Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Todays the day, Atsushi's first official day at boarding school....hooray?
He knows he should be grateful and happy, especially considering his current situation but he cant help but be a teensy bit frightened, right?

I mean he's already a month and a half late into the school year so everybody's probably found their friend groups and stuff making it even HARDER for Atsushi to fit in-

G rea t

Then again he may as well try seeing as this would be his home for the next 3 years as long as he didn't get himself into any trouble.

"Hopefully the short tour has granted you a bit more information on this school Nakajima?" Mori says
"Y-yeah! Thank you, sir!"

"RINTAROUUUU!!!" A high pitched voice yells, presumably from a small child and it seems to catch Mori's attention

"Ah, I wish I could've given you a better look around the school but I have some um..business to attend to-" By business, he's probably referring to the girl who just screamed his name like bloody murder

"I-Its fine, I dont mind!" Atsushi says to the man not wanting to be a nuisance on his first day, he had already felt like that enough at the orphanage

"Now of course I won't be leaving you completely in the dark! I'll arrange to have someone give you a proper tour later today"

"RINTAROUU YOU MEANIE STOP IGNORING ME!!"

"Anyways hope you have a nice first day! I'm coming my darling Elise!!"
And with that, he was off!

Atsushi blinked a few times trying to comprehend everything that had happened in the last 30 minutes of being in this school, this was alot to take in-

So now Atsushi was kind of just standing in the middle of the hallway not exactly sure what to do at this point. It probably would've been smart to ask where his dorm room is considering there seemed to be at least a billion doors at this school, but alas none of them seemed to lead to where he wanted to go

Luckily, but also unluckily, most of the students at this point would be the cafeteria for breakfast or doing the homework they hadn't from the night before, though they were still a few odd people lingering in the hallways. Two of them being a cheery and young looking teen(who didn't look any older than 14)and the other who was taller and looked like he was about to die of nervousness

Maybe he could ask those two for directions?

"Morning Tsumiki!!"

"Morning Ranpo!"

"Morning Yosanoooo!~ Did ya sleep well?" The boy named Ranpo asks with a smile and the girl he's talking to lets out a sigh "Depends what you're interpretation of good sleep is-" She groans taking a sip of an energy drink
Atsushi makes a mental note to get himself one of those later on today

"Ah h-hopefully you'll be able to catch up on sleep soon Yosano-" The other boy says quietly making Yosano let out a small laugh "Same here-" and with that, she heads out

Ranpo continues to say good morning to ev ery person in the hallway and surprisingly almost all of them say good morning back though when he comes across Atsushi he seems to hesitate for a split moment since he probably wouldn't know his name seeing as they hadn't met yet
"Morninggg...." the boy opens his eyes before continues to "Morning Atsushi!"

The fu-

"Good morni- wait how do you know my name?!" He exclaims and Ranpo lets out a giggle
"It's a secret!! Anyways let's go, Poe!" He grins marching towards one of the many doors in the school

Poe lets out a sigh before speaking up again, like the last time he doesn't project his voice too loudly only enough to get the others attention
"Ranpo you're going the wrong way-"

"Hey... um, do you guys ha-"

The shorter teen halts and turns around to face Poe "I knew that!"

"Hello..?" Atushi calls trying to get them to maybe notice him? Maybe he was being too quiet-

"Yea sure you did-" Poe sighs

And before he knew it, they were gone.
He didn't want to go chasing after them after they left because then he'd look like a stalker!! Right?

Being lost and confused Atsushi decided to head into the courtyard for a gush of fresh air. The sun was shining brightly leaving a colourful hue to the garden and just overall having a relaxing feel, not to mention the flowers smelled lovely

Atsushi just needed to have a positive mindset and everything will play out to be fine!
Hopefully-
Looking at his watch Atsushi wonders if he should try to navigate his way around the school himself

But right before he could even make his decision, he heard a gurgling sound come from the fountain?
'No Atsushi you have to stay focused or else your gonna be late!' He tells himself 'Dont get yourself caught up in problematic situations!"

Another gurgle

Just ignore it-

Another

Ignore it, Ignore it

Oh my God, why does it sound like someones drowning-

The boy curses his good nature and ends up leaving the hallway to check the source of the sound
There was someone...? No, a student stuck in the water fountain head first

What the-

Doing the first thing that came to mind Atsushi ran over to help the boy

After successfully pulling him out of the fountain it takes a few moments for the boy to gain full consciousness

"A-are you okay?! You were stuck in the fountain-" he stutters

The brown-haired boy looks up at Atsushi with an annoyed expression
"So it was you, huh?"

"Eh?"

Placing a hand to his forehead, he lets out a sigh
"It was you who ruined my suicide attempt!... I swear every single time in this God-forsaken school someone always interrupts me—"

Hearing this makes Atsushi's eyes widen, he was trying to kill himself...? AT SCHOOL?

"B-but why?"

Gently shaking the extra water droplets off himself the brown-haired boy (Who Atsushi would soon find out that his name was Dazai) spoke once again
"Because I wanna die, duh. Isn't it obvious?"

Not only is Atsushi behind in his schedule for the day and he's also literally had to save some bandaged suicidal maniac who wanted to kill himself

What was Atsushi even supposed to say at this point?!
"I'm sorry you want to kill yourself?"

"I'm sorry you're mad at me for stopping your suicide, do you want me to put you back in?" Atushi thought

Nope that definitely wouldn't work

"o h"

"It's not a big deal Atsushi, It's the norm for me," he says casually making Atsushi gasp once again
"H-how do you even know my name?! I just moved here..."

"That's easy!~"

The white-haired boy raises a brow "How come?"

"I read some of your files!"

"EH?!"

A few footsteps are heard from behind the two presenting a red-haired man who was most likely a teacher
"Osamu Dazai you never learn do you?" He says with a half chuckle

"Hm?"
Upon turning around a wide smile appears on the previously frowning bandaged boys face
"ODASAKU!!!"

Seeing how wet Dazai's clothes were Odasaku let out a sigh "Dont tell me you tried to kill yourself aga-" before he can even finish his sentence Dazai interrupts him

"Atsushi, this is Oda Sakunosuke, but most of us just call him Odasaku! He's a dorm parent buuuut he also teaches English! He's probably here right now to give you your timetable though"

"Thankyou Dazai, but I think I'm more than capable of introducing myself to Nakajima here on my own-" He says making Atsushi wonder how much does this guy have to deal with Dazai, then again putting up with students like Dazai is part of the job

Odasaku pulls out a piece of paper handing it to Atsushi
"Your timetable. Its already put down in the attendance you might miss or be late to your first class so you can have time to unpack your stuff"

"Ah ok thankyou Mr Sakunosuke sir!" Atsushi bows his head to thank the man

"Odasaku's fine really"

"Who does it say you're rooming with Atsushi?" Dazai questions curious to know

"Some guy named Akutagawa Ryuunosuke?"

Dazai lets out a small laugh and Atsushi couldn't tell whether it was out of pity or surprise

The older teen places his hand on Atsushis shoulder sympathetically as if both of his parents had just died
"I am so sorry-"
(i mean both his biological parents are probably dead anyway- but that's besides the point here!)

What was the deal with this Akutagawa guy?! "H-how come?" He asks though his main question remains unanswered with Dazai just replying with
"Oh you'll see soon enough"

He couldn't be THAT bad right?

Out of nowhere, Dazai raises his voice again to speak
"Hey, Odasaku?"
"Hm?"
"As his upperclassmen can I PLEASEEE show Atsushi here around?" Dazai pleads but Odasaku shakes his head disapprovingly making the bandaged boy pout

"Thank you for being so considerate, but no-"

"Awww but Odasakuuuuu!"

"Dazai after you dry yourself up your heading straight to the counsellor's office- I'll just get one of the third years to show the kid around"

Suddenly the door leading back into the school busts open revealing a short redhead who looked ready to rip somebody's head off so Atsushi took this as his cue to leave

"DAZAI YOU BASTARD I'LL KILL YOU!!!!"

"Uh oh looks like Chuuya woke up cranky...ID LIKE TO SEE YOU TRY CHIBI!~"

Oh my God...

"The both of you please shut up its 8 in the goddamn morning"

"Sorry, Odasaku!!!"

...

Dazai had already been banished to his room to go change meanwhile Chuuya got called to talk to somebody called Kouyou? For his disruptive behaviour and due to Odasaku having ZERO faith in either of the formerly mentioned boys he assigned Kunika Doppo to help Atsushi out

The blonde was a 3rd year who seemed to fit the perfect student mould perfectly so it's no wonder this guy was a prefect.
"So how're you enjoying our school so far Atsushi?" He asks
"It's pretty good so far!" The younger smiles "I ran into some guy named Dazai earlier though do you happen to know him?"

After hearing that dreaded name the pen in Kunikida's snapped in half, did these two have beef with each other or...?
"When you met him was he...by any chance trying to commit suicide?

"Y-yes he was-"

"Why am I not surprised?" He groans
Kunikida drops Atsushi off at his bedroom and Atsushi thanks him
"Thankyou Kunikida-kun!"

