Chapter Text
Yokohama was an okay place, Chuuya just really hopes it doesn’t rain like this often. He’d seen the gray clouds overhead but neglected to bring an umbrella. It was still packed up in the moving boxes and the walk to the grocery store was only supposed to be a 10 minute walk at the absolute most. Chuuya had somehow gotten lost on his way and now had been wandering in the rain for much longer than that. His socks were damp from the water that had seeped in through the soles of his shoes, his clothes were soaked and heavy, his hair was sticking to his face. He probably looked like some monster that crawled out from a swamp.
He finally made it to the grocery store after what felt like forever. He had offered to go out shopping for his dad knowing how exhausted he was from moving into the new house and starting at his new job. He was wary about sending Chuuya out in an unfamiliar city by himself but Chuuya insisted upon it so he’d like to hurry home before his family started to worry. He definitely didn't want them thinking he couldn't handle a little trip to the store by himself.
This grocery store was a lot bigger than the neighborhood market he shopped at back home so he’d probably spend forever in this stupid place looking for things. He took out the shopping list he’d crinkled up and shoved in his pocket. It was damp and the ink had bled into the page but it was still legible. It had the usual things on it; eggs, milk, veggies, meat, so on and so forth. He tried to shake the water off of him before going inside but it wasn’t much use.
The store was relatively empty beside a few other shoppers. He skimmed the isles with his basket looking for the items. It was relatively similar to the one back home but there was more stuff and it was all in different places. In the canned goods aisle there was a boy wrapped up in bandages on his hands and knees picking up cans from the floor and putting them on the shelf while an employee glared down at him tapping her foot. The boy must've knocked the things on the shelf over. Chuuya couldn’t help but let out a small chuckle. The other boy turned his head to look at him and Chuuya immediately felt bad for laughing when he saw how sad he looked. The boy quickly turned his attention back to gathering the cans and Chuuya awkwardly we walked away. He had thought about stopping to help but he had already been gone from home long enough.
The world must truly be out to get dazai. Some people might think it’s self centered to think that the world is targeting you specifically, I mean what’s so special about you in particular? However, If these people were in dazai’s shoes for a day they would probably come to the same conclusion. Somehow he was always finding himself in the most unusual situations that could only possibly be explained by a higher power that enjoyed making a fool out of him. It felt like there was this outside force that had made its mission to push dazai over the edge, but when it finally succeeded it would force him back up on his feet. The world just liked toying with him. Like today for example, though a relatively tame day compared to some others the universe still found a way to humiliate him.
Dazai’s teacher had informed him that he would be contacting his father about his sixteen missing assignments, which in his opinion was tame compared to the amount he had last year. He knew his father would certainly get his tits in a bunch when he heard about it. He was always too busy to notice anything good dazai did but somehow always found time to criticize him whenever he fell short. Anyways Dazai didn’t feel like dealing with that so after school he stopped at the grocery store trying to delay getting home for as long as possible. He figured while he was here he should buy some of his favorite canned crab and somehow while reaching for the top shelf he tripped and knocked over a few 50 or so cans. How does something like that even happen?
This is how he found himself crouched over on the dirty floor stacking the cans back up on the shelf while some underpaid worker with a nose ring that made her look like a bull stood over him huffing, looking down on him, judging him. As if the situation wasn’t bad enough, some kid walked by and snickered at him. That kid hardly had any room to laugh at someone else's his misfortunate situation. He looked like a wet puppy. That's all any of these people are, animals. Predators waiting for a chance to attack.
After he finished picking up his mess he felt like he’d gone through too much trouble to not go ahead and buy his canned crab. He stood waiting for his turn thinking about how they should really have self checkout in this place by now. He was stuck in line behind the wet dog boy. It was still pouring down rain and the boy clearly didn’t have an umbrella with him. Normally Dazai would never offer something like this but if he got lucky maybe he would live on the other side of town and he’d be able to avoid going home a little longer.
The rain hadn’t calmed down and Chuuya hadn’t factored in that on the walk back he would have to carry several bags with him. At this rate he was going to catch a cold. He stood under the awning debating what he should do then he heard someone call out behind him.
“Hey Soggy Doggy!”
He snapped his head around to find the source of the overly cheery voice, it was the bandaged boy that he’d seen inside the store and did he just call him “soggy doggy” ? He really wasn’t in the mood for this guy's teasing or whatever he was about to say next.
“What the hell did you just call me!?”
“I said Soggy Doggy get it because you're all wet and look like a dog!”
“I do not look like a dog asshole!”
“Hey cut the barking out mutt! It’s raining pretty hard out there.”
He said, popping open an umbrella.
“Would you like me to walk you home?”
Chuuya weighed his options, on one hand he didn’t know this guy and he was a total prick. On the other hand he had an umbrella. He should probably say no considering this was a complete stranger but he looked about the same age as Chuuya so he probably wouldn’t kidnap him. Right? He looked kind of scruffy but he was dressed in a nice school uniform so he probably wasn’t going to mug him.
