STORMBRINGER

"I will help you swim, I'm gonna help you swim,"

And it's Chuuya sacrificing everything and going so far to help them because he believes that he owes them until he wraps his entire identity around being of use. He helped them swim until they didn't need him anymore. Until they betrayed him. Until they stabbed him. And in the end, he held no grudges.

...

"This is for the snakes and the people they bite,"

The snake being Verlaine and the people he bites are the Flags and everyone else he killed for their relation to Chuuya.

"For the friends I've made,"

In the Mafia; the flags, the first people he could actually call 'friends', and then they were killed by the 'snakes'.

 "For the sleepless nights,"

Waking up in cold sweat with terrifying nightmares— and more of them sure to come after his friends died.

"For the warning signs I've completely ignored,"

And it's Adam coming to specifically warn Chuuya of Verlaine, and Chuuya ignoring his warnings until it was too late.

"There's an amount to take,"

Of his ability through his normal gravity manipulation as it usually does the job and more.

"Reasons to take more,"

By tapping into Corruption with full knowledge to what it does to his body and psyche because he has his reasons. He needs to protect or defend or attack.

...

"It's no big surprise you turned out this way,"

This one is directed towards Dazai after he completely "changed" in the Agency, but Chuuya could still see the way he simply changed appearances and not his core.

"When they closed their eyes and prayed you would change,"

Odasaku 'closing his eyes' forever, never to wake again, and leaving his last hope that Dazai would become a good man.

"And they cut your hair and sent you away,"

Odasaku pulling off Dazai's bandages— his own version of "cutting his hair", as without them, he's a different person. And he sent him away from the mafia.

"You stopped by my house the night you escaped,"

Maybe it happened. Maybe Chuuya imagines.

"With tears in my eyes, I begged you to stay. You said, "Hey, man, I love you, but no fucking way,"

Dazai tells Chuuya; he's leaving either way, and there's nothing Chuuya could do to stop Dazai from leaving at that time.

These verses divided into three explain the three groups/ peoples that Chuuya held dear from the point in time when he left the lab and started maintaining memories of his own until he lost every one of them.

The next part is Chuuya re-finding purpose after losing most things he held dear.

"I'm sure that we could find something for you to do on stage,"

Is Mori telling Chuuya that he'll find his purpose in the mafia— that they'll find something for him to do there that would suit him.

"Maybe shake a tambourine,"

Shaking a tambourine symbolizes doing solo missions, and going off in his own way.

"Or when I sing, you sing harmonies,"

Is Mori making it so that Dazai stands by Chuuya's side as his "harmony" in action when fighting requires joint missions.

...

"This is for the lake that me and my friends swim in,"

Chuuya's 'lake' is the club he always met the flags at. He reminisces, because despite finding something to do, he would never forget, or even try to forget, the people he once held dear.

"Naked and dumb on a drunken night,"

Having fun playing games while Chuuya felt a sense of belonging; it looks so dumb in retrospect— but he was content.

"But it should've felt good, but I could hear the Jaws theme song on repeat in the back of my mind,"

Maybe— that last night— maybe Chuuya felt some sense of finality— some sense of wrongness— in the back of his mind.

...

"Make sure you kiss your knuckles before you punch me in the face,"

This is said in a more metaphorical sense about Dazai (even though Dazai did punch Chuuya more than once, it's not something he would bring up.) It's Dazai never stopping himself from calling them "partners," even after Dazai betrayed him, even when Chuuya wasn't enough to stay for. When they fought in the basement, when they fought side by side against Lovecraft. It's like a punch to the face. And Chuuya is sure that Dazai intended for it to be so.

"There are lessons to be learned and consequences for all the stupid things I say,"

And the consequences are N getting a hold of him again and torturing him— they're consequences for allowing himself the selfishness of getting close to someone again. The lessons he learnt were in his own parents— he wouldn't make that same mistake ever again. He wouldn't curse his parents that way.

"And it is no big surprise you turned out this way,"

It is intended for Chuuya to be saying it to Dazai again, but he finds himself thinking about himself instead, in the way he changed due to all the loss he experienced, the abandonment. But then he shakes himself out of it.

"The spark in your eyes, the look on your face,"

Chuuya believes the look on Dazai's face now that he's in the agency— that goofy, unserious smile, that fake light in his eyes— he knows it to not be real. He knows the spark is just for show. He knows exactly what Dazai is.

"I will not be blamed,"

Chuuya may blame himself for everything that went wrong in his life— "I suppose I was the fool," when the sheep betrayed him. "That's right, they died because of me," when the Flags died. But he will not be blamed for the way Dazai suddenly grew a conscious and left. At least… that's what he keeps repeating to himself in hopes of believing it.

...

"I'm sure that we could find something for you to do on stage,"

This time it's him talking to Dazai in the privacy of his own mind after Dazai left him— during those four long years where Chuuya understood he wasn't enough to stay for. Perhaps he negotiates with Dazai that he's sure Dazai will find whatever he went looking for here. They'll find him a purpose once more. Even though he logically knows it's not possible.

"Maybe shake a tambourine, or when I sing, you sing harmonies,"

"Maybe you do your own thing, or we can return side by side, the way it always was. Just come back and we'll figure it out…"

...

"I wanna contribute to the chaos!"

Maybe Chuuya doesn't know much about his purpose, but he knows this: His place is in the midst of the chaos. He belongs nowhere but in the mafia— where he might direct the chaos and contribute to it in the only way he knows how.

"I don't wanna watch and then complain!"

He'd said it before; "Do you know when it's all right to chicken out and go home? There is no such time."

"'Cause I am through finding blame. That is a decision that I have made!"

Chuuya reaches a decision. He will not allow himself to keep collecting reasons to blame himself. He will keep moving, and keep fighting, so that in the end, Chuuya will remain with at little guilt as he possibly can. He won't be responsible for the death of those closest to him ever again.

...

"She hopes I'm cursed forever. To sleep on a twin-size mattress in somebody's attic or basement my whole life!"

Back to Verlaine: these are his wishes for Chuuya's life. He wants him to live a quiet life away from everything, out with him, his whole life. Purposeless, aimless. Merely vengeful.

"Never graduating up in size to add another!"

He doesn't want growth for Chuuya. He doesn't want him to contribute to anything of value. He doesn't want him to live.

"And my nightmares will have nightmares every night."

And if he ever decides to follow that path, his nightmares would never allow it. His friends died so he could live. Albatross left his Motorcycle with Chuuya. And Chuuya is damn well going to use it.

"Oh, every night, every night!"

Else, his nightmares would haunt him 'till he dies.