part 3

Chuuya kicks him.

Dazai has been trained in the art of combat and while it’s not his favorite thing, he is decent at it. Chuuya’s strike is sloppy and the position he kicked him from didn’t allow for the blow to have full force.

It still hurts.

Dazai stumbles backwards, knocked off balance from the blow. Chuuya clipped him just in the ribs, right where he has old bruises and cuts from training with Mori. It stings and the breath is knocked out of him, but he remains standing. When he looks up again, Chuuya is eyeing him coolly.

Dazai lets out a bark of laughter.

This is interesting, this is fun. No one has dared to oppose him in a long time and yet here this kids is with the guts to hit him.

Unfortunately, all the noises he’s made up to this point had drawn unwanted attention. He feels Kouyou nee-san’s presence behind him before he actually turns to face her, and oh she is mad. She doesn’t say anything to him, but she doesn’t really have to either. Dazai knows exactly how much trouble he’s in and what the consequences are. He watches as she glances over quickly at Chuuya and, upon finding him unharmed, turns her attention back to him. He holds up his hands in a gesture of surrender; he’s strong, but so is Kouyou and pissing her off more tonight is a bad idea.

As Kouyou is grabbing his wrist and yanking him along, it occurs to him that Chuuya didn’t speak a single word. In fact, the other didn’t make a sound, didn’t even cry for help like Dazai had been so sure he would do. He lets himself be lead from the room thinking of only one thing-Nakahara Chuuya is definitely worth his time.

*

Mori is waiting for him when he gets back, eyes cold and posture still, and Dazai knows that Kouyou nee-san has already informed him that his protege has found out about Chuuya.

Pain is something Dazai is used to however, so this is okay.

It’s okay, because now he knows where Chuuya’s bedroom is, and there’s an old tree right outside of it that is perfect for climbing on. Pain won’t deter him from his new mission-make Chuuya talk to him.

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Chuuya looks utterly terrified to see someone appear outside of his bedroom window, and Dazai can’t blame him. His punishment from Mori has left him with several new bandages wrapped around his head and arms, so he knows he looks like some sort of mummy straight out of a horror story that’s just popped up outside his window.

There’s not much he can do besides smile and wave, however, so that’s what he does. Out of fear of him falling, out of shock-who knows really?-Chuuya dashes over to the window and throws it open.

^^^To be continued. ^^^

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