Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

A young boy clad in bandages with a brown mop of a hair ran through the small restaurant, almost bumping into the guy behind the counter and dropping the bag slung over his shoulder. The staff seemed almost indifferent to the situation.

Crap, it's the first day and your stupid ass is already late! Wouldn't wanna use up my rest days for nothin'.

A hand to his shoulder stopped him just as he grabbed the door knob to rush out of there.

"'Samu..."
A gruff voice greeted him, the boy turned around to stare at the man with copper colored hair. Man, it definitely had been a couple days since he last shaved.

"Odasaku, I'm so late!" The boy whined as he hunched down with a dramatic expression. "Can you... You know—"

"No, Osamu. I'm not driving you, it'll take you barely ten minutes to get there. Those are not tough conditions for you to go to school."
Odasaku crossed his arms and gave the boy a look.

"Not unless you're already six minutes behind schedule..." The boy muttered.

"Oh, how I wonder whose fault that is." Odasaku smiled as the boy pursed his lips at his words before chuckling while ruffling the younger's hair and continuing. "Just wanted to say 'Have a nice day.'" He placed a paper bag in the boy's hands. Breakfast.

"Well, you said more than that and I already have to run to make it in time—mind you I dislike physical activities— buh-bye!" He quickly pulled the door, hearing the bell atop ringing as he made his way out, running towards the school as he pulled the piece of bread out of the bag and sniffed it, closing his eyes and sighing at the blissful smell that intruded his smell buds.

Dazai Osamu didn't really care whether he failed because of piled up absences or not but his older brother certainly did. He cared for the boy, looked after him; was as much his friend as he was his brother.

Odasaku wanted him to grow into a man that did good. Not a good man, no. Nobody could be a saint in this world and Dazai certainly wasn't one.
No one was entirely black or white like some people made it out to be.
He didn't have to be a good person to do good, he just had to be.

That was why the both were living together off a restaurant Odasaku owned even though Dazai's father was pretty well off. Because his father wasn't exactly... someone that did much good.

Dazai wouldn't want to disappoint him.
So he ran as fast as he could. Still, he had his habits. Not caring to check if a car was coming before crossing the road, he jumped off the sidewalk as he brought the toast to his mouth to take a bite. A car honked at him. He ran across the road, passing by an old man struggling to make his way across with his T-shaped cane.

Best case scenario, Dazai dies getting hit by a car.

Worst case scenario, he becomes crippled for life, living an even more miserable—

A car honked loudly, the screeching noise of the tires crying out while the driver stomped his foot down on the brake pedal was heard. Dazai's head snapped back, seeing the old man he just passed by staring at the car rapidly moving towards him in shock instead of moving away.
How stupid.
Dazai might've been wrong about the worst case scenario.

Dazai grabbed the man's arm and yanked it towards himself, pulling him out of the way just in time as they both tumbled to the ground. Dazai fell on his ass with the piece of bread still in his mouth like he was some character from a cliche show running late on their way to school just about to bump into the love of their lives.
The man was simply lying on the ground, reaching for his bowler hat— really weird choice of fashion but who was Dazai to judge.
Wow, how helpful the people of Yokohama were(!), nobody was helping the man.

Dazai internally cursed himself for the promise he made to do good as he helped the man up and pulled him to the other side of the street. He was surely late now.
A second glance at the man made him realize that he wasn't as old as Dazai first thought he was. His dual colored hair had been covered by the hat, now the chestnut colored side of it was covering half of his face. He had a thin mustache, was wearing a long brown suit. His clothing in general made it seem like he was from a European country—did Europeans dress like they lived a century back? He was tall, taller than he made it out to be in that hunched over way that he had walked a moment ago.

"... Are you okay, sir?" Dazai asked as he glanced at the golden bracelet that was glinting on the man's arm, he had stuffed the bread into his mouth. Crap... The lesson started about now.
If only he could slip away, he would be where he was supposed to be just after rounding the building.

"Yes... Thank you for saving me, young man. You are a very kind soul." The man subtly bowed his head as he grabbed Dazai's hands in his glove covered ones, a small smile creeping up his lips.
He needed to go—like, right now if he wanted to make it.

Act kind and gentle.
Ugh...

"Yeah, yeah... You're welcome and all but I—uh... gotta go." Dazai pulled his hands out of the man's grip and grimaced. "Be more careful next time jumping in front of cars, I hear it's not a very nice way of going!" He skipped away as he finished his words and turned around to run the rest of the way.

He noted how the man shouldn't have had any problem with walking with the way he was in the back of his mind. Though, deemed it unimportant.

—

Dazai was gasping for air once he made his way to the classroom, he knocked once before letting the raised hand slide down the door to open it and got into the classroom. The teacher thankfully hadn't arrived yet.

He dragged his feet over to where he sat every single school year—
Only to find it occupied.

And by... her of all people.

Dazai let out an involuntary sound of disgust at the sight of the blonde, only for her to snap her head to him at the noise and glare before opening that filthy mouth of her's to let that hideous voice be heard.
"What do you want..?" She had her lips drawn in a disgusted expression as she swatted at Dazai like he was some sort of bug she didn't wanna touch.

Dazai smiled blankly, "My dear—" he had to say it was amusing to see her eyes blow wide in disbelief at the way Dazai referred to her "— Elise-chan... This seat of this second desk in a classroom has been mine, I repeat, my seat for a long, long time." A beat. "I'm not gonna give it up to the likes of you."

Elise looked him up and down with a frown. "You're speaking too highly of yourself, or are you perhaps forgetting who my father is, Osamu?"

Dazai rolled his eyes and scoffed. "I wish. Now, go away." Dazai glared at her, he wasn't scared of her. He hated her. Possibly as much as she hated him.

Elise scoffed, offended. She banged her hands against the table, "JUST WHO DO YOU THINK ARE YOU TALKING TO!?"

"A brat." Dazai replied curtly before shoving her and sitting half on her and half on the seat. "I'll sit whether you leave or not—"

His cheek slammed against the floor. The bitch had shoved him to the ground and was screeching and stomping on the ground like a toddler.

"UGH, GET AWAY, YOU WEIRDO! Who knows how filthy you and your stupid bandages are!?"

Dazai sat up, leaning an elbow against his knee, "Why do you even wanna sit here when, you know, you've been sitting over there—" he points at the mentioned seat with his thumb without breaking eye contact with her highness "—for the last four years?"
He was actually confused for once.

Elise stared at him like he just asked her why birds have wings, "It's not like I should've expected a low-life like you to know..." Then she started speaking like she was a little girl talking about her favorite Disney princess. "You know the worldly known Japanese fashion designer, Kouyou Ozaki? Her siblings have always been models for her and since she also works along with Mori Corp, one of her brothers, Chuu-kun has been my best friend for years!"

Dazai didn't know whether to pity or hate the guy for it. Elise continued on her rambling.

"He's just so... sooooooo pretty!" She held a hand to her heart. "More prettier than most women can ever even wish to be! We became close friends the moment we met! Though I haven't really seen or talked much to him within the last few years since they moved away... I heard he's become a delinquent and has gotten into fights! He got found out by his sister and they're moving back to Yokohama from all the way across the world... Paris. I do think that's not the sole purpose, though. Chuu-kun's older brother just vanished around a year ago... maybe it has to do with that."

Wow.

"But still, that's simply just so hot... Bad boys are so cool! Am I right, Sabrina?" She snapped her fingers, a ginger haired foreign girl with a bob and glasses nodded vehemently.

"Y-yes, Elise-sama!"

Was that supposed to be her friend or slave...

