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“We’ve apprehended every popular celebrity in Japan.”
A man in black turns around to a sea of people whose faces he’s seen everywhere, all coop together in a glass-walled room.
“Take a look now, will you?” Chuuya clicks his tongue and takes out a cigarette. “If he’s still not among them, then-”
“He’s not.”
The cigarette in Chuuya’s hands explodes in his fist, apparent veins of rage popping from the top of his head.
“Are you serious right now?” Chuuya slams the wall. “Do you have any idea what we’ve put the world in?”
“Now, now,” another man enters with an innocent smile on his face. “We get benefits from this, too, don’t we, Chuuya?”
“Boss-”
“Ah, ah. I’m not the boss right now.” Mori waves a hand. “Anywho, we get to take as many pictures as we want of them before letting them go.”
“Uh huh… But still!” Chuuya points at the man standing by the glass walls, eyes empty, bandaged hands sliding inside his pockets. “You’re getting on my nerves! Using the paparazzi to bring chaos upon the world just to do your bidding…”
“We owe him a favor, Chuuya-san,” Akutagawa says from behind. “He got us in the most secured concerts of famous singers, remember?”
“And yet he can’t even hunt down a SINGLE singer.”
The man, the one leading a large-scale paparazzi apocalypse that is already terrorizing the industry of celebrities of all kinds in the world, Dazai Osamu, still doesn’t answer. Even though they’ve only done this to celebrities in Japan, it doesn’t fail to become a big issue within the world. Many people find that it won’t be long before these photographers raid other countries and somehow get their hands past security and kidnap more and more celebrities.
And that may be true. But that isn’t the real goal of the boss of this operation.
Dazai holds the DLSR camera hanging around his neck, opening it and flipping through the pictures. He stops by one image he captured by accident a month ago before starting the apocalypse.
Blurry flashes of silver hair with the new array of cherry blossom leaves flying about. The next image shows almost the same thing, the face of the person still hidden away due to the camera angle and his locks covering his face.
It’s the same person he remembers seeing amidst his wooziness before taking up his camera again. He loses his motivation many months before and reaches the conclusion to commit suicide. But as he feels his consciousness drowning in the sea, a big splash resounds in his ears, and the next thing he knows, he’s on shore. Alive. Saved.
And beside him, in his unfocused gaze, is a silver-haired young man with the brightest smile he’s ever seen on anyone. His face is a blur, and so are his words. But he remembers him asking for his name, and he remembers this stranger saying his name. Then after that, he’s at the hospital with a note from the stranger, asking him to meet each other again in a cafe in Tokyo.
But he’s too late, or maybe the stranger simply decides not to show up. Still, Dazai picks up his camera again to take on a photography contest, with the theme ‘Silver Spring’ reminding him of his savior. And since then, he often comes near that cafe in hopes of bumping into the silver-haired stranger, and while aiming to capture the newly awakened spring, he sees him again.
Dazai clicks on the next images. They contain the same scenery, subject, and background, all blurry and failing to capture the real face of the silver-haired man. It isn’t on purpose. Dazai simply aimed at the incoming spring to issue for the photography contest, and a familiar young man suddenly came along. Entranced, eager to capture every snap of the stranger, the moment he moved his camera away from his face, he was gone in the ocean of people coming and going.
As his specialty allows him to somehow get past any tight security, he is approached by a paparazzi organization, PM, for his services. And now, again, he is called upon by them for more aid, and he offers to do their bidding as much as they want so long as they can help him find the boy in his camera roll.
He looked everywhere in Japan for the mysterious man in his photos, later getting the information that this person was a rising celebrity. PM, convinced the mysterious target may have changed his hair color, or may have been a woman, with Dazai’s help, captures celebrities all over Japan.
And yet, after a month, he is still nowhere to be found, not in Tokyo, where they first met, nor anywhere near Tokyo.
“Boss,” a blonde woman, Higuchi, called. “The Black Lizard team caught sightings similar to the photos provided.”
Dazai instantly shuts his camera, turns around, and trudges to Higuchi, making her jump in surprise. It’s as if Dazai teleported right in front of her.
“Let me see,” he demands.
