#TEENAGE DAZAI N CHUUYA??? ok that’s enough for now

[windshieldwiper]

bsd sketch because it’s been the only thing invading my mind recently

[amaya-writes]

High school Au! I hope that’s ok- basically, reader is on the volleyball team, but feel left out because they are a year older than their team mates. Dazai, who didn’t really care for anything before that was sport related, was dragged by his friend group to go see one of their games.

When he sees reader perform a perfect spike and have an amazing game, he finds himself interested in learning more. He starts talking to reader and soon enough, she confides in him abt what’s been happening.

If you have any questions abt volleyball or anything related to my request, I’d be happy to help! Remember to take care of yourself and stay hydrated! Feel free to add to my reply, I don’t mind^^ anything you write (Atleast from my perspective, but I totally get what happens from a writers perspective) I’d beautiful and makes my heart EXPLODE-

Thank youuu!

EVENT MASTERLIST ABOUT THE EVENT

Notes: I changed it from a spike to a serve because I didn't feel like writing out a whole match scene, I hope that's fine! also thank you 🥺💜

Warnings: n/a

Characters involved: Dazai Osamu, mentions Chuuya

Gender-neutral reader, you/yours

The next time Chuuya dragged him to a boring sports game Dazai was going to suffocate him with that stupid hat he insisted on always wearing.

It wasn't that Dazai had a particular aversion to sports or anything. In fact, he normally enjoyed watching a few matches on his phone.

It was the fact that he had been dragged away from his work and seated in the middle of a gym stuffed with sweaty gossiping teenagers who loved to stare at their president.

Dazai's normal excuses of his duties as a representative of the school had fallen on deaf ears as Chuuya used the fact that their adorable juniors Akutagawa and Atsushi were going to have a match that afternoon to coerce Dazai into joining.

However, one match quickly turned into three and before he knew it Dazai found himself sitting through the entirety of the under eighteen volleyball qualifiers with a buzzing Chuuya clinging to his side.

"Chuuya I have things to do."

His annoyed call was ignored for the umpteenth time that day as the shorter male kept his eyes trained on the court, not even bothering to turn to Dazai as he replied.

"Just a minute! Our best spiker is about to serve."

His words intrigued Dazai more than he cared to admit, which was why the brunette found his head turning forward to observe the student clad in their school's uniform standing at the far end of the court.

Chuuya had thankfully been insightful enough to snatch the best seats for the two of them, which meant that Dazai could easily see the calm expression on your face as you tossed your ball upwards the second the sound of the referee's whistle cut through the gym.

For a second, he thought that nothing had happened.

But then Dazai heard the people around him erupt in cheers as a loud thud echoed from the other side of the court; a sound that had him turning to stare at the volleyball now idly bouncing in the middle of the opponents.

"You were right."

Dazai could sense Chuuya's smug grin even before he turned towards the redhead, but didn't bother to boost his ego more than necessary as he turned back to observe you.

"You were amazing! Of course our oldest and most experienced player would put us in the lead with one serve!"

He could tell your teammates had meant it in a nice way, but even from his seat behind your manager's bench, there was no mistaking the poorly hidden frown tugging on your lips.

The way you seemed to shrink in on yourself as your teammates continued praising you confused Dazai to no end. After all, why would you be insecure about something as simple as age?

"-turning eighteen in a couple of weeks, thankfully coach said that didn't matter."

Oh.

Being a couple of months or even a year older than your classmates was usually nothing to worry about in school. But when you start your last year, it was hard for the older children to feel included when their friends were still minors.

Some people, like Dazai, thought nothing of the age gap. But you seemed to be affected by it.

He shouldn't have cared as much as he did.

Dazai told himself he was just bored. That he chose to follow after you as you left the gym with an excuse to use the bathroom only because your insecurity was the only interesting thing he had seen all afternoon.

But that was a lie.

You were classmates who never talked much, but Osamu had always thought you were pleasant to be around. Maybe that was why he didn't like seeing you so down about something so stupid.

"You're going to be late if you just keep standing there."

You jumped up in alarm at the sudden sound of his voice, the sight making Dazai scoff in amusement as he walked up to you and took to leaning against the other end of the window you were staring out of.

"Dazai. Didn't see you there."

