fortune is unpredictable and mutable

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it was a stupid idea. you knew it was a stupid idea. but you only live once, right? You had never been a fan of parties, especially ones like these. loud music, bright lights, and classmates you barely knew. well, they wouldn't really be your classmates for much longer. because this was it. college was finally over, your last class was weeks ago and the graduation ceremony, yesterday. So this was one last party to kiss your childhood goodbye.

you're not entirely sure what compelled you to agree. you didn't know anyone at this place particularly well. the closest one to a friend was your former roommate, sage. now you and sage were never particularly close, but they liked you enough to extend the invitation to you. after four long years of work, you figured you could at least try to have some fun.

it was getting late. or perhaps it was getting early. it had to be past two in the morning at this point, and the party was finally beginning to die down. you didn't know you'd be here for this long, but seeing as sage was your ride, you really had no choice but to stick it out until they were ready to leave. after all, this event was located deep in the woods. you couldn't exactly call an uber out here. you just had to sit patient until sage found themselves ready to leave.

you had drunk a lot more than you ever had previously, you thought. sure you'd definitely drunk in the past, but never to the point you'd consider yourself actually drunk. with the amount you'd had tonight, it was a miracle you were able to walk (though your walking was more akin to clumsy staggering; it was close enough). however, it also seemed that you weren't the only one who managed to get themselves in such a state.

"sage, what the fuck?" you spoke, annoyed.

"huh?" they simply turned back to you, a mildly confused expression on their face.

"you're supposed to be driving us back! why are you drunk?"

"oh my god, relax." they finished the rest of the liquid currently in their cup with a final swig. "i know how to drive well enough, okay? besides i'm not even that drunk, you'll be fine."

you rolled your eyes, but you trusted sage. yeah, this was kind of dumb of them, but you had faith in their alcohol tolerance. and it's not like you really had a choice. you were in the middle of the woods after all. it's not as though you could just call an uber. and what else were you gonna do? not leave? sleep in the woods?

after a couple more minutes of doing your share of cleaning up and packing away trash, you sat yourself in the passenger seat of the car.

for the most part the ride was relatively dull. music blasted from the speakers and the road was certainly bumpy, with the occasional violent swerve. but it wasn't all that bad. you had noticed the car picking up some speed, but figured nothing of it. until you noticed the tree that was terrifyingly close. you blinked, unsure of what to do. you should probably tell sage to watch out. it was getting really really close. maybe if you hadn't drunk so much you would've moved faster. maybe you would've come up with a solution in the nick of time. but you didn't. you just sat there in mild terror watching as the tree came closer and closer until you hit it.

it was strange. you expected things to go dark, to pass out or something like that. but that didn't happen. it was like you blinked. one moment you were heavily inebriated, barreling towards a tree, and the next you were completely sober. and falling. falling? you turned your head. above you was a clear night sky, stars shining brightly. below you was a warehouse. below...? shit.

it didn't take you long to put two and two together. with the way the wind whipped harshly around you. you were falling. and you would crash directly into that warehouse if you didn't do anything. but what was there to do? you're in the same clothing you recall dressing in for the party. it's not like you have a parachute. all you could do was screw your eyes closed and wait for impact and your likely death.

which was why you were surprised when you didn't feel that either. you heard the sounds, sure. they were quite loud so it would have been hard not to. the echo of wood cracking and snapping as a force barreled through it. the thump of your body hitting the ground so hard. but you didn't feel anything. anything except the ground bellow you. the ground which has certainly also taken the brute force of the impact. you could tell by the way the floor curved upwards and you were sitting at the deepest point of it. it was akin to a crater.

slowly you opened your eyes taking a look at the damage. much to your shock your senses were correct. your body wasn't simply numbing out the pain. there wasn't a single scratch on you. you were fine. you groaned. even if you weren't physically in pain you were still beyond confused. you pulled your gaze off of yourself, preparing to look up and try to gather exactly where you were and how you ended up here. you didn't, however, expect to see a small group of people staring at you with about as much confusion as you were currently feeling. and much less for them to be people you recognize.

"atsushi...? dazai?!" your gaze filtered around the people that surrounded you. mouth agape in shock. these were all characters you knew well. so why were they standing in front of you? everyone appeared even more startled by your sudden recognition, but none more than dazai and atsushi themselves. it was natural, when someone sounded like they'd known your their whole life but you couldn't even recognize their face.

"hm?" dazai quirked his head to the side. "do you know us from somewhere?"

you quickly pushed yourself off of the ground and to your feet. looking around at each individual in front of you once more.

"know you? of course! you're with the armed detective agency, but-" you quickly cut yourself off. what were you even planning to say? but you're not real? you couldn't exactly tell the people standing directly in front of you looking nothing short of alive that they weren't.

but you're still so so confused. you'd lived the recent years of your life with a borderline worrisome interest in the show. not only having rewatched the series countless times but read the entirety of the manga, including light novels and the beast au. your knowledge of this series was expansive and your love towards it was deep. which is why it didn't take you long to figure out exactly where in the timeline you were. with the entire agency present and atsushi in his old clothes, plus the location, you were quickly able to deduce that you had landed roughly after the events of the first episode.

"buuuut...?" ranpo prompted you to continue the sentence.

you paused for a second. you definitely couldn't continue that sentences. and knowing the people around you, you probably couldn't pretend you weren't planning to say anything at all. they're too smart for that.

"but why the hell did i just fall out of the sky?" your words came out in a calmer tone than you thought they would have, given the situation. laced with no malice or aggression just an apparent confusion.

"i was wondering the exact same thing." yosano spoke.

"think it has something to do with an ability user?" ranpo turned his gaze away from you and to yosano instead.

"well why don't we ask them? hey, what do you remember from before you fell?" dazai asked you, voice as patient as ever.

"i... i don't know. i don't know anything, actually. i mean other than my name. i don't know if i have any friends or family, or a home. i have no memories at all now that i think about it." it was the truth. sure you could recall information from your world but it's beyond clear to you that you're no longer there. you knew nothing about your life in this reality, nor if you even existed here before you plumited from the sky.

it was then that you felt your arm being held by someone else, yosano to be precise.

"and no sign of injury either. that fall looked really bad. i'm surprised you're not hurt at all." she commented. "an ability?" yosano held eye contact with you waiting for an answer to her question. you only shrugged your shoulders in response. hell if you knew.

"well well well, two strange encounters in just one day. how interesting." dazai spoke up once more. "you said you don't have any memories of a place to stay? how about you stick with the armed detective agency for a while? this phenomenon is definitely something we need to investigate."

he didn't need to ask you twice.

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