"Not that you'd know." Elise finished with a flick of her wrist directed towards Dazai.

He wished he could die already for the fourth time that week as he glared at her dully. It was Monday morning. Maybe bleed out in front of her, on her shoes, too. So that she could be disgusted and affected by it.

Dazai could simply sigh as he heard the teacher enter. He could put two and two together. Even though Elise's brain couldn't function enough to tell him the answer he had asked for, he could tell the friend she was talking about would be coming to their school and probably sitting at the empty seat in front of Elise's— no, Dazai's seat.

"Hello, everyone!" The young woman entered happily, halting at the sight of the brunet staring at his battered Converse on the floor. "Dazai-kun... Why are you on the ground?"

"...Where else am I supposed to be, Haruno-sensei?" Dazai mumbled.

The teacher nodded towards the left, pointing with her head at a girl sitting care freely with a weirdly sadistic grin on her face. Dazai internally shuddered before making his way to the empty seat.

She was new, so were the two sitting behind Elise and Sabrina. There were also some other faces he subtly recognized but hadn't been within the same class before.

He dejectedly sighed once again as he slid behind the table, tuning out the greetings of his teacher as he propped his head on his hand and blew air at a stray strand of hair that blocked his view of sight.

"Hey." He heard the girl whisper, glanced at her. She was smirking at him, tilted her head slightly, a dark strand of hair escaped from behind her ear where she had stuck it and ghosted over her face. Atop of her head was a golden caterpillar pin. "Yosano Akiko." She said, curtly introducing herself.

The way she acted was... out of the ordinary.

Count my interest piqued.

He mirrored her smirk. "Dazai Osamu."

She nodded, the short hair framing her face swaying with the motion. "I like your attitude."

Dazai raised a brow as his smirk widened.

Yosano continued. "Someone's gotta do something about people like her. Say no to what they demand for once, or the cycle of a spoiled overgrown kid wanting and getting and wanting and getting and hurting people in the process will never end."

Dazai had to agree.

———

The boy ran and ran and ran.
He was panting, he almost tripped over something small— a dog, probably. He didn't stop, not when the sleek black Mercedes Sedan was still following him.

Sweat trickled down his nape as he finally had his goal within his sights.
The car was still close behind.

He ran towards the door as he heard the clicking of the car doors opening.

He grabbed onto the railing, halting when that familiar feminine voice called out his name in a tone that indicated that the wielder of the voice was unhappy.

"Chuuya-kun."

He sighed and turned around.

"Ane-san. You know you can't actually lock me up within four walls even if you think it is just to protect me." The boy with ginger hair clenched his fists. "I'll run away if that's what it takes to stop you from 'protecting' me." He used air quotes.

"I want to live a life that could at least be considered partially normal. I wanna be surrounded by weird kids my age instead of weirdos in general. I wanna be able to socialize! You havent been the same... ever since he—"

The woman's gaze hardened, that alone made Chuuya shut up and stiffen.

A loud yowl was heard, the direction from which the sound came from was... up?

Chuuya's eyes snapped up to see a cat flailing on a tree branch, it's claws apparently not strong enough to grab on and keep itself up. He immediately rushed towards the tree, holding his arms open just in time to catch the cat as it fell off the tree and right into his arms.

"Meow." The cat shuffled in his hold, the bells on his collar jingling and placed its paws above his chest and licked at his cheek as if to say 'thank you'.

There was a collar around its neck. "Huh..." Chuuya brought his hand up to check the name tag. "Mii?" He read out loud. "Mii-chan?" The cat meowed in reply as if to confirm.

The poor cat must've gotten lost, he checked the back of the tag to see nothing else written on it. Chuuya hummed in thought as he scratched the cat right above its collar. Mii-chan purred and lifted its head and— was that another collar under the one with the bells?

Chuuya had barely even brushed his fingertips against the golden thing when the cat hissed and jumped out of his arms.

Suddenly, he was pulled away from the cat, a woman with long ginger hair—even redder than Chuuya's— tugging at his arm to get him back to the car.
"W-wait—! Ane-san!"

"No, lad. You know we have work to do."
The woman's voice was unwavering as she stuffed him into the backseat.

Chuuya clenched his fists as he stared down at his Docs. He had been stupid enough to think he'd be allowed to be let out alone for once.

When his sister was finally settled next to him, the car rolled into traffic. That was when he broke the silence to voice his thoughts.
"Why am I not allowed to live a life every teen my age does? Why can't I complain about having to go to school instead of having to go to photo shoots?"

The woman sighed. "I know... I know you want to be with others your age but... You yourself have always been extraordinary. Wherever or whenever you were, you'd have always lived a life one couldn't exactly call 'normal'. I will be sending you to school— with your bodyguard, of course— but we just have to greet Mori-san first since we are now in his territory."

'Territory'? Chuuya spoke up. "Can't we visit him later in the day? Does it have to be now?"

"Do not question me, young lad."

———

Dazai was returning class from the bathroom when he heard it.

Crash.

Followed by a screa—

"KYAAAAAAA!"

Maybe he should just go back and skip the next class...

Dazai sighed, bracing himself for what he's about to intrude before yanking the door open and—

Holy crap, he's pretty.

A boy with ginger layered hair long enough to pass his sharp jaw but not long enough to touch his shoulders was inside. He had freckles adorning his nose and cheeks— and looking at his exposed shoulder (because someone was pulling at his hoodie) the freckles could be found in other places as well. A slender nose half hidden beneath bangs right above rosy lips parted in surprise. And—

Ah.

Heterochromia was a mutation, right? The darkest shade of brown Dazai had ever seen as an eye color on the left and a deep ocean blue on the right.

All of it perched on a face accompanied by a sharp chin.
A black leather choker with a silver buckle was on his neck as well as a blue loose bracelet on his wrist right beneath a thin studded one ending right above the hem of his fingerless gloves.
He was wearing a red top (looked like a tank top to Dazai but could also be a t-shirt) under a short sleeved zipped up hoodie, black pants and maroon-ish boots.
Boots.
In this weather.
But he somehow made it work.
The sunlight was hitting him from behind, almost as if even the sun was worshipping him.

The ginger boy swallowed, causing his Adam's apple to bob and move the choker wrapped around his neck too as someone pulled his hoodie, revealing a bit of his chest for Dazai to see.
But again.

It just had to be her.

Elise was tugging at his sleeve as the boy took a step back.

Must be the brother of worldwide known fashion designer Elise was talking about.

Elise said something that made the boy halt and chuckle. It was a pretty sound to hear.

Though he looked nice, the apple wouldn't fall far from the tree, thought Dazai. He must've been just as unbearable as the blonde friend of his.

He heard a low chuckle behind him right before he felt a cold hand under the tip of his chin, closing his agape mouth.
It was Yosano and the chuckle came from a boy standing behind her.

"I hope you don't mind that I shut your mouth close before you swallowed a fly." Yosano chuckled.
Now that she wasn't whispering, Dazai realized that her voice was deeper than the usual you'd hear from a girl but it was silky smooth to hear.

"This is Ranpo." She waved towards the boy behind her. Dazai nodded in greeting, Ranpo mirrored the action while munching on something before talking with a full mouth, Odasaku would've smacked Dazai's head for acting unmannered if it was him.
"You seem smitten."

Dazai chuckled bitterly in reply. "Nah."

———

Chuuya scratched the back of his head as Elise continued pestering him.

Ughhhhhhhhhhh...

He'd really just rather push her away but she was the daughter of his sister's boss...
His eye twitched when Elise planted a kiss on his cheek.

