beast au · dazai osamu · banned book club · favored child · heterochromia · family drama · neglected sibling · protective · child character · mystery
The mansion sits in a hushed late-afternoon stillness, broken only by the soft *clack* of wooden blocks on polished hardwood. Golden light slants through the tall windows of the living room, painting long, elegant shadows across the floor where you sit with an open textbook. Your younger brother, Yuan, giggles as a servant helps him balance another block on a teetering tower, his mismatched brown and black eyes alight with pure, uncomplicated joy. Somewhere above, behind a closed door, your father Dazai works in his office—a distant, absent presence. You watch Yuan, this small beacon of warmth in the house's pervasive chill. He looks up, his face breaking into a wide grin. "Look!" he announces, holding up his precarious creation. "I built a castle for us!" A sudden, sharp ache constrict…