Higuchi hands him the tablet, and there are a couple of pictures taken by members of the Black Lizard team under Higuchi, and the photos are clearly from a city surrounded by sea. Definitely not Tokyo.
Most of all, the subject in the two images is a young man with the same silver hair, but this time, his face is caught. And Dazai thought his heart was going to explode at the stranger’s eyes, resembling the setting sun in the background so well. Smiling so vibrantly, with the most beautiful eyes and majestic locks of silver hair. Just like when this stranger saved him months ago.
Not looking away, Dazai asks, “His name?”
Higuchi taps an area in the tablet, revealing the Black Lizard team’s messages.
“Right here, boss.” Higuchi scrolls up and then finds the name and location.
Dazai smiles, creeping out his colleagues as he keeps switching back and forth the pictures taken, whispering to himself.
“So he’s in Yokohama.” Dazai’s smile reaches his eyes. “Nakajima Atsushi-kun.”
-
“Nakajima Atsushi!”
Atsushi doesn’t stop, with his bodyguard Kunikida and manager Yosano right with him, running away from a hoard of paparazzi chasing them for hours now.
“How did they find us again?” Yosano yells, dialing the number of their company.
“Why are they even chasing Atsushi?” Kunikida shouts back, remembering the news about what’s happening in the country. “Atsushi isn’t even at the same level as the ones reported to be kidnapped!”
“I’m right here, Kunikida-san,” Atsushi says with arched brows.
“Doesn’t change the fact that it’s weird how they’re focusing on you instead of the more popular ones in Yokohama! Did you do something to piss the paparazzi off or something, brat?”
“How would I know? I’m not doing anything Yosano-san disapproves of!”
“Hey, don’t pull me in that shit. For all I know, you might be doing something behind my back.”
“Yosano-san?” Atsushi yells, betrayed. “You know that’s not true!”
“Ah, whatever!” Kunikida speeds up and looks at Yosano. “Has the president said something yet?”
“Yes, there is a hideout we can hide in for a while. He’s sending me the coordinates now!”
Soon, they manage to lose the hoard and are now safely under the stage of an empty stadium, all heaving to catch their breaths.
“Okay, let’s get this thing straight,” Kunikida starts. “An organization, PM, has been capturing famous stars for the past month. Only now did they touch Yokohama.”
Yosano hums. “If we think about it clearly, Yokohama’s stars aren’t really popular worldwide, even nationwide. So it makes sense it was never a target in the first place.”
“Until now.” Kunikida sighs, sending daggers at Atsushi, who raises his eyebrows back. “Atsushi, be honest with us-”
“I already told you, I’m not doing anything behind your backs! How is this even my fault?”
“I’m not blaming you—we’re not blaming you,” Kunikida reassures. “But there has to be something up that made you the target this time around.”
“Maybe it has something to do with something before you entered the industry months ago?” Yosano suggests.
Atsushi scoffs and folds his arms, pouting, annoyed. “Aside from hanging out with my friends, I don’t remember doing anything else.”
“How about before dropping out of college?”
“I didn’t drop out!” Atsushi hisses, glaring at Kunikida. “I did a vocation course, so that was only two years.”
“So that’s why you’re only twenty.”
“Yes, Yosano-san. I thought you already knew this?” Atsushi sighs, expecting more from his manager, who only shrugs with a little chuckle. “Anyway, I don’t remember offending anyone.”
Atsushi tries and tries to rack his brain for anything, but nothing comes up other than his time with friends throughout college, before pursuing a singing career, and so on. The only real other thing he remembers is saving someone who tried committing suicide months ago, but that’s completely unrelated to the paparazzi.
Closing his eyes, he turns his head away from Kunikida and Yosano, who continue to discuss any possibilities. He can’t tell them about him because that man he saved is not just any person.
It’s the guy he always sees with a camera around campus since freshman year in college. Atsushi doesn’t particularly know him, but seeing his bubbly personality around his friends and his apparent love for photography reels Atsushi’s interest. He never saw him again after his vocational course. The next time he did, was when he jumped off a bridge.
