Anywhere the Wind Blows

Chapter 1

I was no stranger to living off the streets; it was how I spent my early childhood, after all. However, being a so-called "street urchin" in the city as opposed to simply scavenging in the slums did have its benefits. First of all, they had a lot of people with more money and valuables in their pockets. Some were easier to rob from as well. This led to a few nights of actually buying my own food. While I'm not a picky eater, the city did have a lack of bugs and plants to satisfy my near starvation. Of course, one of the other drawbacks is how police infest several areas, including the smallest of fast food places. This led to either one of them or one of the other customers recognizing me and pointing me out. Not that it was a problem; it was just annoying. Fortunately, the second good thing about the big city was that it had a lot of dark alley ways to lure approaching officers and swiftly kill them. They also served as good hiding spots to scout for a decent prey.

And yet sometimes I can't believe I've sunk so low in the last six months.

Admittedly, I did not have much of a plan when I went out on my search. I suppose I was lucky and skilled enough to have made it this far. Still, I needed to find him. It was the only option I had at this point.

I was walking along the road beside the river (nearly getting run over by someone in a motorbike and almost spotted by the military) when something caught my eye at the side of my vision.

I saw two figures beside the river at the bottom of the ravine, both soaking wet. I recognized both of them.

The first, smaller one with white hair and torn blue clothing I met a few days ago; I was scouring others to rob them and grabbed him. But the moment I saw his skinny form, pale skin, and rugged clothes and hair, I realize he wouldn't have much or even anything at all and threw him back.

The other one was...

Him.

I immediately jumped down into the ravine with the white-haired boy and him. He was breathing heavily on his knees, while he was lying on his back with his eyes closed. He was breathing, right? He had to have been breathing!

I turned back to the white-haired boy. If they were both soaking wet, then he had to have done something to him! I grabbed his torn blue shirt and lifted him to my face.

"What did you do to him?!"

"Wha- uh-uh- I-"

"I swear if he's dead I will-"

He woke up. It was so quick, so sudden; he just sat straight up as if nothing had happened. In my shock, I dropped the white-haired boy. He landed with a thud and a groan. But my eyes were only on him.

"A-are you alright?" I cursed myself for sounding so timid.

"You were just floating in the river." The white-haired boy stated weakly. At least I didn't sound as pathetic as him.

"I... survived? Damn!"

"'Damn?'"

Ahh, I forgot about Dazai's desire for death.

He scolded the white-haired boy for saving him before stating he was at fault since his attempted suicide caused him problems.

I had known about Dazai's wish for the afterlife since I first met him; his empty eyes said it all. However, I was unaware he was making such drastic attempts on his own life. Must have begun happening after he left the Port Mafia.

Then he looked at me. He looked straight into my eyes. His expression was unreadable as usual, but I could tell he was scanning me. He had to have recognized me. Then I realized how worn out I looked. I probably appeared worse than how he first found me as a child in the slums; my choppy hair was longer and stuck out in various directions, my black coat was sadly gone (fortunately I discovered other means to use my ability), leaving me in a torn and slightly stained white shirt (now missing the... that thing that went on the front, whatever it's called)and black pants, the soles of my shoes were practically falling apart, and my face probably looked as tired as I felt. And then there's the fact that I still needed to explain why I'm-