the problem with the soukokus was the fact that they were too far in to be saved. the problem was that fukuzawa and mori had never truly been allies, in life, but that falling for each other, regardless, had always been inevitable. the problem was that dazai and chuuya could only truly trust each other, to the point that they became each other’s biggest weakness. the problem was that atsushi and akutagawa would never find anyone else to balance them out like the other did, and that, alone, they would only overwhelm themselves. the problem was that they loved, and trusted, and grounded each other in a way nobody else ever could. if you put one of them on one side of a scale—fukuzawa, dazai, and atsushi—it would tip over. if you took them off, and placed the others on the other side—mori, chuuya, and akutagawa—it would tip over. but if you put them all on—with fukuzawa, dazai, and atsushi on one end, and mori, chuuya, and akutagawa on the other—it would balance out exactly. because they all held what the other lacked. and, in that way, they would only be able to stagger on, without each other. fukuzawa thought with his heart, and mori thought with his head. dazai lacked compassion, and chuuya was overwhelmed with it. atsushi overthought everything, and akutagawa dove right in. to the other, their flaws were their strengths. if only fukuzawa could think more logically, if only mori could think more of feelings, if only dazai were kinder, if only chuuya were less forgiving, if only atsushi stopped hesitating, if only akutagawa stopped to think. if only, if only, if only—they could only be perfect when the other was there. alone, they were stranded in a world they would never be able to truly live in. the problem with the soukokus was that their love was a double edged sword that would one day spin around and plunge straight through their hearts.