High spirit | Dazai Osamu ff

New year's

Days at the isolated Chelster Hall went by fast after that. Dazai invested his time equally in looking after the garden, working on his schemes and learning under Yoko San. To his surprise, as he tended to the garden and she looked after the mansion, she was slowly converting it to one hell of a place.

The many unused chambers in the building now had a fully equipped library, a drawing room, a work office where he could store all his important data, a huge dining hall that was rarely used and his own private chambers.

As he walked through the mansion, searching for a particular female he enters the kitchen. He thought he might find her here, since the small breakfast table in the kitchen was where they often had their meals was here. He recently found out that she is exceptionally good at cooking japanese food. But she will only cook if she is in the mood. He had at least expected to find sipping coconut water in the kitchen.

Since, he does not find her here, he heads to the library as his last option. He realises that he does not even know where her room was or if she even had a room in this place. He knew she'd spend most of her nights out in the city, overlooking the business that went on in the underground.

Ironically, he finds her in the office practicing calligraphy, dressed in black formal clothes. He leans at the door sill his hands thrusted into the pockets of his trench coat. He again feels as if he's seen that women's suit somewhere. As if sensing his presence, she looks up at him.

"I've been looking for you all around this place." He frowns.

"You could have just summoned me." She again dips her head to continue writing. Interested in what she is concentrating on, he strolls to her side peeking at her handiwork.

"And how do I summon you?" He asks.

"Simple! You chant 'Yoko San is awesome' three times and I'll know you are in need of my wonderful company." She smiles happily at him.

He scoffs. As if he'd do that in his lifetime. Picking up the paper, he finds his name written several times in different fonts. If that wasn't enough, she is singing his name with different intonations as she writes.

"Dazai Osamu! Dazai Osamu? Dazai Osamu... Dazai Osamu~" She continues as if he is not standing right in front of her.

Dazai gets a strong urge to knock her in the head right now.

"What kind of name is this anyway?" She suddenly lifts her head to look at him. "Sounds like a      name one would give to a 20 th century author. Were your parents high when they named you?"

"Brave of you to assume my parents cared enough to stay back and name me." He tries to guilt trip her.

"Dysfunctional family ?"  Dazai nods sadly as an answer.

"Ha! I had the best family when I was alive. My father would spoil me silly and mum never punished me for my mistakes. I was the youngest, so my siblings took good care of me too." She says merrily.

Dazai looks at her with a deadpan expression. Would anybody care if he knocked this person unconscious for a while? He just might get a little peace around him.

He walks over to the other side of the table and picks up the book he left there earlier. She was making him read many books by war strategiests. He had absolutely no problem, since the books only expanded his level of perception. What annoyed him was, as he stuffed his brain with complex ideas, she would sit, not even 5 feet away from him, giggling over cheesy romance novels.

When he had challenged her hypocrisy, she had said that she was already taught all that by her own predecessor, her sensei. He had observed that she quite like him, did not hold respect for anybody. Sure, she would fawn over the city and it's people. She  cared for all the wildlife. She loved many, but she respected a few. The only people he had ever heard speak with reverence were Natsume San and this sensei of hers.

"New year's is around the corner." Her soft voice pulls him out of his reverie. "I'll be gone for a while, that's alright with you?" 

He shrugs in response. He was going to be out of the city during that time anyways. Both of them, by now had collected lots of information on the scene of the underground. But they would often separate ways to go and work on their own. During new years he was going to do just that. He looks at her emerald eyes staring off into space.

"What are you thinking?" He asks

"Huh? Oh, I wondering what kind of ability users are going to be born this time around. Last year I distributed a bunch of lame gifts." Her face contorts in distaste.

Dazai flips through the pages of his book thinking about her answer. She tries gauging what goes on his head but his next question still catches her off guard.

"Why are you not killing me? I know it's definitely not 'out of respect for my wishes'." He makes air quotes. 

She looks the other way. Dazai looks at her amused. He know she always avoids eye contact with him since he can tell if she is lying if he stared into her eyes.

"Why kill you? I am a whole trove of knowledge, you have the ability to use that knowledge in favour of our best interests. I give gifts, you take them away. We basically make a double edged sword." She convinces, her hands smoothen the lapels of the blazer she's wearing.

"Is that so?" He asks with a pointed eyebrow. He wants to laugh out loud when she suddenly gets up, her chair scraping the floor. She still avoids looking at him.

"It's getting stuffy in here, right?" She asks fanning herself. She immediately exits the room under the guise of getting fresh air.

Having chased her out of the room. He finally gets his much wanted peace.He calmly rubs his palms together to make them warm. Blowing at them to restore the heat, he turns the page of his book. Staring at the cold winds that blow outside, he settles near the fireplace.

"It sure is getting colder these days." He mutters under his breath, smiling serenely.

×××

A/n:

I think I'll write a lot about the two year period, since the source material has not dealt with it. It allows me to introduce my own plots in the story. But I'll definitely write into the main plot too!