He hummed at your acknowledgement but was quick to speak up a moment later.

"You shouldn't be insecure about your age."

"How did you-"

Dazai shrugged at your confused questioning, with the action being the only answer he was willing to provide you.

"Doesn't matter. Listen, you're not better than them because you're a few months older. You're better because you're talented."

He moved closer to you as he spoke, only coming to a stop once you were trapped between him and the cold glass window.

"Worrying about your age just gives them something to get into your head with-"

Maybe distracting you with misleading romantic gestures wasn't the right way to ensure his school won, but Dazai didn't really care much about morals. Not when this way he could watch you squirm and part your lips as you tried to come up with some sort of a retort.

"I wouldn't want our star spiker losing over something so stupid."

He moved forward to cup your cheek and tap it affectionately before completely pulling away.

Dazai could tell you wanted to comment on his proximity, perhaps even make a move, but you weren't allowed to do anything else as the gym door behind him loudly flew open, followed by calls of your teammates searching for you.

"You should go."

You nodded along to his words, almost as if they helped snap you out of the flustered daze his proximity caused.

The sight had Dazai letting out a soft smile as he watched you pull away and return to the gym with a quick thank you.

Maybe sports games weren't so boring after all.

[drink-n-watch]

This week plunged us right back, head first, into the story of an old god of destruction, the ghost of an evil man and fifteen year old Chuuya and Dazai chasing after them. Almost immediately, I prefered this episode to the last. And that’s saying something because I quite liked the last one.

Do you guys like my gif. I’ve been making them lately. Also – all the spoilers, if you haven’t seen the episode, it’ll be like you did after reading this!

oh why thank you…ok, so this review is going to be positive..I mean, you can’t buy me!

We open on a dizzyingly well animated action scene as Chuuya and Dazai have to deal with the armed welcome committee they encountered at the mansion. Of course I always knew that Chuuya has an extremely powerful gift, but I had never quite gotten my mind around all the potential applications. Seeing him fight multiple enemies with childish glee was impressive and mesmerizing. It gave me a new appreciation for just how cool gravity manipulation is.

  And a few minutes later, I got a whole new appreciation for just how terrifying Dazai is. There’s always been something uncomfortable about Dazai’s character. Bungou Stray Dogs tends to be bloodless and lighthearted in general so his personality has always been skimmed over or used for laughs but Dazai is not o.k…. Not at all. He pushes way past anti-hero into actual villain territory pretty often. I guess what Mori said last episode was true. Those two really are alike.

and we had started off so well…

About 5 minutes in and I was fully captivated. The visuals were stunning, the character developments riveting and the atmosphere somehow managed to be disturbing, ominous and yet cheerful all at once. Superimposing ll that violence over such a beautiful lush garden on a sunny afternoon. Good move.

I don’t remember exactly when it cut in, but we also got an OP for the first time this week. It was decent. I quite liked the song. The visuals were mostly stylized still images. No special but good.

Turns out the ability user they were visiting, and those armed guys were trying to take out, was none other than Rando. I had to look it up last week to find out it’s actually Arthur Rimbaud (french poet – good one – died quite young). There was something both sneering and incredibly fitting at watching the eternally cold Rimbaud dispassionately throwing books into his fire lace to keep warm. As a big fan of the poet, that scene resonated with me. I like to think that he would have enjoyed it.

is the state of the mansion a reference to how Rimbaud died in poverty? ohhh I made myself sad.

Basically this s what we know so far. 8 years ago, a god like creature named Arahabaki almost destroyed an entire city with an explosion of *black flame* then disappeared. In the past weeks, there have been sightings of those black flames again with the Port Mafia’s old boss at the center. Rimbaud was a witness at one of the last sightings.

Dazai is pretty sure the whole thing is an elaborate hoax. A simple chemical reaction can make ordinary flames look black and there are many ways to make people think they saw someone who isn’t there. Especially in stressful conditions. But who would be putting on this hoax.

As for the armed guys. They’re just a rival faction. Rimbaud’s new loyalty to Mori is helping calm down and unify the Port Mafia. If he were to suddenly be dispatched (especially in a see of black flames) that could spark mutiny in the ranks and greatly weaken the organisation. I dunno why I bothered writing about these guys. Chuuya already took care of them.

wait, you’re getting ahead here

  Dazai isn’t the least bit thrown off when Rimbaud tells him what what he saw was definitely not a hoax, but it wasn’t the od boss either. He describes his encounter with Arahabaki and is visibly still shaken by it.