The older smiles slightly "No problem! If you ever need me just give me a call"

"Mmhm!"

After Kunikida leaves Atsushi opens the door to his shared dorm with his key and pops his head into the room curiously
"Guess he's not here right now then-"

Stepping into the room he can see it looks relatively clean. Of course, Atsushi knows he isn't exactly the tidiest but he's thankful that at least his roommate is

The room looked pretty simple, the walls were a navy colour with not much extra stuff around where it wasn't necessary seeing as there were no posters or anything

The light-haired boy threw himself on the bed he assumed was his and let out a long exaggerated groan
"This is gonna be a long day-"

...

Sitting in the counsellor's office is...guess who it is? No other but Dazai Osamu himself! Obviously who else could be there for such ridiculous reasons?

Across from him was Alisha, the school counsellor looking very much concerned as the teen sitting in front of her span on the office chair like some sort of toy-

"Dazai...?"

"Dazai-"

"DAZAI!!"

"H-huh?!" After hearing her raise her voice he almost falls out of her chair
"Oh, yeah?
"AhEm" The woman clears her throat
"Anyways, Dazai dear- When you say you want to kill yourself, you don't plan on ACTUALLY going through with it, right?"

Dazai blinks at her with the most innocent look ever as if he had no idea what she was talking about.

"R-right?"

"Why of course not Miss!!"

Chapter Text

Shit. Shit. Shit. Shit-

HOW DID HE MANAGE TO SLEEP FOR SO LONG?!
SomehoW??! Atsushi had managed to take ALOT more than a "little" nap and it was already halfway into his first class

But then he remembered what Odasaku said about the teacher already knowing that he'd be slightly late, the poor guy didn't even get the chance to unpack yet OR eat breakfast ...

Taking out his timetable Atsushi checks and sees that his current class is History with Mr Hirotsu was it? Putting on a smile Atsushi grabs his school bag and heads for the door, obviously making sure to lock it on his way out

Upon reaching the classroom Atsushi opens, no- SLAMS the door open and panting as if he had just run a 5k

"Sorry, I'm late si-"

"OWWWWWWW!!!!" A loud yell is heard from behind the door, and a redhaired girl emerges from behind it with an astronomically immense red mark on her nose and forehead

"WHAT WAS THAT FOR YOU IDIOT!!" She screeches making Atsushi turning red and flustered out of embarrassment
"I-I'm sorry! I swear it was an accident!!"

She rolls her eyes in annoyance but to be honest can you blame her? Some new kid this weird-ass haircut just bashed the door right into her face!

She makes her way back over to her seat, but before doing so, she whispers one last remark to Atsushi
"By the way, your hair looks stupid-"

Well, wasn't that sweet!!

The teacher clears his throat while giving the girl a side glare. He looks pretty grumpy but not the "I'm just tired" kind. More of the "I hate children and I hate my job" kinda feel!

"You can introduce yourself now kid"

"O-oh yeah, my name is Atsushi Nakajima, its very nice to meet you all!" He greets with a warm smile meanwhile the girl from earlier just rolls her eyes.

"I know most of you were all nervous on your first day here so I hope you all treat Nakajima with respect," Hirotsu says

"Yes, sirrrr..." The class replies, you can almost hear the drowsiness from the early morning seeping from the voices as if none of them had gotten a moment of sleep in their lives.

The teacher points his finger to direct Atsushi to certain ginger who's sleeves were WAY too long for him
"You can go over and take a seat beside Tanizaki over there

Atsushi stood up and took a seat beside the smiling boy
"S-sorry about Lucy...she's got a bit of a temper but eventually she'll come around!"
Tanizaki mumbles quietly seeing as Lucy is currently sitting directly behind them. Atsushi has a feeling the two of them are gonna be good friends!

3rd class into the day and it turns out him, Tanizaki and that tsundere Lucy, share alot of the same classes so Atsushi's assuming they're all in the same base class

While the two boys are walking through the hallways on their way to their next class the speakers turn on and begin to call which classes should head to the study hall and thankfully Atsushi's maths class just happened to be one of them, the poor boy needed a break!

After hearing that Junichirou brings hid sleeve up to his face
"Ah, that's us we should probably go!"

As the two boys enter the study hall and guess who they see?

"Oh! Hey Dazai-san!!" Atsushi says waving and Dazai motions for the two boys to come sit with him and Kunikida

Judging by how full the room was there seemed to be alot of teachers who weren't in today since along with Atsushi and Junichiro's class there were 3 more there too.

"Oh look if it isn't my cute adorable juniors!!" The bandaged teen coos so loudly that Atsushis sure the school on the other side of town would surely hear him.

"Dazai-san..." Junichirou whines, did he happen to know Dazai too?

Katai, the teacher on supervision is asleep with a futon on him so he probably doesn't even care what they all do as long as they dont wake him up

Kunikida let out an irritated groan and you can almost FEEL how badly this man wants to give Dazai a good ol knock in the head.
"Dazai is it that hard for you to be respectful to the people who want to study?"

"But Kunikida-kuuuun! Haven't you heard that its easier to study if you write with a red biro with some background noise?" He says with gleaming eyes

"Really?"

"Mmhm!! You should write that down."

The blonde takes out his pen and begins to write down what Dazai said
"Red...biro...loud...noise..."

"I was joking-"

The sound of a pen cracking was heard and next thing you know Dazai is being held by the collar as Kunikida yells at him.

And here Atsushi thought that maybe Kunikida would be one of the few sane people at this school-

The white-haired boy looks around awkwardly before turning his gaze back over to Dazai
"U-um Dazai-san was there a reason you wanted me?" Atsushi asks and the other nods, freeing himself almost too easily from Kunikida's grasp

"Mmhm! I have an offer for you Atsushi!"

"Which is?"

"I want you to join the literature club!" He smiles

Literature club...? Who would've thought someone like Dazai would be into writing.

"Isn't that a bit...sudden? Atsushi did just move here today" The blonde mentions

"I know, but at this school, it's mandatory to join at least one club or do an after school program in your first year" Dazai starts "I saw Atsushi's entry for the competition that happened the other week, and he's good with his words so I think he'd be a perfect fit for our new member"

Junichirou seems to understand where Dazai's coming from and nods in agreement
"Should I add him to the group chat then?"

"Group chat?! But I haven't even said yes yet!!" This was all happening w a y too fast for Atsushi to comprehend

A buzz is heard from Dazai's phone so he turns it on to check what it was.

"Well speak of the devil!"

Normally unless told by a teacher they aren't allowed to use their phones during school hours. But since its a study as long as they use it for "educational purposes" it's okay!

"What's happening this time..." Kunikida sighs pressing a hand to his forehead

"I honestly dont even know"

𝟒𝟓 𝐮𝐧𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐝 𝐦𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐚𝐠𝐞𝐬 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 '𝐍𝐢𝐤𝐨𝐰𝐨𝐥𝐚𝐢'

Nikowolai: heyyyy ⊂((・▽・))⊃
Nikowolai: heyy (ﾉ≧∇≦)ﾉ ﾐ ┸┸
Nikowolai: heyy ╰(▔∀▔)╯
Nikowolai: hi ─=≡Σ(([ ⊐•̀⌂•́]⊐
Nikowolai: hola ⊙▂⊙

Double suicide?: tf-
Double suicide?: gogol we all know your here u dont need to say hi ajymkre 😃

Nikowolai: oh ok💔

Kunikida Doppo: *you're *anymore

Double suicide?: Oh look the grammar police is here!! I thought u said u wanted to study

Kunikida Doppo: I was until I got multiple notifications from this chat in 10 seconds.

My name: then just turn off your notifs T-T

Kunikida Doppo: Wow, thank you for enlightening me Techou-san. I wouldn't have ever come to that conclusion without your assistance

My name: no problem 😎

I'm not an asshole :): techou stfu

My name: :((

Closing his phone Dazai lets out a long exaggerated sigh
"What exactly happened if you dont mind me asking?' Atsushi wants to know
"Gogol kept on spamming the chat, like always-"

"Couldn't you guys then just like...kick him out of the group chat, like temporarily?"

Dazai shook his head while laughing a bit
"Last time we did that, once Sigma added him back in that clown sent us like a 6 part long video of him upset about getting blocked for eight minutes"

"Ah, I see..." Atsushi says
"Is he in my year?"

Junichirou shakes his head "No, from what I've heard he's a second year in another school."

Atsushi furrows his brow in confusion "Then what's he doing in the group chat for the literature club..?"

"It's uh...complicated Atsushi- This group chat," Dazai says holding up his phone "Is another chat. We have a separate one for our club. Nobody even remembers how this one got made other than it was an accident"

"Oh I see, that makes more sense, sort of...?" No, not really it doesn't make any sense

"It doesn't make much sense to any of really," The brown-haired teen says "Nonetheless we still kept it up so now we kinda just use it to send each other death threats and plan how to avoid each other at school events"

"DEATH THREATS?!" Atsushi yelps which results in Katai waking up

"Quiet down or else I'll be giving all of you detention," Katai says

Atsushi quickly apologises not wanting to get detention on his first day "Sorry!"