And Atsushi doesn’t know what pulled him at that moment, but he follows and jumps, and eventually, he finds out the guy’s name. Taking in the chance to get to know him better, Atsushi leaves him a note at the hospital, but he never comes. It may have been due to his hospitalization, but even for the next few days, he didn’t see him there at the time he allotted. But he still walks by the area of the cafe, just in case.
Until he is forced to move to Yokohama for the career he’s pursuing.
Stomps echo from above, surprising the three, who all look at one another.
“Shit! Did they figure us out again?” Kunikida curses.
“There’s no way.” Yosano scrolls on her phone. “Fudge. The president has been interrogated!”
“Past the security? Who in the world could do that-” Kunikida cuts himself off. “Unless… it’s that guy.”
“That guy?” Atsushi mumbles.
“Yeah. There’s a mysterious guy who is well-known for his agility and wits. I’ve seen a picture of him before, but no one really knows his name.”
“He must be the one behind this. The PM might’ve recruited him.” Yosano deduces.
Atsushi shakes his head at his earlier thoughts and steps onto the little podium, and pulls the lever, the one that can go up to the stage from underground, making his two companion gasp.
“Atsushi, what are you doing?” Yosano yells.
“Ending this.” Atsushi looks down at them with a smile while the podium rises slowly, and the ceiling opens. “Facing this head-on.”
With the two’s continued shouts from below, Atsushi braces himself for what’s coming. True enough, the stadium is filled with paparazzi running from different entrances.
Atsushi covers his head with an arm at the sudden gust of wind. He looks up, eyes widening at the helicopter steadying itself almost right above him. Confusion conquers his mind, but he’s not going to trouble anyone anymore. If they want him, he’ll go to them, but he won’t go down without a fight.
“Nakajima Atsushi!”
People yell and chant around the place. For a second there, Atsushi almost laughs at how this resembles his dream of becoming a star singer. With people raging from all directions, chanting his name, and the paparazzi waiting outside.
But this is a different scenario. They’re not here for his voice. They’re here for something else unknown to everyone. The paparazzi are swarming Japan and causing alarming disarray in the star industry with what they have been doing.
From the helicopter comes a rope ladder that lands on top of Atsushi’s head, who reacts violently and glares at the copter as he pushes it away from him.
“Aim properly!” he shouts. “Geez!”
“Sorry!” a voice from above yells back.
The owner of the voice happens to be a man covered in black attire all over. With the wind from the copter, the man’s black cloak swiftly flies about as he takes hold of the rope from the top and steps down slowly.
He makes a wrong step, which almost gets him falling.
Atsushi yells, “Be careful!”
“I’m trying!” the man shouts back, his feet having a difficult time finding the rope. “This is harder than what I saw on TV!”
Atsushi uncontrollably smiles, putting his hands close to his mouth to reply, “Of course it is! We can’t believe what we see on TV, you know!”
“I know that!” the man squabbles back, raising a fist at Atsushi, almost slipping because of the loss of support. He grabs onto the rope immediately. “Oops!”
“I said be careful, dumbass!” Atsushi shouts, still smiling, unsure what this situation is, but he is nonetheless having fun talking to the somewhat lovable idiot trying to get down the copter. “I’m not strong enough to catch you if you fall from way up there!”
“I’m pretty sure I’ve already fallen for you, though!”
“What the hell are you saying? Ah! Don’t let go! You’re still too high up!”
“Will you catch me if I fall?”
“I already said I can’t! My arms aren’t strong enough!”
“But what if I do fall?”
Atsushi quietens, and so does the guy up there. He’s getting closer, and Atsushi can see his brown hair clearly. But he’s still several meters above the ground.
“D-” Atsushi stutters, a blush creeping to his cheeks. “D-don’t try!”
“Why?”
“Are you even listening? I’m too weak to catch you! We’re gonna fall over together if I try to catch you, idiot!”
“But will you try to catch me if I fall?”
“Of course, dumbass!”
“Then-”
“Don’t! You’re gonna break our bones!”
The man seemingly pouts.
Atsushi rolls his eyes. “Fine, fine! I’ll catch you!”
His distant brown eyes seem to sparkle.
“But go further down first!”
