Dazai Osamu // Shuji Tsushima
Dazai —avoiding work— was walking near the sea. He was finally able to relax as of late and get his mind under control, even if a little. The sea helped; he grew up near the port, after all. The cold yet refreshing air brushed past him, his curly hair blowing around him. He closed his eyes as he listened to his surroundings. It was so peaceful, something he truly never got enough of. Not when you’re Dazai Osamu.
Dazai felt something wash by him, something spiritual. His ability then lit up brightly.
-”Ugh, seriously… When are people gonna finally realize their abilities don’t work on me?”
He thought begrudgingly as he turned around and observed his surroundings. He was on guard, but nothing seemed off; no one was near him at all.
-” Hmm, an ability which works without contact and perhaps even vision, then.”
Dazai concluded. He wasn’t bothered by this; at this point, this was just as normal as his assaination attempts when he was in the Mafia. Then again, those never truly stopped, just prolonged until Dazai resurfaced. Dazai’s ability then lit up again, or so he thought.
-”What the?”
He said as his body was engulfed in the same glacier blue light his ability would usually emit.
-”This hasn’t happened before…”
He muttered as he blinked rapidly. The light was blinding, but Dazai wasn’t about to lose to his abilities' aftereffects. When Dazai’s vision was no longer blurred, he saw and heard nothing. Almost as if the world had fallen silent for a moment before an icy cold chill went down his spine.
He felt something, as if an instinct inside said to run. He ignored it, The infamous Demon Prodigy doesn’t run away from death. Instead, he greets it with a smile and gracious arms. He turned around to see what his instincts were telling him to run from, and his eyes landed on a human-sized porcelain doll.
-”Eh?”
Dazai said in confusion. Not only because he didn’t understand why the doll was here but also because he didn’t understand why his body had told him to run.
Dazai leaned down, now squatting in front of the motionless doll. He reached his hand to try and touch the doll. He tucked a piece of loose curly brown hair behind the ear of the doll. Why did it look similar to Dazai? Even Dazai, who barely looked at himself in the mirror, was able to tell that they looked eerily similar.
Dazai held the chin of the doll lightly to try and see the face of the doll. Its face was reminiscent of a comedy mask, the happy side of one that is. Its mouth was in a forced constant smile, and the inside of it looked like a black void of nothingness. Its eyes were similar, except they were inspired by the other side of the comedy mask. Its eyes more so resembled a mask of sorrow.
Dazai then looked its face over even more, taking in every detail he could. It had cracks —that seemed to leak a black substance— all over its face and body. Dazai took a good look at the doll. It looked eerily similar to Dazai, same curly brown hair, facial shape(Though the doll’s features were much softer), and similar body types. If it weren’t for the porcelain skin(And it being a doll), they could be considered twins or genderbends of each other. The doll looked like a female(Doll) version of Dazai. It kinda unnerved him a little.
Dazai let go of its chin and stood up. He checked the doll over again. There was a large red bow, slightly slanted, on the back of its head. It also had a beautiful yet stained and destroyed blue Kimono, it must have been a lot brighter and lighter in the past. But now, it was stained, destroyed and a dark greyish blue from usage. Not to mention all the bandages that were wrapped around it. They were all bloody and torn, clearly worn out with time and use. He looked at its legs; they had the most bandages, and it looked as if the doll was incapable of standing and those bandages were the only thing keeping its legs together.
-”This doll looks like it’s been through Hell and back…”
Dazai thought for a moment.
-”Guess it really was inspired by me.”
He snickered to himself at his thoughts. This moment didn’t last as suddenly horns and a tail started appearing on the doll. They were like fire when they appeared, yet they had a very gelly look to them after they fully materialized. The tail was the same. The demon attributes that had appeared just moments ago were composed and constructed out of different shades, colours, and assortments of blues. One moment, it was a bright cyan, and the next, it was a dark yet just as bright indigo blue. The colours seemed to move and shift like they would in water.
Dazai stepped back slightly as he reached for his knife. It was held within his jacket, and he held his hand on it as he watched intently on what the doll would do. The doll lifted its head in a panicked manner.
-”What!?”
The doll yelled. It had a beautiful and soft voice. It surprised Dazai.
-”Is it sentient?”
He thought before walking slightly closer and yet still out of the vision of the doll. It seemed as though the temperature had dropped dramatically; Dazai now could see his breaths due to how cold it was.
-”How…”
The doll muttered. It seemed panicked even more than before.
-”Hello~”
Dazai spoke cheerfully as he walked into the vision of the doll. The doll immediately seemed to relax at the sight of Dazai, yet it still seemed shocked despite not being able to express much with its comedy-mask-inspired face.
-”Osamu-Kun?”
It spoke lightly, almost in a hushed whisper. Dazai was confused.
-”Do I know you?”
He asked happily as he overlooked the doll. It now had bright indigo tears seeping from its eyes as if it was sobbing, yet they seemed to disintegrate the second they fell off its face.
-”Well,”
The doll started as it looked over Dazai in mesmerization.
-”Wow…”
It spoke in awe as it looked upon Dazai before its face lit up with a bright pinkish-red.
-“Sorry!”
It said, burying its head in its hands. Dazai was caught off guard by this.
-”Did this thing just blush in embarrassment? So it is sentient. But how? Did this thing have blood? But it had no skin? How was it able to blush like that?”
He shook his head.
-”Not the time, Osamu! Not the time.”
Dazai thought as he walked over to the embarrassed and flushed doll.
-”It’s alright, I know I’m handsome!”
Dazai proclaimed proudly. The doll finally took its face out of its hands. Dazai sat down across from it, rubbing his hands together.
-”Jesus, this doll must have dropped the temperature to below 0 or something. It’s Freezing!”
Dazai thought as he tried to keep himself warm.
-”Now, can you explain how you know me?~”
Dazai sing-songed, but there was still a clear, threatening undertone.
-”Ah, right, of course.”
The doll said. It was, very clearly, unthreatened by Dazai, which was a rare thing. The doll cleared its throat.
-”My name is Yoko, Yoko Oba. I am known to you as your ability, ‘No Longer Human’.”
Dazai’s brain short-circuited for a second before it then rebooted up and short-circuited again.
-”I know it doesn’t make sense. Trust me, I don’t understand it either. But some type of ability washed by me and my Soul Energy immediately disabled it.”
Dazai thought for a minute. This made no sense.