He glanced away, taking in the classroom and—
Huh... was that... chewing gum?
On a seat.

Normally, Chuuya couldn't care less but right now it was a nice excuse to physically distance himself from the girl.

He quickly slipped away despite Elise's sounds of complaint while muttering "What's that..?" to make his surprise a tad bit more believable.

He sniffed it and— ah... the same sugary scent that's coming out of Elise's mouth.

He stood up, spinning around on his heels to ask Elise just why she would stick her gum there right before bumping into someone.

A brunet wrapped up in bandages.

The boy was around a centimeter or two taller than Chuuya himself. His eyes were a light shade of brown. A mole was found towards the left side of the tip of his chin, another was made visible on the right side of his neck right above where his bandages started as he tilted his head staring at Chuuya. He was wearing a short sleeved— though, his arms were also covered in bandages— button down shirt with thin vertical black stripes stuffed into black pants and ratty Converse on his feet.

He glanced behind Chuuya, down to the seat to see the gum stuck on the chair. He smiled, though, there was an edge to it, he looked displeased. "Shouldn't have expected much from Elise's friend."

Chuuya raised his head high as he arched an eyebrow. "I ain't here to meet your expectations."

The boy shoved Chuuya aside, his jaw dropped. The audacity.

Elise grabbed onto his arm the moment he stumbled away.

———

Dazai huffed as Elise latched onto the ginger's arm like a leech. Feeling a pang of something irritating.

He glared at the boy. "You're more stupid than you look if you think I'd fall for something like this."

The kid grumbled. "I didn't stick that piece of gum—" Dazai interrupted, waving a hand dismissively.

"Of course you didn't!"

"Hah?!" The other boy looked offended.

"I know it's that little bitch's work." he glared at Elise, who gasped in reply before the smaller boy furrowed his brows and spoke up.

"Hey, don't call her that."

"Or what? You'll beat me because I hurt your little witch of a girlfriend's feelings?" That caused the girl to blush slightly.

The boy's brows furrowed even deeper, a snarl ripping through his mouth as he shrugged Elise's hands off. "Do ya really have it in ya to fight or are you all talk, you misogynistic bastard?"

Dazai's eyes widened as his smirk got sharper. "Ah, you've got it all wrong. I'm not calling her a bitch because she's a girl, no. I'm callin' her a bitch because she is one. Not calling someone what they are because of their gender is what's sexist, not the other way around." And almost as if it was an afterthought, he added, "And you didn't seem to deny that comment."

"She's not my girlfriend. And I told you to stop." Was it weird that he felt something akin to relief after hearing those first couple words even if he knew it wasn't the case? Probably.

"Ah... We'll just have to fight it out... Chuu-chan, was it?—"

"It's Chuuya, jackass." Chuuya cracked his neck as he brought a leg back behind one and stuffed his hands into his hoodie's pockets. Weird choice of a fighting stance.

"Bring it on!"

———

First day of school and Chuuya already found himself trouble. A tall blond had told on them both barely after Chuuya landed his third kick on the brunet. That was why he had been at the principal's office with that idiot sitting right next to him.

They had gotten a lecture and a warning that they'd get suspended if they fought in school grounds again.
This was all the other boy's (Dazai, apparently, from what he caught from the old man's lecture) fault. But Chuuya could let it slide because of the hits he got on the boy. Dazai couldn't even touch him. Wimp.

Their parents —or guardians— would be informed about the situation, yada yada... Chuuya was gonna be in deep trouble because of the bastard.

They were walking back to class side by side, shoving each other on occasion when the ground rumbled and a loud crash was heard.

Chuuya leaned against the wall as Dazai stumbled towards the ground, grabbed on Chuuya and pulled him down in the process.

Dazai was lying on the ground as Chuuya sat on one of his legs and grumbled. "What the fuck, dumbass?!"

"This is the second time I've fallen on my ass and the third time I've fallen on the ground today."

"How fucking clumsy are you even—"

A loud angry noise reverberated through the school.
"GIIIIIIIN!"

"Huh?!" The both boys glanced at each other right before the door to classes bursted open, the students racing each other as they ran.

A teacher ran out of a classroom. "All children are dismissed! Go to the safety of your homes immediately!"

———

Dazai had a fork in his mouth as he spun around in his chair as he watched the news. He had been eating the slice of pie Odasaku had given him. He was sitting on the chair backwards with one leg pulled up under him as the other's toes grazed the ground, allowing him to spin the chair. "Hrnnnnngh" He hummed as he stared at the weird rock-like creature, every time it took a step its surface cracked and a few seconds later, lava spilt down its cracks, hardening after a few moments. It basically grew by the second. He stopped spinning.

"That's...weird." He scowled. There was an hexagonal shaped box sitting on the table. "What is this?"

———

Chuuya glared at the weird shaped box on the table the TV he was watching the molten creature massacring the city stood on. "Huh... What is this?"

He leaned forward and over the coffee table in front of him, taking the box in his hands.

———

Dazai inspected the outside of the box. Weird red symbols on the top of it. Didn't look like much. Though, he had two questions. What and how.
What was this box? How in the world did it get there?

He sighed through his nose as he kept on biting on the fork, opened the box as he felt the hair on the back of his neck rise. His eyes widened when something started shining from inside the box. He felt the box slip from his hand, tried to grab it with the other, his chair did a 360 spin when he moved to try and grab the box but as his actions were in vain it clattered to the ground.

The shining orb was still in the air and right in front of his face, he felt his mouth part and the fork slip through and clatter next to the box on the ground as he gripped the edge of the backrest of the chair. His eyes widened even further as a siluette of something small could barely be picked out within the shining orb.

"...What the—"

———

"—fuck?!"

Chapter Text

Earlier that day.

"Centuries ago, magic jewels called Miraculous that were bestowing inhumanly powers were created. Throughout history, heroes have used these jewels for the good of humankind. Two of these Miraculous were always more powerful than the rest.
These are the earrings of the Ladybug, which provide the power of creation, and the ring of the black cat, which grants the power of destruction.

According to the legend, whoever wears both these jewels at the same time will achieve absolute power."
Said someone in a high pitched voice.

A deep masculine voice replied, "I need to get that absolute power, Nooroo." A sharp, chilling smirk had taken place on the man's face. "With your help."

The small light purple colored creature with wings behind it and a swirling shape on the top of its head replied. "But sir... Nobody knows where these Miraculous are."

"I found you, though. My dear kwami. Even if you costed me a lot of money." The small creature shuddered before replying. "Master, even I don't know."
The man sighed disappointedly "Would you care to remind me of your Miraculous' powers again?"

"The Moth brooch allows you to give someone their own superpowers and to make that person your devoted follower."

"You should be able to put two and two together." The man chuckled "When it comes to luring superheroes, what better way than to create super-villains?" He opened his arms wide.

Nooroo was quick to reply. "But, Master, the Miraculous are not meant to be used for evil purpo—"

"If not me then somebody else will want those two Miraculous for their power. We shouldn't let them in the hands of someone who can't handle them."

Nooroo looked frightened as the man kept speaking calmly. "Besides, who said it was for evil purposes? In the end, it'll be for the good."

Nooroo gulped. "But Master, no person could be able to handle that much free power without losing themselves."

And for the first time, the man looked Nooroo in the eyes, a shiver ran through the Kwami as the man's smile dropped.
"I don't think I have to remind you in whose control your Miraculous is now. Are you really choosing to disobey your Master?"

Nooroo's head dropped. "No, Master."

The man moved from his place, his shoes clicking against the floorboards as he walked over to the floor to ceiling window overlooking Yokohama, the floor covered in white moths.
"Nooroo, dark wings, rise!"