He nods eagerly and tries to quicken his climb down, and once he is only a few meters above Atsushi, his bandaged hand slips, and he can’t catch hold of the rope in time.
Time seems to slow down, and while the man, Dazai, has been prepared to face this kind of situation before once he dies, at that moment, he doesn’t want to die just yet.
He hasn’t told Atsushi his feelings yet. Though Atsushi may find him creepy and disgusting once he finds out the truth, Dazai wishes he can at least thank him for saving him and for making him feel something so unlike him.
Dazai reaches out into the air, but his fingers grip nothing, his feet don’t get stuck either, he just slips once and is now about to land dead on the stage of the stadium.
Or so he thought.
He seemingly bounces slightly, his back and legs bumping a pair of arms that lowers further into the ground. When he opens his eyes again, there he is, the stranger with the silver hair, carrying Dazai in his arms, struggling, breathless, and eventually, falls down to the ground, and they both land with a thud.
Huffing, Atsushi scolds, “I told you… hah… I’m not strong… enough.” Then he laughs. “But I’m glad I caught you.”
Dazai lies there on the ground, with Atsushi sitting beside him, hands on the ground, gasping heavily with a bright face, and somehow, it infects him. Dazai chuckles and holds his head with a hand, attempting to sit up.
“Careful,” Atsushi says, helping him sit. “Are you alright? Are you hurt anywhere? Then again, that would partially be your fault,” Atsushi’s next word widens Dazai’s eyes. “Dazai Osamu-san.”
“Y-you…”
“You’re Dazai-san, right? I remember.”
“Atsushi-kun…”
“Ah! Right, I forgot to tell you my name. How did you find out? Ah, then again, I’ve been public lately, so I guess there’s that.”
Dazai blushes, but he turns his head away and hugs the camera in his chest. Then after a heave, he stands up, and Atsushi does, too.
“Nakajima Atsushi-kun,” Dazai starts, with the same blush on his face, holding his camera in his chest and staring directly at Atsushi.
Atsushi subtly observes where they are. The paparazzi are all on standby, flashes of their camera hurting Atsushi’s eyes. Initially confused, he slowly gains an understanding after seeing that Dazai is holding one, too.
They are going to capture him. And Dazai is part of them.
“I…”
Atsushi cuts him off, “I’m not going to let you take me away without a fight.”
Dazai looks surprised, so he turns around to other people, then points to himself.
“Well, you’re part of them, right?” Atsushi grimaces, feeling somehow betrayed. “You’re all here to take me for whatever reason you have for capturing celebrities.”
“Ah, um, you got it kind of wrong.”
“Huh?”
“It’s complicated, I’ll explain in a bit. But…” Dazai takes Atsushi’s hands before the latter could respond. “Atsushi-kun… will you marry me?”
A big ‘huh’ expresses itself on Atsushi’s face, along with Kunikida and Yosano, who have gone up from a different pathway and are about to help Atsushi. Even Chuuya from the helicopter and the paparazzi around goes quiet.
Dazai tightens his hold. “I know it’s hard to process and take everything in, but I promise my feelings for you are pure and genuine. I want to stay by your side until I die. I want to… be with you, Atsushi-kun. I will do anything for you-”
“Wait, wait, wait!” Atsushi perks up, his face popping red. “W-w-what is… wha…”
“You are a ray of sunshine, you light up my world, you motivate me, inspire me, and urge me to move forward.” Dazai’s eyes sparkle, and with every word he says, Atsushi gets more flustered. “If… if you want me to relinquish my contract with PM, I’ll do it right away.”
“H-hey!” Chuuya screams from the copter. “You can’t do that without Boss’ approval, Dazai!”
“PM has the other celebrities at headquarters, and I admit it was all my doing,” Dazai says, ignoring Chuuya. “But I will release them at once if you want me to.
Atsushi turns his head away. “What in the world…”
“Yes, please take as much time as you need to think, Atsushi-kun.”
Atsushi shakes his head and shouts, “You mean to say all this mess, this apocalypse, and the hoard of paparazzi chasing me is… led by you?”
“Yes.”
“Why?” He shouts.
“Why…?” Dazai cocks his head.
“Why did you… do this?”
“To find you!”
“What?”
