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A small snippet that's basically a summary of one of the Bungou Stray Dogs short stories I'm working on, "Pandora's [LOST AND FOUND] Box"

This one might turn into a mini series within "Soukoku Kaleidoscope" but idk yet. It's definitely going to be one of the longer short stories though lol. It's inspired by found footage and fics where the agency watches videos from Dazai's past in the mafia. I can't think of any specific fics because it's been so long since I read them, but there are some really good ones out there. Feel free to link any you know in the comments!! But I just couldn't get my own ideas with that type of prompt out of my head, so I'm making my own version of it. It's gonna be a heavy one.

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Weirdly Healing Things to Do When You’re Feeling Creatively Burned Out...

Write a fake 5-star Goodreads review of your WIP—as if you didn’t write it. Go ahead. Pretend you're a giddy reader who just discovered this masterpiece. Bonus: add emojis, chaotic metaphors, and all-caps screaming. It’s self-indulgent. It’s delusional. It’s delicious.

Give your main character a Pinterest board titled “Mentally Unstable but Aesthetic.” Include outfits, quotes, memes, cursed objects, and that one painting that haunts their dreams. This is not about logic. This is about ✨vibes.✨

Make a “deleted scenes” folder and write something that would never make it into the book. A crackfic. A “what if they were roommates” AU. The group chat from hell. This is your WIP’s blooper reel. Let it be silly, chaotic, or wildly off-brand.

Interview your villain like you’re Oprah. Ask the hard-hitting questions. “When did you know you were the drama?” “Do you regret the murder, or just the way you did it?” Bonus points if they lie to your face.

Host a fake awards show for your characters. Categories like “Most Likely to Die for Vibes,” “Worst Emotional Regulation,” “Himbo Energy Supreme,” or “Best Use of a Dramatic Exit.” Write their acceptance speeches. Yes, this counts as writing.

Write a breakup letter… to your inner critic. Be petty. Be dramatic. “Dear Self-Doubt, this isn’t working for me anymore. You bring nothing to the table but anxiety and bad vibes.” Rip it up. Burn it. Tape it to your mirror. Your call.

Create a “writing comfort kit” like you’re a cozy witch. A candle that smells like your WIP. A tea that your characters would drink. A playlist labeled “for writing when I’m one rejection email away from giving up.” This is a ritual now.

Design a fake movie poster or book cover like your story is already famous. Add star ratings, critic quotes, and some pretentious tagline like “One soul. One destiny. No chill.”

Write a scene you’re not ready to write—but just a rough, messy outline version. Not the polished thing. Just the raw emotion. The shape of it. Like sketching the bones of a future punch to the gut. You don’t have to make it perfect. Just open the door.

Let your story be bad on purpose for a day. Like, aggressively bad. Give everyone ridiculous names. Add an evil talking cat. Write a fight scene with laser swords and emotional damage. Just remind yourself that stories are meant to be played with, not feared.

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Again he is smiling, this time not the wizened monkey’s grin but a rather adroit little smile. And yet somehow it is not the smile of a human being: it utterly lacks substance, all of what we might call the “heaviness of blood” or perhaps the “solidity of human life” - it has not even a bird’s weight. It is merely a blank sheet of paper, light as a feather, and it is smiling.

Dazai Osamu, No Longer Human

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Next time life gets you down, curl up in a blanket in your rented room and open a good book.

Dazai Osamu, The Beggar Student

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「𝙶𝚞𝚎𝚜𝚜 𝚃𝚑𝚎 𝙲𝚊𝚝'𝚜 𝙾𝚞𝚝 𝙾𝚏 𝚃𝚑𝚎 𝙱𝚊𝚐」

~ 𝙻.𝚁. 𝚂𝚌𝚊𝚛𝚕𝚎𝚝

𝙱𝚂𝙳 𝚂𝚘𝚞𝚔𝚘𝚔𝚞 𝚏𝚊𝚗𝚏𝚒𝚌 — [𝐓]{fluff}

Atsushi's cat-like curiosity brings him across something he can't unsee.

