Bungo stray dogs One Shots

Odango - Hotpot

There was once a time not long ago when three friends were still laughing together. It had been a dark era but those fellows did their best to get around the darkness of life. They often met at a small bar but at times they met at other places aside from work. Three men who didn't know that evil would come and drag them down.

The evil that was just within their grasp. One among them was pure evil. He would destroy the rules and the carefree atmosphere soon. He would even do it with a smile.

Someone who would sacrifice his two best friends even though they only showed him, love. Someone who would do this with a smile despite knowing the consequences of his actions. Because he had lived with this. Because he had come to terms with it. He didn't even realize what he did to those two. Unintentional yet intentional evil. Complicated but yes it existed.

Said person was no one other than the youngest mafia executive. Then the small child that had only seen darkness through his whole life. A child that wanted love to fill the void inside his heart yet the void was too big to fill. The child that wanted to die yet wanted a reason to live. A child that was too smart for this cruel world... And his food was as dark as he was.

Ango didn't know what was in this hot pot in front of him but he was scared. Was Dazai a witch and tried to poison them? The bubbling black mixture seemed way too thick to be edible. There were small pieces of who knows what inside it too. Shouldn't you be able to at least recognize one of the ingredients?!

Slowly Ango looked to the side to see if there was only (hopefully) a problem with his glasses. But the former assassin who had perfect control over all his facial muscles usually looked extremely horrified and confused. Oh no.

Another thing that was worrying Ango was the child in front of the hotpot. Dazai was probably aware that his cooking wasn't something he should show anyone but only use for torture. Yet Dazai seemed to eat his cooking at times and also tried his best with cooking it for his two friends today. So he was unintentional yet intentional evil.

This situation, this hotpot right in front of them made Ango rethink his whole life. Rethink if it was wrong to infiltrate the mafia. Rethink if he shouldn't ditch his friends earlier now and ignore all the threats because there was the biggest one in front of him.

But he couldn't leave Odasaku alone. Odasaku was like a friendly and overly cautious golden retriever. Odasaku knew that they might not come out of this room alive if they even just took a bite from this hotpot. Odasaku slowly put some of the mixtures on his plate. splat. Even the noise when it slowly dripped from the spoon onto the plate was disgusting.

However, Odasaku wasn't the man who would want to sadden his friend who cooked so long for them. Plus wasting food was something Odasaku would never do, he had just gone through so much that wasting something he didn't have before was a no-go for him.

Splat. Ango also took a spoon full of this mixture. It wasn't about offending Dazai and becoming suspicious but more about making a friend happy. And not leaving Odasaku alone if they both left for the afterlife now.

Odasaku looked at Ango. His eyes spoke for themselves: "See you in the afterlife. Tell my family that I have loved them".

To which Ango only looked at him annoyed and nodded as if to say: "You don't have any family. Anyway till later".

And so they both took a bite from the mixture. The mixture that stretched a little like cheese and tasted indescribable... Yep, it was so disgusting you couldn't describe it.

What has to be noted now is that it was so disgusting that both of their brains would later decide to forget this experience forever and everything that is liked to it. They would start to process it a few hours from now and then after a day come to the conclusion that this was a memory so painful and horrible they didn't need. So yes all that will happen from now on is something they cannot remember later. Except for Dazai, his brain has already reached peak nihilism after realizing that this would be his source of nutrients from now on.

Odasaku's whole body stopped now. He seemed as if his entire existence had stopped. He regretted his whole life choices and saw his life slowly repeat. He had now seen the true evil and ugly. The true disgustingness.

And Ango? Ango had to retch constantly. He wanted to lose that taste but every time he gasped for air it was as if he tasted it again. It felt like the lump he had just eaten was moving inside him while his stomach was screaming.

As his two friends were retching and trying to eat some candy for a different taste Dazai ate the rest of the hotpot ignoring them. He ate every last bit of it and then exhaled slowly with his tummy filled. "I must say that was such a good meal! Good work me! That was the best hotpot I have ever made!"

Those words made Ango and Odasaku realize the fate of this poor child. If that was good, then what was bad...? It made them regret existence in itself. How can someone cook something so horrible...?

Dazai turned towards his friends with a smile: "What did you guys think?". There were small sparkles in his eyes as well.

"It...", Odasaku started.

"...wasn't... well I mean it wasn't that...", Ango stopped as he felt another retch coming up.

"...that bad", Odasaku completed the sentence. An absolute lie from both of them. But less of a lie than saying it was edible. Plus it wasn't as bad as eating coconut. Not the flesh obviously but the outer hairy shell. So hey it wasn't THAT bad that Odasaku would rather eat the coconut shell. He would rather eat nothing from those two options though...

'REALLY! Nice!" Dazai exclaimed with a smile and started to clean the table. Ango was quite thankful for that. He hoped that he would never have to eat Dazai's cooking again. The brunette went away into the kitchen leaving the two traumatized men alone.

Odasaku slowly turned towards his friend. Firmly he put his hands on the other one's shoulder and looked into his eyes: "I lied. I don't think that was edible."

Ango nodded while being thankful that Odasaku had a tight grip so he wouldn't fall when he would pass out. Because it felt like it. Odasaku was still taking it better but Ango because it felt like he would taste everything again if Ango just moved his tongue.

"Do you think we can make it out alive?" Odasaku asked his friend. After all, Ango was the smarter one of them. Ango slowly estimated their chances. Yet considering everything he was pretty sure that they would die soon. So he slowly shook his head.

"Oh...", Odasaku closed his eyes. He seemed devasted that the end of his life would not be a gun but a hotpot. That he would lose it after finally moving out of hell. "I do have one thing I regret".

Ango looked at his friend. In their last minutes until they had digested enough of this hotpot to die he would want to listen to his friend. His friend and his crush. The one who was annoying yet so sweet and kind.

"I- I love you Ango", Odasaku looked at his friend as he finally confessed those feelings. Feelings he would rather hide than tell. Because who would want to love someone like Odasaku? But now that the end was near Odasaku suddenly wished to leave without a single regret. He had a good life in the mafia. He had friends, adopted some kids, and even found love. It was a good end.

Ango blinked a few times. He was confused. Who wouldn't be if your crush confessed to you? "Me too", he whispered a sad smile forming on his face. Also, Odasaku's eyes filled with disbelief. This was probably the happiest moment in both their lives for now.

And then they both passed out. Came back to life. Did their work in a daze and forgot everything that has happened. Damn that hotpot!

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I had that idea for a while now and I wanted to write it... Before you say this is stupid: It's canon. Not then confessing and all but in the dark era novel they really can't remember anything that had happened after eating Dazai's food (or was it in Bungo stray dogs wan? I don't know anymore xDDD)

Anyway thank you for reading, I hope you enjoyed it! I wrote some important stuff in the soukoku-return A/N so if you haven't read that one I wouldn't mind you checking it out once again ;)