Chapter Text
Dazai aimlessly kicked his legs where they dangled off of the edge of the building. Just beyond his feet, the ground was several stories away. All it would take was one small mistake and he would plummet to his death. Dazai didn’t care at the moment. If that happened, it wasn’t like he would be missed anyway.
He wasn't sure why but today for reasons he didn't want to pinpoint, but he felt inexplicably drawn to the edge. Perhaps is was his boredom, perhaps it was his feeling of uselessness that he couldn't shake this afternoon, perhaps it was something else entirely. He didn't know if he wanted to die, but he wasn't sure that he felt motivated enough to live at the moment.
His mind drifted to the few people in his life that he cared about. Here, sitting on the edge of the building, he wondered if perhaps he should have called one of them before he got to this point. He shook his head. That was ridiculous. They all were busy. They probably wouldn't even notice if he was gone.
Yosano was at medical school (and would be for a few more months until summer) and Ranpo was hellishly busy with work (the master detective had an average of three to four cases a day that he was handling). Fukuzawa was busy helping his eldest two with their endeavors and Oda was taking care of the orphans he had basically adopted at this point in time. So no, no one would miss him.
Dazai leaned a bit further forward. The height was almost dizzying and gave him a rush of adrenaline. He watched the people below him. He was more than a bit grateful that none of them had looked up at him. Dazai remained perched there waiting for a strong gust of wind to interrupt his precarious balance (or for his strangely fickle resolve to harden).
Indeed, he nearly lost his balance, but not because of the wind. Rather it was the rooftop door opening with a loud bang. Dazai started, but didn’t quite fall. He wasn’t sure if he was disappointed or not.
“You shouldn’t be sitting up here. It’s dangerous. You could fall,” the newcomer sounded a bit frantic.
Dazai hummed his acknowledgement, but he couldn’t be bothered to turn around. He hoped that his lack of interest would cause the other person to leave. This is why he was more than a little shocked when the stranger manhandled him none too gently away from the edge. In the process of his salvation, Dazai ended up with scraped palms and cold sweats from No Longer Human.
“What did you do that for?” Dazai groaned, turning to face his savor.
It was another teenager, maybe about Dazai’s age. He was dressed in neat, but worn clothes. His blond hair was pulled firmly out of his face. He looked both annoyed and worried. It was a combination of emotions that Dazai was used to facing.
“I saved you,” the other teen shrugged.
“I didn’t ask you to,” Dazai pointed out.
“You didn’t have to. Are you ok? Are you in trouble of some kind?” the teen gave him a scrutinizing look.
“No. I’m fine. I was just sitting there,” Dazai folded his arms across his chest.
“You were thinking about jumping off.” The accusation was sharp and forceful, leaving no room for denial.
“Maybe,” Dazai admitted reluctantly.
The other teenager didn’t look impressed.
“Do you want to talk?” he huffed.
Dazai made a face. He didn’t like to talk to strangers about his personal business.
“No. Like I said. I’m fine,” Dazai glanced at his watch and nearly cursed as his real life came crashing down on him, “I need to get going. Dad was expecting me almost an hour ago.”
Without another word, Dazai quickly left the rooftop. He would have to think of a good excuse to tell Fukuzawa for his tardiness. Dazai couldn’t help but feel slightly annoyed that his plans had been interrupted, but the other teenager seemed harmless enough, if a little strange. And in all honesty, that should have been the last time that Dazai saw the strange teen. As his horrible luck would have it, it wasn’t.
The following day, Dazai was doing an errand run for Ranpo’s office. Ranpo, for all his genius, could be trusted with neither the ability to navigate or run errands. The first was because he wasn’t good with directions, the second was simply because he would get whatever he felt like at the store, rather than what was needed. It was for these facts that Dazai was designated errand boy today (Ranpo’s secretary was out sick).
He glared at the list of items. He didn’t like errand runs. He thought they were boring. The top of the list had clearly been written by Fukuzawa. It was neat and orderly. At the bottom of the list were things that Ranpo had clearly added in his loopy, messy handwriting. Dazai could only decipher about half of what his brother had written. He was working on deciphering the item listed after lollipops when Dazai felt himself get violently yanked backwards.
He lost his balance and ended up smacking his shoulder on the metal signpost next to the road. Not two seconds later, traffic began to move and the very spot that Dazai had been standing was filled with moving vehicles. Had Dazai not been yanked out of the way, there was no denying that he would be critically injured as the best case scenario. Dazai turned to his savor. He was mildly disappointed to find that it was the blond teen again.
“You!” The other teen snapped.
Dazai sighed.
“What do you want?” Dazai didn’t want to deal with this today.
“You just tried to kill yourself again! How are you this calm?” the other teen was shaking.
“What do you mean?” Dazai cocked his head.
“I just watched you try to walk out into oncoming traffic,” was the hissed reply.
“The light was green,” Dazai furrowed his brow.
“No. The light turned red before you even stepped into the intersection. Each signal lasts for exactly 38.7 seconds and you arrived after that window.”
Dazai blinked. He genuinely had not been aware that the traffic light had changed. The other teen seemed to take his surprise as admission of guilt.
“That’s it! Where do you live?” the blond teen snarled, pulling on Dazai’s arm.
Dazai shivered at the pulse of No Longer Human. The other teen gave him a sharp look when he felt the tremor run through Dazai’s body.
“That bad at home?” he asked softly.
“I… what?” Dazai blinked.
“It’s alright. I’m a protector of justice. Now, where do you live?”
The teen was so instant that Dazai found that he had no choice but to lead him home.