White Lily (Dazai Osamu x gn! Reader)

Around the Corner

Tents, signs, and the clanging of commerce surrounded you, as you ambled through Yokohama's shopping district. Tons of individuals interweaved with one another, browsing and exchanging goods, germs, and conversation all at once.

The reason you came here was a simple one: Avoidance.

Currently, you felt it was too much of a drag to clean out your refrigerator in your apartment. Ordinarily, you'd have only kept water and a maybe a small handful of leftovers inside it. Again, ordinarily...

The thing here was, though, that you'd met up with Dazai quite a few times to eat since you'd gotten together. Due to this, you ended up bringing both yours and his leftovers home with you. He said he'd eat his eventually, but in Dazai fashion, he was unpredictable on that front. One day, he'd actually do it; the next, he's ordering takeout for you both again.

Regardless of the how, your small fridge was stocked with items well beyond expiration now. A foul odor radiated from the box, and you intended to at least buy nose plugs before trying to conquer this demon.

In the shopping district, you saw different racks of clothing, stationary, and travel items. Nothing in particular caught your eye, but the sheer variety of goods was an appealing thing in itself.

Actually, that second bit quickly became a lie.

Something indeed drew your attention now.

Noticing a shop with random knick-knacks, you figured if anywhere, you'd be able to find nose plugs here. Even if not, you reasoned you'd at least get to drink in all the fun chaos of whatever was sold here though.

However, something glossy shimmered in the corner of your eye over at a table vendor's display. The table sat right outside the knick-knack shop you'd been eyeing moments ago. Magnetically, your legs took you to the stand of the woman running it.

"Hello, there! How can I help you?"

"This item here..." You pointed to it. "How much is it?"

The woman smiled gleefully at your instantaneous interest in one of her products.

"Ahh, this? ¥9,500, dear."

It wasn't a price so terrible that it was out of range for your wallet, yet, for such a tiny thing, you were uncertain about how prudent this was on your end.

¥9,500 yen could get you somewhere between 8 and 13 bowls of ramen, depending on how frugal you got. Bare minimum, a week's worth of dinner, in other words, even for the nicer stuff.

You fought the urge to chew up your nail thinking about it. Anyway, your mind was made up the moment the item's glimmer caught your attention. You just couldn't accept it without an internal struggle.

Although with mental anguish, you pulled out your wallet and placed the small stack of bills onto the table.

"Alright...I can do that..."

"A great pleasure doing business with you, dear customer~"

You watched as the shop owner bagged your choice item in brown paper, and you quickly stuffed it into a larger bag you had with you right now.

Briskly, you scuttled away, marinating in disbelief at your impulsiveness. You couldn't take your eyes off what you'd chosen to purchase, though.

When a good time came, you intended to give it to Dazai as a surprise.

For that alone, you argued it was worth it.

You rounded the corner of the shopping district, exiting the main storefront areas. As you moved further, the hustle and bustle died down, and you went to hearing the occasional sounds of traffic, though it wasn't congested at least.