Chapter Text
The classroom is stuffy. The ceiling fans creak with every spin, the floorboards creak with every step, and the tables are wobbly. Dazai can’t believe anyone could stay here for even a 30 minute class period, but lo and behold: he’s here for two hours.
He takes a seat at the back of the classrooms next to the faulty air purifier that barely looks like it’s doing its job. The moment he sets his arms on the table to sleep, the table shifts and wobbles to the right.
“No way…” Dazai mumbles. This is so not worth it. He was only a latecomer; it’s not like he beat someone up, right? So why does he need to stay in this horrible classroom for two hours?
Boots click against the tiled floors as the discipline master walks in. He clears his throat and addresses the classroom of students:
“I’m sure you all know why you’re here today. And I’m sure this is the last time you’ll want to be here. Abiding by school rules is the most important thing to do as a student at this school…”
Dazai didn’t tune in for the rest of it. He doesn’t need to anyway, it’s always the same things. Your only duty in school is to be a good student… Blah blah… This will teach you a lesson… Whatever. There’s no freedom nor individuality allowed in this school anyway, he thought.
The discipline master hands out a slip of college ruled paper out to the students tauntingly slowly. When the paper hits the surface of Dazai’s desk, he barely sits up enough to grab a pen from his bag and scribbles his name messily onto the paper.
“Alright everyone, since you all are in detention for being late, I’ll need you to write down a step by step list on how you will change your current routine and show the virtue of self-discipline. It has to be carefully thought out and has to be carried out from now on.”
“Psshh…” Dazai scoffs. Like hell anyone would actually abide by this stupid checklist anyway. He’s probably just gonna trash it once he leaves the school compound. Dazai spins his pen around in his fingers, zoning out and imagining all the things he wants to do the moment he gets home. However, something the discipline master says makes his ears perk up.
“I know exam season is around the corner, and all of you are anxious and require time to study. So just this once, I’ll let you leave once you’ve finished writing your routine checklist. But it has to be detailed and not some sentences plucked out from the air, got it?”
Shit, now Dazai has to complete this checklist early! He grips the shaky table in an effort to push himself to sit a little straighter in his chair. Within 20 minutes, he completes the checklist. His shoes scrape against the creaky tiles as he makes his way to the discipline master’s desk where he submits the slip of paper.
The moment his frame comes into contact with the fresh air outside, his body slumps. He’s finally away from the dark, musty and damp smell the classroom had. And from sweating in a hot and clammy class to his hair swaying in the Yokohama breeze. At last, he’s a free man to go home and play games, or sleep, or rot in bed… Anything he wants. Sure, exam period is around the corner, but he was never one to care for his grades in the first place.
The relief from stepping out of the classroom is brief. Halfway along his walk back to his place, he feels his stomach start to cramp and growl again. Seriously? Just eat the remaining fat left, Dazai sighs.
He shoves his keys hastily into the lock, abandoning his shoes by the door. He doesn’t bother changing out of his school uniform even though the sweat is making the blouse stick uncomfortably to his skin. He’s too drained to care about it. All he wants to do is lie on his bed and sleep. Or die in his sleep, he couldn’t care less. Maybe then he’d be happy.
Dazai stirs at 1 a.m. in the morning. His phone keeps buzzing non-stop, and his stomach hurts from the lack of sustenance. “Shut up…” He mumbles into the pillow, dazedly reaching over to grab his phone off the nightstand.
“...Huh? Project? History- What?” His eyebrows are scrunched and his eyes are squinted, adjusting from the darkness of his room to the brightness of his phone screen. Still, what the fuck? There’s a project? For school? Why hasn’t he heard of this?
“Well, I’ll deal with that later… Let’s see who’s in my team…” His eyes scan across the member list in the group chat. Just a couple of his classmates he barely knows and-
‘Chibi-Kuuunn !! 🐌❤️’
No way. No fucking way. Come on… He’s in a group with Chuuya? His face turns into a pout of a small child. “I don’t wanna be stuck with Slug! He’s insufferable! He’s gonna pick on me and-”
His chain of thoughts snaps. His childish pout rising at the corners turning into a grin:
“Hey… If Chibi is in my team, he can just do the work for me! Anyway, he has this super huge ego and he probably won’t trust me to do it by myself… So that’s less work for me! Hooray!” Dazai cheers. While in this happy mood, he decides to do something that’ll make him even happier.
He scrolls through his list of contacts to find ‘Chibi-Kuuunn !! 🐌❤️’ and sends him a message that reads:
“hihi sluggy wuld u be a sweetheart 4 me and do my part of the project toooooooo :> cmon it’s as if youd trust me anyway :p”
A wave of fatigue sweeps over him again, and he switches his phone off before putting it on the nightstand. At least this time he has something to look forward to when he wakes up, right?