Chapter Text
It was early May and hot in the small college town Nakajima Atsushi found himself wandering. He had come in a few days ago, collapsed on the edge of a river winding its way through, and didn't move for three days. He was regretting this now--he'd barely had anything to eat before this, and now he was so close to starvation that he could see his bones, bird-thin and light, jutting out of all parts of his body, as if he were a poorly put-together rag doll rather than a nine year old boy.
He wriggled his toes in the mud of the riverbank and considered fish. Fish were excellent when cooked; warm and flaky, savory, flavorful. He would do anything for some fish right now.
However, due to to fact that he was a nine year old alone on a riverbank in the middle of a small college town, it wasn't like he could just go to the store and buy a fish. Atsushi stared down at his bony feet again, watched as the mud bubbled up between his toes. A flash of light like scales in the water caught his eye and an idea hit him. Fish came from the river, right? And he was right on a river. He could go find some fish, and build a fire maybe and cook them, and have something to eat. It was a good idea--much better than stealing food, at any rate--and so Atsushi picked himself up and waded into the river.
It was warm in that it didn't freeze his socks off, and cool in the way that it soothed his sunburnt skin, and Atsushi, after his first timid steps, dove fully into the river. He emerged a good 20 meters from where his stuffed white tiger watched him atop his empty backpack. The current was faster here, where the water was deeper, and Atsushi waved his hands through it, trying to grab a fish. His fingers met something soft and warm, and he tugged hard.
A human hand, long and limp and white as soft bread came up. Attached to the hand was an arm wrapped in sodden, slightly blood-stained bandages, and a brown leather sleeve.
Atsushi shrieked and dropped the hand.
He immediately scrambled in the water to find it again, because oh heck, that was a body and maybe the authorities will give me a reward for finding it, and I can get some food. He hadn't dropped the hand far, and so he grabbed it and pulled towards shore, his feet scrambling for purchase in the soft mud of the riverbed. The body it was attached to was heavy, and Atsushi was only able to drag it mostly out of the water before he collapsed, panting, in the mud.
Then the corpse started coughing. Water spilled out of its mouth and when it seemed to be all done, it pushed itself up and wiped its mouth with a dirty bandage.
"Hello, there," said the corpse. "My name is Dazai Osamu. I'm a student at ADA University. How do you do?"
Atsushi promptly screamed and ran back over to his backpack and his stuffed tiger.