———

"Meowrrrrhh."

A woman in her late twenties turned around in her place when she heard her cat meow at something.
"What is it, sweetie? What are you looking at?" She walked over to the calico cat that was pawing at something behind the window. "Oh, that's a moth, my dear tiger." She chuckled while petting the cat aggressively. "Hm... well, I ought to go."

The woman lifted the cat up despite the meows of protest and buried her face into his chest fur before lowering him and letting him hop to the ground, the bells on his collar jingling softly in the process. "Bye, Mii-chan!"

The door shut close, the cat meowed before a glint of light appeared and the cat disappeared. "Goodbye, Haruno-chan." Said a masculine voice.

———

Current time

"What the fuck?!" Chuuya heard himself ask as he held an arm in front of his eyes to protect them from the green light.

The ball of light turned into a weird-green-eyed-floating-black-cat...thing. It yawned. It fucking yawned. "No way..." Chuuya furrowed his brows. "The hell is this?!" He looked down to the ground, up to the black thing then the air between before holding a finger out to poke it, causing it to yelp. "What are you, a fairy?"

The thing spoke up. "Nah, I'm something way cooler, all the fairies I've met were so lame. Plagg, nice to meet you." Its gaze moved behind Chuuya right before it darted past him and towards Chuuya's collection of marbles that came stuck in bottles. "Ooh, shiny." It said as it dived into the box.

Chuuya jumped towards it. "Wait, no— Don't touch them!"
Plagg's head poked out between some of the marbles as he held one in his... hand? finger? Chuuya had no idea. "Can you eat this?" The thing asked dazedly before Chuuya swiped his hand at it— IT FLEW THROUGH HIS HAND.
After that, Chuuya could only stare at him wide-eyed in shock as it flew around biting inedible things asking questions along the lines of "Does this taste good? Awh no." and "What about that?" before darting at something again.

Plagg was flying around, licking at a lamp before zipping down and grabbing the remote control as Chuuya struggled to catch him.

It was flying near the ceiling, the remote in his hands as he munched on it. Chuuya slowly and quietly climbed on top of his wardrobe before jumping up and grabbing the thing right before it yelped! Ha!

He fell on the couch with a thump, Plagg still between his fingers. "What in the world are you doing here?!"

Plagg groaned. "Okay, I'll make it quick. You better listen. I am a kwami and I grant powers. You have the power of destruction. Got it?" Chuuya slowly shook his head. "I don't have no super powers." He whispered incredulously.

The kwami-thing looked bored out of its mind. "Whatever, y'got anything to eat? I'm starving!"

Chuuya sat up while the thing wriggled in his hands. "One of my siblings is pranking me, right? It can't be Kouyou or Kyouka... This is above their level. Is it my brother?"
The thing escaped his grip and flew near his face before it poked at his nose as Chuuya continued. "Wait... he couldn't be. He's dead."

"Your siblings must never know that I exi—wait what?"

Chuuya stared at Plagg, Plagg stared back at Chuuya for a moment before Plagg sighed and spoke up. "No one should know I exist. That includes your dead brother."

———

The blinding red light disappeared and the siluette that Dazai had seen appeared properly in front of him. A flying... bug-mouse. A red thing with a big, round head and large eyes and a black dot on its forehead.
Was that supposed to be a ladybug?

Dazai had leaned so far back without realizing that he fell off the chair down onto his back. For the nth time that day...

"Everything's okay, don't be scared!" A soft feminine voice called.

Dazai's eyes widened and he muttered, "The bug-mouse talks..."

The thing flew over to Dazai as he sat up, its antennas swishing. He felt his eyes widen even further. WHAT WAS THAT THING?!

Funny, it thought Dazai was scared. He pulled out a glass behind him before abruptly slamming it down and trapped the bug-mouse between the glass and the floor effectively. He furrowed his brows and spoke stoically. "I could eat you for dinner, you megamind looking creature, you are the one that should be afraid."

The thing just stared up at him, only slightly surprised. "Okay, Osamu. If that makes you feel safer..." Its voice was muffled through the glass.
The thing was underestimating Dazai.
"What even are you and how in the world do you know my given name?"

The thing acted like this was a daily occurrence. "I'm a kwami, my name is Tikki! If you would just let me explain..."

-

Dazai placed an encyclopedia on top of the glass before moving towards his door. "Odasaku—!"

Tikki looked terrified before swishing through and out of the glass—this was all too confusing.
"No, Osamu. Please! I'm your friend, I'm not gonna hurt you! You shouldn't tell anyone about me!"
How reassuring.
"You are the only one who can stop that monster that you just saw."

———

A kwami that had the colors of a familiar calico cat flew near its master. A man in a bowler hat, reading a book. "Are you sure they are the right people, Natsume-sensei?" The bell on its collar jingled as it moved.

The man simply took a sip of his tea and smiled without turning away from his book. "We can only watch and see."

———

"Me? Superhero?!" Dazai scoffed and crossed his arms. "No way, buddy. I can't bother to worry that much about people I don't even know. Go pick someone else."

Tikki looked troubled. "But Osamu! You can't just give it up! You are the chosen one!"

"The chosen one like Candace from Phineas and Ferb and that one space adventure film called 'Candace Against the Universe' where they called her the chosen one just because she breathed carbon dioxide out?"

"...What."

"Do you kwamis have no understanding of respect? You've been calling me by my given name this entire time, without any honorifics as well."

Tikki looked embarrassed. "Oh, well I don't actually originate from Japan. Please forgive my disrespect."

Dazai stared at her. "Explain."

-

"So... this akuma thing... I just have to destroy the object it's stuck in." Dazai put the earrings in, internally thanking his younger self for piercing his ears just because he thought it looked cool.

"Well, you're supposed to be more creation than destruction. With the help of your—"

"Lucky charm, yeah I got it."

"No, you're supposed to capture the akuma with your yo-yo!"

Dazai stared at Tikki blankly. That sounded like too much trouble. Would something bad happen if he didn't, he could maybe even follow the thing home to see where this so called villain's lair was.

"What if I don't?"

"Then the akuma will multiply and create an army of monsters!"

"Oh..."
Dazai hummed.

"What is the activation word you were talking about?"

"You're very smart, Dazai-kun! You're catching on real fast. Just say, 'Spots on.'"

———

Plagg had been rolling a bunch of toilet paper on the ground and had hidden beneath the white paper while Chuuya was inspecting the ring in his hands.
It was silver colored, looked just like another regular ring. Nothing about it screamed magical, maybe this was just a fever dream. Chuuya munched on his lip in thought.

Plagg poked its head out. "—that's how you use your special power, and you have to say an activation word to transform too. 'Claws out.'"

Chuuya stood up, yanking his right glove off, "Aight then!"

"Wait—no—!"

"Claws out!" He held his hand in the air.

"I haven't finished explaini—"

-

Chuuya sent his stick flying as it suddenly extended and created a bridge from one building to another. His so called hero costume was quite neat. He had a bell at the start of his neck and a maroon ribbon hanging off it, claws, cat ears that actually worked and felt like they were pinned to his skull (he tried yanking them out but it didn't work) as well as a belt-tail that he could—weirdly enough—swish around, and a mask. His pants were baggy, a piece of flared fabric hanging off his belt and wrapping around his back and around one leg before going between his legs and ending where it started. He also had boots that had paw-like pieces of metal in the front. His eyes had also changed color, his left eye was all green. Both the eye white and the iris, his right eye, though, was all blue. Most of him was covered in the latex costume. All black, of course. He was a black cat. A creature that brought destruction wherever it went.

