. Because your daughter saved me, I would like to invite you to dinner tonight at the new restaurant that just opened up three weeks ago at 8pm. Does that sound good to you?"

Chuuya's eyes became dull once Dazai said his name, but just when he was about to turn down the offer, Yui replied, "Oh, sure, that works. But my bedtime's at 8pm. Can we meet at 7:00 instead?"

Chuuya gave his daughter the stink eye. "Yui!" he quietly scolded.

"Why, you're one smart kid. Of course we can have dinner at 7, only if your mother-oh, sorry, I mean your father-" he made a jokingly expression, "allows you."

Chuuya twitches his eye, knowing full well that Dazai has now figured out who he is. Why was Chuuya not surprised? He had imagined them meeting again in the future, after Dazai had left the Port Mafia without saying anything, and yet he knew that Dazai would at least make fun of him for something, whether it was his female features on his face or his height. He's more insecure about his height, so he's a little glad that it was his female traits on his face. Chuuya knew, though, that if he said no, his daughter and Dazai would be suspicious and would question him, and knowing Yui, she would probably make a commotion out of it. That was one of the traits she got from Dazai that Chuuya had to deal with.

He took a deep breath and let it all out, calming his nerves. "Fine, sure," he said. "But dinner's only an hour, and since the drive takes about ten minutes, I'll stretch your bedtime to 9:00 tonight so you can have a couple of minutes to yourself."

"Yay!" Yui cheerfully piped! "We've never been out to eat beside family, papa! Thank you!"

Chuuya was happy to see his daughter happy, but he needed to talk to the tall man, so he sent Yui to buy some candy. "Here are a few dollars, sweetie. Go buy some candy near here. Once you're done, meet me at the bench near the candy store, all right?"

"Okay, papa," Yui said, obviously not turning down a chance to buy candy, and then she ran off.

Once Yui was out of sight, Chuuya immediately ran up to Dazai and pulled on his coat.

"What the heck are you doing here, you mackerel?!" Chuuya whispered roughly. "You leave me behind, saying nothing, and once we meet again after a few years, you act like nothing has happened!"

Dazai pulled away from Chuuya and put his hand on Chuuya's chin so that Chuuya could see Dazai's expressions. "I act like nothing has happened, aye, Chibi? I don't remember you having a child. What's that all about, hmm?"

Chuuya immediately blushed and swiped Dazai's hand off of his chin. "None of your business, Dazai. After tonight, you are going to leave me alone. You got that?!"

Dazai missed this. He missed Chuuya's adorable face and when he was flustered. "Oh, but of course, Chibi. But, then again, I will be lonely once more. Poor me."

"Stop calling me Chibi, you dumb waste of bandages! You know you left me, which led to our breakup. I should've known you'd use me like that, breaking my heart," Chuuya said aggressively, with a hint of sadness in his voice. "Whatever. Ever heard of the term being lonely doesn't mean you're alone? I got to go meet Yui. I'll see you tonight, but I'm not going to like it. Remember, after tonight, no more connection, no more contact!"

And with that, Chuuya stormed off to the candy store, but Dazai was smiling. Why? Because he found a reason to live again.