Chapter Text
Atsushi’s POV
The time was about 12:15 p.m. when the bell chimed for lunch, students flooding the hallways as usual—a cacophony of shuffling sneakers and sharp clicks. Atsushi rushed out of his classroom as hunger twisted in his stomach, though he promised someone he’d wait for them so that they could walk together.
He stood on his tippy-toes near some lockers, scanning the crowded heads, hoping to spot a familiar messy mop of brown hair before the vending machine got too crowded. After a minute or two, he finally spotted him going down the stairs.
“Hey, Atsushi!” Dazai called out from the lessening crowd, waving a hand in the air as he walked closer.
“Took you long enough…” Atsushi grumbled, a sound of annoyance coming from his throat when he ruffled his hair. For some reason he always did that.
“Quit it!”
“But it’s so funny seeing your hair stand up like a hissing cat!”
He always teased him like that. It was even more embarrassing when he teased his hair since it was a catastrophe at the moment: he tried to cut it himself and just made it look lopsided. It looked like his hair when he was still in the orphanage.
“Alright alright, I get it…” he mumbled, wanting to get off of this topic. He fixed his hair and the two started to walk to the cafeteria.
Dazai lifted his hands to rest behind his neck, sighing heavily.
“Jeez, Kobayashi-sensei is always on me about my homework! I can never get a rest…”
Atsushi slid his hands into his pockets, not paying much attention as he always heard him talk about Kobayashi-sensei.
“Well no wonder,” he started. “You just about never turn in your assignments and barely ever volunteer.”
“Well, what’s the point?” he replied. “If I know all of the material and how it works, why bother even working on it over and over? It’s so redundant!”
“Because it’s the rules, Dazai-san! You have to turn in the homework for credits and stuff or else you won’t be able to graduate!”
“Psh, like not turning in homework would make me get held back. Besides, I ace every test and quiz! That practically makes up for all of that.”
Atsushi was about to say something else, but the words died before they came out of his throat. It was true. Dazai made up for his lack of motivation with his intelligence. It was still a little irritating knowing that he barely did his assignments and still passed his classes. Getting held back rarely ever happens here, but it’s surprising to Atsushi that the teachers aren’t even trying with him anymore—they must be used to his antics and how he does things.
They kept talking ‘til they reached the cafeteria. Before walking any further, Dazai paused.
“... Ohhh!! I completely forgot about that!”
Before Atsushi could ask what, Dazai put his tray back and grabbed his arm, suddenly pulling him away from the line and back into the corridor.
Once in the hallway, Atsushi yanked his arm away, looking confused.
“What the hell are you doing?”
“I completely forgot about my bento box inside my desk!”
His protests died out when he got dragged by his arm once more. Sure, he could probably easily overpower Dazai since his strength was a bit weak, but he didn’t really wanna eat without him since he still felt a little awkward around the others: Mori, Edogawa, Kunikida, Miyazawa, Tanizaki, and his sister.
They got to his desk, Dazai rummaging through the cubby before finding his bento. But why were there two?
He stood back up straight and turned to Atsushi with a smile before handing him one of them.
“I was gonna give it to a new friend I acquired, but he already had a bento for himself and I couldn’t just waste the extra I made!” he said before starting to walk again, not letting him reply.
“F-for me?” he asked, though he was practically asking himself since he was already out of the classroom.
“Hey—wait up!”
Atsushi, Dazai, and the others ate at a long table beside each other: some eating the school food and some having their own bentos. While he ate the sushi in his bento, he remembered something Dazai mentioned earlier.
“Mm, Djizai-shim, thuu’z yuoe nmu premb?”
“Swallow your food then tell me.”
“Dazai-san, who’s your new friend? You brought them up earlier.”
“Ohh! Yes, Yagami-san!”
Atsushi’s eyes widened as he heard his name. Yagami? The highest-ranked student in the school? He’s quite popular, so of course he’d have lots of friends, but hearing Dazai be friends with him was cool to know. He felt too awkward to even try talking to Yagami.