He took a step forward, standing on his stick-bridge. He hummed and muttered "I'm starting to get the hang of this." He was around halfway through, balancing himself with his arms spread when he heard a scream that was... rapidly approaching. He lifted his head and—

Someone was flying towards him, he didn't have any time to react when the person collided with him, sending them both flying to the ground. As they were both descending, a weird rope-like thing wrapped around them both, sticking them face to face against each other and the top of it around his stick that was still stuck between the both buildings.

The two swung left and right like a pendulum for a moment, grunting occasionally before Chuuya spoke up. "The hell?"

"What a nice way to word my thoughts." Said the boy in red.

Chuuya frowned and wriggled out of the rope, falling on his back with a grunt. "You're the partner of mine that my kwami was talking about, right?" He asked as he sat up and rubbed his back.

The other face planted on the ground with a yelp before speaking up with a teasing tone. "Aww, you talked about me?"

Chuuya stared at him incredulously. "The hell, dude, this isn't the time for stupid jokes!"

The boy smirked and stood up, grabbing on the string that was now just hanging off Chuuya's stick and pulling at it. "Aren't you just the man of mission, ...uh..."

Chuuya thought for a moment. "Huh. Well I am a black cat..."

"Kuro-Neko?" The boy tilted his head.
Chuuya shrugged in reply right before the other boy tugged at the string hard enough for the part at the top to fall and land right on Chuuya's head. It was apparently a yo-yo. The boy just laughed.

Chuuya grumbled and glared at the other, rubbing at his head as he replied with a bite to his voice. "And you must be Mr. clumsy-man."

The boy hummed. "You might just be right... Today has been like that. I fell like..." he narrowed his eyes. "Six times just this day. I think I lost consciousness once I hit my head against that one chimney too."

Chuuya whistled, impressed by the clumsiness. "Guess it's your unlucky day."

The boy frowned at him. "I don't believe in luck, Kuro."

"That sounds hypocritical."

"Your very existence is hypocritical." The boy said as he rolled his eyes and crossed his arms.

Chuuya scoffed. "Hah?! How exactly?"

"You're supposed to be a black cat. Yet everything about you is colorful." He waved his hands around Chuuya, who huffed in reply.

"Care to tell me how I should refer to you or should I just go with know-it-all-bastard?"

"Such colorful language!"
The other boy stepped forward and batted his eyes and placed a hand on Chuuya's chest. The ginger took a step back while frowning when the other boy dramatically sighed and, "You can call me mine, kitten." He flicked the bell perched on Chuuya's costume before starting to giggle and stepped away.

———

Ah, this was really fun. The catboy's face was so red that it almost matched Dazai's costume. Speaking of the latex monstrosity... He didn't particularly like how tight it was, though the other's complemented the other boy in black, showcased his slightly built body pretty well. At least Dazai had a cute little ladybug hair clip, holding the left side his hair out of his face as well as a cape-like thing wrapped around his neck, he guessed it was supposed to be his wings.
Dazai sighed. "Let's just go with ladybug... Tentochu and the soulless furry! Sounds quite nice." He smiled at the way a vein popped in the ginger's head.

"If one of us is soulless, it's definitely you!" He held a finger towards Dazai— no, Tentochu.

"Ah, you're not denying that you're a furry—"

Then suddenly the ground shook, rumbles of a building crumbling was heard. Dazai saw Kuro's eyes widen as he stared at the massacre through his peripheral vision.

The boy clad in black moved to jump right before the brunet stopped him by grabbing his arm. "Where are you going?"

Kuro frowned and shook Dazai's grip off. "We're the only ones who can stop that monster, are we not? If we don't act now, then the people of Yokohama will get hurt."

Dazai could swear he could remember that intense gaze from somewhere, that protectiveness.

Dazai hummed as he brought a finger up to his chin. "Without a plan? Don't kid me, you'll cause something even worse running off into the scene just like that! You're bad luck, kitty!"

"Why, you—!"

Dazai held a hand against his chest and raised his head high as he closed his eyes. "But fret not, dear peasant. The all mighty Tentochu is here to save the day!"

He swung the yo-yo around in circles before sending it flying towards a building as he grinned at the other. "Try to keep up."

He felt the air leave him as his feet were off the ground in an instant. The feeling of flying and descending with no guarantee of being able to hold himself from falling to his death was exciting as much as addicting. Though he probably couldn't die even if he fell from this high up so long as he was wearing the costume, it was magical, after all.

He felt his mouth form into a wide grin without his consent when he heard Kuro jump behind him as he shouted "You try to keep up, bug-face!"

———

This red and black idiot was so annoying.
They both perched on top of a building, the creature was still as angry as ever, moving away from the police and towards a girl— that was Gin! From Chuuya's class.

Tentochu hummed in thought, Chuuya didn't have time for that, neither did Gin. The lifted hand of the creature was nearing her to hit her.

Chuuya jumped down and smacked his stick against the molten creature's hand, successfully breaking it off. Lava oozed out from the place where the hand used to be. Slowly forming another one, Chuuya swiped the stick at its legs as well, not snapping them but causing it to tumble over and winning himself some time.

Chuuya nodded Gin to run away as he turned back towards the akuma's victim, holding his stick against his own shoulder.
"Why don't you pick someone your own size?"
Tentochu jumped down next to him. "I doubt that someone is you, short stack. And besides, I told you to wait, didn't I?! If you really have a death wish, then fine, let's just die together. If not then the hell are you doing?!" He sounded angry, no, annoyed.
"What, you expected me to let the thing crush Gi—the poor kid?"

Tentochu's brows furrowed.
The roar of the creature pulled them out of their banter.

This time the creature grabbed a nearby car and threw it towards a civilian nearby. Another classmate of Chuuya's, Ranpo. He was filming the entire ordeal between two buildings without a care. Chuuya threw his stick to create another bridge between them to protect the boy from the car.
The stick bended under the car's weight before throwing it back in the air. Ranpo was still filming.

Chuuya sighed in relief right before the creature grabbed him and raised him up high. "Argh, hothothothot!" Chuuya's legs trashed around. He panted beneath the pressure and heat as he looked around to see if that bragging bug was still around. He was kind of annoyed that he was in the mercy of Tentochu.

"Where the fuck are you, partner?!"

He was suddenly falling. Once he collided with the ground, the hand he was stuck in opened and he jumped out of it. He heard the other boy chuckle. "Aw, missed me already? You're such a clingy kitty." He retrieved the yo-yo, he had apparently cut the creature's hand off with it.

Chuuya smacked the other's head. "Where the hell did you go?! We're supposed to be a team, y'know!" He huffed out of anger.

"Yeah, yeah... I was looking around for a way to take that thing to the port. You know, so that we can take the fire out and it can harden."

Chuuya hummed in thought, "The river is nearby."

"Yeah but there's less water in the river."

"The thing will cause much more wreckage if we take it to the port!"

"Is your kwami as incompetent as you that it didn't explain anything?! My special power will restore all damage caused by other Miraculous!"

Chuuya halted. "Oh... Does it apply to my cataclysm as wel—" he suddenly felt power surge through him as he felt the urge to destroy. He looked down to his hands to see some black power orbs flicking near his right one.

Tentochu facepalmed. "Ican'tbelieveI'mstuckwithapartnerlikeyou."

Chuuya stared at his partner sheepishly with his lips pursed. "Whoops." He muttered guiltily.

