Archive of Our Own

He barely managed to reach his destination that evening. He even barely made it out of the bed that morning - let alone eating, getting ready and then driving. He also made it to his work earlier, because his co-workers had the same plans as him, but they couldn't be all away at the same moment, so they took turns.

All the members of the Armed Detective Agency had decided that it would be better that way. It wasn't like they could've attended the funeral; he died as one of the Mafia. It would be considered as a challenge to every mafioso present and it would be unwise to stir them up at a holy moment like that. However, they doubted that a lot of people would attend Dazai's funeral, but it was better to stay safe rather than engaging in a conflict.

And maybe it was easier than having to face Dazai in that casket. Their co-worker had always been energetic (in his own way) and watching him laying there, like he was taking a nap, sounded both terrifying and wrong. Because, even though he looked asleep, they knew that he wouldn't wake up this time.

Kunikida dragged himself across the rows of cold stones with different names engraved on them. It was depressing; being among all the older gravestones that had been a little damaged and the words on them had faded as they had been forgotten with the passage of time and all the newer ones, a sign of a lost loved one and a sign of a wound that hasn't healed yet. But it was a lot worse when he read the dates and it turned out that the grave belonged to a middle aged person, or to a young adult, or - even worse - to a kid.

And now, he was searching the place where one of his own had been buried.

As he kept walking, reading all these names, it felt more and more real and Kunikida refused to make peace with the fact that his former partner was dead, until he saw his gravestone. Dazai had always managed to escape the touch of death, why should it be any different this time?

He was just like a damn cockroach, he should have survived.

It seemed unreal.

Finding out about Dazai's suicide felt like a dream and so, so far away, even though only a couple of days had passed.

It was a day just like the rest. Most of the members were in the headquarters, doing their paperwork and silently praying for time to pass by and finally go back to their homes, while the rest were on a job at the city center. Not having the stress of fighting for your life was kind of relaxing, but every day was painfully dull.

Sometimes, the Agency's members caught themselves seeking out Dazai's company, because he somehow managed to make everyday a little more interesting, even though they didn't think of it much while Dazai was still part of the Agency. His unexpected mannerism had been annoying most of the time and made everyone be on guard, but he also entertained them, he helped them and he made them feel safe. They did not expect to miss him so much, especially after everything that had occurred right before he left...

But they did.

It was during her lunch break, when Yosano decided to turn on her TV. She wanted some background noise in her office, while the rest of the members were still working - even Ranpo was completing some reports. It was minutes shortly after, when her loud scream was heard in the whole building.

Kunikida and Atsushi stormed into her place, knowing that not a lot of things could scare their doctor - it had to be something extremely important. They found her staring at the screen, completely frozen, and 'fear' was written all over her face. The two men paid attention to the news the TV was broadcasting, wondering what terrified her so much.

Everything went silent so fast.

The blood in their veins froze immediately.

It was the video of a man...

Their hearts dropped to their stomach.

...falling of a building...

Their limbs went numb.

...captioned as :

The video wasn't that high quality, but they could clearly see a man with brown hair and a coat falling to his death. His facial characteristics couldn't be seen clearly, but it was enough to make their mind think of the worst possible scenario.

And that little thought did crawl its way into their minds and Kunikida felt cold drops of sweat dripping down his forehead.

"It is him, isn't it?" Yosano, who was slowly brought back to her senses, said what they were all thinking, but were too scared to say that out loud.

Kunikida gulped and realized that his mouth was dry. "Turn on the volume."

With shaking hands, Yosano grabbed the remote and pressed the button. The reportage was almost over but they did manage to get some more information.

"...reasons remain unknown." the sound of the reporter filled the room. "At 5.30 the police and an ambulance were called by the pedestrians who were passing by and later the man was pronounced dead. The identity of the victim remained unknown in order to protect their privacy. Suicide rate has increased-"

They had heard enough and Yosano muted the TV. She turned around and her eyes met Kunikida. He saw the agony in her expression and that gave him even more chills.

