You Deserve Better (Osamu Dazai x Reader)

Chapter 25: A Certain Bomb - Part 2

(Season 1, Episode 2)

As the boy cautiously approached Junichiro, Osamu and I observed from a distance. The brunette leaned his chin on my shoulder, prompting a puzzled glance from me. He simply chuckled, behaving as though it was the most natural thing in the world.

"D-d-don't do it!" Atsushi's voice faltered, and his knees wobbled as he moved forward. "W-what're you h-hoping to get o-out of this? I-I bet this would make your parents very sad."

"Who the hell are you!" Junichiro shouted, making the poor boy fall over.

"I-I'm sorry," the tiger boy shivered.

"I don't know who you are, you're not with the Agency."

"U-uh, I'm the newspaper boy!" He quickly showed the "villain" his stack of papers. "I was just passing by as I was on my route!"

"Why the hell would you get involved in this situation?" Junichiro angrily questioned.

"Because what you're doing isn't right. No matter how you feel, you shouldn't threaten to kill people. Think about the wonderful things worth living for."

"Yeah, like what?" The ginger retorted. "What's something to live for?"

Atsushi froze. It's somewhat sad that he doesn't have an answer for that. Though, I suppose my answer wouldn't be any better. The Agency is the only thing I can think of... and Osamu.

"Tea on rice!" He shouted, making me tilt my head. That's one thing to live for, I guess. "Tea on rice is a reason to live! Oh, and sleeping somewhere with a roof over your head; waking up under a roof is great and when you open your eyes, every day is a new day." Junichiro appeared quite perplexed by the reaction. "But, if you push that button, neither of us will ever see a new day and that's because we'll be dead."

Regaining his composure, the illusion boy shouted. "I understand the concept!"

"Wait!" Atsushi shrieked, wiggling his body like a snake. "See, I really don't think you thought about this from all the angles. I mean if you die, you're really dead."

I unintentionally let out a small giggle. This shouldn't be funny, it's really sad, but his attempts at stopping him are quite odd. Suddenly, I realized a hand, which was not mine, covered my mouth.

"Shh." Osamu whispered, keeping his hand on my face.

"I'm sure you wish you were dead sometimes, but there's a bunch of people who keep on living even though their lives are completely awful. Oh, people like me! I don't have any family and no friends either. Even got chased out of an orphanage; I had nowhere to go and no hope for the future. What's worse is I turn into a wild tiger."

Well... that took a dark turn. Even Junichiro, with his jaw dropped, was astounded.

"Yeah, you heard me right!" Atsushi continued. "In fact, it might be true that I lack redeeming qualities, and everyone agrees that I'm a useless member of society. I'm still alive and I haven't gone psycho!"

"Doing great, Atsushi." Osamu smiled, releasing his hand from my face. "It's almost like this performance isn't an act for you."

"Yeah, I don't think it is," I sweat dropped.

"Now why don't you put down that bomb detonator and we can look for jobs together!" He waddled forward, coming face to face with Junichiro. "Okay?!"

The boy with ginger hair raised his arm, ensuring the detonator remained beyond Atsushi's grasp. "No thanks, I'm not exactly looking for work these days."