Chapter Text
"NO MATTER HOW BROKEN YOU ARE,
there is always someone out there who will love you
enough to put you back together again,"
- Anonymous
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"Dazai, please pay attention," Mori mumbled, snapping the brunette from his obvious attempts at ignoring him. Dazai gave him a once-over, then shifted his eyes away from Mori's exhausted face.
Mori's eyes settled on Dazai steadily... It has been three months since he had killed the previous Mafia boss. In those three months his control over the Mafia had increased significantly. His greatest weapon was the child sitting cross-legged on the velvet divan across from him. Mori's index finger tapped on his desk, his mouth curved into a smile, "Dazai, you are dismissed."
Dazai wasted no time in leaving.
The streets of Yokohama were silent as the teen walked along the crosswalk without his black coat. He liked taking long walks to get away from Mori and that stupid shipping container. It was a cloudless night, the dark skies glared down at him as if they too were wary of his existence. His gaze shifted to the small pendant present in his palm, a subtle reminder of his life before his suicide attempt. He wouldn't have changed a thing, as Dazai Osamu simply felt nothing.
When he witnessed that man's death? Nothing.
When he lost his parents? Nothing.
When Mori saved his life after his suicide attempt? Nothing.
There was nothing, even after taking another's life.
Such things always made the fourteen year-old question if he was even human to begin with. Time was proving that he wasn't anymore.
But even so, Dazai still clung to the one thing he had left, HOPE.
Hope that he'd find his reason to live.
Hope that he didn't have to be miserable anymore.
Hope that the emptiness in his heart and eyes would be filled by something or someone.
That alone was keeping Dazai going.
But he had a feeling that it wouldn't last if he continued down this path.
Dazai sighed, his unbandaged eye shifting to an alley. Dazai recognized the path; it was one he used to take when he was younger with his parents. It was a shortcut to a little store where he liked to buy crab—canned crab, that is. The store was currently out of business thanks to a fire. Dazai's feet moved on their own, taking the teen down the pavement where hands used to hold onto his so dearly.
He'd remember how his mother used to scold him for running off on his own, how his father would ruffle his hair and pick him up over his shoulder, calling him their little island of surprises.
Dazai was sure that those people who had loved him would be disappointed in how he was now. The thought made something ache, something he couldn't name, but he wanted to.
Dazai's feet felt light against the brick pavement, he didn't realize the bright light that was a head.
Dazai's eye opened... He was met with the gaze of another. Beautiful emerald iris blinks at his dark one. Seeing him awake, the girl eased back her hovering, not wanting to make the situation awkward.
Dazai sat up. The bed was weirdly large and soft. The interior was designed in a way that screamed regal and soft. Before the teen could overstimulate, the girl suddenly spoke, "You...who are you?"
Dazai's eye shifted back to the girl, whose emerald eyes held so much warmth and softness. Her waist-length brown hair and the way she seemed like a timid little mouse. His mouth pursed before answering, "Dazai, Osumu Dazai."
The girl smiled… a soft yet peculiar smile, something earnestly fascinated yet with a twinge of familiarity.
"That's a lovely name," she said as she sat on the end of the bed. "My name is Jennette de Alger Obelia," she added while the sunlight filtered through the open window, luminating behind her. Dazai's eye squinted from the sun.
'God is gracious, huh?' He thought, his eye shifting back to the girl. She looked as soft as the meaning of her name, accessing her over. She didn't look like much, but Dazai wasn't so easily trusting...
"Where am I?" Dazai asked, looking at Jennette. As his eye had adjusted to the sun's rays after a minute, she smiled.
"You're currently in the Obelia empire, well, more specifically at the Aphelus estate... my uncle," she muttered... with a gentle look. Dazai blinked and sighed.
Flopping back down onto the soft bed, he stared at the ceiling, deep in thought. Where the actual hell was he? Because he was sure that there was no place on earth called the Obelia Empire, it sounded like a fantasy world's kingdom...
Was he in a story? Was he isekaied like those anime? He couldn't figure it out lying down in the girl's, no, Jennette's bed.
So he sat up like a dramatic, sulky cat, faintly catching gentle stares at him, curious and nervously wanting to speak more but wondering if he was comfortable enough to. Dazai frowned. This girl seemed really meek.