"This man can't be Dazai-San, right?" Atsushi asked, shocked. "I mean, we had to drag him out of the most sticky situations and, yes, when I first met him, he was trying to drown himself, but he always made it out alive and now in the Port Mafia there has to be someone who is looking after-"

"We don't know if this is actually him." Kunikida interrupted him and Atsushi closed his mouth.

He wished the kid was right. He wished that it was some kind of misunderstanding or some sort of scheme. He wished that he could call Dazai and he would answer the phone saying "Ku-ni-kii-da-kuun" in order to piss him off.

Because, deep down, he still acknowledged Dazai as his partner and the two years they had spent together couldn't be erased so easily. They fought side by side, solved cases after cases together and put immense trust in each other. And despite the pranks, the slothing and the bickering Kunikida enjoyed Dazai's company and resended himself for ending things with him that way.

He couldn't lose himself to sorrow.

Not yet, at least.

"Doctor-" he said and tried to sound confident- "Call Dazai and see if he answers."

Yosano nodded and reached her cellphone.

"Atsushi with me." he added and passed by the boy who was still baffled and quite lost.

Atsushi followed him mechanically, with his mind running through thousands of possible scenarios about what might had happened - except Dazai's possible suicide attempt.

They sprinted through the hallways and finally reached the main lounge. There was Ranpo sitting on his desk and Tanizaki, who was standing next to him and showing him something on his phone. In a corner, on the other side of the room, Naomi was sitting and biting anxiously her nails.

As soon as they entered the room, Ranpo gave them the look - his eyes behind his glasses were filled with sadness. He looked apologetic and so did Tanizaki; nothing good could be deduced by that picture.

"Ranpo-san-" Atsushi managed to say.

In fact, none of them wanted to listen to the detective's next words, because Ranpo was never wrong and they weren't about to listen to any good news.

"I'm sorry..." Ranpo finally said, giving an unofficial confirmation of their worst fear.

Kunikida lost the ground under his feet.

"It went straight to voicemail." he heard a female voice behind him.

This can't be happening...

"Explain..." Kunikida managed to say, almost out of breath.

Ranpo shrugged his shoulders. Under different circumstances, he would be annoyed by the demands of explaining, but he understood that his co-workers were shaken and... well, he might have been a little as well as them.

"Firstly, his appearance is too similar to Dazai's, the hair, his size, Chuuya's distinctive coat-" he began to analyze his thought process- "and also, this is definitely the building where the Port Mafia's headquarters are. We have visited that street plenty of times and I think you too can recognize it."

Kunikida admitted that Ranpo had made some valid points. It did explain who that man was, definitely he did, but there were still a couple pieces missing from their puzzle - pieces that could destroy every last bit of hope they had left.

"How do we know that he actually committed and it isn't some sort of trap?" he asked.

"If they wanted to lure someone, they would make Dazai's name public." Ranpo answered simply. "Don't forget that Dazai broke out of prison months ago and it wouldn't be surprising if his name was on the news. That way, the Mafia's enemies would believe that Dazai was actually dead, while he was moving the strings from the shadows."

Ranpo took a look at his co-workers, who still seemed hesitant to believe him, but still hanged from each word he said. He couldn't blame them - it was too much to comprehend at once, so he continued to explain and Kunikida detected a bittersweet tone in his voice. "His name remains unknown to the public, because the Mafia wants it that way - at least until they figure out how they are going to deal with it. If the pedestrian hadn't got it captured, then it wouldn't have been a great deal and we probably wouldn't have figured it out until way later."

It made sense.

It made too much sense.

And that made Kunikida's head hurt a lot. The room around him began to spin around him slowly. Ranpo had pointed out all the evidence that proved that Dazai was the one mentioned in the news, the one who fell off that building, the one who died and he couldn't find a thread of logic to grab - anything that indicated that Ranpo was wrong.