At this point I was intrigued. BSD is very loose with it’s rules. There definitely could be a great old god out there. Heck, there could even be a vengeful mafia boss ghost. This should really not be playing in the show’s favour. Universes where everything’s possible tend to get boring, and flashbacks with characters we know have no long term stakes. Yet, I’m eating this up so far. It’s well paced and interesting. They manage to make this bonker story just convincingly enough for me to want to find out what happens next.

Well what does happen next is some comedy relief banter between Chuuya and Dazai. Chuuya has a running gag that he’s only 15 and is going to get taller. it’s cute. They also make some silly bet at an arced, because they’re kids. Whoever figures out who’s behind it all first, get to boss the other one round. It’s always hard to tell with Dazai, but I think he might actually like Chuuya.

oh Chuuya…so easy…

Some bad timing means that Chuuya has an unfortunate encounter with some Sheep members and gets himself thrown out for collaborating with the Port Mafia. One thing I noticed throughout the episode, is that everybody seems to know Chuuya. No one knows Dazai. I wonder why he’s so popular!

Usually when shows have genius characters that can figure/plan everything out, there’s a fair bit of contrivances and intuitive leaps going on. It’s very difficult to consistently write these archetypes in a satisfying way. Dazai is no exception. But this time it worked. Because it was very simple. That’s the key to making your mysteries impactful. keep them straightforward.

and to the point

Dazai is throwing Chuuya a party to celebrate his new freedom with Rimbaud as the only guest. Let’s face it, neither of these guys have many friends. While waiting for the guest of honor Dazai an Rimbaud chat a bit and the conversation falls n the bet. At this point Dazai reveals he’s won and he knows the culprit.

In traditional sitcom style, Dazai calmy points at Rimbaud as the traitor both men just pleasantly chat while Dazai explains. This is where I was expecting a flood of coincidences and hard to follow mental contortionist but no. Simple answers are the best answers. Rimbaud’s description of the events of the previous week insisted on him seeing the sea. Yet he would have been in the middle of the crater. The sea is clearly not visible from there. The scene he described, could only have taken place before the xplosion 8 years ago.

And speaking of explosions, Chuuya sure knows how to make an entrance.

congratulations, you’re guilty!

Seems Chuuya also figured out it was Rimbaud behind it all but how? He simply says that all the other witnesses described seeing the boss’ face while Rimbaud described the actual Arahabaki and is simply not possible….

The episode ends on a shocking reveal. The fact that there was something that Dazai had not anticipated! I know, jaw dropped!

right!!!

But you must be asking yourselves. What exactly aren’t you ready for Irina??? Well basically this felt like an ending. That season 2 opening arc I keep droning on about was adapted from a light novel rather than the manga proper. It was a side story meant to give Dazai a bit of background. Thi explains the shift in tone and pacing. It was riveting. A bit of research has revealed that the present episodes are also adapted from a light novel. It’s entirely possible that the last second reveal marked the end of this particular journey and that next episode will bring us back to the present.

And I’m not ready. Sure I would love to see the rest of the gang again but I still have so many questions. I can guess Rimbaud’s motivations. He was not quite as loyal to Mori as he seemed and considering Mori staged a coup, he’s made plenty of enemies. There’s no need to go into that much deeper but, what about Chuuya. His character is up in the air right now. Not to mention Dazai who is rather worryingly unhinged at this point. Why did Mori bring them together in the first place.

And beyond the questions, I’m still enjoying this more mature and severe story. It has consequences and a lot of questionable morality. I enjoy shades of grey. I’m not ready to say goodbye to the comedy duo of angsty teenage Dazai and Chuuya. I hope to see them again next week. Fingers crossed!

agreed

in the meantime, you can see them in the dozens of screencaps I took!

  Bungo Stray Dogs 3 -2 : I’m Not Ready This week plunged us right back, head first, into the story of an old god of destruction, the ghost of an evil man and fifteen year old Chuuya and Dazai chasing after them.