Life and Death (Soukoku)

Chapter 23

"Dazai.... This is a joke right?' The raven haired uttered out loud, eyes wide as the brunette avoided the other's gaze, wings folding as tight as they could as if wanting to hide it away from the world.

"What...happened?" The purple haired beside the raven haired asked, hesitant but her eyes squinting as if wanting to observe the other's wings more clearly.

Too ashamed to admit what happened, the brunette chuckled awakwardly, "Something might have happened..."

The blonde who was surprisingly silent the entire time, finally spoke up, "That's why we told you to stop going to the mortal realm. We don't know what happened but it sure has got to do with the habit of yours."

The white haired at the corner of the room stayed silent as if trying to process what was happening, not wanting to believe that his senior he looked up to was corrupted.

"Show them." Ranpo stated plainly but sensing the other's hesitance, he said once again, "Show your wings Dazai. How bad is it?"

When the brunette arrived at the angel community's usual room, he had skillfully kept his wings hidden but nothing was missed by Ranpo's observant eyes.

Everyone waited in bated breath as the brunette slowly unfolded his wings, expanding them as everyone gasped.

"That's more than 'a bit corrupted'. How did this happen?" Yasano exclaimed, rushing to approach the other but stopped herself, fingers about to brush against the black wings.

"Something happened, okay and the devils got me."

Kunikida slammed his hands down onto the table as he shouted, "Do you know how serious this is? That's what you get for not listening to your friends."

Atsushi attempted to calm the other down, mumbling between the lines of, "Kunikida-san, please calm down. I'm sure Dazai-san didn't purposely choose to get corrupted."

Oh. But he did. He had chosen his fate the minute he saved the ginger who took a swan dive off the roof. He should've just let him fall to his death. The brunette grit his teeth, wings shakily folding once again. It hurt. It hurt a lot.

"That's it. I'm done with your idiotic tactics and your obsession with the human's world. You're kicked out of the angel community. Why don't you live with the humans you love so much and get out of the skies!"

Everyone stayed quiet, waiting for one to speak up but no one did.

Atsushi took the first step, "I think we should take some time to consider...Dazai-san is in charge of time and-"

He was cut off by Ranpo who's emerald eyes were cold as stone, which was a rare sight.

"No. Kunikida is right. You're out Dazai. Get out. We'll assign your role to someone else."

Atsushi's eyes widened as he was about to refute but Yasano grabbed him by the shoulder, "Forget it. Ranpo's words are final. We don't need a corrupted angel in our community anyways."

The brunette stood there, blank as ever. His sort called 'friends' kicked him out without a second thought. Atsushi was most likely the only one who wanted to change the other's mind. Even Kenji was looking at him coldly, his usual smile not on his face. The blonde hated corruption after all.

Despite him knowing this would happen, a small part of him thought they would have seen past his wings and realised that he was still on their side. To give him at least some sort of concern or maybe placed things in a nicer way. With his title stripped, he was no longer special.

He turned, silently walking away as Atsushi watched helplessly as Dazai made his way out of the room. Yasano sighed, comforting the other who was already in tears.