Soukoku shenanigans ensue

𝟸,𝟽𝟼𝟺 𝚠𝚘𝚛𝚍𝚜

𝙿𝚊𝚛𝚝 𝟷 𝚘𝚏: 𝚂𝚘𝚞𝚔𝚘𝚔𝚞 𝙺𝚊𝚕𝚎𝚒𝚍𝚘𝚜𝚌𝚘𝚙𝚎

Links:

➢Ao3

➢Wattpad

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「𝚂𝚘𝚞𝚔𝚘𝚔𝚞 𝙺𝚊𝚕𝚎𝚒𝚍𝚘𝚜𝚌𝚘𝚙𝚎」

𝙰 𝚏𝚊𝚗𝚏𝚒𝚌𝚝𝚒𝚘𝚗 𝚌𝚘𝚕𝚕𝚎𝚌𝚝𝚒𝚘𝚗 𝚘𝚏 𝚜𝚑𝚘𝚛𝚝 𝚜𝚝𝚘𝚛𝚒𝚎𝚜 𝚌𝚎𝚗𝚝𝚎𝚛𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚊𝚛𝚘𝚞𝚗𝚍 𝚂𝚘𝚞𝚔𝚘𝚔𝚞 (𝚏𝚎𝚊𝚝𝚞𝚛𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚂𝚑𝚒𝚗 𝚂𝚘𝚞𝚔𝚘𝚔𝚞 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚁𝚊𝚗𝙿𝚘𝚎 𝚒𝚗 𝚜𝚘𝚖𝚎 𝚜𝚝𝚘𝚛𝚒𝚎𝚜) 𝚋𝚢 𝙻.𝚁. 𝚂𝚌𝚊𝚛𝚕𝚎𝚝

⚠️𝚂𝚘𝚖𝚎 𝚜𝚝𝚘𝚛𝚒𝚎𝚜 𝚌𝚘𝚗𝚝𝚊𝚒𝚗 𝚖𝚊𝚝𝚞𝚛𝚎 𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚖𝚎𝚜⚠️

𝐂𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐬 & 𝐑𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠:

𝟷 – 𝙶𝚞𝚎𝚜𝚜 𝚃𝚑𝚎 𝙲𝚊𝚝'𝚜 𝙾𝚞𝚝 𝙾𝚏 𝚃𝚑𝚎 𝙱𝚊𝚐

➥[𝐓] {Fluff} [2,764 words]

𝐋𝐢𝐧𝐤𝐬:

Ao3:

Wattpad:

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𝙳𝚊𝚣𝚊𝚒 𝙾𝚜𝚊𝚖𝚞║太宰 治

[𝚃𝚜𝚞𝚜𝚑𝚒𝚖𝚊 𝚂𝚑𝚞̄𝚓𝚒║津島 修治]

(𝟷𝟿 𝙹𝚞𝚗𝚎 𝟷𝟿𝟶𝟿 – 𝟷𝟹 𝙹𝚞𝚗𝚎 𝟷𝟿𝟺𝟾)

— 𝙷𝚊𝚙𝚙𝚢 𝙱𝚒𝚛𝚝𝚑𝚍𝚊𝚢 —

「"𝙼𝚒𝚗𝚎 𝚑𝚊𝚜 𝚋𝚎𝚎𝚗 𝚊 𝚕𝚒𝚏𝚎 𝚘𝚏 𝚖𝚞𝚌𝚑 𝚜𝚑𝚊𝚖𝚎. 𝙸 𝚌𝚊𝚗'𝚝 𝚎𝚟𝚎𝚗 𝚐𝚞𝚎𝚜𝚜 𝚖𝚢𝚜𝚎𝚕𝚏 𝚠𝚑𝚊𝚝 𝚒𝚝 𝚖𝚞𝚜𝚝 𝚋𝚎 𝚝𝚘 𝚕𝚒𝚟𝚎 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚕𝚒𝚏𝚎 𝚘𝚏 𝚊 𝚑𝚞𝚖𝚊𝚗 𝚋𝚎𝚒𝚗𝚐."」