"Whoops indeed," Tentochu sighed before glaring at Chuuya "We'll go with your plan since the river is nearer and you have limited time now. Once it's hardened enough, you'll touch it and destroy it. You probably don't know that you can only use it once and have to wait at least five minutes de-transformed in order to be able to transform again since you didn't wait for your kwami to finish. So be careful not to touch anything on the way. You have no patience, do you?"

"Life is way too fast paced for you to sit back and relax."

———

The moth Miraculous' user smiled and chuckled darkly. "The cat is in the bag. Let's see how much the two of you can hold on."

———

The 'de-evilized' moth thing flew away. Dazai threw the item his lucky charm had given him in the air.

He turned to the boy that was akumatized, it was Tachihara. Dazai knew him from last year, though they hadn't been in the same class before, they were now. He sighed and made his way towards the ginger. He was surrounded by gingers. "Hey, kiddo. You good?"

Tachihara groaned and rubbed the back of his head. "What am I doing here?"

"The negative thoughts you were harboring caused you to get akumatized and turned you into a monster."

"Negative thoughts..? Oh, because of Gin."

Dazai tilted his head and the boy stood up. "Gin is my classmate, she won against me in an arm wrestling match... then rubbed it in pretty good."

"Ah." The boy then thanked and apologized before sheepishly leaving the area.

Dazai hummed, turned around to come face to face with Kuro and chuckled. He was seething and soaking wet since Dazai had thrown him into the water. "At least I now know that you're not a bad swimmer."

The boy scoffed. "At least we finished the job."

"'We'? It was mostly me, y'know!"

"What?! I was the muscle power! You literally just kept tossing me around with that yo-yo! I'm gonna destroy that the next time I see you!"

"Oh, yeah. That part was fun."
Dazai chuckled, the next time, the boy had said. Dazai hoped it wouldn't be that near. He sighed and looked up to see Kuro's raised fist.
He looked at him questioningly, the boy sighed and spoke up. "However much annoying you are, we still did it together." He nudged the fist further towards Dazai and asked, "Pound it?"

Dazai momentarily thought of just turning around and leaving the boy's fist hanging but decided otherwise. "Pound it." He said as he reciprocated the motion, both their fists hitting the other's softly. They stood there, staring at each other's eyes.

He wondered if the other's eyes were that way because of the Miraculous or if the boy was the second person with heterochromia that Dazai met today.

Kuro's ring started beeping and blinking. He stepped back to stare at it. "Ah, I don't have much time."

"I don't see why we should hide our identities from each other."

Kuro frowned. "Didn't your kwami tell you to keep your identity a secret? And here you were, nagging me about not listening to mine."

Another voice intruded their conversation. "Surreal! Look at this, folks! The two heroes bickering like an old married couple. Too bad it took me a while to join them and we didn't hear their conversation."
It was Ranpo, his seat mate's friend. He was holding his phone up to record them both. "Are you two gonna be the protectors of Yokohama from now on? Are you also gonna fight against the Port Mafia?"

Kuro looked overwhelmed at the amount of questions the boy was firing. He was staring wide eyed and with pursed lips. Dazai wasn't that different either, he was only good at hiding it. He smiled blankly while the other boy continued his one sided interrogation.
"How did you get your powers? Did you get bit by radioactive animals? Were you animals that got bit by radioactive humans? Or did you fall into a radioactive tank? Did you come from another planet that exploded? Are you two government experiments? Were you astronauts that found magical jewels in outer space and retired from their old jobs?"

Huh, that last one had a tiny speck of truth.

"I have a whole lot of questions for the both of you!"

Kuro smiled lamely, an awkward grimace of his lips and waved a hand to the camera before slowly walking backwards and darting out of the scene before he transformed so that he could keep his identity a secret.

It was just Dazai and Ranpo now. "Well, it was nice meeting you, ...um..."

"I'm Ranpo! The world's greatest detective! At least that's what I'm aspiring to be."

"Well, Ranpo-kun... I have to leave as well, see ya!"

Ranpo seemed disappointed. "At least give me a name, man!"

Dazai stepped away, spinning his yo-yo around as he replied before throwing it to a building nearby. "Tentochu." He then fled the scene.

———

The user of the moth Miraculous growled in anger. "You might've won this round, but me, I will be the one to win the war."
He stepped back from the light. "Nooroo, dark wings fall."

A soft light illuminated the dark room before the man turned into a simple man. If you could call him simple, that is. "I will get those two miraculous."

Chapter Text

A fairly tall man stood in front of the window in his office. The sun had set not so long ago. The faint stream of light was the sole thing illuminating the office.
He turned around to face the others in the room, all eyes were glued on him.

"This city is our home."

When he spoke up, one couldn't help but listen and obey this cruel man.

"The parts within light and in the dark included. I like it. And have vowed to protect it. All of it."

However, the people he was speaking to now knew his cruelty wasn't just for the sake of it, this man would always choose the option which was best for his people and his city.

"These so called heroes have worked in our favor this time." His eyes narrowed, his intense gaze would normally be enough for one to crumble. "But the person behind that other creature, they don't care for Yokohama. I have looked into it, the power those two kids have, it comes from ancient magical jewels. It is probably the same case with the creator of the creature. They too work with a magical jewel. They aim to get hold of those two jewels from the two kids as well. And they wont hold back from tearing our city down in the process."

He let his gaze wander around the people he had summoned.

"I have yet to find out why. But that parasite should be eliminated, one way or another. Inform me immediately if you have any new information worthy mentioning. If you stumble upon the enemy, bring their jewel to me. You're dismissed."

———

"Yokohama's new heroes, Tentochu and Kuro-Neko have shown us that they can be trusted by saving those children and our city."
A young woman said through the screen before an old man started to speak.
"No way, those two are no heroes! Isn't it weird that after all this time, they choose to show up now? I bet they were the ones that created the illusion of a super villain to make themselves seen as super heroes! And those pesky kids were also in it. If not, then they would've showed up to stop the Port Ma—"

The television turned off with a click, Chuuya sighed and lifted the arm he had placed over his eyes. He blinked a couple times to fix his blurred vision to come face to face with his older sister. Her face, usually perfectly devoid of any creases was twisted in a frown.
"Chuuya-kun. I've been calling your name for a while." Kouyou placed the remote control down onto the coffee table.

Chuuya grunted as he sat up, then groaned. "I feel like a bus ran over me...Sorry, Ane-san..."

Kouyou sighed, "Dinner is ready, lad." and gave Chuuya a once over before she walked out of the room.

Chuuya waited until he was sure he was alone and muttered to himself, "It's all just a fever dream... It's all—"

"I need more camembert, Chuuya!" Plagg flew right in his face, his breath stinking of old cheese.

Chuuya facepalmed. "Fuck..."
He heard Plagg zip away, he must've heard someone come in.

"Nii-san." A soft feminine voice called. Chuuya raised his head and sighed before standing up from the couch and grabbing the t-shirt he had thrown on the ground and pulled it on.

"What's up?" He raised his arms and stretched, grunted before making his way over to the quiet girl. He placed a hand on her shoulder as they walked out of the room.

Kyouka spoke up. "We were worried about you, you know. Nee-san couldn't reach you and almost lost it. I think she's having second thoughts about sending you off to school."

Chuuya halted, Kyouka took a few more steps before turning around to face him. She had a pout on her lips. "Were you really stuck under a knocked down building? Or did you say that so we would stop questioning and let you sleep?"
Her voice wavered.

Chuuya chewed on his bottom lip before holding his arms out, Kyouka dived into his arms, knocking the breath out of him, causing him to stumble and almost knocking him over. Her arms wrapped around him and squeezed. She was always a firm hugger.
"I'm fine, bunny. See?" He whispered as he pat his sister's head.

