To my dear Chuuya...

CHAPTER 8

Yuan was already waiting for the two boys outside, reading from a flimsy looking notebook, a frown forming on her face. As he got closer, Chuuya noticed that the girl was seemingly studying.

The pink haired girl noticed their presence, closing the notebook and throwing it on the ground, next to her feet. "Shirase! Chuuya," she greeted them with an over the top sweet voice and a bright smile. Even though he knew she was just trying to be friendly, Chuuya couldn't help but cringe at her act.

"Hi, Yuan," Shirase smiled, walking closer to the girl. The two of them sat down on the grass, with their backs resting against the building. Both of them looked up at Chuuya, waiting for him to sit down next to them too. The redhead sighed at their silent way of pressuring him into doing what they wanted, but he complied, sitting down next to Yuan.

She picked up the notebook she abandoned a few moments earlier, opening it with a dramatic sigh and flipping through the pages. "I can't believe all of the teachers just decided to ambush us with exams all at the same time," she whined.

"You're new here, but I think you already know about the exams, right?" Shirase asked Chuuya.

"Yeah, I know about them," the boy answered, putting his arms around his own body as he felt the coldness of late-autumn crawl up his spine. He should've went to his room to get his coat before coming out here.

"Don't worry about them too much though," Yuan suddenly said, making Chuuya snap his attention from the coldness spreading through his body back to the girl. "The teachers don't care that much anyways. Almost everyone in here is just doing enough to pass, so nobody has high expectations from us," she continued saying, the boy just nodding in understanding at her words.

Of course Chuuya knew these exams weren't all that serious, but he also couldn't bear the thought of not putting any effort in them. Ever since he was a kid, no matter in what orphanage he was, he always tried to be the best at everything he did. Whether that was arts and crafts, cleaning the dirty rooms, exams or, as he got older, fighting, he always had to be the best.

Chuuya knew he lacked a lot of things and that he wasn't particularly good at anything, so he always felt inferior to others. That's why he made up for the things he wasn't naturally born with by putting in double -even triple- the effort that others did. And he always succeeded. Everywhere he went, he always managed to make a reputation for himself- make others respect him-, and he suspected that it won't be any different here.

Because Chuuya Nakahara always made sure to be the very best at what he did, not letting others see just how imperfect he actually was.

Yuan and Shirase suddenly stopped talking, making the redhead snap from his own thoughts and look around for the reason for their silence. He looked in front of him just to be surprised by none other than Dazai, who was standing right in front of them with a coat in his hands. "It's cold outside," he said, handing Chuuya the coat, "And you're trembling like a wet dog," Dazai laughed, making Chuuya roll his eyes as he put on his coat.

"Fuck you, shithead," the redhead mumbled, sitting back down next to Shirase and Yuan.

"Oh, come on, slug. I was just trying to look out for my lovely-and also freezing- roommate," he said, all mock innocence.

Then, Dazai looked from Chuuya to the other two, the look in his eyes changing from the relaxed one Chuuya noticed he always wore when they were together to a colder one. "Are they your friends?" he asked, addressing Chuuya while still looking at Yuan and Shirase.

"That's none of your business, mackerel," the boy snapped, annoyed by Dazai's intrusion.

The bandaged boy turned his attention back to his roommate, his eyes softening again as a smile appeared on his face. "And here I thought you were so short that others couldn't even see you, let alone make friends with you. But look at you proving me wrong, chibi," he teased, taking a step back as Chuuya lunged at him, trying to punch him.

Laughter bubbled across Dazai's lips as he ran away from Chuuya. After Dazai entered the school, the redhead came back to Yuan and Shirase, who were staring at him with big eyes. The boy sat down again, putting his hands in his coat's pockets, hating the fact that he was feeling thankful to Dazai for bringing it to him.

"He really is scary," Shirase whispered, still looking at the direction in which Dazai ran earlier.

"Huh? Scary?" Chuuya asked, confused by their weird behavior.

"Yes, scary. Did you see the way he looked at us? That shit sent chills down my spine," the white haired boy said, turning his attention away from the school entrance.

"Oh, come on, Shirase. Don't say that. He just doesn't know us, that's all. But we're Chuuya's friends, so we'll get closer to him too," Yuan scolded the boy.

Chuuya was unsure of that affirmation, but he decided not to say anything about that. He wasn't even sure if him and Dazai were friends, and his roommate definitely did not look like the most approachable person, so he doubted that Shirase and Yuan will manage to get closer to him just because they were his friends. Why would Dazai care who he was friends with?

Dazai being the conversation subject, a thought suddenly crossed Chuuya's mind. "Speaking of exams, how did Dazai manage to not get expelled or something?" he suddenly asked, getting both Yuan's and Shirase's attention. "I mean, from what I've seen, he barely attends classes. I know he just needs a passing grade, but even that seems impossible for him."

Both of them stared at the boy with confused faces, but that confusion slowly turned into amusement. "Oh, so you don't know?" Yuan asked, chuckling.

"Know what?" the redhead asked.

Yuan got into a more comfortable position, flipping her hair over her shoulder so it wouldn't get in her face. "Dazai Osamu is top of our school," she said, making Chuuya laugh, but her face was serious. "He has the best grades in the entire school. Hell, he probably knows more than the teachers teaching here. That boy is seriously some sort of genius. I don't know how he did it, but he always only showed up on the day of the exam, finished the paper in half the time with a full score and then he wouldn't attend any classes until the next exam. That's probably one of the reasons why everyone was so surprised when he started coming to classes with you," she explained, Chuuya barely believing her words.

"Yup. That roommate of yours isn't only a creepy boy with psychotic tendencies, he's also apparently a genius. My list of reasons to be scared of him just keeps growing," Shirase sighed.

Chuuya slumped against the wall, thinking about the mystery that was Dazai. The mystery that just kept growing the more you discovered about it.

To be continued...

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