Lowering his voice Atsushi speaks again "Why would you guys even be sending each other death threats in the first place!!"

"I-Its not all of us!" Junichirou whines
Kunikida had already removed himself from the conversation and put on his headphones to study

"It'll all make sense in due time young Atsushi. Just be patient!" Dazai tells the younger as if he isn't just in the year above him.

"First years have until the end of this week to join a club or else the school will choose one for you, and nobody wants that to happen"

Sc ar y

"Anyways," Dazai starts as he begins to pack away his stuff "I'll see you guys at lunch?"

Was he allowed to just get up and leave like that?!
"B-but Dazai-san where're you going? There's still a couple of minutes left" Atsushi says

"I know buuut I've got some stuff to do!"
Dazai sneakily makes his way past Katai and bids his friends goodbye

...

After Study hall, Atsushi has 1 more class and then next thing you know its break!!
Unlike their lunch which is an hour-long they only have 15 minutes for their break which makes sense since it is only a short break from classes.

He hasn't decided if he'll end up sitting with Dazai and the others during lunch or not though. To be honest he feels as if he's in no place to decline seeing as he doesn't have any other friends here yet but at the same time Atsushi's not quite sure he'll fit in with anyone else other than these lunatics, maybe the rest of them might be different?

Buuuut before any of that...
his number one top priority is getting to his room to charge his phone before it reaches the brink of death!

Using the directions Kunikida gave him Atsushi makes his way up to his room, almost forgetting that he had a roommate as he barges in.

The boy has black hair with white tips at the end and eyes that could paralyse you by fear and pale skin. You could say he looked like a modern-day vampire!

"Oh, you must be Akuta-"

"Who are you and what the fuck are you doing in my room?"

What a nice introduction!!

Chapter Text

"W-wait what?!" Atsushi stutters. This is NOT how he expected the meeting of him and his roommate to turn out at all! Why was he so mean?!

"You heard me the first time." Akutagawa says "I don't like repeating myself."

"O-of course! My names Atsushi Nak...Nakajima...I'm your roommate!" The boy says nervously. Of course, he only starts tripping over his words like some drunk giraffe on rollerskates when talking to the scariest guy he's met here!

"No, you're not."

"Yes, I am-"

"No, you're not."

Damn was this guy stubborn! The least he could do was treat Atsushi with a little respect...

"Akutagawa I am your roommate it doesn't matter how many times you say I'm not because it won't change anything. Do you really think if I could decide who my roommate was I'd choose some jerk like you?"

Shit- That last part came out wrong and now he seems 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 mad but at the same time he wasn't gonna let himself he pushed around again like he used to. This is gonna be his fresh start and he doesn't want to be seen as a pushover, especially not to 𝘩𝘪𝘮

"What the hell did you just say to me?!" Even though they're around the same height at this point Akutagawa's already holding Atsushi by the collar looking ready to beat the absolute hell out of him.

"You heard me the first time Akutagawa, I don't like repeating myself"
Yep, that did it, it's the end for Atsushi.

Back at the orphanage they had always told him he was too much of a crybaby and needed to be strong enough to defend himself.
Now, look where that got him!! Never again will he see the light of day, or taste the delicious food chazuke, or learn how to use rollerskates or anything!

With widened eyes, Akutagawa flings his fist at Atsushi and the poor boy can see his life flash before his eyes
'Take the opportunity' they said
'It'd be fun' they said!!

What a load of lies

Right before the impact, someone's hand seems to stop it from reaching Atsushis face and the boy could've sworn he just saw God or something.

"Dazai-san?" they both gasp in unison and Akutagawa lets go of the other boy (rather aggressively too)

"You really need to learn how to talk without using your fists Akutagawa"

"Dazai-san I can-"

Finally loosening his tight grip on his juniors wrist while COMPLETELY ignoring him, Dazai turns to face Atsushi which makes Akutagawa face cringe
"Hey, Atsushi!"

"Dazai what're you doing here? There's only like 5 minutes left of break-" Atsushi asks not even bothering to look him in the face out of embarrassment

"I know I just came over to give this to you," He says holding out a small keychain that looks like a baby white tiger

Atsushi nods his head taking the keychain
"Yeah u-um thanks!"

"Anyways ima go annoy Chuuya now, bye Atsushi!!"

"Bye...?"

Almost instantly after Dazai leaves Akutagawa storms out of their room in a fury but he's stopped by a girl with black hair.
"You ok Ryuu?"

"I'm fine-"

"Then why do you look like you're about to cry?" She questions with a smirk

"𝘔𝘰𝘷𝘦 𝘎𝘪𝘯"

"Ok fine then! Somebody's in a bad mood..."
After Akutagawa leaves Gin pops her head into the room and spots Atsushi.

"W-wait what're you doing here?! Aren't girls not allowed in the boy dorms?" He asks

"Yeahhhh! But he's my brother so it's ok to switch up the rules sometimes." She whispers sneakily

"You guys...are related...?" He gasps as if the possibility of Akutagawa having a sibling is impossible.

"Mmhm I'm his younger sister...by um 10 minutes" She mumbles twirling her hair

Ohhh so they're twins!!! Surprisingly Akutagawa fits the role of the overbearing big brother

"I know he might seem like a bit much at first but he'll come around eventually, it'll just take some time." She smiles and Atsushi can tell how genuine she looks so he'll take her word for it.

"I hope so cuz I'm pretty sure he hates me now" Wait he wasn't supposed to say that out loud-

Gin lets out a small laugh but after looking at the clock a look of worry clouds her face after seeing break ends in 2 minutes

"I wish I could've talked to you more but I have to go now."

He nods "It was nice talking to you to uh..."

"Gin, you can call me Gin"

"You can just call me Atsushi then!"

"Well, then Atsushi I'll see you later! Also, you should tie your shoelaces before you trip over them...." She leaves the room and Atsushi waves goodbye

The difference between her and Akutagawa was scary...

Atsushi decides that he should probably get going too but then he realises he forgot to do the one thing he came here for

Charge his phone

You know what he'll just manage the rest of today with his 3 percent phone it's fine!
It's f in e :)

Looking at his timetable it looks like Atsushi has art now which means he has to go all the way over to the other side of the school to get there.

Shit

Running out of his room Atsushi wonders if he went to another school would his first day be like this or was his life turning to into a living hell because he came here?

After what felt like forever Atsushi finally makes it to the art room, completely out of breath but he made it and just on time too!!

Scanning the room he feels a sense of relief seeing Gin there but also wants to be sucked into the ground because
1. Akutagawa is here
2. Tanizaki 𝘪𝘴𝘯'𝘵

Gin waves over to him and motions for the boy to sit next to her but he feels like if he does he might get eaten alive by her brother. He kindly declines her offer and sits over by himself on the far side of the room.
Though he's not really by himself since he's sitting beside this one guy who looks super emerged in his art that he's not even looking up from his page.

Wait this guy looks familiar...

~𝙀𝙖𝙧𝙡𝙞𝙚𝙧 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙙𝙖𝙮~

"𝘋𝘈𝘡𝘈𝘐 𝘠𝘖𝘜 𝘉𝘈𝘚𝘛𝘈𝘙𝘋 𝘐'𝘓𝘓 𝘒𝘐𝘓𝘓 𝘠𝘖𝘜!!!!"

