Parted Entanglement { ⑤ }

Chapter 4

Atsushi sat by Dazai's bedside. He briefly rubbed his eyes before turning around. ''Sorry ,'' His eyes were wet, his nose was a little red. ''I promised Dazai-san to be strong, and yet I failed ,'' He said as he smiled bitterly, then he looked back at Dazai in silence. ''If it wasn't for Dazai-san, I wouldn't be here now... I'd probably die of hunger at the river side, and be a corpse people couldn't care less about ,'' His voice sounded a little hoarse. ''He's like a big brother to me...'' Chuuya spoke after a while. ''He'll wake up, all we have to do is to have faith in him ,'' Atsushi smiled and nodded. ''Yeah ,''

*

Haku sat up as soon as he heard someone open the bedroom door. ''Couldn't fall asleep ?'' Haruka sat up too and shook her head. It was twelve in the midnight already, and yet they all were still awake, it's been like that in the past few days. Chuuya didn't know what to do with them to make them sleep better, because he too felt it hard to fall asleep, because he would have nightmares, and so as Haku, who saw that too. ''Papa, can we skip school tomorrow ?'' Ever since what happened to Dazai, they had been going on with their daily lives as before. Chuuya's never taken leave, the kids too went to school as usual.

''... Okay ,'' ''Thanks Papa ,'' Haku lied back down, but Haruka got off her bed. ''Papa can you tell me a story ?'' She was holding her favourite story book, the one Dazai always read for her. ''Yeah, sure ,'' Chuuya closed the door and went to the master bedroom with Haruka behind him. Haku, who had his eyes closed before, opened his eyes and stared at the wall before him.

*FLASHBACK*

''Da--Dazai... DAZAI !!!'' Chuuya ran to the brunet lying on the floor, limp and lifeless. There was blood, a lot of blood, a pool of it formed around him. Some of it splattered, reaching out towards anyone at all like it was seeking for help. Chuuya held him, blood amongst brown hair painted his gloves red. ''Dazai stay with me, stay with me, please ,'' His brunet was barely breathing, his pulse was so weak that almost nothing could be felt. ''Hey, hey, stay with me, it's okay, help's on the way okay ? It's okay, stay with me ,'' The ground got coated in more and more crimson, he could feel Dazai's warmth slipping away slowly. Tears streamed down his cheeks. ''Dazai...''

*PRESENT*

Haku sat up again. He took out his phone and earbuds and chose a song for himself. He closed his eyes and leaned against the headboard. That was his favourite song, it's also Dazai's favourite. Slowly, his eyelids grew heavy and eventually, he fell asleep.

空っぽの手のひら
An empty palm,

君の手にぎって
Holding your hand.

それだけで
Just by that,

僕らは行ける
We'll walk forward.

一緒に越えて行こう
Let's overcome together.

一人じゃないなら
You're not alone.

Haruka fell asleep on Chuuya's laps. He put her on the other side of the bed, onto Dazai's pillow, and whispered 'good night'.

*

''Haku ! The school's gonna hold a fun event !'' Haku's friend chirped behind him. ''How'd you know ?'' ''My mom's friends with one of the teachers here ,'' Then the teacher walked into the classroom. ''Juz wait for it, Shiemi-sensei will announce it ,''

''Our school will hold an event, in which you will invite your parents to participate in playing games with you on the school field ,'' Haku's classmates immediately started their discussion, some were excited, whereas some thought that it'd be awkward. ''Kids, please listen, I know you're excited ,'' The teacher went on talking about the details. ''Any questions ?'' Haku raised his hand. ''Shiemi-sensei, I don't think my parents can come ,''

''Hmm do you have any other family members that can come on behalf of your parents ?'' Haku shook his head. ''Why can't your parents come ?'' His teacher asked him, her expression looking like she felt sad for the ten year-old boy. ''Umm... work ,'' ''Both ?'' Haku hesitated for a second. ''Yeah ,''

No... actually...

Chuuya would go with him, but Haku knew that he's been trying to distract himself with work, so Haku decided not to tell him about this.

*

''Nakahara, are you anywhere close to the hospital ?'' Chuuya was walking to the hospital. ''Yeah, why ?'' Kunikida spoke with a serious tone. ''You have to rush to Dazai's side right now, the people we've been looking for could be planning to do him harm ,'' Chuuya immediately started running. As soon as he opened the door, he saw a young man in a white coat holding a syringe in his hand. He was injecting some kind of liquid into the bag of saline solution which was connected to Dazai's arm through a slim tube.

Chuuya abruptly stopped him, he sent him clashing onto the glass window, causing a web-like crack on it. It was when Chuuya stepped forward to grab his collar that his vision went out all of a sudden. ''Wha--'' He couldn't see anything, it was pitch black before his eyes. All he heard was something crashing through glass and the glass splinters falling onto the floor.

Then the electronic vital sign monitor started beeping. ''Dazai !'' Chuuya turned around and searched blindly, his hands reaching out in search for something. Then he felt a sensation of warmth at his fingertips. ''Dazai ,'' He held the brunet's hand. ''Nakahara !'' Kunikida rushed in with the doctor. ''The bag, he injected something into the bag !'' Chuuya still couldn't see anything. With the help of a nurse, the doctor changed the bag and checked on Dazai. ''How is he ?'' Chuuya was still holding his brunet's hand in his.

''He should be fine, fortunately, the toxic substance was in little amount ,'' If Chuuya hadn't arrived in time, Dazai would be poisoned to death. The doctor left after making sure that the patient would be fine, then Atsushi noticed something. ''Chuuya-san, are you okay ?'' He saw Chuuya's eyes, they weren't focused at all. ''I can't see anything, it started when I was close to catching that guy ,'' He frowned. ''Tsk ! To think that I let him escape ,''

Kunikida crossed his arms and sat on a chair. ''We've looked up that two culprits, they wanna get revenge for someone who made them kill their parents because their parents had been beating them up whenever they feel like it, so their 'Master' could've been a saviour to them ,'' As Kunikida spoke, Chuuya's vision came back gradually. ''We haven't found their hideout yet, but according to your info, at least we know what their abilities are. One of them can manipulate solids such as concrete, whereas the other can block out or rather take away one's sight for a couple of minutes ,''

Then Tanizaki spoke. ''But since he could block out your vision, why didn't he juz kill you ?'' Chuuya shrugged. ''Maybe he's scared of me. After all, even without my vision, I'm still capable of taking the enemy down by a close-up fight ,'' Kunikida sighed as he pushed up his glasses. ''We've been careless. We're too focused on the enemy's target being the kids and failed to realized they might come for Dazai straight ,'' ''Kunikida-san, I think we should take turns looking after Dazai-san ,'' Atsushi suggested.

Kunikida nodded at his words. ''Indeed, we don't know if they're gonna strike again. Atsushi, stop taking part in searching for them, you and Tanizaki take turns, make sure to keep Dazai safe ,'' Atsushi looked at Tanizaki, whom nodded at him. Then Kunikida turned to Chuuya. ''We'll find them as soon as we can ,'' Chuuya nodded, his gaze lingering on the brunet lying quietly on the bed.