Soukoku One-Shots

Lost in Translation (Found in Love) Pt. 2

Chuuya felt his phone vibrate in his back pocket and chuckled when he saw Higuchi's name pop up on the screen. He answered the call, of course. "Hey, Ichiyou."

"Hey, loser," she replied. "Whatcha up to?"

"Just grabbing some seafood for tonight. Probably a loaf of bread, too, and some of that truffle cheese you got me hooked on."

"Oh my god, it's like heaven, isn't it?"

"Can't live without it."

She hummed. "Well, I'm moving into my new place soon, and I've decided that I wanna have people over sometime soon. Y'know, just some fun, get shitfaced and stuff. You're busy, so I wanted to let you know beforehand."

Chuuya couldn't help but chuckle. Higuchi tended to have very strange timing sometimes, despite herself. "Okay, I appreciate it. Was that all?"

"Are you trying to get rid of me?" she asked, sounding almost genuinely offended.

"Well, it is a little weird that you'd call me just to tell me you wanna have people over when you get moved in. Isn't that in, like, two weeks? Three?"

"Clearly, you've never met yourself," she said matter-of-factly. "It's always, 'Sorry, Ichiyou, I've got night classes,' or 'Shit, I totally forgot like the total stupid idiot dumbass I am,' or—"

"Okay, I get it," Chuuya cut in, rolling his eyes and smiling anyway.

"Good. I'll keep you posted."

"Thanks."

"Oh, hey, will you come over later? I wanna stalk all of the exchange students—Yosano and that crew, y'know?—and you should join me."

Chuuya snorted. This was not the first time they'd done this and it would hardly be the last. "Sounds good. After dinner?"

"Yep," she said, popping the 'p'. "Oh, and be quiet on your way up—Mrs. Cheveau is in a really bad mood today and she might beat you with that fire poker if you wake her up."

Chuuya shuddered. The crotchety Mrs. Cheveau might have been one of the few people he was genuinely scared of. "Thanks for letting me know."

"For sure. Later!"

"See ya."

Chuuya chuckled to himself as he pocketed his phone again. He didn't know someone who had as many thoughts going in and out of her head at once as Higuchi did. He still thought she should get tested for ADHD.

Chuuya was distracted enough that he didn't even notice the other person walking toward him until he accidentally bumped their shoulder, sending him stumbling a step or two.

Instead of a French curse, though, the stranger spoke something completely foreign. "すみません、" he said and Chuuya stopped in his tracks. He knew that voice. ["Excuse me."]

"Dazai?"

The stranger turned around and, sure enough, there was Dazai Osamu in all his tall, Japanese glory. He wore brown today, like he had the day they'd met, but the glasses were new.

Chuuya wanted to curse. He looked good.

"ああ、" he breathed, looking more than surprised to see him. "こんにちは、Chuuya." ["Oh. Hello, Chuuya."]

Kouyou's voice echoed in the back of Chuuya's head. Why don't you get this done as soon as you can?

He glanced down at his bag. Groceries could wait, couldn't they?

"Hey, are you busy?"

Dazai blinked at him, expression blank, and Chuuya pinched the bridge of his nose. Right. He didn't have any paper, and judging by Dazai's lack of a purse or bag, he didn't either.