"𝘜𝘩 𝘰𝘩 𝘭𝘰𝘰𝘬𝘴 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘊𝘩𝘶𝘶𝘺𝘢 𝘸𝘰𝘬𝘦 𝘶𝘱 𝘤𝘳𝘢𝘯𝘬𝘺...𝘐𝘋 𝘓𝘐𝘒𝘌 𝘛𝘖 𝘚𝘌𝘌 𝘠𝘖𝘜 𝘛𝘙𝘠 𝘊𝘏𝘐𝘉𝘐!~"

~~~

Yep it was definitely that guy from earlier
Chuuya was it? He seems alot calmer now so Atsushi figures that it would be okay to talk to him.

The art teacher, Kouyou Ozaki makes her way into the classroom and gives instructions on how the class for today is gonna move along. After doing so she walks over to Atsushi.
"You must be the new student Atsushi Nakajima?"

"Mmhm!!" He nods

"If you get confused with anything dont be afraid to ask Chuuya over here for some help!"

"But Kouyou-san—"

She gives him the deadliest glare Atsushi swears he's ever seen and suddenly Chuuya's glad to help him!

After a few minutes of silence, Atsushi decided to speak

"Hey um, are you, friends, with Dazai...? I saw you two arguing this morning-"
That seems to set something off in Chuuya cuz his face starts twitching like crazy
"Shit I forgot you were there too- What's your name again, Sushi...?" The ginger asks

"Atsushi, my names Atsushi..."

"Same thing!"
No Chuuya it's really not
"But anyway no I'm not I freaking hate Dazai- Him and his crusty must ass bandages..."
"why'd you ask?" He questions tilting his head

"O-oh it's just because he asked me to join a club of his but I'm not sure if I should-"

Chuuya raises his eyebrow and smirks
"Really, huh?"

"Akutagawa-san you're art is so pretty!!" A blond girl sitting with the twins' squeaks but the boy immediately shuts her down
"Shut up Higuchi

"Sorry..."

Geez, the least this guy could do was learn some human decency!

The double class goes by quickly and other than a bit of small talk from the two dont say much to each other seeing as one of Chuuya's friends comes in the picture about 10 minutes into the class and those two end up talking instead.

So now its lunch-

Y a y...

Walking into the lunch line he looks around to see what he should get to eat. He's on a pretty tight budget though so it's not like he can get some S tier meal.

He feels a tap on his shoulder which startles him a bit and almost makes him smack the poor guy out of fear. Turning around he sees Tanizaki smiling at him with a black-haired girl beside him too
"Hi, Atsushi!"

"Oh hey, Junichirou! Um by the way, who's she...?" He asks gesturing at the girl

"I'm Naomi!! His older sister!~" She giggles booping his nose which makes him extremely embarrassed
"Naomi..."

She tilts her head examing Atsushi's face as if he was some fine specimen she was investigating
"So you're Jun's new friend, Nakajima, huh?" She questions

He nods his head

She grins
"Nice! Than any friend of Jun is a friend of mine!"

He swears its either the kids in this school are super friendly or a bunch of assholes there's no in-between

...

By now the three of them had all gotten their lunch now.
There wasn't any Chazuke left sadly...But! They told him if he was staying for dinner there would be more by then which gave him a little bit of hope but for now, he'll just have to settle for spaghetti and bolognese.

"You've already survived hallway through your first day!! Well done Atsushi!" Dazai beams as the younger take a seat.

"Now lemme introduce you to everyone you haven't met yet," He says talking about his extremely large friend group.

Atsushi notices Akutagawa isn't here so it's at least one thing to be thankful for.

But of course, Chuuya's over here being introduced as Dazai's friend when he basically told Atsushi during art class he hated Dazai's guts

"This over here is Chuuya Nakahara," Dazai says, leaning over to Atsushi for this last part.
" His height is as short as his temper but he gets really mad when we say it around him so be careful!"

"Dazai I swear to God I'll-"

Completely ignoring Chuuya he moves onto the next person.
"Over there's Ranpo Edogawa, our very own detective in the making"
The short boy from earlier perks his head up from the opposite table and waves at Atsushi with a face full of sweets
"He's a third year!"

How the heck is that guy is older than Dazai-

After all the introductions Atsushi has a lot of new faces to get used to and it's almost a bit overwhelming.

"So Atsushi have you decided to take our offer yet?" Dazai asks with his voice all low and mysterious-

"When you ask like that you make it sound like I'm joining a cult..."

"Silly Atsushi! That's because you 𝘢𝘳𝘦 !! Once you join us there really is no turning back!" And now suddenly they all seem like a pack of wolves ready to devour poor little Atsushi.

"W-wait could I have a moment I think someone's calling me!" He says shuffling out of the cafeteria even though it was obvious nobody ever called him.

He heads over to the courtyard and sits by the water fountain and starts dialling his mom's number like his life depends on it.

"H-hey, mom?"

"Heyy Atsushi!! How are you, baby? How's your first day so far?! Did you make any friends? Ooo what about your tea—"

"Mom!! Y-you see I was calling to see if it's too late to move schools...?" He stutters and he can hear the laugh of a hyena on the other line.

"Oh, Atsushi darling it's way too late for that! You just need some time to adjust and you'll be fine!"

"No, but mom you dont get it everyone here is cra—"

"It's also because I'm already out of the country, I'm taking a short holiday in Spain so...."
Sometimes Atsushi wonders how different his life would've been if this lunatic didn't adopt him.

"Oooo we're going cliff diving now!! See what I'll call you later okay Atsushi?"

"Ok, mo-"

"Hey, Miss Nakajima your sons a little b-"

"LUCY WHAT THE HECK!" Atsushi shrieks covering his phone after seeing the red-haired girl almost show up from nowhere

"Y-yeah I'll call you later bye!" He whispers before ending the call before standing up to look at the girl

"Why do you hate me so much?!"

"Wha?! When did I say I hate you, you idiot!"

"Well it sure seems like you do..." he pouts and Lucy just turns her head while messing with her braid.

"I don't hate you, I'm just trying to...toughen you up!" She smiles "Because with an attitude like yours it's gonna make it impossible for you to survive here"

"Um, Lucy this is a highschool-"

"I know that!! Man are you stupid!" She huffs before stomping her way inside as if was purposely trying to let everyone know she was mad.

Looking back at the water fountain which was the reason all of this had started in the first place he lets out a sigh.

This was going to be one hell of a year-

Chapter Text

Lunch continues as normal and so do the rest of his classes
Or at least as normal as this school can get-
That was the easy part, now its the end of the school day which means eventually he'll have to go back to his dorm and face Akutagawa again which isn't going to be easy but it's unavoidable.

Checking his watch it shows that its 4:00 which means after school study starts like right now-
It would be really helpful if someone told him which one he was supposed to go to though!

Honestly, the way this school worked was super strange. They had 2 different study groups one was at 4-6 pm while the next one was at 7-9 pm for students who took part in after school activities.

The 2nd and 3rd years get to stay in their rooms if they want to and study there instead, though a teacher comes in every couple minutes to make sure they're doing their work which can get annoying sometimes.

But anyway back to the point.
Dazai seems to just have disappeared into thin air like usual whenever he's needed.

Letting out a sigh Atsushi decides to just take a chance and sneakily glances into one of the rooms with the door left open and let's just say what he heard is...interesting-

Inside the room along with about a dozen other people are Ranpo, Kunikida and Poe. Atsushi doesn't understand why they're all in there and not in study
but his best guess its probably 3rd-year stuff. Maybe some type of study group?

"So has everyone's day been okay so far?" Kunikida asks and all of the younger kids nod except two who seem to be pretty annoyed.

"Oh is that so" Ranpo seems to be somewhat entertained by this and lets out a laugh "how come?"

A blonde girl is the first to speak and almost immediately Atsushi can recognise her voice.
She was the one screaming for the Mori earlier, wasn't she?

"See that kid we told you got kicked out of their original base classroom?

They nod.

"Well guess what now WE'RE stuck with them for the rest of the year and I bet you won't believe what they did to Kyouka during maths!"

"It isn't that big of a deal Elise!! I'm sure Kyu didn't mean it!" Kenji smiles as usual, of course, he doesn't see anything wrong with this...

"How do you not mean to accidentally stab someone with a SHARPENED PENCIL?!"

"Oop-" Clasping his hands over his mouth Atsushi realises he wasn't supposed to say that out loud

And by some ungodly means Kyouka hears him and turns her head, quickly making eye contact with Atsushi before looking back at her textbook.

Why did her eyes look so...empty? As if they were longing for something that wasn't there anymore-
No,no,no he's just overthinking again it's fine!

"We should probably start working now," Kyouka says and Poe nods in agreement just waiting to get started already.

"But I'm not done explaining about the demon! You know their gonna start coming here after school too!!

"Elise-" Kunikida says sternly and that seems to be enough to keep her quiet for now

Footsteps can be heard closeby and Atsushi feels as if its a sign he should stop eavesdropping and leave now.

The two figures start to get closer and he can see that it's a teacher (the counsellor to be exact, but Atsushi doesn't know that yet) and one of the middle school students
Kyusaku Yumeno aka the demon child who supposedly stabbed Kyouka today.

"Ms Alisha, why do you keep asking people if they have spare change?" Q asks
"Is it because you're poor?"

Wh-

"I- it's complicated, okay...?" She explains tiredly. Why is everyone in this school so weird?!

"Alisha Tanberry, the counsellor for both the junior and high school!" A voice says and at this point, Atsushi's not even surprised that its Dazai. He just always seems to pop up at the weirdest times.

"Ohhh she seems nice?"

Dazai shrugs "I guess, though getting advice from her is like talking to an egg. I know from experience"
Basically what he's trying to say is that she has no teaching experience and the fact that she got this job is a miracle.

