Expectations // Soukoku

2 // Call

A call from them

Started: 17/5/2019

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Apart from the encounter in the morning, the day went normally.

Dazai tried to pay as much attention as he could in class while scribbling on a piece of paper. No way he would even dare to draw a line that he wasn't meant to in his notebook. As long as he kept his notebook neat, it could only bring up his grades. Many people underestimate how important it is to keep your notebook nice and clean.

When the school day was over, he went to the library to study, even if reading a book that interested him would have been nice as well.

After a good while of studying, his eyes were starting to feel heavy, and he just wanted to relax.
With a sigh, he stood up and returned the book to the shelf, which wasn't too far away.

Enough studying for one day.

He grabbed his bag and swung it over his shoulder, then he left the library.

As he walked back to his apartment, the cool wind blew against his face, it was rather nice and calming, even if he had to admit it that was a bit cold.

Taking his phone from his pocket, he checked the time. It wasn't that late yet, and he still had about half an hour until it was the time.

Every week, on Thursday, they would call at 17:00. Exactly at 17:00. Sometimes Dazai wondered how they always were so in time.

Not long after, he reached his apartment.

Now he had about five minutes of free time before the clock would hit 17:00. Maybe he could get a snack. Something small and fast couldn't hurt, right? Yeah, even to him, it didn't sound like a bad idea.

He made his way to the kitchen and grabbed an apple from the small fruit basket on his table. It didn't take long for him to finish the apple, and once he did, the rest of his free time was spent sitting on his couch and waiting.

Then, it was time, and his phone rang. With a small gulp, he answered the call. An emotionless expression on his face, his eyes dull, he replied to the greeting that was heard from the other side.

It went just like it usually did, they asked some questions, and he answered, both ends speaking formally, just like always.

One thing made the call different from the others.

"Come visit us when you have a break and don't need to study, we will talk about your future in person, your mother and I think it would be better to do face to face. Inform us when you want to visit us. We will call again next week. Bye, Shūji." Then the call ended, without any sign of Dazai even agreeing to visit them, but then again, he really couldn't have refused anyway.

Then his mind focused on the last word Gen'emon had said, Shūji. Oh how he always had to remind him, he would always be Shūji Tsushima to them, no matter what.

This is why he hated Thursdays the most out of all of the days.

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I'm sorry, I know this chapter is a little short, but midway through writing this, I got the idea to include more elements from the actual author's life, so I changed stuff up in the first chapter.

Example:
Originally, Dazai introduced himself to Chuuya as Osamu, because he didn't want to be called by the name he shared with his parents. And then after the call, he was reminded of how his parents always called him Osamu, thus he decided it was better to be called Dazai than Osamu, and would fix this with Chuuya the next day. But, I decided it's more interesting to have him share the same given name as Osamu Dazai did and have him despise that name so much he prefers to be called by a completely different name.

Finished: 23/5/2019