⣠- a fading memory â - a vivid memory â - a repressed memory
â || The last time he finds his hands shaking, heâs holding onto Oda. He hears him coughing through shaky breaths and he sees him struggling to speak. His lips are dry and smeared with blood, and his smile is tainted with a pungent iron smell - pearly whites are coated in black, and deep blue eyes gaze at him with an apology. Â He remembers them crinkle upwards as silent words slip from muted lips. Several wrinkles make their way on his forehead as he winces, and the wounds in him open up even further.
Dazai feels the weight of his partnerâs body slump down in his arms with little effort; gravity pulls him further into his arms, and there is no signs of struggle as eyes close themselves in peace.
His skin is cold; the sweat that Oda has produced through his labored breathing coat his own fingers, and he remembers how his own lips tremble as he clutches onto a corpse and gets no response no matter how many times he held onto it like a lifeline. He asks for him to respond to him, and he gets no answer. He remembers quite vividly how much he wished there would be a miracle.
â Â || Â âHeâs suffering from depression,â The psychiatrist informs his father. He remembers nothing else that happened after that conversation, but he feels that his world changed somehow.
âŁ|| He moves closer to his partner who sits near the fireplace in the abandoned cabin. A blanket hangs around his shoulders, and they are both quiet, for once, because there is nothing to talk about.Â
Dazai places his hands before him as he tries to get more warmth on them; theyâre freezing, and he blames Chuuya for getting so weak so fast; he could have shoveled all the snow if he didnât lose stamina so easily.
This kind of training was beyond annoying to Dazai, but Mori had insisted that performing regular chores was a fine way to grow up in the mafia some times. He was probably a stingy old man, anyway, who didnât want to waste money when they had a couple of âchildrenâ to boss around - he knew his mentor well. Mori was such a cheapskate.Â
Theyâre young - theyâre only twelve, but they both know that âchildâ was just a label, and such labels never applied to the Mafia. A child could kill an adult, so long as they had the authority or ability, so everything was about rank instead.Â
Dazai stares at the side of Chuuyaâs face, and sees his partner thinking hard about something  else. âYou know, you owe me!â He chirped finding the intense concentration a little bit annoying because a Chuuya that thought too much was a useless Chuuya.  His partner whipped his head quickly as he glared at him for some clarification.âWhat? No I donât!â His voice dripped with an acidity to his sharp tone.âYou owe me for helping you with the shovel work.â Dazai reiterated feeling his heart beat fast as he closed some space between them as he kissed him lightly on the lips.