– 𝙳𝚊𝚣𝚊𝚒 𝙾𝚜𝚊𝚖𝚞, 𝙽𝚘 𝙻𝚘𝚗𝚐𝚎𝚛 𝙷𝚞𝚖𝚊𝚗

「"𝙰𝚜 𝚕𝚘𝚗𝚐 𝚊𝚜 𝙸 𝚌𝚊𝚗 𝚖𝚊𝚔𝚎 𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚖 𝚕𝚊𝚞𝚐𝚑, 𝚒𝚝 𝚍𝚘𝚎𝚜𝚗’𝚝 𝚖𝚊𝚝𝚝𝚎𝚛 𝚑𝚘𝚠, 𝙸’𝚕𝚕 𝚋𝚎 𝚊𝚕𝚛𝚒𝚐𝚑𝚝. 𝙸𝚏 𝙸 𝚜𝚞𝚌𝚌𝚎𝚎𝚍 𝚒𝚗 𝚝𝚑𝚊𝚝, 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚑𝚞𝚖𝚊𝚗 𝚋𝚎𝚒𝚗𝚐𝚜 𝚙𝚛𝚘𝚋𝚊𝚋𝚕𝚢 𝚠𝚘𝚗’𝚝 𝚖𝚒𝚗𝚍 𝚒𝚝 𝚝𝚘𝚘 𝚖𝚞𝚌𝚑 𝚒𝚏 𝙸 𝚛𝚎𝚖𝚊𝚒𝚗 𝚘𝚞𝚝𝚜𝚒𝚍𝚎 𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚒𝚛 𝚕𝚒𝚟𝚎𝚜. 𝚃𝚑𝚎 𝚘𝚗𝚎 𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝙸 𝚖𝚞𝚜𝚝 𝚊𝚟𝚘𝚒𝚍 𝚒𝚜 𝚋𝚎𝚌𝚘𝚖𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚘𝚏𝚏𝚎𝚗𝚜𝚒𝚟𝚎 𝚒𝚗 𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚒𝚛 𝚎𝚢𝚎𝚜: 𝙸 𝚜𝚑𝚊𝚕𝚕 𝚋𝚎 𝚗𝚘𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚗𝚐, 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚠𝚒𝚗𝚍, 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚜𝚔𝚢."」

– 𝙳𝚊𝚣𝚊𝚒 𝙾𝚜𝚊𝚖𝚞, 𝙽𝚘 𝙻𝚘𝚗𝚐𝚎𝚛 𝙷𝚞𝚖𝚊𝚗

「"𝙸 𝚑𝚊𝚟𝚎 𝚊𝚕𝚠𝚊𝚢𝚜 𝚜𝚑𝚘𝚘𝚔 𝚠𝚒𝚝𝚑 𝚏𝚛𝚒𝚐𝚑𝚝 𝚋𝚎𝚏𝚘𝚛𝚎 𝚑𝚞𝚖𝚊𝚗 𝚋𝚎𝚒𝚗𝚐𝚜. 𝚄𝚗𝚊𝚋𝚕𝚎 𝚊𝚜 𝙸 𝚠𝚊𝚜 𝚝𝚘 𝚏𝚎𝚎𝚕 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚕𝚎𝚊𝚜𝚝 𝚙𝚊𝚛𝚝𝚒𝚌𝚕𝚎 𝚘𝚏 𝚌𝚘𝚗𝚏𝚒𝚍𝚎𝚗𝚌𝚎 𝚒𝚗 𝚖𝚢 𝚊𝚋𝚒𝚕𝚒𝚝𝚢 𝚝𝚘 𝚜𝚙𝚎𝚊𝚔 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚊𝚌𝚝 𝚕𝚒𝚔𝚎 𝚊 𝚑𝚞𝚖𝚊𝚗 𝚋𝚎𝚒𝚗𝚐, 𝙸 𝚔𝚎𝚙𝚝 𝚖𝚢 𝚜𝚘𝚕𝚒𝚝𝚊𝚛𝚢 𝚊𝚐𝚘𝚗𝚒𝚎𝚜 𝚕𝚘𝚌𝚔𝚎𝚍 𝚒𝚗 𝚖𝚢 𝚋𝚛𝚎𝚊𝚜𝚝. 𝙸 𝚔𝚎𝚙𝚝 𝚖𝚢 𝚖𝚎𝚕𝚊𝚗𝚌𝚑𝚘𝚕𝚢 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚖𝚢 𝚊𝚐𝚒𝚝𝚊𝚝𝚒𝚘𝚗 𝚑𝚒𝚍𝚍𝚎𝚗, 𝚌𝚊𝚛𝚎𝚏𝚞𝚕 𝚕𝚎𝚜𝚝 𝚊𝚗𝚢 𝚝𝚛𝚊𝚌𝚎 𝚜𝚑𝚘𝚞𝚕𝚍 𝚋𝚎 𝚕𝚎𝚏𝚝 𝚎𝚡𝚙𝚘𝚜𝚎𝚍. 𝙸 𝚏𝚎𝚒𝚐𝚗𝚎𝚍 𝚊𝚗 𝚒𝚗𝚗𝚘𝚌𝚎𝚗𝚝 𝚘𝚙𝚝𝚒𝚖𝚒𝚜𝚖; 𝙸 𝚐𝚛𝚊𝚍𝚞𝚊𝚕𝚕𝚢 𝚙𝚎𝚛𝚏𝚎𝚌𝚝𝚎𝚍 𝚖𝚢𝚜𝚎𝚕𝚏 𝚒𝚗 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚛𝚘𝚕𝚎 𝚘𝚏 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚏𝚊𝚛𝚌𝚒𝚌𝚊𝚕 𝚎𝚌𝚌𝚎𝚗𝚝𝚛𝚒𝚌."」

