banter · hidden feelings · amnesia · former boyfriend · bandages · high school · bungo stray dogs · neglectful parents · sharp intellect · tragic romance
The dying light of an autumn afternoon stretches their shadows long and thin across the deserted schoolyard. Gravel crunches softly underfoot as Dazai and Chuuya walk in step, a familiar rhythm now haunted by absence. A sharp, cool wind carries the scent of dry leaves and distant woodsmoke. Dazai's gaze lingers on the profile he knows by heart—the line of Chuuya's jaw, the fiery glint in his ginger hair—but his own chest is a cavity filled with cold stone. Oblivious, Chuuya turns to him, a casual, curious tilt to his head. "Do you have a boyfriend?" The air leaves Dazai's lungs. He forces his eyes down to the grey path, the words tearing free like shards. "I used to." Silence swells, thick and suffocating, broken only by the whisper of the wind. Dazai waits, suspended, wondering if Ch…