Dazai suddenly nudged his shoulder.
“Awhh, is little Atsushi-kun shocked that a guy like me was able to befriend a guy like Yagami-san~?” he remarked playfully before adding, “That wounded my feelings a little bit… learn to respect your upperclassmen a bit more, yes?”
“N-no! It's not like that at all, Dazai-san!” he stuttered, his hands waving side-to-side before falling back on his lap. “It's just—cool, in my opinion, to see someone be able to have the courage to talk to someone like Yagami-san.”
“You know I'm quite popular myself, don't you, Atsushi-kun?”
He eyed Dazai from head to toe before looking back directly at him, slightly awkward.
“Not to be rude, Dazai-san, but you don't seem like the type to be flocked by boys and girls.”
“Ouch!” he replied before adding on. “Whether you believe me or not, I really am. You should see my classroom in the morning, I'm surrounded!”
“Right…”
✮ ✮ ✮
Lunch finally ended just a few minutes ago. Miyazawa and Atsushi walked together in the hallway since they shared the same class.
“Did you hear from the others that there might be a small English quiz with Tanaka-sensei?” he asked, leaning forward slightly to look at Atsushi with a smile.
Most of the time, Atsushi does fine on English quizzes, though they always make him nervous.
“Nah, I haven’t…” he replied. “If we are, then hopefully it’s something we’ve already gone over.”
“Oh jeez, you’ll definitely do great on it! Don’t think about it too much! It’s just a quiz.”
“Hah… you’re probably right…”
“Ooh! Is that Yagami-senpai? I wonder how he’s doing!”
His gaze flickered in the same direction, seeing Yagami yet again, walking with two other people who’re probably his friends. Was Miyazawa also acquainted—or even friends with him, just like Dazai? He always got along with everyone. Even the upperclassmen, so it shouldn’t be too surprising that he talked to Yagami as well. Maybe he wasn’t as intimidating as Atsushi thought. He had always heard that he was quite sweet and easy to talk to, so it was probably just in his head.
“Yeah…” he mumbled before speaking up. “Let’s head into the classroom before the bell rings.”
“Yep!”
Atsushi leaned forward in his chair, his chin resting on the palm of his hand as he looked out the window, nervous and a little worried. He never knew why something as small as a quiz tied his stomach into knots. Maybe he just didn’t want his parents worrying about him. That had to be it.
As he continued to gaze outside, something fell from the sky. He couldn’t tell what it was as it had fallen too fast. It was black and square-shaped. Possibly a notebook?
After a moment, the bell had chimed, turning his focus back into the classroom and onto his teacher.
“Stand up!” Miyazawa said. Everyone did so.
After that they bowed, greeted the teacher, and sat back down.
Tanaka-sensei sat back down at his desk, grabbing a stack of papers before speaking.
“For about ten minutes, you’ll be doing a short English quiz. No rush at all as the questions are simple.”
Atsushi’s brows furrowed a little, wishing it was only some rumors. After a moment he shook his head slightly trying to calm down and remember Miyazawa’s words. It was only a small quiz. ‘Don’t think about it too much!’
As he calmed down, the teacher stood up, starting to give the papers to the students.
“Like usual, no talking or looking at other people’s papers.”
Once they got to him, he passed back the last two papers before looking at his own, mumbling the questions barely. The teacher walked back to his desk and sat down.
“Begin.”
✮ ✮ ✮
The bell had chimed once more. Atsushi and Miyazawa walked out of the classroom together.
He stared at the floor. Maybe he’d failed it. He listened and took notes after the quiz, but his mind kept drifting back to it.
“I might not have gotten a good enough grade…” he sighed. “Some of the words weren’t in our vocabulary, and just… jeez, I don’t know.”
“Didn’t I tell you to not think about it so much, Atsushi-kun? You always do great on those small English quizzes. Tests too!” he replied.