The poor girl had seen her family get murdered first hand when she was barely eight. She was afraid to lose any more. It was a good thing that Kouyou took her in just like she did with Chuuya.
Even if they weren't bound by blood, the three of them were family.

Kyouka squeezed him harder for a second before letting go and holding his hand. "It was a good thing those two heroes made an appearance... Ane-san doesn't seem to like them, though."

Ah... Something like that was bound to happen.

They fell quiet as they passed by a familiar door. Chuuya felt the hand holding his tighten.

———

Dazai was spinning around on one of the stools near the counter as Odasaku wiped it. The latter turned to face the TV before sighing and changing the channel.

"Why'd you change it?" Dazai stopped spinning.

Odasaku raised a brow. "You really want to listen to that old man talk bad about the two people that saved our city?"

"Don't you think he has a point?"

"Do you?"

Dazai hummed and watched Odasaku crouch down. "That interview they had with the young boy seemed pretty genuine. Edogawa Ranpo, was it?"

Dazai leaned over the counter to peek at what his brother was doing.
"Yeah, he's my classmate."

"Really? According to his footage, the creature turned into a boy after the heroes did their thing."

Dazai placed an elbow on the table and leaned his head on his hand. "There were no magic and superpowers till this morning... Some people are accepting this whole ordeal way too quickly, don't you think?"

The man stood up and placed a plate in front of Dazai.
"M'not hungry." Dazai stated.

"I made curry. You're eating."

———

"CHUUYA-KUN, YOUR SISTER WILL KILL ME IF I LET YOU—"

Chuuya waved a hand to the house helper and slammed the door behind him. He didn't need a bodyguard to drop him off to school.

Plagg darted out of his leather jacket when he made it halfway and slowed down.
"Chuuya, what's up with that one room that no one enters?"

Chuuya sighed and pulled a box out of his school bag and handed it over to the kwami. "Don't bother checking it out, there isn't any cheese to be found."

Plagg swallowed the entire box of cheese in one motion as Chuuya gagged. "That doesn't answer my question."

"It used to be my older brother's room." Chuuya stuffed his hands in his pockets.

Plagg narrowed his eyes. "The dead one?"
Chuuya snapped his head and glared at him. "Are you devoid of any empathy?"

"My apologies but I don't know his name or how else I'm supposed to refer to him."

"Yeah, the dead one." Chuuya looked away. "He's not really..."
He trailed off.

"Not really what?"

"He disappeared, the police just deemed him dead after fishing some of his stuff out of the river back in Paris. They couldn't find his body or anything. It might sound childish for me to think that but there's... There might still be a chance that he's alive."

"Oh, there could. Maybe he's just hiding."

Chuuya remained silent.

Plagg hummed, "I'm sorry... About your brother."
He darted back into Chuuya's chest pocket.

-

Chuuya sat down in his place, the ginger from yesterday was sitting next to him. The seat to his back was empty. He'd personally much rather sit in a back row but they were all occupied.

"Hey." He heard the boy say.

"Hi." He replied. "Chuuya."

"Tachihara." The boy nodded before eyeing him. "You're friends with Elise-kun, right?"

Chuuya internally grimaced. "Well, yeah."

"How in the world do you put up with her?"

"My sister is acquainted with her father, we met through their connection. She's been my friend for a while, I'd much rather you don't talk about her like she's a nuisance." Chuuya frowned at him.

The boy scratched at the bandaid on his nose. "Ah... Her so called father... How are the two.. How do they know each other?"

"Ane-san works with him, he's the one that provided her the chance to become a fashion designer."

"Fashion designer?" Tachihara raised an eyebrow and looked Chuuya up and down. "Wait... You're the guy from that one picture!"

That wasn't very specific.

"Uh... Possibly, yeah..."

"That's so cool, dude!"

The door opened, revealing the brunet from the day earlier, Chuuya's expression soured the exact same time the aforementioned boy's did.

Tachihara stiffened at the change in Chuuya's demeanor. He looked from Chuuya to Dazai then back to Chuuya. "What's going on between the two of you?"

Chuuya didn't break eye contact until Dazai made his way around him and sat right behind him.

A girl with a bob alongside the boy that was recording Chuuya with his partner the earlier day entered. Dazai waved over at the girl and she smirked as she made her way over.

"Wasn't Elise-chan sitting there?" Chuuya asked behind his shoulder.

Dazai glared at Chuuya. "This is my seat, Chuuya." And kicked Chuuya's seat from the back.

"Hey—! Stupid Dazai—" Chuuya jumped up right before Tachihara grabbed his arm, trying to ease him down.
"Chuuya-kun, please don't."

The girl with the bob whistled. "Calm down, boys. Keep your mating ritual to yourselves."

"What?!"

"Yosano-kun?!"

Both boys snapped their head in her direction and worded their shock at her at the exact same time. The girl simply gave a high-five to Ranpo. "Well said, Akiko-kun!"

"You piece of shit!" All heads turned towards the whiny voice. It was Elise. "That's my spot, get out and back to your own!"

"Get going, Elise-chan. I'm not moving anywhere." Dazai crossed his arms.

An unfamiliar voice intruded them. "Please stop arguing, the lesson will start about now." It was the weird blond that looked and acted like he had a stick up his ass. He was sitting next to Ranpo.

The door opened, causing their conversation to come to a halt.

Chuuya settled down once the teacher entered the class. Tachihara whispered to him. "Were the two of you the kids that fought each other yesterday?"

Chuuya internally groaned.

"Word gets around pretty fast, huh?" Chuuya glared at the dents on the table.

"Why'd you two brawl anyway?" The teacher had started to call names.

"He was being sexist." Chuuya stated.

Tachihara raised his brows in surprise. "Really? Didn't take him to be the type to act like that. I'm sure he's a nice guy."

Chuuya glared at the boy. "I know what I heard come out from his mouth."

Tachihara huffed. "If you say so, dude. But Dazai-kun gets along with pretty much anyone if he wants to."

Chuuya raised a hand. "Present." He dropped his tone of voice again. "Which just means he's a fake bastard. No one gets along with everyone."

"I'm just sayin', think about it. Maybe it was a misunderstanding."

———

Dazai poked at the chicken on his plate with his fork as Yosano and Ranpo chatted. It was only a matter of time for the conversation to migrate to—

"Ranpo-kun, it's so awesome that you got to meet the two heroes!" Yosano chirped.

"It's only a matter of time until I get to solve who's behind the powers of that molten super-villain! The two should get me to help them by their side!"

Yosano looked confused. "Huh... Why only the super-villain? Why not the two boys as well?"

"They're irrelevant."

"Irrelevant?"

"It'd be a shame if the two boys got found out. That's why I'm not going after them but that bad guy instead. I asked Tachihara-kun a few questions about the entire thing but he doesn't remember anything, no agreement he made with the bad guy nor any conversation or contact at all. So whatever power the bad guy has must be something to do with brainwashing since he did what the other party wanted without question or memory."

Wow, Dazai thought.

"Wow." Said Yosano.

"So," she then drawled. "Which one of the two do you think is hotter?"

Dazai looked up from his plate, Yosano was staring right at him like she had found her prey. "You've been awfully quiet, Dazai-kun. Let's hear your answer first."

Dazai internally rolled his eyes before humming and bringing his hand to his chin as if to make it seem like he was actually putting some thought behind what he was planning to say. He saw Chuuya's head rise and take glance at their table at Yosano's question from his peripheral vision. How odd.

