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It was a little after ten when Dazai took a glance at his watch. Relatively early for him to be out at this hour on a weekend but the picture started coming together as he approached the house. The gravel stone driveway leads up to a lonely two story home out on open farmland.
The air was crisp, the stars were bright, and for a moment Dazai looked up to take it in. The vast sky with quiet winds and brightness shining from up above. He wondered how many gods were looking back down at him. If there was even one who wanted to look at him.
“ - You know… these jobs are depressing, don’t you?” - he scowls into space. But no response as per usual
“ - Pfft, assholes” he muttered while resuming the walk back to the house with screams bellowing from within.
By the time he reaches the door he finally feels another presence and lets out a deep exhale.
“ - Couldn’t even be on time for your pick up, Akutagawa?” - he scolds without turning around to greet the new presence.
“ - I… I encountered a roadblock. It won’t happen again” - stumbled out of the figure's mouth while approaching his side with caution.
“ - Just get the mother and daughter,” - he said dismissively as Akutagawa phased through the door. “ - ...gently this time!!!” - emphasized at the last second with an eye roll. " - I mean, it's not like I can expect much from you considering your... deplorable track record, right?" - the taller man smiles slightly, humorlessly, while the pale boy visibly shrinks beside him, looking like he wants to disappear into the Earth.
Great.
" - You see, well, unfortunately we sometimes have to settle for less than what we're offered. Do me and yourself a favor and see if you're even minimally competent to do this. Take them and meet me at an hour sharp, got it?" - he said dismissively as Akutagawa phased through the door.
Garbled yelling echoes from within as he looks at his shoes.
Huh, they must’ve gotten scuffed up on that job in Bangkok and he didn’t notice. The busy night scene is where he’s used to playing in the shadows. Drunken fools, drugged out zombies, they were his usual companions for an hour or two. The smell of regret and sweat always heavily follows them, and therefore him. They weren’t bad company so to say. But he preferred his time off.
In his abundance of free time he would sometimes wade around parks after delivering a homeless person that resided there the night before. Sat on the bench covered in morning dew watching as the locals jogged and walked their ferocious little demons. They often barked at his presence as if the little rats could do a thing to touch him. Obnoxious tiny things. And on the rare exciting occasion he’d get a bewildered stare from some of the living. It was always fun to toss a friendly smile and wave their way to see what they'd do. Shake, scream, sometimes inch closer in fascination. Those brave souls—
BANG—BANG………. BANG!
Oh, time to look “alive” he supposes.
Osamu pushes open the old wooden door that creaks with every centimeter, almost as a warning to turn around. If he were any other creature he would. But alas there’s a job to do. He takes long strides down the hallway to the living room where the pictures on the wall are covered with a thick layer of dust. Happy family photos with tiny new cobwebs draping their sides.
Always little signs.
Cracks on the floor, cracks in their lives.
Yet, Dazai has no place to judge here, not with this tragedy.
His heartbeat would quicken here if there was anything inside his hollow chest. He rounds the corner to finally arrive at the scene of an end. The young girl’s body was positioned to be turning into the living room, same as he is now.
Ah.. she probably heard the yelling, ran down and well….
The mother mere inches away on the floor reaching for her with a shotgun blast to the back of the head.
And then there was the man.
He stood in the living room with eyes as big as saucers. Looking back to his crumpled body and pinching his face. Then to his wife and daughter with only a look of shock. As if he didn’t understand how this could have happened. Dazai clears his throat to get the tall man’s attention.
“ - We have a trip to make.” -he says, eyes locked onto the shaking figure.
“ - What??? I.. I didn’t mean to! She–she…just…you know… ran in and….and—” - he stutters out frantically looking to Dazai with pleading eyes. “ - I thought... I thought... I don't know what I thought... oh my god oh my god what have I done—" - thick tears began to fall through his trembling eyelashes, as if only now the reality of the gravity of the actions he had taken was finally reaching him.
God, always so tiring...
" - Please, please, leave me, at least, oh Hyori, oh Hyori oh my god Hyori, please don't separate me from them, please."
Dazai’s mood was quickly shifting from bored to irritated in the few seconds he was forced to deal with this… man… husband. Father…. Human… Honestly, mortals really knew how to ruin his day. If that man had used at least two of the functioning neurons in his brain to not to shoot, none of them would be in this situation. But well, they already were, and there was nothing in the world that could stop Osamu from doing his job and returning to his beloved home (if it could even be called home). The man shaking uncontrollably now, let the gun fall to the floor with an unceremonious thud, right onto carpet that was slowly soaking, pooling with the blood of three.
Yeah this dark-haired man decided he had had enough of this nonsense.
“ - Your placement has nothing to do with me.” - Osamu looks at the mother and daughter before turning his gaze back to the man who did it all. “ - Your destination has been decided by powers beyond me. As I said before, we have a trip to take.”- he takes slow steps forward towards the man to finally touch his shaking shoulders.