But, there was nothing.

Because, Ranpo was never wrong.

He didn't, however, have enough time to put his thoughts in order, as loud noise grabbed his attention. He turned around and saw that Atsushi had fallen onto his knees and he was holding his head tightly with his hands. He was shaking a lot and he was also taking deep breaths, but it seemed as if his lungs couldn't take in any more oxygen.

"The headmaster, Akutagawa, then Chuuya-san and now Dazai-san..." Atsushi murmured quietly. "Why didn't we save him?"

Kunikida felt his heart sinking at the sight of panic in which the young boy was. "Kid, you need to calm yourself down-"

"It is what we are supposed to do, isn't it?" Atsushi said and raised his head - his eyes meeting Kunikida and the elder one could swear that he heard his heart breaking. "How can we keep going, if we keep failing to save the ones that matter the most?"

Kunikida was caught off guard.

It's easy to risk your own life for someone else's sake. Some people have it in their blood and don't even stop to think about it twice; they just storm into the fight - head first - and hope for the best. Yet, watching the people you love take the exact same risk as you, makes you feel anxious and slowly eats you up. You hate the idea of them getting hurt, even though you have come to terms with the idea of having the same thing done to you, because you know that if you die, it's over for you, but if they die, you'll feel the pain of their loss crushing you.

It was part of their duty. This situation and this hate relationship couldn't be separated from the feeling of satisfaction that came up after every successful job.

But...

That wasn't Dazai's case.

Because if it was, Kunikida might have been able to comfort Atsushi by telling him that Dazai fell as a hero, someone who took the risk and died living up to his duty.

No, Dazai was actually pushed off that roof by his loneliness and despair. And maybe, something could've been done in order to help Dazai.

"Answer me, please" Atsushi said again and tears ran down his pale cheeks. "Why did all of them have to die? Why did Dazai-San die?"

Atsushi kept repeating his questions and each word that rang in Kunikida's ears made him feel more confused and more out of place. Soon, the voice of the kid had overtaken his mind to the point where he couldn't even hear his own thoughts and he was unable to think. That feeling was frustrating and annoying and tiring and all Kunikida wanted was to stop it.

Still, he did nothing.

For the first time, he didn't know what to do.

His soul was slowly leaving his body and Kunikida thought that he was floating on the air for a moment. He couldn't make any sense - like a black whole had devoured every thought and every feeling he had, leaving behind a void.

"Alright, that's enough..." Kunikida recognized Yosano's familiar voice and realized that his vision had gone away. He blinked a couple of times and he was eventually able to spot the doctor who was crouched next to the weretiger. She was injecting something to him - probably a sedative - and Atsushi's tensed muscles relaxed immediately. Kunikida also noticed that there was white fur around the boy, meaning that he was about to transform into his tiger form. "Rest now, Atsushi-kun... You had a hard day." she said softly and seconds later, he closed his eyes and let himself fall onto her lap, as she was brushing his hair.

Kunikida shook his head and rubbed his eyes, in an attempt to clear his mind from the shock.

"He has been a lot more sensitive after Akutagawa's death." Yosano said quietly to Kunikida. "It's not the first time I had to treat him like that."

"Honestly, I had no idea..." he replied ashamed that he hadn't noticed the behavioral change in him.

"It's okay, you couldn't have known anyways." she kept playing with his hair, as it seemed to have a calming effect on the boy. "He practically begged me not to tell anyone, because he thought that you would take him out of the field."

"That's so irresponsible." he said and sighed.

"Would you?" the doctor asked.

"What?"

"Take him out of the field." Yosano basically rolled her eyes.

Kunikida looked at the floor and decided to give a hesitant but sincere answer. "Yes."

"That's what we thought." she murmured.

He didn't have time to reply to her, because Tanizaki gently tapped his shoulder. "Here you are." the ginger said as he passed him a glass of water.

Kunikida thanked the boy and took a sip. It was refreshing and he really needed it.