"Anyways what're you even doing here, aren't we're supposed to be at study?" Dazai questions making Atsushi chuckle awkwardly. No wonder his mom wanted him to go to a boarding school, 2 hours after school spent studying isn't nothing.

"I sorta got lost...By the way, what're they doing in there? Do third years not go to it?" He asks and Dazai pops his head into the room quickly to check what Atsushi's on about.

"No they do, it's just that those guys," he points towards the door "Are helping the middle schoolers with their work or whatever. Apparently it looks good on your CV! You can only do it when you're in 3rd year though-"

Atsushi nods in understanding. He wants to ask about that Kyouka girl but he feels as if it's not his place so he stays quiet for now.

"Oi, what're you two doing out here!" Alisha yells and both Dazai and Atsushi take that as their queue to leave like
Now.

"Run, run, run!!" Q cheers

The two of them thankfully make it to study hall. 20 minutes late but they still made it!! Or at least Atsushi does, he has no idea where Dazai went.
Atsushi sits beside Tanizaki and he manages to help the white-haired boy with some of the stuff he missed out on at the beginning of the school year.

"See and then if you move that over there you'll get 6 as the answer for A." The ginger says. Atsushi's glad he's gotten to meet him among all of the lunatics at this school thankfully Tanizaki's a less extreme case.

"Ohh ok, thanks!"

Looking up from his page Atsushi swears he can see Akutagawa give him the dirtiest side glare from across the hall. Is he still mad!?

...

Studies finally over now which means all the day students are starting to leave (or already gone) meanwhile everyone else is heading to dinner.

Which means he can finally eat some Chazuke!!
Once again he's waiting in the line but this time there's a couple of teachers in a separate queue getting their dinner too.

All of this still feels so...weird! Like back at the orphanage he'd be lucky to even get a piece of bread but recently now he's able to eat full-on meals!!

On the other side of the canteen, Akutagawa's trying to sneak out of the cafeteria with his dinner tray but he's stopped by their year head, Odasaku
"C'mon you know the rules you're not allowed to eat your dinner in your room Akutagawa."

"But I don't wanna eat it here they're all staring at me" He whispers
"Look I can promise you nobody's staring at you, okay? Just go eat your dinner at a table and then you can go wherever you like"

"See this is why everyone hates this school-" The boy says before angrily making his way back to his seat and Odasaku sighs

Well, that was weird...
After collecting his meal Atsushi's starts to walk back to his seat and of course just to make his day EVEN worse he trips over his laces that he'd been warned about earlier and falls flat on his face, his plate and water smashing into pieces along with the rest of his self-confidence

And to make matters worse his chazuke ended up spilling onto the secretary, Ango Sakaguchi and he did 𝘯𝘰𝘵 look happy at all

The whole cafeteria goes silence and Atsushi doesn't know whether to cry or scream so all he can do now is laugh awkwardly and pray that the ground will suck him up like right. Now.

"I-I am 𝘴𝘰 sorry!" He gasps

"Damn Atsushi you really messed up this time..." Dazai mutters to himself at his table and he receives a whack on his head from Kunikida for his rudeness

Ango squints his eyes at the mess but composes himself and decides not to lash out at the teen.
"...It's....fine-"
The man takes a tissue and wipes the rice off and leaving the cafeteria with a scowl on his face and Odasaku can't help but chuckle.

"Hey, it looks good on you Ango!"

"Shut up-"

And with that, he was gone and in the next 10 seconds or so Atsushi is too since he doesn't wanna bring more shame to himself from this.

"Should we go check on him...?" Naomi asks and Dazai shakes his head
"No, it's probably best to give him some time to himself"

Atsushi dashes straight to his room and shuts the door behind himself before throwing himself onto his bed.

Dont cry, dont cry, dont cry-

About 15 minutes go by and the door of his room opens and guess who it is?!

Octagon!! I mean Akutagawa-

Only been in the room for 3 seconds and he's already annoyed by Atsushi's presence who seems to be sulking under a blanket with his plushie.
"I already told you to get out of my room you-"

"I'm not in the mood to fight with you, leave me alone-" He sniffles and Akutagawa's face softens when he realises he's probably been crying.

"Ok, well if you're gonna start crying your eyes out at least be quieter I'm sure people from the other side of the school could hear you"

Ok that wasn't true, Akutagawa just doesn't like Atsushi

"M'not crying...just homesick"

"Ok, well stop being homesick it's annoying"
He throws a chocolate bar he got from the cafeteria at the blanket blob

He pokes hand out of his blanket and smiles as he takes the chocolate bar
"Thanks, Aku"

Wait did he just call him 'Aku'?! Why does life hate him so much?

'Aku' cringes at the nickname as a faint blush appears on his cheeks. Thank goodness neither of them can see the others face right now cuz they're both in the same situation.

"Don't ever call me that ever again or I'll kill you"
Everyone in this place is unusually comfortable talking about murder and suicide which is very concerning, but that's an issue for the counsellor to deal with.

Atsushi giggles
"Whatever you say"

Akutagawa huffs before he goes into the bathroom to change out of his uniform and Atsushi figures he should probably do the same.

But before that he takes out a bite of his chocolate bar and it tastes pretty good! Maybe Akutagawa isn't that bad?

He slips into a white t-shirt and navy sweatpants quickly because he knows how awkward it would be if Akutagawa walked in on him.
After changing clothes he lays down on his
He hasn't even been in this place for 24 hours and he's already been through hell and back. Not to mention that tomorrow's the day he has to choose which club he's joining to...

But he can focus on all of that later, for now, he can just rest knowing that he's gonna through his first day. Even though it's only like 7 but shhhh he's tired!!

About a minute or so later Akutagawa steps out of the bathroom and rolls his eyes after seeing that the other boy was already fast asleep

"You're such an idiot..."

Chapter Text

As he wakes up Atsushi lets out a yawn, stretching out his arms tiredly as the sun begins to rise signalising a new day.

Last night he woke up for a split second and could've sworn he heard or 𝘴𝘢𝘸 something at his door but he's too tired to think about it right now.

"Morning!" He says to his roommate and he gets a cold remark in response

"Don't talk to me," Akutagawa says slipping on his shoes, so did yesterday just not happen???

The black-haired boy finished dressing up and began to head out to Breakfast not even bothering to say bye to his roommate.
How rude!

Atsushi checks his watch and wonders how he even managed to fall asleep so early last night and was even slightly embarrassed. Though at the same time the day before he started school he had gotten a total of 2 hours of sleep so it made sense.

He sends his mom a quick text to assure her that he didn't die in his sleep ( he was sure she probably didn't even care since she was having so much fun in Spain-) But still its the thought that counts!

20 minutes later and Atsushi's ready to go to breakfast and as he's about to leave he spots Dazai and Chuuya arguing with each other on the far end of the dorm corridors. He's not all that close with Chuuya yet but Atsushi thinks it's safe enough to say that he and Dazai are at least acquaintances??
"Hey, Dazai-"

"Not now Atsushi! I'm doing important senior stuff, later!!" He says. What kind of "important senior stuff" involves you walking around screaming in your duck pyjamas??

...
While the students are getting ready for the day most of the teachers are chilling in the staffroom before the day officially begins either finishing work or gossiping about who knows what.

"How's Nakajima settling in?" The principal, Mori asks leaning on one of the staff room desks

Oda shrugs as he sips his coffee.
"Pretty well I'd say? I mean it's only really been a day so its hard to tell."

Mori nods "Well that's only reasonable, hopefully, he'll enjoy his stay here!" But he's interrupted by the vice principal Fukuzawa.
"Why're you acting as if you care, you didn't even give him a proper tour did you, Ougai?"

"How rude!"

Why are these guys just as bad as the students?

...

Classes have been over for about half an hour now but Atsushi's been busy getting stuff like his new gym uniform, books etc so he's only been able to lie down in his room and relax recently.

The struggles of being the new kid-

And now he has to get himself ready aGAIN just so can head over to that stupid cult thing Dazai wouldn't shut up talking about he'll probably end up disliking anyway.

"Where're you going to in such a rush?" Akutagawa asks in an annoyed tone so Atsushi explains the whole club situation and he saw the other boy's expression change when he heard the name
"Dazai"

"Anyways I should be going now, see you later?" Atsushi says and Akutagawa shakes his head.

"N o"

"W-what do you mean?"

"You dont expect me to stay cooped up in here all day either do you? I have places to be as well"

Geez well, he didn't need to be so aggressive saying that-

the white-haired boy just shrugs as he leaves the door open for Akutagawa since he leaves shortly after him.
Though things start to become a little awkward once he realises that they're going in the same direction. Was he following him!?

Higuchi sees the two of them and starts flailing her hands from across the hallway
"Akutagawa-kun!! Where're you going?" She asks skipping over to the two boys

"Shut up Higuchi."

"Sorry-"
Atsushi didn't understand why the other boy was so mean to her, aside from Gin (who doesn't count since their related) she was the only one who genuinely seemed to care about Akutagawa and all he seems to be doing is continuously knocking her down.

So now he went from having 1 person following him to two...

Nice-

'Just dont make it any more awkward Atsushi and you'll be fine!!' He tells himself
"Uh...so where're you heading to Higuchi?"

"Where ever Akutagawa-kun is!"
Of course.

After a few more seconds of walking in complete silence, Atsushi gets tired of this and turns around to face Akutagawa. "You're following me-"

