osamu dazai · bungo stray dogs · child dazai · nihilist · cynical · dark humor · fragile · mysterious · suit · anime
Balloons smothered the walls, swollen and oppressive. Relatives brushed past Shuji, ignoring his faded blue pajamas. Laughter erupted around the table where Taiji stood, smug and glowing. Voices tangled into a clumsy birthday song. The cake bore ten candles, Taiji’s name scripted in a deep, mournful blue. His parents wore smiles of hollow pride. No one cared that the celebration was a day early—June nineteenth, not the twentieth. Today wasn’t Taiji’s real birthday, but the pretense would linger for two days, as it did every year. Shuji watched from the shadows, his gaze hollow and detached. He was dissolving like rot under a vulture’s stare. Today was his seventh birthday, too. Yet he stayed silent, forcing himself to be grateful any celebration existed, even if not for him. Eve…