"Oi, Kunikida!" Ranpo said and the man turned around to look at the detective. "You should take the day off, okay? I'll talk to the director and I'll give you more information once I get them."

He didn't use to ditch work like that. Lives being in danger and him sleeping on his bed? No, that was completely unacceptable. But this time, he could make an exception. It wasn't like he could be any useful while he was like that.

The next day he looked a little better and the only sign of tiredness was the black circles and the eyebags under his eyes. He hadn't slept well, too many thoughts were spinning in his head in no particular order and they kept him awake for the most part of the night. And even when he slept, it was restless sleep.

And the couple days after that, until the funeral, were passing by so slowly, but looking back at them, Kunikida can't remember a single thing that he did during them - as if they never happened.

And suddenly, he was taking more and more steps forward, each one heavier than the previous one.

What was going to tell him anyways?

That he was sorry for confronting him for everything that he did to Akutagawa?

Or that he was feeling bad for saying out loud what he had done in the past years?

Kunikida didn't regret doing so. He was frustrated with him and had just stated the facts that they had on the table. Someone had to recognize how wrong he was doing.

It's true - he could never understand what Dazai had gone through while he was in the Mafia. Dazai had been used and abused as much as Koyka and Akutagawa (goddammit, probably even more) and that made him reproduce everything that he had experienced. Therefore, the tables turned and he became the abuser, the one who continued the chain of use and abuse.

And that explains why he did what he did, but it can't justify it. Kunikida couldn't look away from the results of his actions.

And he also couldn't blame Dazai for ending his life.

It wasn't that he wanted him to die, but he did sympathize with him. He didn't know what exactly his relationship with Chuuya was and yet, he could see that they had a deep-rooted connection and losing him must have hurt indescribably a lot. And then everything that followed, the conflict, the changes in his occupation...

Most of the members of the ADA felt the same way as he did.

Sorrowful, frustrated, guilty.

Α conversation he had accidentally overheard in the past days, between Ranpo and Dr.Yosano came to his mind.

"Kenji is also pretty devastated." he had heard Yosano, while he was walking past her office. "He tries not to show it a lot, but he has been concerningly quiet."

Kunikida peaked through the half closed door and realized that he could see the two chatters, but they couldn't see him, as they were facing away from the door.

"You know-" the woman added- "he named a cow 'Crab', because Dazai was always talking about how much he loved eating it. Can you believe him?"

Ranpo let out a laugh and a smile crawled its way to Kunikida's lips.

The laughs finally stopped and silence fell into the room. Kunikida was about to leave and go on with his work, but Yosano broke the silence.

"Did you know?"

Her voice was so fragile, it seemed like she could break from moment to moment. She wasn't the usual strong confident woman, but a crushed heart who had lost her friend. Kunikida thought that he was invalidating her privacy, but he was frozen to his place.

"Know what?" Ranpo replied.

"That he would..." she couldn't even finish her sentence - her voice faded in the air.

Ranpo clenched his fist. "Honestly, no, I didn't. I did suspect it though, but Dazai was unpredictable and almost impossible to read."

"Ranpo, do you think that we could've saved him?" she let a sob escape.

Ranpo sighed. "We cut ties with him. We couldn't do anything about him."

"That's fucking bullshit and you know that, right?"

He didn't answer immediately. He just titled his head, looking at the floor, and Kunikida felt a sting in heart.

"Yes, I do." he finally said and it felt more like a confession. "It would be too much for any of us, but for Dazai, it was so much worse and he was already in a bad state of mind."

They knew it - Kunikida literally called him out for that and he had been too harsh about it.

"I was lucky I met you." Yosano said. "I think that if I went back there, I would have done the same thing as he did."

"Please, don't say that..." Ranpo said, feeling shattered.

"He took the shot so I wouldn't have." she finally broke to tears. "If I had just accepted it that-"

Ranpo patted her back and grabbed a box of tissues from behind her desk and handed it to her.

