Dazai's Childish Predicament

Chapter 16

Chuuya groaned and stretched as he stepped out of the van, glad to finally be back at the HQ. The mission was resolved quickly once he arrived, but the five-hour drive down many small, bumpy roads left a lot to be desired. He dismissed his men and rubbed his aching back as he went to get freshened up, deciding that the longer he could avoid Dazai, the better.

That, of course, lasted about forty seconds.

"CCCHHHUUUUUYYYYYYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!"

Thud.

Once again Chuuya found himself regretting every life choice he'd ever made as he struggled to breathe under Dazai's 181cm body.

"Get off me, you idiot!!" He shouted, trying unsuccessfully to push Dazai off of him until Akutagawa peeked out from around the corner.

"Um, D-Dazai...I don't think Chuuya can breathe..."

"Eh?!" Dazai quickly looked down at Chuuya who was still shoving at him and quickly got off. "Sorry, Chuuya...I was just happy to see you," He said with a pout, watching Chuuya stand up and dust himself off.

"It's fine, Dazai, just don't come running at me like that, you're freaking tall and lanky and you're so skinny it hurts- wait-" He whipped around to face Akutagawa. "Did he just do what you say? First time?"

Akutagawa nodded, "He, um...seems to do what I say..."

Dazai interrupted just as Akutagawa finished his sentence. "Chuuya Chuuya! Akutagawa's ability is super awesome, isn't it? He showed it to me yesterday it was so cool!" He was jumping up and down and smiling happily; still oblivious to the effect he had on Akutagawa. "You'll let me stay with him again right?!" He ran over to Akutagawa and held his arm, a hopeful expression on his face. Akutagawa looked like he might faint at any moment.

Chuuya was silent for a moment, looking from Akutagawa, to Dazai, then back to Akutagawa again before bursting into laughter. "Oh man, this is better than I ever could have imagined! I had you look after him because I thought it'd be hilarious but I never thought he'd actually take a liking to you!" his laughter continued for another minute before he gained some control over himself again, wiping the tears away from his eyes. "God you look like you're about to faint! Dazai stop clinging to him please, the poor kid is about to drop dead." He walked over and patted Akutagawa's shoulder. "Great job winning him over, you can take care of him whenever I go away now."

"I don't know if that's wise, Chuuya, he's keeled over more times in the past day than in the past three years," Tachihara snorted as he approached the group from down the corridor. "Can't say it wasn't hilarious to watch, though,"

"Oh, he'll get used to it eventually~" Chuuya chuckled and patted Akutagawa's shoulder again. "You're the only one who seems to have some semblance of control over him, after all~"

Akutagawa nodded, still looking a little fazed. "If you say so, sir..."

"Oh actually, since you're here, Chuuya, you'll probably want to know that Dazai remembered what his ability is," Tachihara said, leaning against a wall.

"Really? That's great!" Chuuya spared Dazai a small smile before turning to Tachihara. "How did it happen?"

Tachihara took a moment to explain the events of the past twenty-four hours while Chuuya listened, chuckling once again as Tachihara explained what happened to Akutagawa, but carefully taking in what he said about Dazai's memory.

"Well, it really was an eventful day yesterday, but more than anything I'm glad Dazai managed to remember something else. If we can find out what kind of things trigger his memory, then we should be able to bring about a total memory recall. We can talk more about this later, but right now I need to report to Mori about my mission."