He sighed softly. “I know, I know, I always do that…”
“I can tell!”
Not a moment later, someone walked up to Miyazawa: Kunikida. He had a folder filled with papers.
“Kenji-kun, please take this over to Dazai-san. He’s being impertinent and avoiding his duties again,” he said with a tinge of annoyance, handing over the folder.
“You got it!” he responded eagerly, clutching the file close to his chest before turning his head back to Atsushi.
“Sorry, I have to go!”
“Oh, that’s fine,” he replied awkwardly, watching as the two walked in separate directions, leaving him alone.
After standing stiffly for a moment, he turned around to walk back into his classroom before he felt someone’s hand be placed on his shoulder, making him flinch slightly before he pivoted once more to see no one else other than the infamous Dazai. His tense shoulders were now more relaxed and calm.
“D-dazai-san?” he asked, lifting a brow.
“Of course!” he replied, “Who else would it be? Akiko-chan?”
He slid his arm around Atsushi’s shoulders, starting to walk with him into his classroom.
“What’re you doing here? Kunikida-senpai has been trying to find you! Miyazawa-kun was also going out looking for you a few minutes before you got here.”
“Ehh? They were? Well then, could you keep a secret and not tell them I was here?”
“Huh? Why?”
He turned his head to face Atsushi with a cheerful grin.
He pressed a finger to his own lips.
“I’m going on a date~!”
“...
“Mhm…”
The rest of the school day continued until the last bell had chimed.
He packed up his things and headed out of the school, catching sight of Miyazawa and Kunikida talking. Probably about how Dazai was still nowhere to be found, or anything else he wouldn’t know about.
As he started to walk in the direction of his home, he spotted Yagami holding that notebook looking thing he saw earlier in the window. Atsushi’s gaze lingered on the object before looking away. He supposes it was just his notebook that fell somehow and he came back to retrieve it. Nothing to be worried about at all.
He finally gets to his home, knocking on the door and his father opening it, letting him in.
“Welcome back, Atsushi,” he said, stepping aside.
“Hi Dad!” he replied cheerfully.
The rest of his family came to greet him. His younger sister, Yumi, ran to him to give him a hug. And his mother, Eriko, was on the couch watching TV, she waved her hand, smiling softly.
He returned a smile back to her.
“Hey, Mom!”
He slid his shoes off and walked to the kitchen to grab a quick snack to eat.
“Shuichi, could you come here for a second?” she asked.
“Mhm?”
He walked towards the couch and looked at the TV.
After grabbing a cookie from the jar, Atsushi peeked his head back into the living room, wondering what they were looking at.
Apparently, it was this guy named ‘Kurou Otoharada’ and he was holding kids and teachers hostage at a daycare center.
His stomach churned at the sight. ‘How could someone do something so horrible?’ he thought.
“Disgusting,” his father muttered. “I should’ve been there to try to help.”
“There’s already enough police there, don’t cut yourself down,” she said.
He let out a soft sigh.
“I suppose you’re right…”
The family continued to watch the screen, aside from Yumi, before suddenly the newscaster started saying something.
“(Wait, we’re seeing something here! It looks like movement at the front entrance!)”
All of the kids and teachers unexpectedly rushed out of the door—all unharmed. After that, the special forces started to move into the building.
It was happening so fast. But then he heard the words—
“(The suspect has been found dead inside!)”
“Dead?” his father asked, though it sounded like he was talking to himself. “Poisoned? Shot at?”
“Maybe he had a stroke?” the mother interjected.
After a moment of staring at the screen, surprised by the sudden end to the hostage situation, he shook his head slightly to look away.
“I’m… gonna go back to my room,” Atsushi said, already walking up the stairs before they could say anything.
He got to his room and laid on his bed, tired from the day and how the death of the criminal caught him off guard.
His eyes started to close slowly.
And slowly.
Sleep came easily.
The world outside didn’t.