purrtagonist | [Day 2, daytime: Dazai, Ichigo]

[sorry Dazai, he doesn't want that much!!]

[he also gives Ichigo a grateful nod, the flicker of a smile appearing on his lips. then? bac to Dazai]

I'd like to keep the book too, if you'd let me. But that's negotiable, while the rest isn't.

I'd be fine with handing back over, but it's really up to Dazai.

[He did get stopped when he tried to hand it back, after all.]

[... this kid could just feed them lies tho.

question is: does he care enough?

not really but also--]

After you explain, I'll make that call.

[seems fair to him, since obviously there are things they dont want to reveal and he has skimmed it so if Akira lies, he'll know its a deal made in bad faith]

[. . . okay. that's fair. even if he still feels like this deal is skewed a bit too much in Dazai's direction? he'll take it]

[with a nod, Akira flaps a hand at the book, before he folds his arms again. and, with the deepest of sighs, he begins]

Well, first things first.

[makes. . . a face]

There's a 90% chance that I'm Nasty Crimeboy.

[Well that's gonna get... a blank look at first, and then ramp up to something between humor (because holy shit that's amazing) and empathy (because holy shit that's not even anywhere near his actual name, at least his book just made an apple pun), and you can clearly see that he's fighting to hold in his laughter while also feeling bad about the fact that he wants to laugh so badly you guys

Finally, he manages to squeak out something]

I, uh...I see.

[NO REALLY DUDE HE'S SORRY BUT THIS IS FUNNY AS SHIT]

[drawing his arm back under the blankets because like. reasons. also still drugged and thus shutting his eyes.

but not looking especially surprised. HE KNOWS PROTAGS.]

Ah, is that so.

[god maybe Dazai won't even remember half of this conversation because he's TOO DRUGGED TO FOCUS]

[to Ichigo]

Please don't ask, I don't have an answer.

[RUBS HIS TEMPLE. . . another sigh, and he continues]

Anyway. Before coming here, I was the leader of a group of-- thieves.

[there's a brief pause before he says "thieves," only because he was trying to think of a more delicate way to put it before he realized there wasn't one. ah, well. they were thieves, and thieves they would always be]

We took it upon ourselves to steal the distorted desires of the wicked. Change their hearts so they would confess to their crimes with their own mouths and spend the rest of their lives carrying their guilt on their shoulders. It was our. . . justice, you could say. Our way of reforming a society in which the powerful took advantage of the weak.

Goro Akechi-- [wags a finger at the book again, since he doesn't know what Akechi's dumb alternate name is] Was the detective that opposed us.

[...Wow. So the 'stealing hearts' stuff wasn't a metaphor - or maybe it still was in this situation? Something like this sounds simplified, but also complicated once you got deeper into it.

Ichigo listens in silence, not flinching at the 'thieves' thing - hell, with what he's done before, that sounds downright normal - his expression only changing once Akira mentions society. He understands that kind of motive, at least - it was one reason why he was so adamant about protecting and helping people who needed it.

But hearing about Akechi...that actually makes him blink.]

What? Why?

[what a good Ichigo who asks all the relevant questions while Dazai just kind of huffs, amused, into his pillow because lolol precious cute thieves stealing bad things from people and acting like that's such a crime.

but also Akechi being the detective has him peering curiously at Akira again through barely opened eyes.

that is certainly interesting.]

[inhales, and exhales deeply]

He was a famous detective back home. He consulted with the police and prosecutor's offices on multiple occasions, and appeared on talk shows all of the time.

[he rolls his shoulders back in a shrug]

The police considered us a threat. Sure, we were only targeting criminals, but the ability to change a heart is a dangerous power, and they knew it. It's only natural that someone aligned with the law would speak out against us.

[. . . that's the simple version of it, anyway]

...They still should have just let you do it.

[If it was for the better, then who cared? If it had been changing people to act violently or for the worse, then he would have understood, but...]

So if he was after you, I'm guessing your relationship here's been strained?

[You know, the whole...murdergame thing....]

No. Akechi-kun told him who had the book.

[besides, a lawful type setting fire to shit? c'mon. not a real lawful type. or at least, not the good lawful type.]

It's--

[. . . . . . . . . .]

[. . .]

Complicated.

[boy howdy how does he explain his weirdo Rank 10 Confidant with Akechi in simple terms]

[....You know what, fair enough. Ichigo will just...nod at that, and scratch the back of his head.]

You don't have to explain if you don't want to.

[Waiting until he's ready to really talk about it and all that.]

[fuck that.]

Someone with distorted desires?

[well, Ichigo tried. but Dazai puts it in a way that makes explaining things a bit. . . easier]

Yeah.

[he has no doubt that if Akechi were capable of having a Palace (which he is not, because he's a Persona user), he would have had one]

But not desires that we could actively steal. [game world mechanics. he won't get into those, yet] To make a long story fairly short. . .

[ccccasually]

He tried to kill me. Twice.

[OH.

You know, he was going to shoot a glance at Dazai for being so tactless, but then...

Yeah. That happened.]

....Ah.

[WHAT IS THERE TO REALLY SAY TO THAT]

Succeed with anyone else?

[c'mon, he knows how this goes. he'll make it easy for you.]

[god damn]

[Akira's tensing up a bit, if only because it's almost unnerving how good Dazai is at predicting what is to come]

Many others. All in the name of advancing a certain cause. It's who he was, underneath the pleasant smiles and charming television personality.

[. . .]

No, that's not right. It isn't who he was-- it's what the world turned him into.

[Yeah, Ichigo actually freezes at hearing that. Killing while keeping up that pleasant personality? Changing because that's what the world turned him into?

He's reminded of someone with such loneliness in his blade, even as he reached the height of power itself.

What happened earlier makes a lot more sense now.]

...I see. That...that has to be hard for you.

[Because he's not only seeing someone who killed others, but...from the way it sounds like, he has sympathy for him.

And he gets what that feels like.]

[nnnnggggh... burrowing a little, suddenly feeling just. sick. for reasons the alcoholism stems from.

muttering, muffled by pillow:]

Give 'im the book.

Hard for me?

[he tilts his head towards Ichigo, frown curling down the corners of his mouth. hard on him? hell]

. . . there are things he's done that I can't forgive him for. [he can't, he won't, not yet, not now] But in the end, he's the one of us who has no one to catch him when he falls.

[and with that. . . he holds out his hand for the book]

[Like before, he easily hands it over, placing the book in Akira's hands.]

I understand. About...what you mean with him.

[He closes his eyes for a moment, letting out a harsh sigh.]

I know someone like that, too. He's done things no one should, ruined lives and killed people, but...

[He just can't forget that loneliness, that sense of isolation due to what he was, and the power he wielded.

That could have been the path Ichigo himself walked down on, after all.

Did Akira feel that way about Akechi, too?]

....Thank you. For telling us, I mean.

[huuuuuuuuuffs. because that's a better sound to make than the ones in his head.]

If you're takin' responsibility, go clean up the library.

[snorts]

Not that kind of responsibility.

[PLEASE HE ISN'T A MAID]

I'm one of three people now who know what he's capable of.

And I want to make sure he doesn't hurt anyone here. I don't think he will-- [for SO many reasons] -- but I'm still keeping an eye on him.

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