— 𝙳𝚊𝚣𝚊𝚒 𝙾𝚜𝚊𝚖𝚞, 𝙽𝚘 𝙻𝚘𝚗𝚐𝚎𝚛 𝙷𝚞𝚖𝚊𝚗

「"𝙿𝚎𝚘𝚙𝚕𝚎 𝚝𝚊𝚕𝚔 𝚘𝚏 “𝚜𝚘𝚌𝚒𝚊𝚕 𝚘𝚞𝚝𝚌𝚊𝚜𝚝𝚜.” 𝚃𝚑𝚎 𝚠𝚘𝚛𝚍𝚜 𝚊𝚙𝚙𝚊𝚛𝚎𝚗𝚝𝚕𝚢 𝚍𝚎𝚗𝚘𝚝𝚎 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚖𝚒𝚜𝚎𝚛𝚊𝚋𝚕𝚎 𝚕𝚘𝚜𝚎𝚛𝚜 𝚘𝚏 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚠𝚘𝚛𝚕𝚍, 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚟𝚒𝚌𝚒𝚘𝚞𝚜 𝚘𝚗𝚎𝚜, 𝚋𝚞𝚝 𝙸 𝚏𝚎𝚎𝚕 𝚊𝚜 𝚝𝚑𝚘𝚞𝚐𝚑 𝙸 𝚑𝚊𝚟𝚎 𝚋𝚎𝚎𝚗 𝚊 “𝚜𝚘𝚌𝚒𝚊𝚕 𝚘𝚞𝚝𝚌𝚊𝚜𝚝” 𝚏𝚛𝚘𝚖 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚖𝚘𝚖𝚎𝚗𝚝 𝙸 𝚠𝚊𝚜 𝚋𝚘𝚛𝚗. 𝙸𝚏 𝚎𝚟𝚎𝚛 𝙸 𝚖𝚎𝚎𝚝 𝚜𝚘𝚖𝚎𝚘𝚗𝚎 𝚜𝚘𝚌𝚒𝚎𝚝𝚢 𝚑𝚊𝚜 𝚍𝚎𝚜𝚒𝚐𝚗𝚊𝚝𝚎𝚍 𝚊𝚜 𝚊𝚗 𝚘𝚞𝚝𝚌𝚊𝚜𝚝, 𝙸 𝚒𝚗𝚟𝚊𝚛𝚒𝚊𝚋𝚕𝚢 𝚏𝚎𝚎𝚕 𝚊𝚏𝚏𝚎𝚌𝚝𝚒𝚘𝚗 𝚏𝚘𝚛 𝚑𝚒𝚖, 𝚊𝚗 𝚎𝚖𝚘𝚝𝚒𝚘𝚗 𝚠𝚑𝚒𝚌𝚑 𝚌𝚊𝚛𝚛𝚒𝚎𝚜 𝚖𝚎 𝚊𝚠𝚊𝚢 𝚒𝚗 𝚖𝚎𝚕𝚝𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚝𝚎𝚗𝚍𝚎𝚛𝚗𝚎𝚜𝚜."」

– 𝙳𝚊𝚣𝚊𝚒 𝙾𝚜𝚊𝚖𝚞, 𝙽𝚘 𝙻𝚘𝚗𝚐𝚎𝚛 𝙷𝚞𝚖𝚊𝚗

「"𝙴𝚟𝚎𝚛𝚢𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚙𝚊𝚜𝚜𝚎𝚜."」

– 𝙳𝚊𝚣𝚊𝚒 𝙾𝚜𝚊𝚖𝚞, 𝙽𝚘 𝙻𝚘𝚗𝚐𝚎𝚛 𝙷𝚞𝚖𝚊𝚗

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Truck-kun?? Is that you??

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Chuuya: what's the opposite of defense called?

Dazai: Attack?

Chuuya: NO, WE'RE IN COURT

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"Sherlock Holmes? More like She-rock Bones."

— Ranpo, probably

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THAT'S WHAT I'VE BEEN SAYING FOR YEARS!

Why don't more people know about the wonderful interrobang‽‽

Genuinely my favorite punctuation mark

Literally furious that a ‽ symbol exists and just never caught on. You’re telling me there’s a more streamlined way to ask exclamatory questions than this, and it just never caught on?!?!?! I’m so mad. English has the worst punctuations, I swear.