"No, I'm not"

"Yes you are"

"Then why're you here?!"

"You're following me, you idiot"

"Dont call me an-"

The door aggressively swings open due to their obnoxiously loud arguing and Lucy is leaning against the doorway there looking ready to murder Atsushi
"What are 𝘺𝘰𝘶 doing here?!" She yells at him.
"Lucy..." Gin sighs approaching the door placing a hand on the girl's shoulder to calm
"Sorry about her."

"It's fine I'm already used to it by now-" Atsushi smiles and to be honest it's true.

Gin moves herself and Lucy aside so the trio can enter the room properly before closing the door and let's just say what's happening inside is...interesting!

"GET YOUR FINGER OUT OF MY FACE"

What the actual-

If we're being honest the room is just over-all extremely chaotic. There are paper and wrappers all over the floor, people yelling etc

Some faces are familiar, others not so much but he supposes he has lots of time to get to know everyone.

Junichirou waves at Atsushi so he decides to take a seat beside the ginger.

Already regretting his choice to come here Atsushi asks the other boy a question.
"Is this what usually goes on around here...?"

Junichirou places a finger to his chin in thought.
"I mean it's only my 2nd week here so I'm not sure...Kunikida's usually here at this point so it depends" He says scratching his neck sheepishly.

Wow that totally makes him feel better

A pair of hands are thrown around Atsushi's neck.
"Loosen up a bit though you'll be fine!" Naomi giggles and he wishes it was that easy.

The door swiftly opens once again as the bandaged man himself dramatically enters the room with a casual smirk.
"He-"

"Get out"

Chuuya doesn't even give Dazai the chance to breathe and Atsushi has a feeling their "Super important senior stuff" has something to do with this.

"Dont want to!" He huffs "Anyways, It's nice seeing you here Atsushi!"

"I'm here too-" Akutagawa mumbles wanting to get at least some recognition too.

Dazai rolls his eyes
You could cut through the tension with a knife right now as the two of them stare at each other with stone-cold eyes.

"I can tell. I'm not blind, am I?"

Realising that this was probably gonna resolve in a huge problem Poe cuts in-between them
"Shouldn't we...introduce them to the club and stuff?" He says, clutching a book around his chest

"Oh yeah, of course, Poe," Dazai says, his mood immediately changing as he stood up from his chair.

"Since Kunikida's doing some other stuff right now. I'll speak in his place as vice president!"

Oh boy here comes the 72-hour long speech!!

Chapter Text

"So basically as you know we're a literature club, so you gotta know how to write which I'm sure all of you guys already know how to do!" He says and Chuuya chips in

"Obviously you don't have to be some writing prodigy but like, you get what we mean"

The 4 new members nod as a way of showing they understood what they meant.

"Here comes Chuuya always riding off what I say!"

"Me?!" The ginger yells "Dazai, you were the one who literally stole my answers from the test today!"
Not Dazai getting exposed in front of his juniors...

"They've already started fighting and it hasn't even been 30 minutes..."

"Anyways as I was saying before I got rudely interrupted..." Dazai starts

"Any type of writing is welcomed here, poems, short stories, sonnets...You name it! Sometimes we enter competitions or stuff like that but most of the time we usually just hang out here."

After a couple more minutes of chatting the door opens again though this time its Kunikida who enters, looking sceptical about what's currently going on, especially since Dazai's the one who's leading it

"I apologise for the delay, Mr Fukuzawa needed my assistance with some work"

Dazai waves his hand "Nah don't worry about it we didn't miss you~"

A side glare "Anyways welcome to the club and I hope these morons did a good job introducing you all"
Dazai and Chuuya specifically being the morons he was talking about.

"I have a question," Akutagawa says shooting up his hand.

"What is it?" Ranpo asks sucking on a lollypop

"Isn't there supposed to be a teacher supervising club activities otherwise it'll get taken down?"
Akutagawa actually read the rules?! Though he wasn't wrong. It was mentioned in the rules that a teacher permission needed for students to run after school activities.

The detective in the making throws his wrapper in the bin before speaking
"We do have one though, it's Oda"

"The year head?" Akutagawa asks

"Mmhm!!"

"Yeah, but he shows up like every million years..." Chuuya groans.

"That's because Odasaku's busy, he doesn't have time to babysit us all the time," Dazai says in Oda's defence.

"Uhm I have a question too," Atsushi says raising his hand.

"No, no more question. You first years talk too much." Chuuya says as if he hadn't just started second year.

"Oh"

It takes a while but now everyone's finally actually getting started on their writing but it seems like everybody BUT Atsushi know what they're doing.

"Ranpo, what do you think of this plot?" Poe asks sliding his notebook to the boy.
For the first time in what seems like forever he finally opens his eyes so he can examine the book.
"I think it's good so far!! Buuut...You need to change this part or then everyone else will know this killer is-"

"Ranpooo!! No spoilers, you'll ruin it for the rest of us!" Haruno whines and Ranpo puffs his cheeks "Wasn't going to!"

"That's what you said last week too..." Junichirou sighs

Atsushi takes a glance across the table at Akutagawa's page and almost gasps at how elegant his handwriting appeared. Akutagawa notices this and covers his page

"It looks nice."

Akutagawa furrows his brow
"What?"

"Your handwriting, it looks nice." Atsushi smiles softly making Akutagawa turn his face away. He can tell Akutagawa doesn't get compliments much and appreciates it even if he doesn't verbally thank Atsushi.

Time passes by and its 17:40 and Atsushi still doesn't have anything written down other than his name.
He'll just have to work on it later once he finds some time.

Everyone starts to collect their belongings and clean up the place. Kunikida stands up, clearing his throat
"Okay everyone if I could have your attention please!" He says and they all turn their heads to face him.

"Ohhh announcement time~" Dazai swoons

"In case some of you aren't aware we've been invited to a performing arts event in the neighbouring town on Sunday night as two of our members, Chuuya and Poe have been chosen to take part in it"

A few claps and "Well done"'s are heard to congratulate to the two and Chuuya seems to be digging it, Poe not so much.

"Yeah, I know I'm pretty impressive~" Chuuya smirks proudly and Dazai bonks him on the head
"HEY!"

They surely didn't mean this Sunday though, right? They probably meant next week or something!

"Also we'll be staying there overnight so make sure you all have your bags packed by tomorrow. Sakunosuke's already gotten permission from the school and I'm sure the slips to your guardians have been sent out by now so most stuff are already sorted out" Kunikida states

The least they could've done was give everyone like a weeks notice, why only tell them 2 days before?! This wasn't going to work out at all...

"Wait do we have to get our parents permission specifically...?" Gin asks looking worried

"I dunno go ask whoever pays for your school lunch" Chuuya replies

"And how do you expect us to know that carrot head" Akutagawa mumbles but not loud enough for Chuuya to hear thankfully

"Next week we can start reading over what everybody has so far, alright?" Kunikida says.

They all nod tiredly

"Ok, then I think that's it for today. Everyone who's coming to the event please make sure not to be late over here on Saturday as that's when we're leaving. You can all go now I guess"

"WAIT!!" Ranpo yells.
Oh my God what does he want now

"What is it Ranpo?" Kunikida asks
"We need to add them to the group chat!" And Dazai's eyes have a mischievous glint to them.
"Dont worry I'll add them to it!" The brown-haired teen takes each of the first years individually and gets their numbers
"I'll add you to both of them in a bit, kay?"

"Why am I getting worried now-" Lucy sighs
Atsushi nods "Same here."

After collecting their belongings they all leave the club room for the evening and head to dinner.

Thankfully Atsushi doesn't crash into the ground like yesterday and gets to eat Chazuke.

Bar the Akutagawa twins, Higuchi and Lucy he sits with everyone else from the club but he can't help but feel bad seeing Lucy sitting by herself.

Now she wasn't actually sitting by herself but at the same time, she basically was since she separated herself from whatever conversation the rest of the table was having.

He thinks about asking her to sit with them tomorrow but the thing is he's not sure if she'll be going home during the weekend or not and he is way too awkward to ask her right now and its the same issue with Akutagawa and the others too.

They finish their lunch and soon enough study finishes just as quick so most people have already headed up to their rooms by now

After the club meeting happened the two of them hadn't talked since so Atsushi has just been sitting on his bed working on his writing piece.

The door opens with a thud and Gin dumps her school bag in front of Akutagawa
"Gin what're you doing here?" Akutagawa asks.

"Ryuu you promised to help me with my maths after you finished your homework, remember?" Gin says crossing her arms.
Akutagawa's lips form an 'o' shape
"Can't we do it another day?" The older sibling groans

"Please?" She pleads pulling her hair out of her ponytail and giving him puppy eyes

He sighs dramatically "Ok fine, but let's be quick I wanna go to bed"

"Hehe, thanks!" She smiles clasping her hands together gleefully
"Oh, Hi Atsushi!"

"Hey, Gin!" He smiles awkwardly not wanting to get murdered by Akutagawa for talking to his sister.

"Hey, Atsushi are you any good at maths?" She asks.

Atsushi shrugs
"I guess?"

"Great!"
...

And that's how he got dragged into helping Gin doing her homework.
"Gin your handwriting looks like chicken scratch" Akutagawa insults
"Hey!"

"Wait is the answer for numbe-"

Someone knocks on the door 3 times and Gin falls silent
"Fuck-" she whispers scramming away to hide under the space between the ground and Atsushi's bed

