Chapter Text
The faint glow of his phone is the sole reason why Osamu Dazai is still up. The clock on his nightstand reads ‘2:04 AM’, and well—he has to get up in four hours to be able to attend orientation day.
Dazai opens Instagram—about to scroll his reality away—but instead, he’s immediately greeted by a post from @ynu_classof2029 on his feed. The post included pictures of a redhead with messy hair that covered parts of his face. One picture included him in a graduation gown, one where he was dressed in a more meticulously picked punk-style. This one in particular earned a half-smile from Dazai.
The most defining feature, though? Those enchanting blue eyes. They were paired with a beaming smile in each photo, which gave him a distinct look. And god, if he didn’t admit he lingered at each picture—inspecting every detail—his pants would be on fire.
The caption read: “Oi! My name is Chuuya! I’m a Physics major with a soft spot for the arts. I’m glad to be able to attend YNU, and I look forward to meeting everyone :}”
Rolling his eyes at the texting quirks, Dazai had already decided that this boy would be useful to have around. He clicked on his account that was tagged in the post. “@taintedsorrow is a private account”—Damn. His profile picture is a part of his face with his dog taking up most of the frame, prompting the lurking insomniac’s lips to curl in disgust at the sight of such a creature.
“Of course he would like dogs…” Sighing, he lets his phone drop to his chest. Chuuya Nakahara, huh?
“We’ll see if you’re as interesting as you think you are,” and with that thought lingering in his head, he can only imagine what tomorrow holds for him.
—
The alarm shatters the stillness of the air. Dazai reaches over to make the horrific sound stop before plopping onto his back again and glaring at the ceiling. “Fuck…” he mumbles. Orientation waits for no one—and that burden dragged the sleepy brunette out of bed.
Quickly putting himself together, Dazai opens his phone, planning to check his texts—but as soon as it’s unlocked, he sees something that tries to hold up his morning.
@taintedsorrow has requested to follow you.
Dazai smiled as if he manifested this. Figuring he was just following the class of 2029, he accepted, sending a follow request back. Now he’s a stalker with an excuse, because Chuuya followed him first.
He pinches the bridge of his nose, muttering under his breath…something about a stupid punk. A quick glance at the clock tells Dazai that he needs to haul ass if he wants to get there on time, and locks the door up to walk to the train station.
See, Dazai doesn’t get nervous. There’s nothing in this world that could possibly allow Dazai to get nervous. So, why is his chest pounding right now?
‘Because…this is a new experience,’ he repeats over in his head, as if he were trying to convince himself.
He’s alone in his commute now, riding with the same thoughts he’s had all morning. He just prays he doesn’t miss the bus when he gets off the train. Perks of YNU being in such a suburb. ‘I don’t care about making friends,’ a defense that Dazai drafted in his head, ‘I’m only staying for the semester to humor my dad.’
The bus comes to a stop, and all the noise in his head evaporates—he’s back on autopilot. Yokohama National University. ‘This is what it’s like, huh?’
His watch reads 9:17 A.M. This place may be overwhelming, but it was beautiful. He strolled towards the building that orientation was set to begin in, revelling in the unexpected nature of college—but, Dazai won’t have any trouble adapting to life here. After all, he’s already moved onto Campus. His commute this morning was his last. He imagines he might spend more time at home when his dad returns, but no promises.
When Dazai walked through the grand doors of Yokohama National, he was greeted by two pretty girls who checked him in. Upon entry to the gym, he stood back to scan the room. Students were already mingling with one another—bragging, complaining, dropping their forms among other objects, and even chatting like they’ve been best friends forever. ‘Like you didn’t just meet each other today…’ he thought, observing how disingenuous their body language looked.
Suddenly, Dazai’s heart drops—annoyance mixed with anticipation swirl through his mind. Two redheads stood out in the crowd, talking to one another. One is significantly shorter with a confident posture, and he’s dressed in…damn peculiar clothes. The taller one appears to be a slightly older woman who wears her hair in a traditional bun, dressed in modest attire.
‘That’s gotta be-’
“Excuse me,” a voice from behind pulled him out of his thoughts. Dazai turns around, surprise prevalent through his facial features.
“Do you happen to have a copy of the itinerary for today? I appeared to have lost mine…” The blonde boy’s features are contorted, forming a serious expression across his face. He’s treating orientation very differently than Dazai is.
“Hmm…” The brunette teasingly takes a minute to scan the man, obviously looking to mess with him, even just a little bit. His ID reads: ‘YNU Freshman: Doppo Kunikida’.
“Are you worthy, Kunikida?”
“Worthy?!” Kunikida is now the confused one, wishing he went to literally anyone else in this room for advice. He adjusted his glasses before he spoke, “I do consider myself worthy of knowing today’s plans, yes.”
