No Longer Corrupted

III

Dazai had decided not to go to school the next morning. His night being relatively and unfortunately busy. He hadn't even gotten home until close to 7 that morning. He fully intended to sleep if he could, though he doubted he'd be lucky enough to do so. Time never seemed to be on his side much. He had to at least clean himself off quite a bit, dread filling his head upon realizing he was supposed to meet with Chuuya later that day. The feeling only amplified when he turned on his bathroom sink, eyes narrowing at the darkened dried blood on his hands. No matter how much he'd scrub, even when the thick substance was all gone from existence, disappearing down the drain. That's all the 17 year old could see when he looked at his hands. When he viewed his own reflection.

Bloodshed

The life he led was supposed to help him. He wanted to feel, he wished to feel alive. Have a valid reason for wanting to live, but yet.. His double life hadn't helped him in the least. He was still incredibly numb and even trying to disguise himself as a high schooler to feel some sense of normality, he wasn't normal in the least. He was far from the average 17 year old high schooler. Nothing would ever be able to change that fact. The void eating away at his soul would forever consume him.

With a rough sigh, the brunette dug through his relatively empty refrigerator, attempting to scrape up something small to eat, but he couldn't find anything suiting. So he resorted to plopping down upon his mattress on the floor and gazing up at the peeling paint on the walls and ceiling.

After several hours of staring aimlessly with no luck of succumbing to sleep, a buzz of his phone snapped him back to reality. Was he needed again?

Unknown Number: Where tf r u?! Dont tell me ur fucking bailing on the first goddamn day!
Sent at 9:47am

Dazai stared at the text quite perplexed. It definitely wasn't one of his fellow mafia members or underlings. Chuuya.

how did u even get this number- r u stalking me chuuya-kun?! 😱
Sent at 10:00am

Slug: I have my goddamn ways. Y the hell would I WANT to stalk ur ass?!
Sent at 10:02am

ur the one who has my number without my consent~~
Sent at 10:04am

Slug: I really fucking hate u. I hope u know that.
Read at 10:07am

With a small roll of his eyes, Osamu tossed his phone to the side. Chuuya shouldn't have this number, but nothing he could do about it now. He wasn't planning to message him back either. If he was being honest, he was thinking of leaving the school life behind. It wasn't benefiting him at all. They weren't teaching him anything he didn't already know and people watching was becoming quite boring. High schoolers were too predictable and quite frankly, annoying.

Throughout the day, Dazai felt his phone buzz quite a few more times. Empty insults from the redhead about not ignoring him, blah blah blah. He opted to just not respond. Eventually, Nakahara would catch the hint... Hopefully.

//

ok... ok.. lets do this thing!! im actually quite in a pickle!! i need halp- or im gonna die!!
Sent at 3:56pm

Slug: Wtf?!  What is actually wrong with you?!
Sent at 4:03pm

just get here asap pls and thanks!!
Dazai sent his location at 4:04pm
Read at 4:04pm

You see, things were going as planned. So Dazai had hoped. He was so close to being able to leave this world a day closer.. Except he sprung the trap a few moments too early. So there he was, hanging upside down from the ceiling. A rope wrapped tightly around his ankle. He had been like this for quite a while already. The blood rushing to his head was causing quite the headache. Though his home laid in the middle of downtown Yokohama in a crappy apartment building, so it'd most definitely be a while before Chuuya would reach him.

"I'm gonna die an awfully painful way," Osamu said with an exasperated tone, slightly swinging back and forth.

After what seemed like a lifetime, he heard a door open and close and some footsteps before the redhead erupted loudly.

"Where the fuck are you?" he called out, in which Dazai yelled back to him that he was in the bedroom.

Chuuya had walked in, stopping abruptly at what he saw, a look of disbelief crossing his features. "Why in the hell are you hanging from the fucking ceiling?"

"Well, I was trying to commit suicide! Buuut I got a bit too eager and sprung it too early and you see, i'm now stuck!" Dazai admitted.

"Jesus- your face is fucking purple.. You know if you just hung there upside down the blood rushing to your head would eventually kill you.." he replied, arms crossing over his chest irritably.

"Mhm! Though that is and this is incredibly painful! I don't like pain!" Dazai scowled, pointing towards his head. "So if you'd be so kind to please let me down~"

"On one condition, you have to help me with this project!" Chuuya compromised, meanwhile a disgustful look crossed Dazai's features.

"Never mind, you're free to go."

"God damn, you're such a fucking pain.." Chuuya huffed out. He crossed over and cut the rope off the dresser Dazai was using as the weight to hold his weight.

Osamu fell with a thud, laying there for a few minutes as the blood in his head went back to it's typical flow. He slowly sat up, rubbing his forehead since he was quite dizzy after hanging there for such a long time.

"You fucking owe me," Chuuya growled, leaning against the wall. "Where you at a fucking funeral or somethin'?" he asked gesturing to Dazai's attire.

"It was supposed to be my own! Gotta dress snazzy if you're going to die, ya know~" he lied. It was a good enough excuse since he hadn't taken off his mafia attire yet.

Nakahara just hummed in an annoyed tone. "Sure.." he retorted, he took a glance around, his brow raising a bit. "This place is a shithole, where are your parents anyway? This is only a one bedroom apartment. When you said yesterday your parents wouldn't allow 'dogs' here. Why didn't they help you? And why the hell were you trying to die anyway?" he questioned.

"Oh, that was just an excuse to get out of this dumb project," he sighed, finally getting up from the floor. "The rest of those details don't pertain to you," he replied with a bit of sass in his tone.

Chuuya didn't exactly believe whatever nonsense Osamu was spatting, but at least he was correct there. It wasn't any of his damn business, nor did he care enough to figure it out. Though walking in on such a scene, it didn't sit right with the redhead. It made him feel incredibly uneasy, like he needed to find out exactly what was wrong with this fucking weirdo. The bandages, the cryptic bullshit, the shitty apartment way far out of the school's zone, and just Dazai in general. Everything about him was odd and mysterious. Chuuya was becoming slightly intrigued by this suicidal maniac now.

"Alright, well," Dazai started with a sigh. "Let me change and I guess we can start on this stupid project."