"We wouldn't let you do such a thing." he suddenly asked and cupped Yosano's face, forcing her to look at him. "You are a doctor, aren't you?"

Yosano just nodded, unable to talk.

"You do know that every illness needs proper treatment, don't you?" Ranpo asked and the doctor nodded again. "Of course you do, you are the best doctor out there."

A weak laugh was heard.

"Listen to me carefully." Ranpo said dead serious. "Dazai had depression and an alcohol abuse problem. We did our best to look after him - Kunikida even put a tracker on him - but a sickness is a sickness and unless he was treated properly, he would eventually end up that way. Sometimes, our help, on its own, can't be enough."

Kunikida's mind ran to the bottles of whiskey and vodka that were pulled up in Dazai's appartement. Every time he had to visit Dazai at his place, in order to drag him to work, he pretended not to notice, since he didn't want to make him feel uncomfortable. Maybe he should've said something.

"But if we-"

"No, I'm not done yet." Ranpo interrupted her and he was anything but annoyed. It was rare - listening to him speaking so softly and kindly - and if he wasn't in his range of view, Kunikida would cross his heart if it was someone else who was talking. "I don't blame him - I could never do such a thing. If he died due to cancer then everyone would be like 'oh it was such a tough battle and it's such a pity he didn't make it', but guess what. Dazai was in the middle of a fight, one of the toughest ones, and he struggled for years before he finally lost it. He wasn't weak or a coward, not even selfish, he was just tired.

And I can assure you that he was at peace in his last moments."

"How can you be so sure?" she asked quietly.

"I am the Greatest Detective in the world, aren't I?" Ranpo answered confidently. "I'm never mistaken."

Kunikida had heard enough. He had to cover his mouth with his palm and choke a little sob, as he was moments before breaking down to tears.

He stopped walking and took a deep breath.

It wasn't the time to break down.

Not yet, at least.

Kunikida saw a familiar figure walking towards him - coming from Dazai's grave obviously - and he didn't want to be seen in distress. Grayish hair glowing under the last sunrays and heavy stepping, as if he was carrying a huge boulder - definitely Atsushi. Early in the morning, Kenji, Tanizaki and Naomi were the ones who visited the grave and later in the noon, Yosano and Ranpo accompanied by Koyka, who wanted to pay respect. Lastly, it was Atsushi and Kunikida's turn.

That way, they could at least have a proper goodbye, or the closest to one.

"How are you feeling, lad?" Kunikida asked the younger one, before he passed by him.

He looked exhausted and out of place, like he didn't have any idea of where he was or where he was going, because he was too lost in his thoughts to pay attention to the environment around him. Still, despite all that, he plastered a smile on his face, once he snapped back to our world.

"I'm doing a little better." he replied honestly. "But, I still find it hard to believe it."

"I understand you." Kunikida sighed.

"I thought that when I would stand in front of his grave, I'd feel frustrated," said the boy quietly. "That I would pretend that he was there and that I would scream at him or something like that. But when I actually faced the cold stone, I felt so sad and empty."

Kunikida saw that the kid was struggling to keep his tears at bay. "It's okay." he gently placed his hand on the boy's back, in order to show him that he wasn't alone.

"If it wasn't for him, I would've died due to starvation." the kid admitted and it felt oddly nostalgic, even though not even a whole year had passed. "He took me under his wing and looked after me, trying to make me deal with my past terrors."

"That bastard surely had his ways to show affection..." Kunikida murmured to himself. He (usually) didn't trash talk about dead people, but Dazai was an exception. He had always been one.

(But it really didn't have to do with anything personal - it was just a bad habit Kunikida had picked up by a certain redhead in the spawn of the time he had spent with them.)

"You did your best taking care of him, as well." Kunikida pointed out.

"I just helped him whenever he asked me to." Atsushi said and rubbed the back of his head. "I wasn't that big of a deal."

