the beauty of water: deep end | o. dazai ✔

chapter ten.

"Dazai," she corrected, her breath stopping as he finished forming the shape, recognizing the form he had created.

Ryuji was in the shape of a heart.

"Usually," she began, stepping towards him as she closed the gap between them, "hearts are used to express romantic feelings. Like for crushes and significant others. Sometimes people use 'like' and others use..." Her voice trailed off, her eyes falling to the ground as she stared downward.

Ryuji noticed her sudden silence, returning to his original shape and swimming towards her. He remained in front of her as he questioned, "What word do some use, (Y/n)?"

"Love. They sometimes use the word 'love'. Wait," she shook her head, looking back up to face him, "are you intrigued because I might be in love with Dazai?"

"If I were able to, I'd tap my nose and tip my hat."

"You don't have a hat—"

"You know what I mean." He stared to swim over the field, (Y/n) following close behind as they continued to converse. "The reason I have not let you die is because your feelings of love for Dazai are so interesting. He's so strange and you're even stranger."

"Says the talking water dragon."

Ryuji narrowed his eyes, the first time he had done so since (Y/n) had originally manifested her ability. "For someone on the line between life and death, you are quite sassy and sarcastic."

"Yet, you still keep me alive. So if either of us take away anything from this, you are the one to blame for my comments." She shrugged. "You just keep feeding me opportunities."

He sighed, speeding forward as he disappeared over the hill. (Y/n) ran after him, stopping at the top of the hill as she spotted a tree. The area around it appeared to have fresh grass, some areas darker than others, as if they had been previously destroyed.

"Before we move forward, I have one question for you, (Y/n)," Ryuji said, floating in the middle of the field as he stared her down. "You have been given many opportunities to be with that other vessel, Chuuya Nakahara – why do you keep turning him down? He is possibly the only person on the entire planet that knows what you are going through, what you are capable of! Why do you reject his affections?"

"That's a loaded question, Ryuji." She walked down the hill as she continued to speak, "For starters, I don't know him as well as I know Dazai. Dazai and I have even kept in touch through letters, telling each other things that we wouldn't have been able to otherwise. While Chuuya has indeed saved my life, so has Dazai."

She stopped in front of Ryuji, craning her neck up towards him. "I guess in the end, Chuuya only became interested because of you – but Dazai was interested because of me."

Ryuji stared down at her for a moment, letting out a steamy breath through his nostrils before lowering his head to her level. He got into her face, (Y/n) not flinching a centimeter as he stared her down.

"I guess I did choose correctly in terms of a vessel, mortal."

He pulled away, going towards the tree. He whipped the end of his tail against it, creating a slit that glowed a bright blue. As he did so, a crash of thunder occurred, causing (Y/n) to look back up towards the sky.

A light mist began to rain down, causing her to pull to up her hood, grabbing the ends to keep it up as another wind blew past. She said to him as the rain began to grow heavier, "But I have more questions for you!"

"Maybe for another time, (Y/n)." He turned back to her, going behind her and using his head to press against her back, pushing her towards the door. "For now, you must return to the mortal plain. There are other mortals and vessels that require your assistance."