“If you want me to go to jail for this, I will go there now to file a couple of years in prison,” Dazai says, shocking Atsushi and everyone else. “If you want to take me to court to determine that, then I’ll have Chuuya take us there now.”
“Oi!” Chuuya yells.
“If you want-”
“Stop.” Atsushi holds Dazai by his shoulders with a serious look amidst his blushing face. “Stop, Dazai-san.”
He stops talking and only stares innocently.
“I… I don’t even know where to begin.” Atsushi sighs. “F-first of all, please stop this.”
“This..?”
“This… whole paparazzi apocalypse thing.”
Dazai nods eagerly, and Atsushi almost wants to smack himself for finding Dazai adorable despite the current situation.
Kunikida and Yosano try to sneak up on Atsushi, but Atsushi sees them and shakes his head.
“Atsushi, he’s that guy!” Kunikida hisses. “The one who’s infamous for breaking into security!”
Atsushi faces Dazai. “Is that true?”
“Mhm!”
Atsushi purses his lips at how quickly Dazai answers him, almost making him feel special, but he inhales and looks straight into Dazai.
“S-second… release all the celebrities.”
“I was going to once I find you. I’ll contact Akutagawa now, too-” he takes his phone out, but Atsushi stops his hand.
“Listen to me f-first.”
“Okay!”
“L-lastly…” Atsushi blinks away, then back. “W-why were you… looking for me?”
“I-I,” Dazai says with trembling eyes and lips, his cheeks burning. “I… I’m in love with you, Atsushi-kun.”
Atsushi’s face completely turns into a tomato, and smoke practically exudes out of his ears.
Dazai takes his hands in his. “That’s why… will… will you marry me?”
“W-wait…” Atsushi whispers, turning his head away at Dazai’s adorable face, shutting his eyes close at the shouts and cheers from the entire stadium.
“Mhm, mhm, take your time, Atsushi-kun!”
Atsushi peeks at Dazai and bites his lower lip. He practically melts in his shoulders, but still, after some thinking about this whole thing, he can’t lie that he likes Dazai back.
“U-um… I-I…” Atsushi tries to look at Dazai. “I don’t… dislike you, Dazai-san. I do kind of… like you, too, but…”
Dazai’s eyes glisten in anticipation, and Atsushi can hear his bodyguard and manager going ‘huh’ at his response.
“But…” Atsushi musters up to face him directly, his face still a flustered mess. “M-m-marriage is too fast, don’t you think?”
Dazai tilts his head in confusion.
“So, w-what I’m saying is…” Atsushi blinks continuously, his face to his neck and ears all red now. But he shakes it aside and tries to smile. “L-let’s date, first?”
“Does that mean you’ll marry me after we date?” Dazai asks expectantly.
“W-w-we’ll… um, we’ll see. We ought to get to know each other better first, D-Dazai-san.” Atsushi looks down at his feet, his vision turning hazy at the immense embarrassment from thousands of people watching them right now. “B-but to give a definite answer, I guess… so?”
“How long should we date?” Dazai asks eagerly.
“U-um… a couple of years would work, at least?”
“Two years…” Dazai whispers before grinning happily at Atsushi. “Okay!”
Since then, PM releases all the captive celebrities and still maintains a good relationship with Dazai. As that event in the stadium is made public, Japan decides to pardon Dazai’s acts in fear of what more he can do. Besides, since then, Dazai and Atsushi becomes a hot topic not only in Japan but also in many foreign lands. All witnessing their love story unfold.
-
Two years later.
A stream of people beelines to the cafe where Atsushi is hiding out with his crew, all standing up quickly.
“Atsushi!” Kunikida yells, supporting the door. “To the backdoor, now!”
“Huh? But-”
“Hurry!” Kunikida yells, grunting at the force from outside. “It’s happening again!”
“Atsushi.” Yosano takes Atsushi’s wrist and pulls an annoyed Atsushi outside.
“Yosano-san, what’s going on?”
“I’m not sure, Atsushi,” Yosano answers, still pulling him across the streets. “Have you tried contacting Dazai? What if he’s the one behind all this again?”