"Well, you did whatever the rest of us didn't do." he said and guilt started filling his head. "You were always there for him, every single time he needed you."

Atsushi remained silent. He nervously scratched the nape of his neck before he finally said something. "The last thing I ever told him was that I didn't know if I could ever forgive him."

Kunikida's eyes softened. "Have you?"

"I believed that he was a great mentor and more importantly, a good guy." he replied, not answering the question. "Once I told him that, he seemed quite surprised and I did not get it at first, but I understand now. He did horrible things and then he decided to treat people with more kindness, if that's the proper word, and I might have seen something that resembled the light in him. Now, I realized that... it wasn't my place to forgive him."

Kunikida doubted whether he should say something or not. He didn't even know whether there was something to say at all. Eventually, he decided to speak up and put in words whatever he guessed that Dazai felt every time his two protégés worked together. After all, Atsushi deserved to know about that little smirk of satisfaction on his face and the way his eyes lit up every time they took down their 'big bad'.

"Dazai-San would be so proud of you." Kunikida put on a warm smile. "And he was also proud of Akutagawa as well, even though he didn't show it as openly as he should have. It may not matter much now-"

"It does." Atsushi interrupted him. "Thank you Kunikida-kun.

"No worries."

And as Kunikida took a step forward in order to reach his final destination, he stopped, since Atsushi added something more.

"He treasured your partnership more than you could've ever imagined. Despite the bickering and the pranks, he admired you and trusted you. From the way you two worked together and understood each other immediately to he talked about you, after he made sure that you weren't there to listen"

His heart sank and he felt a knot going up his throat, making him unable to breath. Just those couple words were enough to shatter him. It was important to him, because Dazai rarely showed his approval, rarely showed his satisfaction and he had had a partner before him, who had set the standards pretty high. Kunikida never intended to compete with Chuuya and he, himself, had to collaborate with different people in the past, but he felt like his team with Dazai had been a lot more than just an efficient duo and the feeling was mutual.

And even though he felt his eyes slowly tearing up, he didn't let himself give in.

"I'll be going now." Atsushi said quietly and Kunikida shook his head.

Kunikida kept walking for a couple more more meters, until he found the stairs. He walked them down and turned around, heading towards a small hill. On the top of that, there was a tree and underneath it, three graves had become the place where three poor souls had been able to finally rest. He got closer and stood completely still as he read the names engraved on them, taking a moment for himself in silence.

The first one was the oldest grave and the words 'S.Oda' were clearly seen. Kunikida didn't know who that man was, but in order for Dazai to be buried next to him, he must have been someone important to him, probably from his time back in the Port Mafia. He crouched and gently placed one of the bouquets he was holding next to the ones that were already there. He knew that Atsushi had brought one for him as well, but he was surprised to see that someone else except them had visited it and also left flowers.

The one that was to the very left had written on the top of it, with neat, cursive letters the name of the Port Mafia Executive Chuuya Nakahara. He never had anything against the mafioso, even though he had tried to eliminate him a couple of times. They both understood that it wasn't anything personal and he actually was impressed by his loyalty, his intelligence and his skill - and maybe under different circumstances, they could have been friends. Just their occupations stood in their way.

Yet, undeniably, Chuuya had played a major role in defeating Fukuchi and that cost his own life. It was the least thing he could do in order to show his respect and his gratitude to his man, but he placed one bouquet of flowers next to his gravestone.

And now, he had to face what existed in the middle, filled with beautiful arrangements of flowers which were left by the previous visitors. It was weird. Even though it was the last one made in that place, it fitted perfectly fine between the other two. As it was expected to be there sooner or later. Macabre - it sent chills all over to Kunikida's body.

But that wasn't the worst part.

It didn't feel like a memorial to his former partner - something that was a reminder of his presence nor a hostile place where his soul couldn't rest. Discarding the two graves of some of the persons who had a great impact on him, it felt oddly unfamiliar and lacked the sentiment it should have.