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Starting today I’m going to be a man with courage in his heart. When a person falls to the very depths of suffering - where he can find no escape - he is somehow able to find new courage.

Dazai Osamu, A New Hamlet

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There's 15 books on there now, with 5 of them being random cook books.

I really hope the rightful authors of those books discover this problem ASAP.

Fanfiction Authors: HEADS UP

(Non-authors, please RB to signal boost to your author friends!)

An astute reader informed me this morning that one of my fics (Children of the Future Age) had been pirated and was being sold as a novel on Amazon:

(And they weren't even creative with their cover design. If you're going to pirate something that I spent a full year of my life writing, at least give me a pretty screenshot to brag about later. Seriously.)

I promptly filed a DMCA complaint to have it removed, but I checked out the company that put it up -- Plush Books -- and it looks like A LOT of their books are pirated fic. They are by no means the only ones doing this, either -- the fact that """publishers""" can download stories from AO3 in ebook format and then reupload them to Amazon in just a few clicks makes fic piracy a common problem. There are a whole host of reasons why letting this continue is bad -- including actual legal risk to fanfiction archives -- but basically:

IF YOU ARE A FANFIC AUTHOR WITH LONG AND/OR POPULAR WORKS, PLEASE CHECK AMAZON TO SEE IF YOUR STORIES HAVE BEEN PIRATED.

You can search for your fics by title, or by text from the description (which is often just copied wholesale from AO3 as well). If you find that someone has stolen your work and is selling it as their own, you can lodge a DMCA complaint (Amazon.com/USA site; other countries have different systems). If you haven't done this before, it's easy! Here's a tutorial:

HOW TO FILE A COPYRIGHT COMPLAINT FOR STOLEN WORK ON AMAZON.COM:

First, go to this form. You'll need to be signed into your Amazon account.

Select the radio buttons/dropdown options (shown below) to indicate that you are the legal Rights Owner, you have a copyright concern, and it is about a pirated product.

Enter the name of your story in the Name of Brand field.

In the Link to the Copyrighted Work box, enter a link to the story on AO3 or whatever site your work is posted on.

In the Additional Information box, explain that you are the author of the work and it is being sold without your permission. That's all you really need. If you want, you can include additional information that might be helpful in establishing the validity of your claim, but you don't have to go into great detail. You can simply write something like this:

I am the author of this work, which is being sold by [publisher] without my permission. I originally published this story in [date/year] on [name of site], and have provided a link to the original above. On request, I can provide documentation proving that I am the owner of the account that originally posted this story.

In the ASIN/ISBN-10 field, copy and paste the ID number from the pirated copy's URL. You'll find this ten-digit number in the Amazon URL after the word "product," as in the screenshot below. (If the URL extends beyond this number, you can ignore everything from the question mark on.) Once this number has been added, Amazon will pull the product information automatically and add it to the complaint form, so you can check the listing title and make sure it's correct.

Finally, add your contact information to the relevant fields, check the "I have read and accept the statements" box, and then click Submit. You should receive an email confirmation that Amazon has received the form.

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[lr-scarlet]

Just a small bit of my up coming BSD soukoku one shot, "Restocking & Recharging," that makes me giggle🖤🖤

[lr-scarlet]

The townspeople found many pretexts for their treatment of him: he forgets things, they said, he is an idiot, he is unclean, he steals. They succeeded only in reducing him to permanent beggarhood and sealing him off from the world of human emotions.

Kunikida Doppo, “Old Gen” from Five Stories by Kunikida Doppo

[lr-scarlet]

“When I describe Dazai to the staff, there is a phrase that I always use, “an unworldly being with a mental age of two thousand years.” Dazai has far surpassed the mental dimension that human can reach, thus no-one can even tell if the emotions he shows are the real things or not.

There are rare moments when that Dazai shows his very “human” side. That is when he talks to another superhuman who is on the same level with him. The other is when he talks about his old friend who has passed.

This is the scene when Kyouka wondered “Maybe I’m, after all, just a murderer at heart.�� and refused to be saved. And Dazai’s reaction to that. When he said “Don’t give me any of that!” here, he really meant it. That was an outburst from Dazai, as a 22-year-old boy, in this scene.”

(Bungou Stray Dogs Chapter 35 - Easygoingscan’s version)

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TN: I went to the BSD exhibition in Ikebukuro today and they have Asagiri’s comments on each character and their important scene, that I find very nice so I’m gonna find time to translate them little by little.