“Fine… I live in this direction”
“Perfect.” he smiled. It looked a little creepy.
“Oh do you live that way too?”
“Nope.”
He began to walk ahead and despite his better judgment Chuuya ignored his strange comment and the strange feeling he got from him and followed trying to stay under the umbrella, the bandaged boy took some of the grocery bags out of chuuyas hand helping with pain in his shoulder. This is how people die in horror movies isn’t it.
“I’m Chuuya, what's your name?”
“Dazai. Osamu Dazai.”
“Oh….. how old are you?”
“I’m fifteen.”
Chuuya was a little surprised. Something about him made him look older than that, maybe his height? His eye bags? Or maybe the sad look in his eyes, the kind like he was already done with his life.
“Fifteen? Me too.”
“Oh really?” Dazai raised an eyebrow
“you're so short I would have never guessed. I would have thought 11 at oldest”
“Hey man i'm a perfectly normal height and I still have plenty of time to grow!”
“Wow looks like I struck a nerve haha, but if you're the same age as me how come I’ve never seen you at school?”
“Oh I just moved here from France, I’m starting school Monday.”
“Oh I could tell you weren’t from around here your Japanese sucks, but you don’t look French?”
“I was born here in Japan then moved to France and now I'm back here.”
Dazai just nodded, apparently he didn’t have any snarky comments to add to that. Chuuya eyed Dazai for a moment, studying his face. His nose was turned up at the end which gave him a sort of snobby appearance and his face seemed like it was stuck in a permanent pout.
“I’m uhm sorry for laughing at you earlier.”
Chuuya himself wasn’t really sure what brought the apology on but dazai seemed even more shocked. He just stared at Chuuya like an idiot, tilting his head with a quizzical expression. He looked at Chuuya like he was some kind of alien that beamed down from the sky.
“N-Nevermind I guess…” Chuuya muttered.
They walked in silence for the most part after that aside from the occasional teasing comments from Dazai.
“Uhm this is my place, thanks for walking me here I’ll see you around man.”
“See you around…”
Dazai walked as slow as possible to try and waste time. He had lost his house key so there was no way he could slip inside and avoid his father. He’d hoped that it would take a little longer than it had to get to chuuyas house, partly because he wanted to avoid going back home longer and partly because he wanted to spend more time with Chuuya. He couldn’t figure out what made him feel this way about Chuuya.
He’d apologized for something so small as laughing. If the roles were reversed Dazai probably would have laughed and kicked one of the cans down the aisle. He’d get so worked up over all of Dazais funny little remarks. When Dazai would look into his eyes he did see that look that he saw in most people. That look that made him feel like someone’s prey backed into a corner. Chuuya was brash and tried to be tough but his eyes were so kind, no malice behind them.
He just seemed so… alive? Dazai felt drawn to him in a way he’d never felt for other people. Talking to Chuuya, it didn’t feel like all the other hollow empty connections Dazai faked, it felt so authentic. It was so silly he hardly knew the guy, why was he getting so worked up after one conversation? There was something that just felt so right about being around Chuuya, he couldn't tell if he loved it or hated it.
But either way the rain had calmed down and now it was just a light sprinkle tapping against his umbrella. The clouds had parted just enough for a ray of sunlight to shine through them. The sky had lightened up and the breeze became a little warmer.
The hot water from the shower burned chuuyas skin but it felt good after being out in the cold rain. He thought about what his friends back in France would be doing right now. Japan is about 8 hours ahead of France so it’s probably about lunch time there, his friends would be sitting around in the cafeteria together laughing and using their spoons to fling food at each other.
Every time he thought about it he got a little jealous. It’s not like he expects them all to stop everything because he’s gone he just feels a little left out. He knew he thought about them way more than they thought about him. None of them had messaged him unless he reached out first and even then they didn’t make much effort to hold the conversation. He couldn’t really be mad at them though it’s not their fault if chuuya mistook their friendship as closer than it actually was. No he couldn’t have, right? They were his best friends. He didn’t need to jump to conclusions; he knew how busy they were.
He shifted his thoughts to something else so he wouldn’t overthink it, Osamu Dazai is what came to mind. The guy was a little strange and kind of rude but he also had a charismatic sort of quality. Chuuya wasn’t the type to form an opinion after just a little bit of small talk so wasn’t going to judge yet. His dads boyfriend, Arthur, came across as a little bit off-putting at first but once they warmed up to each other he turned out to be really cool. Maybe Dazai would be like that. Either way he was glad he’d at least know one person at school on his first day. He didn’t think he’d have any trouble making friends he never really did. He was usually well liked by most people he met. The problem was that he was picky, he couldn’t put up with most people’s bullshit and had a short temper, he’d never had a problem making friends he just had a problem keeping them.