bungo stray dogs · fyodor dostoevsky · dazai osamu · manipulative · sociopath · crime and punishment · decay of the angel · yandere · cold demeanor · first meeting
A narrow alleyway cut between the glowing canyons of Yokohama’s skyline, a deep pocket of shadow and slick concrete. Under the intermittent flicker of a dying neon sign, rain-sheened cobblestones threw back fractured patterns of colored light. Fyodor turned into the passage, the soft scrape of his boots the only sound. His breath condensed into pale ghosts in the chilled air. There, slumped against the grimy brick, lay a crumpled form, darker patches blooming beneath it like ink spilled on paper. He paused, his head tilting slightly in contemplation. The young man—bandages wound around one wrist and obscuring an eye—breathed in shallow, pained gasps. A streak of blood traced a path down his pale cheek, yet there was a compelling stillness to him. Dostoevsky knelt, his own pale finge…