The person opens the door and outside stands Odasaku shaking his head disapprovingly while holding the bowl of sweets he usually gave out on Fridays

"How are you boys doing?" He asks and the two teens just stare at him while giving Oda a shaky thumbs-up.

"G-great!!"

You're not allowed in the opposite genders dorm so she'll surely get in trouble if she gets caught sneaking into here again. So hopefully if they stall him long enough he won't notice.

"Do you two happen to know where Gin went? She's not in her room and Kouyou wanted to give her something"

"Nope!! Not at all!" Atsushi says and Akutagawa nods silently

"Really? That's a shame-" He leans against the doorway trying to hold in his laugh as if he knew what they've been up to from the beginning
"3, 2, 1..."

"ACHOO!"
A loud sneeze is heard from under the bed and sadly their cover is blown. Honestly kudos to her for staying under a bed that dusty for that long. She stands up and pats the dust off her legs sighing as she swings her schoolbag over her shoulder

"C'mon Gin you know the rules. You can't just keep on sneaking into here..."

"I know..."

She starts to head back over to her room and she'll probably get scolded at some point again tomorrow for this.

"Lights out soon so get ready for bed you too," Oda says before leaving and the two teens nod.

After Odasaku leaves Atsushi and Akutagawa both get notifications from their phones at the same time

𝒀𝒐𝒖 𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒃𝒆𝒆𝒏 𝒂𝒅𝒅𝒆𝒅 𝒕𝒐 (2) 𝒈𝒓𝒐𝒖𝒑 𝒄𝒐𝒏𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒔𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏𝒔

Chapter Text

Why the heck was one of the group chats called Odas coffin-

Atsushi Nakajima: ....

Akutagawa Ryuunosuke: ...
Head full, many thoughts: Dont mind the name i swear its harmless🥰

Kunikida Doppo: Still, I dont think that this chats name should include one of our teacher's name and grave in the same sentence.

Many thoughts, head full: C'monnnn kunikida dont be such a worrywart!

Taking his attention away from the club's group chat Atsushi decided to take a look at the other one he had been added too. He'd be lying if he said that the fact that the chat had over 20 members didn't overwhelm him.

' Streaks// nr's only real ones know why😰💔🥀🔒'

Double suicide?: Guys these are all my underclassmen who joined so be nice to them!!! >.<

Teruhoe: Ew who tf thought it was a good idea to add first years here :/

Atsushi let out an audible sigh, why does everyone seem to hate first years so much here...? He /wanted/ to say something but he didn't exactly know what to say. He'd never been in a group chat before so he didn't know how they worked at all.

Akutagawa Ryuunosuke: I've known you, people, for 10 seconds and I already hate u all

Im not an asshole :): Pls not popcorn lungs thinking his opinion matters😐

How does he even know that about him- These people are scary...

Akutagawa Ryuunosuke has left the chat

Head full, many thoughts: Pls not mr 'I'm legally blind' thinking his opinion matters😐

Brace face:💀💀

Poepoe: R-RANPO!!!!

Head full, many thoughts: what >:0

Poepoe: 😭

Double Suicide? has added Akutagawa Ryuunosuke to the chat

Double suicide? has changed Akutagawa Ryuunosuke to 'haha no eyebrows'

Haha no eyebrows: i-

Double suicide?: :)
Double suicide?: Also I can see ur online atsushi ;)

Double suicide? has changed Atsushi Nakajima to 'Sushi'

Sushi:...hi?

IVAN: ONGOMGOMG😳

Cookiesss: Ivan, are u ok?

IVAN: DOS IS ONLINE!!!

Nikowolai: :0
Nikowolai: dos say hi if u can see this!!!!!

Rat: no.

My name: guys can we play roblox.

Stabby stab: Wh- tecchou go to sleep

My name: Ok yeah, but can we play roblox

Stabby stab: 🧍

IVAN: some of us have important stuff to do other than playing games :) so no, cuz we're gonna be busy tmmrw

My name: Literally who asked you

As if almost on queue right after the topic of sleep was brought up the door is knocked and Odasaku tells Atsushi to try to get some sleep. He doesn't need to say anything to Akutagawa seeing as he was already out like a light. The two exchange good night's before Odasaku leaves again for the night.

Atsushi doesn't bother saying bye in the group chat because it's not like anyone even noticed he was there (He's shY okay!!)
Plus they already seemed to have alot more going on with each other back there

He tucks himself into bed and proceeds to fall asleep for the night.

...
After what seems like an eternity it's finally the weekend!!
Atsushi wakes up and blinks his eyes open tiredly as he glances at Akutagawa who's already awake scrolling through his phone on the chair.

He's not wearing pyjamas so he probably already got himself ready before Atsushi woke up even though it's like 7 am-

"Are you going somewhere?" Atsushi asks curiously and Akutagawa glares at him before letting out a cough.
"I'm going for a run"

Well, he's responding to Atsushi now so at least it's progress?

"Oooh! Can I come?"

"N o"

"Why not?" He pouts "You dont have a proper reason for not letting me come"

"Yes, I do."

"No, you don't"

"Yes, I do"

"No, you do-"

Getting sick of Atsushi, Akutagawa gets up quickly interrupting him "Ok fine! But if you're not ready in the next 3 minutes I'm leaving without you"

Atsushi nods and grabs some sweatpants that'll be easy to run with and a shirt before heading into the bathroom to quickly change. He'll take a shower after they come back

Atsushi steps out, drying his still wet face with a towel
"Akutagawa I'm rea- He left without me didn't he-"

Atsushi groans and sprints out of his dorm, quickly throwing on his shoes and heading outside. The school main gym teacher leads the run, Atsushi can tell since he can spot his bald head from a mile away.

He never really took Akutagawa as the type of person to go on morning runs, especially with those messed up lungs of his but each to their own he guesses. He's heard that exercise helps people to distress and Akutagawa does seem awfully tense so that's most likely why. (Which is good because now there's less of a chance of him releasing his anger on the other boy)

Unfortunatly Akutagawa's nowhere to be seen though so he's probably almost finished his lap by now. Did he really hate him that much?
He starts with a slow jog, not too fast since he doesn't wanna get too tired.

Before he can even properly start though he gets caught off track by two people tryna climb over the fence which literally has a "Do not cross sign"

"H-hey! What're you guys doing!" Atsushi yelps running towards them.
The blonde boy hears this and hops down from the top of the fence, while the girl just stares at Atsushi with cold eyes.

These were the same ones from the study group, Kenji and Kyouka weren't they? The two don't seem that much younger than Atsushi, only around a year or two.

"Hiya!!" Kenji smiles brightly as he waves his hand ecstatically at the boy.

"We were sketching. Well at least I was, he just drew a cow" Kyouka says holding her sketchbook tightly "We can't do it unless we get over the fence and see the rabbit though. It was here a few minutes ago but now it's gone."

Atsushi sighs "You guys might get in trouble though if you guys go over there."

"Dont care," Kyouka says putting her backpack onto her back while attempting to climb over the fence once again.

O h

While she does this Atsushi spots the bunny plushie attached to it and has an idea.

"Why don't you draw the one on your bag then? It'll be easier too since it won't run away." He suggests.

She hops down and nods her head "Yeah, I'll do that, then look for it afterwards" She's really stubborn, isn't she...

There's still no sight of Akutagawa so Atsushi decides to ask the two if they've spotted him.
"Hey have you guys uh seen a guy with black hair, white tips, angry face?" And a look of fear spreads across Kyouka's face and she falls silent.

Kenji informs him that the scary faced man is coming in this direction now so he thanks the two before joining up with Akutagawa once again.

That look of panic that painted Kyouka's face after hearing Akutagawas name plays in his head and he wants to ask what all of that was even about to begin with.
Though he feels that he'll get yelled at if he asks now so he brings up the topic of the even they'll be heading too later on today

"Are you allowed to go on the trip?" Atsushi tried to start up a conversation between them. Akutagawa picks up his pace

"I dunno. I think so" he mumbles "It depends if Gins going or not though"

He nods "I think it'll be a good chance for everyone to get to know each other!"

Akutagawa shrugs.

He doesn't get much out of him after that and the next few minutes are silent bar the whistling of the wind and their footsteps rusting the fallen leaves.

When they do arrive at the school Atsushi takes his shower first and he assumes Akutagawa takes his after him before the two-part ways.

Now he's currently standing outside Tanizaki's room wondering what to do next.
He wants to knock on his door and ask if he's awake as if he was a small child calling for his friend to come out and play

But then another part of him feels as if that's weird and
normal people dont do that.

Do "normal" people even exist?

Nobody taught him how these stuff worked! Up until recently, he hadn't had any friends before so it's not like he magically knew what to do now that he DID have some.

None the less he takes in a deep breath and knocks gently on the door, careful not to be too loud and disturb anyone else.

The door opens and his heart almost stops when he sees someone who isn'tJunichirou open the door, though it soon eases once he realises the person is Kunikida

"Atsushi?"

"K-K-kunikida?!"
What was he doing here?!

"I'm sorry Atsushi but last time I checked my schedule didn't include you knocking at our door at 7:56 in the morning"
Our?Oh yes, of course, those two are probably roommates! It's a bit odd for a 3rd year and 1st year to be paired together but then again everything to do with this school is weird.

Tilting his head a bit he can see Junichirou with some headphones in sitting on his bed so that's probably why he didn't hear him.

"S-sorry!! I just wanted to check if Junichirou was awake?"
The younger asks and Kunikida nods

He walks over to him and taps his shoulder.
"Tanizaki, your friend wants you"

The ginger looks over his shoulder and smiles
"Oh, hi Atsushi!!"

Atsushi waves at him "I-I was wondering if you were ready to head to breakfast?" He asks

Junichirou hops out of his bed and the two of them leave to head over to breakfast.