"Well, in my opinion, the boy that was clad in black had a better costume since the other one's was flush to his body. That couldn't be comfortab—"

"She's not talking about the costume designs, Dazai-kun." Ranpo smirked at him.

Dazai smiled bitterly. "Why does it matter? The question itself makes no sense."
Yosano furrowed her brows. "Come on, now. No need to be shy."
Dazai sighed. "They're both ugly." He noted how Chuuya stabbed the piece of meat with a little bit more force than needed. Ah, he was a fan. How cute.

Yosano tutted as she shook her head and stared at him wide-eyed as if he'd told her coffee goes well with soy sauce. "How could you... I personally find the boy clad in black pretty attractive."

Chuuya choked on his chicken.

Dazai raised his eyebrows, offended. "I personally think the bug-guy was better."

Ranpo scoffed. "You're only saying that because you two look alike."

Dazai felt Tikki shuffle as he stiffened.

Yosano spoke up. "Huh, when you say it that way... They do look alike."

Dazai smiled lightly. "Maybe I should cosplay as him, though red isn't really my color."

Yosano nodded, seemingly content.
She hummed, taking a bite of her food before turning to Ranpo. "You think they're a couple?"

Ranpo hummed in thought. "It's too early to say."

Dazai had to admit Chuuya's reactions to secretly listening in to their conversation were amusing.

———

Chuuya groaned in the bathroom stall. His stupid kwami also wanted to eat. "You're like the worst investment ever, y'know."

Plagg continued to eat. "I'll have you know this cheese isn't quality."

Shortly after, he was out of the bathroom. He bumped into a redheaded girl in the hallway. Literally bumped into her, sending the bottles of paint in her arms flying left and right.
"Crap!" She reacted in English.

"I'm so sorry! Let me help you..." Chuuya trailed off. The girl was obviously a foreigner. Two long boxy braids hung off her shoulders.
He kneeled down and grabbed a couple bottles off the ground.

"Are these for the art club or something?" Chuuya asked to break the ice while standing back up.

The girl simply nodded.

The redhead eyed him for a moment longer before giving him her name. "Montgomery Lucy."

Chuuya glanced at her. "Nakahara Chuuya."

Her eyes widened like saucers. "I knew it! That's why you were familiar. You model for Ozaki, right?"

Chuuya nodded sheepishly as Lucy led the way. "Yup... She's my sister."

Lucy gasped. "Hey... Can I ask you to do something?"

Chuuya glanced away. "I guess."

They made their way towards a door, Lucy opened it with her hip. "I'm not gonna ask an autograph from you or anything. Huh, maybe your sister's— but that's not the point."

She let the bottles fall on the desk, turning back to Chuuya to grab the ones in his hold before continuing. "Join the art club."

"Wait... What?"

"Join the art club." She seemed pretty serious.

Chuuya scratched the back of his neck. "I'm not really that good at, uh—"

"You don't have to be good at anything! You are the piece of art itself." Chuuya felt his cheeks redden.

"That's..."

He stared at her with a puzzled expression as she continued. "You don't have to leave any other club that you've joined. You can think of this as a part time club. You could pose for the artists so they can study and all."

A beat.

"Please?"

Chuuya sighed. "Fine."

———

The rain was pattering against the windows when Dazai arrived at the door. Today was an uneventful day.

He had forgotten to take an umbrella with him even though Odasaku had warned him about the rain earlier in the day.

He sighed and leaned against the wall, hitting his head softly against it. He leaned his weight from one foot to another, then stood up straight.

"Hey, idiot..." Dazai heard from behind him as he stood at the door.

He turned around just to see that troublesome ginger boy again. He sighed, causing the boy to stiffen and his eye to twitch.
How cute... Huh? Was his mind betraying him—

"I know... We got off to a rough start." Chuuya sounded unwilling to indulge in this conversation, great, so was Dazai. He could just stop talking then. "And I know that... Elise-chan can be a bit... unbearable sometimes—"

"A bit..." Dazai muttered without realizing, causing them both to stare at one another silently with wide eyes for a moment before they both started laughing softly.

Chuuya chuckled, it was a sound that was music to Dazai's ears.

When Chuuya spoke up once again, he sounded more... lightened. "Yeah... I just wanted to say sorry about... well, uh..." Chuuya trailed off, motioning to Dazai's face. "Hitting you and calling you a misogynistic bastard... I was wrong and acted rash... But you also shouldn't call people names. I get ticked off when someone disrespects women... probably because of the way my sister raised me."

His sister raised him, huh. So no parents?

"Didn't know you had it in you to apologize, short stack."

"You're not exactly tall either, dumbass"

"I'm taller than you are!"

Chuuya sighed, rubbing the back of his head before he swiftly opened the umbrella in his hands. "Don't make me regret this... I'd like it if we could get along somehow." He held the umbrella above his head as he took a couple steps forward before turning back to stare at Dazai.

Wow, he's pretty.
Thought Dazai for the second time this... day? Dazai was pretty sure it was the same week. He couldn't come up with a coherent thought when those eyes really looked at him. Was he blushing? He was certainly blushing right now.

"Are you gonna walk back home in this rain?" Chuuya cocked his head to the side. His bangs swishing around at the motion.

Dazai sighed. Not dreamily, no. Definitely not dreamily. "Yep... I'll be waiting for the rain to stop, though it might take a while... I uh... kinda hate it when my bandages get wet. They get all sticky and loose and flop around left and right. I uh... I could also wait until my brother comes to pick me up after realizing that I forgot my umbrella but that'd take a while."

Chuuya smiled softly. "We wouldn't want you to wait so long, would we?"
Dazai barely noticed a sleek black Mercedes pulling up to the side of the road. "So here, Dazai. Have this as my peace offering. I ain't walking home so I dont need it." He held the handle of the umbrella towards Dazai, leaving himself unprotected under the rain. Stupid Chuuya.

Raindrops fell on the ginger's head immediately, sticking some of his hair strands to his forehead.
The thunder rumbled.

Chuuya brought his hand further towards Dazai. Nudging him to take the umbrella. Dazai took a step forward, feeling drops of rain on his head as he left his dry safe place under the building before he slowly raised his hand, jerking it back when feeling his fingers touch Chuuya's. Then brought his hand back around the handle and the boys' fingers brushed against each others as he finally held the umbrella.

Dazai's mouth was screwed shut as he brought the umbrella above himself. Chuuya was smiling softly. At him. His cheeks felt warm and he didn't need to check himself in a mirror to know he was red.

Snap!

Everything went black right before he heard Chuuya giggle. Ah, the umbrella... It had shut close and trapped him within. He slowly peeked out to see Chuuya holding his hand against his mouth.
He pouted and whined. "Chuuya! Stop making fun of my demise!" His cheeks could probably pass as tomatoes.

Chuuya waved a hand at him before walking away and towards the car. "See ya."

"Uhm... ss—I mean, see you, uh. Tomorrow."
Dazai felt Tikki come out of his hair after he fixed the umbrella as he kept staring at Chuuya.
"Holy hell why can't I... Think?!" Dazai asked to himself, raising his hand to cover his mouth.

"I wonder why, Osa—I mean—"

Dazai sighed. "It's fine, Tikki-chan... Call me whatever you want. But there's no way... I can't possibly."

Tikki chuckled.

Dazai heard the soft jingles of some sort of bell, he looked down to see a cat, seemingly unbothered by the rain right at the left of his foot.

Dazai stared at the calico as it meowed contently before jumping away.

"Cats seem to love you, Osamu-kun." Tikki chuckled. And Dazai couldn't help but feel that she was hiding something from him as she stared at the cat with a glint of recognition in her eyes.