It didn't belong to Dazai Osamu.

He ran his fingers across the name written on the stone.

Cold and lifeless, as it was expected.

Wrong and unnatural, as he should have expected it.

Fukuzawa had informed them about that; it was Mori's decision and they couldn't do anything about it. If it's hard to just think about it, then it will hit you ten times harder once you face it.

And Kunikida felt like he had been slapped.

His gaze was still fixed on the name.

Shuji Tsushima.

Not 'Dazai Osamu', not even 'O. Dazai'.

Shuji Tsushima.

A fake name, for a random 'low-rank'.

Because if Dazai's death became widely known in the underworld, many schemes, plottings and operations would crumble like paper towers and burn to ashes. It would be devastating to the Mafia and so, they twisted and covered up the story the best way possible, in order to buy some time and that grave was part of their flawless plan.

It was frustrating - allowing a desecration to Dazai's last home for the sake of profit.

Still, Kunikida had to remind himself that it was all an illusion, an attempt to hide Dazai Osamu. The point of it remained the same, even though the goodbye he wanted to say became a lot more difficult.

His partner was gone.

There weren't proper - or enough - words to describe how he felt and there wasn't a way to put his thoughts in order.

But he had to try it.

He kind of owed him an apology.

"I was unfair to you -" he finally said and his voice was so sincere - "and I don't think I can ever properly apologize for my behavior, but..."

His words hang in the air for a moment. He looked up at the sky - it made him feel closer to him than looking at that stupid marble.

"You idiot..." he sighed. "When I first met you, I couldn't figure out whether you were completely stupid or a genius. You definitely acted like an asshole, though, but it's not what I'm talking about.

You ditched work multiple times to go book-haunting, ate poisonous mushrooms on your third day, hit up on every client and the list goes on and I was assured that you were the most irresponsible and annoying man I had ever met. "

He stopped in order to take a deep breath. He needed all the courage he could gather in order to keep talking.

"And also you were reliable and trustworthy and we- I cared about you and I wanted you to be okay. You were part of our family..." the next words struggled to come out. "We failed you. I failed you."

Salty tears started running down his cheek and he didn't bother to wipe them away.

"I'm sorry..." he said. "I'm sorry for being so harsh on you, I'm sorry for everything that you went through, I'm sorry for not noticing how badly you needed help earlier."

It was cathartic.

The pressure of all the feelings he had bottled up, while waiting for the right moment to let himself go, was slowly leaving his body.

"I don't know where you are now-" Kunikida tried to say as calmly as possible- "but, I pray you are doing well."

The sun had completely disappeared from the sky and it was getting quite dark. The wind was blowing, not too much, but enough to make Kunikida feel cold. He looked at the grave once again and plastered on his face his bravest, most heart-warming and most human smile.

"I could not have asked for a better partner." The emotions in his voice were so raw that it almost sounded unreal. "Thank you for the past two years."

It wasn't much, but it was enough to get it out of his head. No matter what else he said, nothing would change - he still missed him and that was a fact.

It would take him a while to stop checking Dazai's location on his phone. It would take him a while to stop buying a couple of cans of crab in order to fill cupboards in the Agency's headquarters. It would take him a while to stop setting his alarm ten minutes earlier in order to wake up and his co-worker on time. It would take him a while to cut down habits that he had adopted to his daily routine, because of a specific bandaged maniac.

He placed the last bouquet at the base of the cold stone, among the other floral arrangements. No one could have guessed that that grave, which was drowning in flowers, belonged to someone with the title of a merciless monster - a Demon Prodigy.

Dazai was beloved and if only he knew it...

Kunikida stood up and before he left, he looked at the name once again.

Shuji Tsushima.

It still didn't sit quite right with him, but maybe it was for the best that way.

An indication that the one who was part of the Port Mafia had died and a sign that Dazai Osamu would remain alive through the memories of the family he had made.