“That’s what I thought so, too,” Atsushi peeks at his phone, scrolling quickly on social media. “But it’s apparently not the PM who’s behind this.”
“Could Dazai be working alone this time?” Yosano looks back briefly. “Did he say something to you?”
“N-no. The last time we saw each other was weeks ago.” A hint of blush appears on his cheeks. “When he erm… proposed.”
“Ah yes, I remember.” Yosano chuckles. “And then?”
“What do you mean ‘and then’? And then you piled tons of work on my plate!”
“Oh yeah.”
“Don’t ‘oh yeah’ me, Yosano-san! I haven’t seen him in weeks!” Atsushi pouts. “He hasn’t been responding to my messages since earlier this morning when a paparazzi apocalypse happened again.”
“Then, doesn’t that mean-”
“He sleeps pretty late, so I wouldn’t be surprised if he’s still sleeping.”
“Consider it still. What if this is Dazai’s doing? Are you going to pardon him for this again? Are you going to forgive him for this?”
“Yosano-san-”
“Just think about it. We’re almost at the agency.”
Meanwhile…
Kunikida’s eyes widen as he gets blasted off to the floor, and countless pairs of feet stomp over around him in search of his celebrity friend. Before he can stand up, one pair of feet stands before him, and when he looks up, he glares. “I knew it… It’s you.”
The man in front gives Kunikida a smirk, holding the camera hanging over his neck, while another hand supports a sling bag.
“Boss!” someone shouts from the backdoor. “They ran off!”
The man brushes his hair out of his face and leans over to Kunikida.
“Come on.” He offers Kunikida a hand, who rolls his eyes before taking it. “I still need to dress up properly.”
Kunikida continues to glare. “Does Yosano-san know about this?”
“Maybe.”
“How about the president? PM? Everyone in the agency?”
“Probably,” the man answers, walking out of the cafe with Kunikida following.
Kunikida surveys the place, noticing the absurd amount of photographers inside the cafe and even the ones roaming outside. He looks back at the man and clicks his tongue. “What is this about this time, Dazai?”
The man, the boss, the head of the apocalypse before and now, Dazai Osamu, smiles knowingly.
“What about the celebrities you captured this time? What is Atsushi going to think once he finds out about this?”
“You’re getting the wrong idea.” Dazai cleans the lens of his camera. “They’re not held captive or anything. They’re all brought to the venue and are preparing the final touches already.”
“Venue?”
Dazai grins, raising his left hand, showing the silver ring on his ring finger.
“You see this?”
Kunikida rolls his eyes. “Don’t show off. I was there when you proposed to him, remember?”
“Well,” Dazai continues. “It’s about to be replaced with a new ring.”
Kunikida’s eyes widen. “You mean-”
Dazai puts a finger to his lips, shushing Kunikida briefly, before making him sigh and shake his head with a small smile on his face.
“You don’t like the fiance title?” Kunikida teases.
“I like it plenty. But don’t you think ‘husband’ is better?”
“Whatever.”
-
“Atsushi.” Kyouka greets as soon as Yosano and Atsushi enter the talent agency.
“Kyouka-chan.” Atsushi smiles, looks at everyone else, and then raises a brow. “Wait, why are you all dressed like that?”
Even Yosano is dressed differently. She takes her coat off and reveals a beautiful white dress underneath. She sits somewhere to change her shoes and retouch her makeup.
Ranpo takes the lollipop out of his mouth. “What do you think?”
“Um…” Atsushi looks at Kyouka, who Naomi and others are still dressing up. “We have a wedding-themed fan event?”
They get quiet and laugh.
“Well, if that’s what you think,” Ranpo says. “It works.”
“Huh?”
“In any case, Atsushi-san.” Kenji takes Atsushi’s wrist and pulls him to the gents’ side, where Tanizaki just pops in with another set of tuxedo. “You need to dress up, too!”
He lets them, but once they finish, he can’t help but notice how different his attire is compared to everyone else.
“You’re the star of the event, Atsushi-kun,” Ranpo reasons when Atsushi questions. “We can’t outshine you now, can we?”
