𝓪𝓷 𝓸𝓬𝓽𝓸𝓫𝓮𝓻 𝓵𝓾𝓵𝓵𝓪𝓫𝔂 | 𝘥𝘢𝘻𝘢𝘪 𝘰𝘴𝘢𝘮𝘶

𝒾𝓍. 𝓈𝑒𝓅𝓉𝑒𝓂𝒷𝑒𝓇

He knew that eventually she'd ask this, but that doesn't mean he wants to have this conversation with her.

"Why do you treat him like that?" (Name)'s voice is soft, breaking the stiffling silence of his office, her gaze set on his figure from the chair across his table.

He turns another page, scanning over the words that hold little meaning to him aside from formality required by his title as Executive. "Treat who like what, Nightshade?"

Furrowing her brows, she leans forward slightly. "Akutagawa-kun," she says, emphasising on the boy's name like a harsh reminder, warning Dazai against any games he might want to play with her right now. "Don't you think you're being too harsh with him, Dazai?"

He sighs, eyes closing briefly before he opens them again, shaking his head. "I don't want to talk about this," he says, but his protest is met with narrowing eyes that harden and remind him that for all his pretenses and how often she indulges him, (Name) tends to see through his facade often enough after the countless hours spent in each other's company.

The next thing he's aware of is his pen being extracted from his grip and the file before him closing, her hand resting atop it, her expression unyielding. Something in her eyes speaks of a desperation he doesn't understand until she whispers her next warning:

"You'll break him."

Dazai stills, sensing the fragility in the air between them and immediately noticing the shadows in the room stilling as she demands his attention be on nothing but her.

As if he could ever look away from her.

Sighing again, he rakes a hand through his hair. "If he is so breakable, then we have no use for him." Meeting her eye, he links his fingers together and rests them against the dark wood of his desk. "He has to learn to think before he acts and if he's too stupid to do it, this organization has no use for him. He'll only be a burden."

(Name) doesn't hide her displeasure with his statement, and he didn't expect her to because in every way that matters, she is his equal. Whether or not one is willing to give it, she commands respect and he doesn't deny her of what she deserves from him.

"I agree that Akutagawa-kun needs to unlearn what he believes to be his strengths and build a foundation from the ground up, but his body can't handle the exertion you're putting him through, Dazai." Her voice is louder now, and he frowns because this lack of synchrony between them is new and unwanted. "You're going to kill him at this rate."

Sharply exhaling through his nose, Dazai leans back in his chair. "You can't be too sentimental about this because he reminds you of your past, (Name)," he states bluntly, gaze heavy as the lines of her face become hard set, and he sees once again why she is so often called statuesque rather than beautiful.

Momentarily, it slips his mind that (Name) is fairly proficient at reading him just as well as he can read her.

"And you can't keep punishing him because he reminds you about the parts of yourself you think of as cursed," she retorts, tone clipped, rising to her feet and looming over him. "He isn't us, Dazai," she reminds firmly. "Yes, he has known misfortune and devastation, but he wasn't taught to hone his grief into weapons of ruin like we were at an age youger than his now. He's learning for the very first time and with how much he looks up to you, Akutagawa would rather die before he admits you're pushing him too far."