“No, no,” Dazai shook his head, swaying his pointer finger at him. “Are you worthy of being in my presence?”
“Wh-” Kunikida leans in to read Dazai’s nametag. He’s utterly confused and seemingly about to blow a fuse. “Dazai, what are you on about!?”
“Very well, you’ve learned my name!” He claps his hands together, smiling. He reaches into his folder, pulling out the schedule for the day. Kunikida takes a deep breath, calming himself down.
“It’s the only one I have though. Take it if you want.”
“...Then how will you know where to go or what to do?” Kunikida seems… concerned.
Dazai half-smiles—someone being concerned for him is certainly foreign.
“Eh, you know. I’ll figure it out.” Because he really doesn’t need anyone’s concern.
“Well… we can share it then,” Kunikida offers, swallowing how Dazai seems like a strange individual.
“That’s so kind of you, Kunikida!” The taller man beams with excitement. He comes off as sarcastic—which is correct to an extent—but he’s truly glad Kunikida’s gonna stick with him.
“...Sure.”
Before heading off to the auditorium with Kunikida, Dazai glances back at where he thought he’d seen Chuuya, but he was nowhere to be found. Maybe it should be kept that way.
Dazai looks down, the clock reads 9:31 A.M. and as if right on cue, someone with a microphone steps onstage.
“Good evening everyone,” the older woman greeted. “I’m thankful you all could join us today, and…”
…and with that, it was Dazai’s cue to zone out and live inside his head. Kunikida is among many others listening intently, but most students are on their phones. The brunette decides to prop his feet up on the empty seat in front of him. There are several upperclassmen assisting with the event standing around, who seem to be doing various things. Some are reading papers, some are listening, and one is even snacking.
Kunikida suddenly elbows him, brows furrowed. “Ow!” Dazai whisper-exclaims. “What was that for?”
“Pay attention, the speech can’t run past 10:00 A.M. That’s when we’ll go check out the different clubs,” the blonde points out. Dazai crosses his arms, sighing, now facing forward. He decides to close his eyes to let himself ride out the rest of the speech.
When that painfully long and boring speech was over, Kunikida and Dazai headed out to the main courtyard, where it’s bustling with activity. Handmade flyers and banners are all swaying slightly in the breeze, and each stand seems to have a considerable amount of effort put into them.
Kunikida turns to Dazai. “So Dazai, where should we start?” He clears his throat. “I was thinking about joining the Student Council, so…”
“Ah… Do I have to join a club?” Dazai mutters, slouching in place.
“Well, no, but…” He thinks about how to word this next question for a moment. “Is there anything you’re interested in?”
Dazai shrugs. “I dunno what they have.”
Kunikida stares at him, blankly for a moment. “...Did you not do any research for Orientation?”
“Nope,” it’s at this moment that Dazai finds it strange he never saw Kunikida on the YNU page, but maybe he’s someone who’s against social media. That’s definitely the type of person Dazai’s deducing him to be.
Kunikida sighs, wondering what the hell he’s gonna do with this kid. “Okay,” he explains.
“We’ll walk the aisles and see what they have… Then, I’ll show interest in joining the Student Council,” Kunikida continues, serious as ever. “Are you following, Dazai?”
Dazai nods, making a weird face at him.
“...Stop doing that with your face. It’ll stay like that.”
“Oh, thank you for stopping me, Kunikida!” He beams, taking Kunikida’s hands in his. “Ah, I’m sorry that I didn’t remind you about yours...I thought yours already got stuck.”
Bingo. Kunikida’s face immediately relaxes. They argue back and forth about it for a minute, but that fire eventually dies down. On their venture to scout out the clubs, they pass by too many to count, sports clubs like martial arts, swimming, track and field…
Volunteer clubs like community service, mentoring and tutoring programs, campus safety…
Of course, there were the arts clubs including fashion, photography, music…
There’s too many clubs to remember, and Dazai’s brain is starting to hurt over it. He turns to Kunikida, about to complain again, just as a voice gestures him over.
“Hey you, boys! Freshies!”
The duo looks over to see a shorter boy shouting with his eyes closed, while a short-haired girl stands next to him with a slight smile on her face. Dazai could swear the confidence around her could be physically seen. The banner reads—in fancy cursive—”Theatre & Drama.”
Dazai walks over with a smile, while Kunikida tentatively creeps over to the stand.
“Hmm, you, Dazai, look like you love chaos,” she spoke with deliberate words, inspecting his nametag subtly—of course, she couldn’t fool him with his own tactics though. “Our club meets a couple times a week, and-”
“We have hella snacks,” the shorter boy—Ranpo Edogawa—interjected. “That’s why I stick around, personally.”