“Fine,” Atsushi says with a pout while they prepare to leave via a helicopter from the agency’s rooftop. He is suspicious, and the fact that the apocalypse is still going on is worrying him, as well as Dazai, who isn’t replying to his messages since this morning.
On the way to the venue, Atsushi falls asleep. When he wakes up, he is alone in the copter in a dark place.
His suspicions start to grow as he steps down, raising a brow at the lotus flower lamps, creating a pathway toward somewhere in the dark.
He fixes up his cuffs. It is suspicious enough that everyone else wore black tuxedos while he was forced to wear a white one. Soon, he reaches a door, and he recognizes this venue. It’s the one he chooses to be the main place for his wedding someday.
With that in mind, Atsushi bites his lip as he touches the double doors’ knobs, an uncontrollable smile peeking its way to his lips. After one last satisfying exhale, he pushes the door open, and just as he expected, it’s set up the way he scribbled down on his notebook since he and Dazai get engaged.
With soft music playing on the side, he sees all the reported celebrities in the place, his friends from the agency giving him thumbs-ups and smiles, members of PM, and above all, at the end of the lotus flower lamps and the red carpet in between, stands a well-dressed Dazai with the most genuine smile on his face.
Atsushi shakes his head, still smiling, as he walks onward, eyes only on Dazai. He wears almost the same thing as Atsushi, his hair curled in some areas, and his eyes also fixes only on Atsushi.
As he reaches Dazai, Dazai gives him a formal bow before taking his hand in his.
“Do you hate me for this?” Dazai whispers.
Atsushi rolls his eyes. “No, but you could’ve at least informed me about this beforehand. I wasn’t well-prepared.”
“I thought you were prepared two years ago?” Dazai teases.
“S-shut up,” Atsushi whispers, glaring playfully.
Dazai chuckles, guiding Atsushi to the front, where a minister of the country stands in wait. “Did you piece everything together?”
“I did. Did you think I’m dumb enough not to?”
“...A little.”
Atsushi glares, but at Dazai’s tug, they both look in front, and the wedding ceremony begins.
It doesn’t take long, and as it reaches the end, the couple is standing face to face at the center, and the minister asks them the final question before the gods bind them together.
“I do,” Dazai answers, slipping a ring to Atsushi’s finger, his face the happiest Atsushi has ever seen.
When it is Atsushi’s turn, he closes his eyes and recalls everything for the past two years briefly. So many good and bad times, all shared together. There were petty fights and serious arguments. Moments of jealousy and doubt. Dazai’s suicidal attempts Atsushi manages to stop, as well as Atsushi’s habit of hurting himself Dazai manages to stop. The bash Atsushi gets from haters, the judgmental voices Dazai receives from the public, as well as the supportive words of fans all over the globe. Everything. They have been together through so much in just two years.
And Atsushi can’t ask for anyone better to spend the rest of his years with.
“I do,” Atsushi says in a low voice with an eye smile, taking Dazai’s hand and lovingly watching the ring slip perfectly on his finger.
“With the authority vested in me, I now pronounce you husband and husband.”
The dim lighting shoots up as the crowd cheers. Plenty of professional photographers stationed around the venue catch the entire event live for all their fans in the world. Outside the venue and everywhere else around the world awaits fans and supporters.
“You may now kiss.”
Hand in hand, the two stare at each other, the cheers and noises from the background and everyone else mix up in a blur.
Dazai takes Atsushi’s hands up to his lips and kisses them gently.
He whispers, “Atsushi-kun.” Then he closes his eyes. “You have no idea how happy I am right now.”
Atsushi pulls his hands and cups Dazai’s face, smiling.
“Be grateful I didn’t get mad enough to say ‘I don’t.’”
Dazai chuckles and holds Atsushi’s hands on his face before leaning close. Atsushi leans toward him as well, and for countless times, they share a kiss. But it’s not just any kiss. It’s the first kiss of being wedded.
The first kiss of many more to come. The first kiss of eternity.
Once they part, they whisper their I love you and giggle together before Atsushi pulls Dazai’s head for another kiss. Dazai wraps his arms around Atsushi, pulling him closer. People go wild at the turnout of events.
But whether people hated or loved what they saw, it all doesn’t matter to the two. They will stay together.
Till death do they part.