Project X (Bungou Stray Dogs X Reader)

Chapter Seven

Y/n POV

I woke up to an empty room, a sharp pain in my right arm.

Moving my head so I could see what had happened, a guttural scream ripped its way through my throat at the sight. My right hand was completely missing, only bloody stitches remaining. It was a gruesome thing to behold. There was no bandage, which meant that Dazai had not come yet today. I turned away from the horrible sight, tears streaming down my face.

I would wait for Dazai, he would make all this better. I was sure of it.

What felt like hours passed and still, no one came. I could hear people rushing through the hallway outside, meaning it was most likely day time. Soon, even that faded and still no Dazai.

There were more needles injecting things into me. Strange liquids, some made my blood run cold. Others burned like fire while still others felt like nothing at all. Soon, I stopped feeling the needles and the only thing that told me they were even there was the fact that I could see them.

The next time I woke up, my feeding tube was back in. I was suffocated, cut, crushed. They never did anything as serious as taking a hand again but, somehow that made the whole situation hurt more. I lay there, in my cold hospital bed, blood puddled around me and dry tears coating my cheeks.

There was a click and light flooded the room for a second. Another click and it went dark. I heard someone walking towards me and suddenly the feeding tube was pulled from my throat. I coughed violently and turned my head to see none other than Akutagawa. He didn't say anything, just sat and watched me.

Akutagawa tried to force me to eat, a favorite of mine, tea on rice, but unfortunately was not as skilled as Dazai in the task of caring for another person. He left, slamming the door behind him. This continued to happen. The interactions themselves always had a strange, forced quality to them.

I had no idea for how long but, he visited at least ten times. We never said a word, he just sat there watching me. He would force feed me, never unstrap me. It was clear that he was trying to fill the space his teacher had left.

The first few visits, I expected Dazai to enter too but, after a while, I gave up hope.

"He's gone, isn't he." I said one day.

Akutagawa nodded.

"Oh."

We continued on in our usual silence but, for some reason it felt wrong.

"Well then, Akutagawa-san..." I said softly, looking up at him with a weak smile, "you're my only hope now!"

He looked taken aback.

"W-what do you mean?" he asked.

"Well..." I began, trying to find the words to explain myself, "I could tell when he left. They took my hand when he left. He must have been doing something to... protect me...? in some way? Nothing like that had happened before. Nothing like that has happened since which leads me to believe you have followed in his footsteps. I don't think they'll let you do it much longer. It must be taking a lot of money to do whatever they're doing to me and I can't imagine they like you slowing down progress. So, you're my only hope. Help me, stave them off as long as you can or... don't. Either way, it will eventually end up the same I guess."

"Would it be better if I did?" he asked.

"I guess not. Better just to get it over with, right?"

"Are you sure?"

"Are you asking me what I want?"

"Yes."

"I want this to end."

status: edited October 26th 2023

editing author: y'all i built up this romance sooooo fucking well. im proud. enemies to lovers babyyyyy