Dazai has absolutely zero experience in theatrics, despite being a drama king. He’s never ruled it off, but he’s never given it a chance. Honestly, though? Getting to hang out with upperclassmen and eat food was up Dazai’s alley for sure.
He claps his hands together “Yosano, what a kind and caring offer,” he begins. “Chaos is the exact advertising I respond to.”
Kunikida furrows his brows again, but doesn’t say anything.
“Well then, meet us tomorrow at 5:00 P.M. in the performing arts building,” Yosano smiles at Dazai. “I’m glad my target audience was reached.”
“And if you don’t like it you don’t have to stay. Just try it, ya know?” Ranpo unwraps a piece of candy and pops it in his mouth, throwing a wrapped one at Yosano. “I mean, Yosano might kill you, but it’s fine!”
“Hey!”
Yosano and Ranpo banter back and forth for a moment, giving Dazai a chance to read the various pamphlets on the table. He grabs a few just in case he needs them. Kunikida stares at the itinerary like he could burn a hole through it, comparing it with the time on his watch.
“Oh yeah, Dazai,” Yosano breaks away from the conversation with Ranpo. “Do you want to stay in touch?”
“Mhm,” he nodded. “Want my number?”
Yosano giggles and hands him her phone, earning a flick on the forehead from Ranpo. “Leave him alone, cougar.”
Dazai inputs his digits in her phone, setting his contact name as “most handsome man alive.”
“She’s fine. She’ll thank me later,” Dazai gives them a satisfied look, and Kunikida looks absolutely mortified.
“You’re too much, dude,” Yosano smiles, “I’ll text you later.”
“Right.”
—
The time is 4:54 P.M., and the sun is creeping its way across the sky. Surprisingly, most people are settling down for the night. They’re either heading to their dorms or doing something low-key. Kunikida and Dazai part ways for the night, also exchanging contacts before they part. Despite his seriousness, he cared for Dazai—but, we’ll see how long that lasts.
As the exhausted brunette makes his way to the dorms—
“Bzzt!”
Yosano: heyy zai, was wondering if u were up to party at 6 @ my dorm, gonna be pretty lowkey, im inviting likee 9-10 people or so
Dazai slows down to think about it. How was he already being invited to a party? Should he go? I mean, he’s dead tired. Mentally and physically. But he knows practically nobody—so it could be either a good thing, or a bad thing…
Dazai doesn’t open the text. Instead, he picks up the pace, the view of the double doors of his dorm building getting closer. Dazai feels like he needs a minute alone to process—
“Alone”. He forgot about his surprise roommate.
It seemed like a fun “fuck it” idea at first, but Dazai really doesn’t feel like dealing with people in this moment. He wants just about… half an hour alone. He decides to park himself on a bench outside of the dorm building.
He actually had something close to fun today, and was surprised by how many people he met. Despite that, he still can’t help but feel like something’s missing. Dazai still feels… empty. He doesn’t understand why he can be social, and still can just suddenly just drop and feel so damn drained.
‘How should I respond to Yosano..?’ He buries his head in his hands for a moment, trying to process everything at once.
But fuck it. Dazai figures it’s better than rotting in his dorm with someone he doesn’t even know.
Dazai: i would be delighted, my dearest yosano. where is your dorm?
He was about to close his phone, but his phone vibrated in his hand with another “Bzzt!”
Yosano: oh my, quit it. dorm is room 404, building B.the building just across from urs i think?
Dazai: yeah, i’m building A. no big deal, i’ll be there
Yosano: kay awesome can’t wait<3
Dazai takes a deep breath. Maybe it’s the time of day, or the fact that all he needed to do was get away from the commotion, but he feels a little more energized now. While scanning his building card, he fishes out his dorm key as well. Building A, room 202—That’s fairly easy to remember, right?
He makes his way up the stairs—and if he wasn’t tired before, he definitely is now. Students are still out and about, roaming the halls and visiting their new friends, all that shit. He approaches his door, located right across the hall from the second floor lounge.
Voices from inside are enough to make Dazai hesitate before turning the key. He can somewhat make out muffles from inside. Being the nosey ass he is, he pressed his ear up to listen.
“Yeah, right? It’s fu(???), and Yos(???) didn’t even ackno(???)e (???)...” Barely able to decipher what the voice is saying, he sighs. Dazai turns his key in one swift motion, letting himself in and shutting the door behind him.
The boy whips his head to face the door frantically fumbling his phone around.
“Shirase, my roommate is here. I’ll call you later,” click.
He spun around, now facing his new roommate. His phone slipped out of his hand.
Osamu Dazai isn’t a nervous person. There’s nothing in this world that could possibly allow him to be nervous, right?
So why is his roommate Chuuya Nakahara?