“ - But, I…. I …—” - falls out with an undignified stream of tears and snot.
“Let’s go. Now.” - Dazai says sternly, grabbing the man’s shoulder and turning him towards the door to begin heading out.
The world around them starts to shift as it always does, air changing to somehow feel heavier than in the sick house. The hallway of pictures shifts darker as the walls almost feel to vibrate with each passing step. And by the time they reach the doorway the fuzzy vibrating walls are black and grey. Dazai's last thoughts before walking through the door with his passenger were a silent plea that this time Ryunosuke would be competent enough to not make the wrong move with those two in his hands.
Osamu turns to look at the man as he pushes through the door and the outside world is different from before. He steps through to the familiar dark cave entrance and hears the loud moaning chorus that always accompanies a trip down here. The man behind him follows in tow, eyes bouncing off the black rocky walls covered in dark veins as they move deeper towards his destination.
Shoulder slumped forward with his body trudging along he looked tiny and weak, truly pathetic in the light of events he had brought upon himself. His face (partially hidden by shadows) still bore the marks of the tears that had been streaming copiously down his cheeks in the time it had taken to get there. Finally he seems to have lost the fight left within him, accepting his fate. Convenient for Dazai. And the rocky slippery terrain finally brings them to her.
“ - Kouyou dear, I have one for you.” - he singsongs and the woman raises her sharp eyes pink to focus on him.
“ - I see, the family murderer…. He looks less pathetic than I pictured. Shame” - she holds his eyes with lethal precision.
“ - I… I…this— this p-place—” - he tries muttering out but she just raises her hand, cutting his words right after.
“ - Save that useless air in your lungs. Follow me” - she turns and starts to stride away all knowing that the man will follow, whether he likes it or not. Her long kimono is dirty and wet at the ends as the two move deeper into the cave where Dazai watches curiously.
If only he could follow…
The dark-haired-man yearns for a peak deeper in, knowing that if he could, he’d run after them. He wants to know, wants to join. But alas jobs to do.
He sighs and kicks a dark rock deeper into the mildew ridden cave. He almost scoffs to no one in particular but stops himself knowing the heavy weight of his next inhale is always uncomfortable here. Never quite a full breath, always almost there. So mildly wrong it’s maddening. He supposes the permanent residents adjust to the feeling but for the ones passing through, a sick tiny punishment meant to itch and irritate the core of their being.
It isn’t before long that Kouyou steps could be heard echoing through the ominous walls.
“Kouyouuuuuu, please help me. I’m terribly bored” he whines and leans against her pointed desk.
Who knows maybe one day his insistent whining might convince her to help him...but they knew the rules...the punishments. Even for him, someone too old in this job, they would follow their jobs to the letter. But a man can always dream.
“A double murder suicide wasn’t enough for you??” She exhaustedly eyes him taking her previous seat.
“He was lame and in shock. Boring as they come.”, he waves his hand dismissively, “What’s happening down here?” His eyes sparkle with wonder as he asks the question.
Kouyou’s eyes dart from the desk to behind her for a millisecond but Dazai sees the tiny discomfort she lets slip.
Huh….
“Did something happen?” he asked, leaning forward, approaching in her personal space.
“No of course not!” She emphasizes but there is a tiny tremor in her voice that betrays her.
Dazai looks like he’s seen the sun for the first time in ages.
“No, don't tell me…. Did you let someone out?” The devilish smile that stretches across his face with ease proves he really should be stuck down here.
“I….he seemed like someone who only wanted to see the world again. He ached for it.” she says looking off at a memory, “Day in and out rushing to my side to ask of the world beyond the cave in current time.” She looks down defeated.
Dazai can’t help but burst into laughter, tears forming at the corners of his eyes. Talk about sticking it to the man, they’d have a field day with her if she was caught.
He full body shivers at the mere thought.
“Oh I need to meet the desperate little rascal you risked everything for” He says with a smile and piqued curiosity.
“Ha! And only to send him up there?! To the world of the mundane and empty? A downright fool!” his eyes catch hers, “The both of you” his leering smile returning pointed at a woman who once seemed unbreakable to him.
He turns on his heels giddy with this delightful piece of new information. Truly who could crack this impenetrable gatekeeper to let them out when he’s spent centuries groveling at scheming just to get in!
“What do they look like?” He says bouncing before turning back practically shining.
Kouyou’s eyes hang low. “I don’t know the form he took.” She says almost shamefully but there is a newfound steadiness in her voice when she says, “I don’t regret it. He wasn’t meant for here. I could feel life stretching out of him. Like he belonged in two places.. I’ve only ever seen it once before.” She raises her head to look back to Dazai
“You remember that French one don’t you?” Kouyou’s voice was stone cold. The worry laced in her previous words shifting to seriousness.
“He felt like him,” she emphasizes. And Dazai has never been more excited to leave this damn cave.
A creature like that roaming the Earth.
Oh he has to find him.