Until the Last Grain of Sand Falls (Osamu Dazai x OC)

Part 2: Osamu

Life is tinged with darkness. Even when the sun's rays light up each day and people pretend to be in peace and joy, there is always darkness lurking in the corners of people's hearts, waiting to devour each soul. Why is one born to live only to die? I joined the Port Mafia in order to find a reason to live, but only proved to myself that everything I desire would obviously be taken away from me.

Life could only be dark.

After finding out that one of my friends was actually a traitor and my best friend had died because of it, a suicidal maniac like me could only think of death as the next step to my freedom.

Suddenly, she came.

Always out of nowhere, she would appear and stop me from my attempts, always saving my life. Petite with shoulder-length black hair, clumsy, and always stuttering, Claudia was not the type of girl that I would like. She passed out the first time she appeared, falling from the branch where I tied the rope to hang my neck--gee, such a nuisance--then disappeared after an hour.

After that, she would appear everyday whenever I would attempt another suicide, stopping me from taking away my life.

"Y-you are going to be a great person and you're going to save lives!" She said to me one day. It reminded me of the last words of OdaSaku. "Claudia, you know, you should stop bothering a stranger's life," I said to her teasingly. Her brown eyes moistened a bit. I felt my heart race, then the same red thread appeared, connecting our pinky fingers--the sign of our destined romance she once explained. "I-is that what w-we are? Strangers?" She asked in a hushed tone, so fragile and soft that it was almost drowned by the passing cars at the bridge where we were. I was trying to jump to my death before she came.

After meeting and talking freely with each other for days, I also knew that we were already more than strangers. I also noticed how much I would miss her every time she was gone and how elated I would feel when having her near me, close to me. But, what's the point? She revealed to me that she was someone not from my time, and every time she comes back to me, the less time we would have together.

Our time together was being counted--limited to the decreasing grains of sand in that tiny hourglass that served as her way back to me and the curse taking her away from me. What are we to do? She was a threatening existence for the future, an anomaly I fell in love with.

I caught her hand and lead her out of the bridge, into the town.

"Where are we going?" Her lovely voice asked. "On a date!" I saw her blushed when I gave her a wink. It made me giddy inside. "Look! Look!" I've always wanted one of these." I told her when we entered a clothing store, pointing at the long coats of different colors. "Black has more of Port Mafia's vibe."

"Really?" She went around the stalls, then came back with a light brown long coat. "I'm not sure about that, b-but I do think brown suits you better." Her smile was precious, so even without looking well at the coat, I decided to take it and wear it. For lunch, we ate street food, then walked together at the park when she suddenly disappeared again.

We were together for less than half an hour that day.

The next time she came back, she gave me a present, a blue oval brooch she said I should wear for my next job. "And what job would that be, beautiful person?" I laid my head on her slim shoulder. "You could ask a government official for that," she answered solemnly.

Two more meetings and I knew our time together would end.

As I thought, it was a given that whoever I love would never be mine. I could only hold her near as she disappeared. Forever.