----- Dead Apple : Without Me

|| O7. Lupin, Snow White's Despair

"WHAT shall we toast to today?" Dazai asked as he lifted his glass.

"Shouldn't we wait for Ango to arrive?" In the dark pitch black memories, he can hear Odasaku voices.

"Lets chat, then!" The young Dazai talked to cured the loneliness. "I heard something interesting recently. Have you heard of apple suicide?"

"Apple suicide?" Odasaku asked Dazai, reassuring himself.

"Yup! Apple suicide."

"Oh, you mean Cinderella?" Somehow, a man as smart as Odasaku could suddenly become stupid when he was asked about kids bedtime tales. He sipped his drink.

"Cinderella," Dazai thought that Odasaku was told him the wrong name. "I didn't expect you said that. I never get boret of talking to you, Odasaku." Dazai turned his chair. "Just for your information, it was Snow White who ate the poison apple. Beside, it wasn't suicide in her case."

"I see." Odasaku replied him shortly. "I got it wrong."

"No, hang on!" Apparently, Dazai's strange thoughts were back. "Maybe she did commit suicide. Maybe she took a bite of the apple knowing it was poisoned."

"Why?"

"Despair." He replied. "Despair in having been given poison by her mother. No? Maybe it was a more nebulous despair. Despair intrinsic to this world. That would be interesting, if it were the case." Dazai smirked at himself. "I met an interesting gifted recently. He makes people commit apple suicide. It might become populer in Yokohama someday, too."

"Suicide, you mean?"

"Yeah." Dazai looked at Odasaku with his creepy-pretty smile. "Wouldn't it be beautiful?"

Odasaku looked at him for a while before he shrugged his shoulders. "You're an interesting one. Your mind dances." He sipped his drink again.

Dazai chukled. "Nowhere as interesting as you."

Odasaku once again looked at Dazai before he looked at the stairs. "Ango's really late."

All of the blurred memories returned to the atmosphere of the bar which began to be quiet.

Dazai snapped back to the reality. "Ango's not coming." As if he was there, the alcohol glass clinked, answering to Dazai words.

"Odasaku, what you said is true. Being on the side that saves people is definately more beautiful," He set his glass on the table. "If the goal is to continue living."

He took the pill beside the glass to his mouth. He stood up. "I'm off now, Odasaku."

Dazai left the deserted bar only to be welcomed by someone with an armed group. "Dazai-kun." The man called him.

"Oh, Ango. You're here." Dazai's back faced Ango. "Did you come for a drink?"

"No, I'm in the middle of work." The four-eyes answered.

"Work?"

Two of Ango's subordinates pointed their guns at Dazai. "You were the one who brought Shibusawa Tatsuhiko here to Yokohama, aren't you?"

Dazai turned around to faced Ango. He looked at Ango, asking for proof of the accusation.

"Are you plotting to start a mass suicide here?" Asked Ango.

But then, Dazai's eyes catched a black shadow behind Ango. Dazai smirked. "Do you think you can catch me?" Dazai asked with his deep voice.

And with that, Dazai was swallowed by the fog. He disappeared along with the entire corner of Yokohama covered with the fog.

In the deep darkness of the fog, the old deep wounds from the past start to itch again.

: Hello... short but... ugh, you can just watch the trailer for the short. I wrote this while listening to Someday My Prince Will Come. I'm touched, aww. Btw, still laughing because Odasaku said Cinderella, not Snow White:"

Give BSD fandom this kind of drink, bet they'll cry!

TBC,

Dead Apple : Without Me

June, 2020