Spain Without The S!

Chapter 6: Sceming and Light Reading

Elise and Kouyo entered back into the room where Chuuya was being kept.
Elise wore a big smile as she held a bouquet of flowers in her arms.
Just from a glance Dazai couldn't tell what kind of flowers they were, but it was an assortment of reds, oranges, and a few white flowers.
He smiled as he stood up, "seems you guys were successful."
Elise nodded, "Yup!"
Kouyo set a vase down on the nightstand and took the flowers, "why dont you go get some water?"
Elise nodded as she ran off to go get a cup.
Kouyo chuckled, "I might run out of ways to destract her soon... she's so busy..."
Dazai nodded in agreement, "I wish I had that much energy."
Kouyo gave him a stern look, "I'm going to watch him tonight. You need to go sleep."
Dazai sighed, "alright," there would be no arguing with her.
Kouyo looked over at Chuuya, "Mori told me that he should know if any bones are broken by tonight."
Dazai stretched out his arm, "that's good."
Kouyo smiled down at Chuuya, "I wonder what he's dreaming about..."

——

Mori's mouth curled into a smile, "nothing's broken."
Kouyo let out a sigh of relief.
"You know... Elise said something interesting to me this morning..." Mori spoke slowly.
"And that is?"
"I'm glad we had Dazai leave already, I don't think he should know yet."
"Know what?" Kouyo grew suspicious.
"Elise said that Chuuya needed Prince Charming to kiss him awake."
Kouyo waited for him to continue.
The mafia boss chuckled, "but what if it wasn't a kiss? What if it was just a touch?"
Kouyo looked over at Chuuya's body.
"Kouyo, have you seen Dazai touch Chuuya at all?"
"Dazai?" She asked, "well... no, actually..."
Mori's smile grew, "his nullification skill is quite strange sometimes, though it always works. It is possible that Chuuya could be awakened if Dazai would just touch him."
Kouyo furrowed her brow, "now that I think about it, Dazai seemed to be avoiding touching him..." she squeezed Chuuya's hand in her own. "But why would Dazai avoid..."
Mori shrugged, "you never know with him."
Kouyo sighed, "I'll... why didn't you want him to know yet?"
Mori smiled, "I thought maybe if Elise suggested it he wouldn't take it as seriously. Who knows, he might just do it if she pleads with him. Elise-Chan can be quite convincing."
Kouyo stared at Chuuya's hand, hating how light it felt, "alright... I'll talk to Elise about it in the morning."
"Don't stay up too late, I can't have two sleepy executives," Mori said as he turned.
Kouyo chuckled, "you know I'm not sleeping tonight."
Mori sighed, "you never were one to listen to me, anyways."

——

As the hours drew by Kouyo grew more and more paranoid. This couldn't be good for her mental state.
She kept having intrusive thoughts that Dazai might not be willing to help. That even if he did, it wouldn't do anything.
Why was Dazai avoiding touching Chuuya anyways?... what was he afraid of?...
Then again, Dazai could have done something like Kouyo was currently. He could have held his hand through the night.
Kouyo rubbed Chuuya's knuckles with her thumb. She noticed his hands seemed a little too soft for someone who worked as hard as he did, but he did always wear gloves.
Kouyo smiled, "Chuuya, you're always so clean... I might even say that you keep yourself cleaner than me..."
She chuckled to herself, "you'll probably want to soak in a bath for a good long time after this, huh?..." She reached over and brushed some of his hair aside.
She didn't even realize it, but she started braiding a few strands of his hair that were draped over his shoulder. She smiled, imagining Chuuya telling her to stop because it was embarrassing.
Kouyo realized just how much she had taken Chuuya's presence in her life for granted.
As her complection became sad, something caught her eye. There was a book on the nightstand. She carefully picked it up. There was a sticky note plastered to it.
"Found this while pilfering Chuuya's drawers for his clothes =P — Dazai".
Kouyo turned open the book. It was a notebook and Chuuya's name was written on the front page in his familiar handwriting.
Kouyo smiled, was this a diary? And why was Dazai looking for his clothes?
Kouyo licked her finger before turning the page and leaning back in the chair.
She stared at the page, not daring to read the words. From how the characters were organized on the page it seemed to be...
"Chuuya, you write poetry?..." she looked over at him. She suddenly felt like she shouldn't read it. It felt wrong to intrude on Chuuya's privacy. But it also felt like Dazai really wanted her to. He always had a strange way of bringing people closer together...
She eventually let her eyes drift across the paper, reading the words.
She read and reread that first page for a moment before looking over at Chuuya again. She couldn't make sense of it, but it wasn't meant for her to understand anyway.
She read a few other pages and slowly started to understand everything that had been written. Her brows knit together with concern.
Again, she looked at the unconscious young executive who offered her nothing. Despite how strange and foreign his written words seemed to be, the more she read the more she could see Chuuya's personality unfolding.
She smiled to herself after another few pages, it seemed Dazai was working his magic again.
But did that mean Dazai had read it as well?...
She slowly closed the book, returning it to the bedside table next to the flowers.
Kouyo sat back in her chair and just watched Chuuya for a while. His poetry returned to her mind several times.
Anyone but her would probably never have expected Chuuya to write such delicate and carefully thought out words. She gave a small smile, "there's so much I want to say to you..."