Evening comes quickly and next thing you know there's only 10 minutes until they're leaving for the event which leaves Atsushi frantically stuffing all his belongings into his cheap ass backpack he got for 1.50 in the corner shop earlier.

Technically the actual event doesn't start until tomorrow evening but they have to be there by tonight to ensure they get a good room for the number of people they're taking with them.

"Are you taking that raggedy old toy with you?" Akutagawa eyes at the white tiger plush Atsushi just stuffed into his bag. He'd had it since he was a child and wasn't gonna throw it away just because Akutagawa made fun of it

"It's not raggedy" He huffs

"Yeah, sure-" Akutagawa's already gotten his stuff packed up but surprisingly he's stayed behind to wait for Atsushi even if he won't say so out loud.

Standing outside their door is Dazai, his beige blue bag hanging loosely over his shoulder.
"You two ready?"

"Mmhm!!"

Chapter Text

Here's a question!

What happens when you get 12 kids and stuff them into a mini van for a 2-hour drive?
Chaos that's what'll happen, absolute and utter chaos

Before they had even left the school there were already arguments about who was riding shotgun, who's foot was in who's face etc

Eventually though after endless disagreements they mostly managed to settle on the sitting positions with some people obviously not being happy with the results.

At first, Dazai had claimed shotgun but Kunikida had aggressively shoved him out and claimed the seat for himself since he was the club's president.

Dazai and Chuuya were placed up at the very front so they could be directly in Oda's mirror view. After he couldn't trust the two sitting in the back without one of them dying.

"Odasaku, you can't make me sit beside him again!" Chuuya groans
Dazai crosses his arms dramatically"I don't wanna sit beside with chibi either!"

"There's three seats in that row so there'll be a space inbetween you two," Oda informs the two and everyone knows you can't go against what Oda says.

The two second years angrily shuffle into the seats and Dazai puts his bag in between himself and Chuuya, not even wanting to be an inch closer to him.

In the row directly behind them, Atsushi sat in the singular seat nervously playing with the flap of his backpack unsure of how the next few hours would play out.

Meanwhile, Lucy took up the two double seats refusing to sit beside Atsushi and honestly he was okay with that.

In the next row Gin and Higuchi sat together while Akutagawa sat in the seat across them by himself.

Higuchi originally had wanted to sit beside Akutagawa (like she always does) but it was obvious his sister enjoyed the company of the blonde more than he did so she settled with Gin for now.

Another reason was also that Akutagawa said he'd kill her if she sat next to him but that's not important right now.

Behind them Tanizaki, Naomi and Haruno were all sat in the back together, though Tanizaki had already fallen asleep and they hadn't even started to leave the school grounds yet.

And then finally in the very last row, Ranpo and Poe both sat together, the shorter boy already chattering away about his obscure interests.

"Does everyone have their seatbelts on?" Odasaku asks and they all nod "Yep!"

"Ok then, let's get going "

...

They're about an hour into the bus drive and things have already turned to chaos. They've had 5 toilet break stops, multiple drinks have been spilt and at least 60 "Are we there yet?"'s from Ranpo in which Oda would always calmly reply with
"No, Ranpo we aren't"

To make the time pass by even though it wasn't even Winter yet Kunikida decides brings up the topic of Christmas and asks what people want stuff like that and let's just say their answers were...interesting?

Atsushi grumbles
"I'd like to forget all the traumatising stuff that happened at my orphanage..."

"Ahaha..." Lucy laughs sardonically "Really? Me too!"

"I'd like emotionally available parents," Gin says

"Dazai"
is that it? Just dazai?

"I'd like to remember my life from before I was 7"

"To always be with Akutagawa!"

"T-to be...to be more confident in my work"

"To get rid of the overwhelming emptiness I feel an-"

"OKAY EVERYONE THAT'S ENOUGH!" Kunikida yells interrupting Dazai before he could get all philosophical

"L-lets just not talk about Christmas presents anymore," He says worriedly.

These people have way too many issues for one man to handle and all need to immediately seek psychiatric help.

...

Time passes by and eventually, they reach the venue of the event. They had stopped by a restaurant earlier for dinner seeing as if they ate at the actual place it would be WAY more expensive and Odasaku did not have that kind of money.

The actual event didn't start until tomorrow but they knew if they came any later there wouldn't have been guaranteed seats for everyone.

So it was decided they'd be spending the night here and head straight back after the event.

It seems like they weren't the only ones with this mindset though.
The minute they step into the building, silence falls upon the reception area.

No, no, no
They could've run into ANYONE else here but of course, it had to be these guys.

Standing in front of them are the teens from the two opposing schools.

Dazai seems the most irritated with this outcome as if he already knows somethings gonna go wrong and to be honest Atsushi sort of feels the same way.

Oda and two other people (who Atsushi's assuming are their teachers?)were over at the front desk probably signing all the important paperwork and whatnot.

Since they're all normal they're probably gonna go to sleep tonight. Usually sleep is a good thing right? In this situation, it isn't though. That means less supervision, and less supervision when you're stuck with people like this is NOT good.

All of them are kind of just staring at each other for a couple of seconds before Dazai then speaks
"Woah suddenly this ceiling looks super compatible for hanging! Lemme check if I brought my rope"

"Dazai don't say that!!!" Atsushi whines, they did NOT need him trying to kill himself at this place.

Still, Atsushi was glad all those kids he was talking to online weren't a bunch of creepy old men and they were all around the same age.

Some of the people he didn't know who they were just by faces since alot of people didn't have their faces as their profile pictures in the group chat but he had a rough idea.

"Oi! What're you guys even doing here?" A ginger-haired girl asks with an annoyed expression and Atsushi can tell almost immediately that its Teruko.

She looks alot shorter than he would've imagined but she seems to act the same.

The silver-haired boy, Ivan pipes up excitedly as if he's been waiting his whole life to say this.
"We came here to watch Fedya play the cello!! He's playing as part of the orchestra!"

By "we" he meant himself, Nikolai, Sigma and Mushitarou who didn't even want to be here.
Even though the main reason they came here was for the Russian even though he was the one who had to be dragged by his feet so he'd come

After hearing his name being spoken Fyodor removes his eyes from his book and instead at the rest of the group with a weary worn-out look in his eyes. Does this guy not get any sleep?

"Oh yeah, the demon plays the Cello doesn't it!"
Dazai smirks and Fyodor nods

"Yeah, I do."
At least he accepts it??

Nikolai skips over to Fyodor and holds up the boys' hands revealing a rosary bead hanging from it.
"He even got given a good luck from our school chaplain before we left!"

Mushitarou furrows his brow with a confused expression. "Didn't he give him that because he thinks Fyodor's possessed?"

"No, it's a good luck charm!"

"Nikolai- He tried to exorcise him yesterday no it isn't!"

An exorcism? 'He couldn't be that bad right?' Atsushi thinks to himself. Fyodor doesn't seem like the type to cause trouble, the poor guy was just reading a book! If anything Nikolai seems like the real issue here.

The woman with dirty blonde hair walks over to Fyodor and the others pulling them aside looks as if she's about to die from nervousness. She obviously doesn't want to be here
"U-um boys I know t-that...that you want to enjoy yourselves t-tonight and-"

"And you want us to behave ourselves, right? So dont worry we'll be on our best behaviour " Sigma says while the other four look at him as if he's told the biggest lie ever but still go along with it to satisfy Louisa.

"Thank you..."

With them aside for a bit the members from the other school, these 4 nicknamed as the infamous "The hunting dogs" step foward

"Ok, so then what're you guys doing here?" Atsushi asks them.

"We didn't have an actual legitimate reason to come, we just wanted to come to see the show" Teruko

"No, you just heard sensei was coming and of we didn't come along with you, you threatened t- "

A wicked laugh from the short girl booms through the hallways
"Silly Tachihara!! Always saying too much~"

Atsushi smiles awkwardly "Aha..ha..ha"

...

It's about 20 minutes later and everyone's rooms have gotten sorted for the night.

And of course, since the universe just seems to love them, all of their rooms are right next to each other.

"Chuuyaaa!! Stop moving your futon away from me!" Dazai whines chasing the ginger around the room. The room's relatively big, seeing as it has enough space for Chuuya to run away from Dazai so everyone has enough space for themselves but Atsushi can't help but still feel worried.

He places his futon on the far side of the room far away from everyone, more specifically Akutagawa-
He does NOT need him trying to poison him at like 3 am.

Once everyone finishes getting changed and just preparing to go to sleep in general Kunikida clears his throat ready to make another announcement.

"Ok, I know the situation we're in is...not the best? At the moment. But I want us all to have a good time while also being respectful to the other guests at this event"

"Ok, yeah thanks, mom!" Ranpo grins and Kunikida just sighs like the disappointed mother he is.

A couple of minutes go by and the group already seems to be dying of boredom so Atsushi comes up with a suggestion to lighten the mood.

"How about we play a game?"

"Like what?"

Chuuya claps his hands together as if he's just discovered the antidote for life itself. By the look of mischief in a certain someone's eye, it was already obvious this wasn't going to end well.

"Truth or dare?"