Soukoku One-Shots

Lost in Translation (Found in Love) Pt. 4

Chuuya needed a new family.

"Paul really just threatened him the whole time?" Higuchi bit into her croissant and Chuuya watched all the flakes fall onto her plate.

"Yeah, can you fucking believe him? I'm not some snot-nosed kid, he doesn't need to act like my damn mom," he snapped, looking away to watch the crowds of students pass them by. He and Higuchi always got lunch on campus at least once a week, but he really needed to complain today and dragged her out to the nearest outside table right after class despite her protests.

"Damn. That's rough."

Chuuya snorted. "Yeah, thanks for that stellar advice."

Higuchi rolled her eyes, but she was smiling. "Well, okay, you don't speak Japanese, right? Maybe Paul was just giving him the dad talk or something, y'know? 'You hurt my daughter, I'll put you through my meat grinder and feed you to the dogs.' That sort of thing."

The thought of Dazai being shoved into a meat grinder was only slightly amusing. "No, he was definitely threatening him." Verlaine had a specific way of speaking when he was being passive-aggressive with people, and his smile was always far too placating to be believable.

Higuchi hummed. "Honestly? I think you're getting too worked up about this."

Chuuya sighed. She was right as usual—he tended to blow things out of proportion, especially when it came to his brother. He just couldn't help the anger that swelled up in his chest every time he thought about the fact that Verlaine didn't think he could make these decisions for himself.

When he met Higuchi's gaze, he found her looking at him with a smug grin.

He narrowed his eyes. "What."

Her grin widened, just before she said very quietly: "I told you so."

"You fucking—"

He lunged for her, snatching the unfinished croissant right from her hand. She gasped and immediately attempted to steal it back, but Chuuya held it too far away for her to reach. She struggled futilely for a few minutes, which was a far more amusing sight than Chuuya thought it would be.

Eventually, though, she gave up. "You're a sick bastard, you know that?" she huffed, sitting back in her chair and giving him a death stare.

Chuuya chuckled, taking one little bite out of the croissant before giving it back to her. He wasn't that cruel.

She glared at him as she finished it off. "I've changed my mind, you're not invited to my party anymore. I don't allow croissant-stealers in my home." Her scowl melted into a little smile. "'Sides, my aunt would fly all the way over here just to beat my ass with a ladle or something if I did."

One thing he would always appreciate about Higuchi was her ability to distract him. She was an airhead with severe attention problems, but he was grateful for that right now.

"Would she?"

"Oh, yeah. She liked pastries more than she liked me, I think."

Chuuya had only met the woman once, just a few weeks before she left France. She was a stern person with a pointy face and an affinity for feathered hats, and Chuuya remembered wondering if she liked Higuchi very much at all when they visited her apartment. When she gave the place to Higuchi after she left, though, he supposed the question was answered. He wondered if it still smelled like cigarettes.

"Hey, did you and Dazai ever decide what you're gonna do that project on for French History?" Higuchi asked, drawing Chuuya out of his thoughts. "Gin's in that class and said you guys only have one more week to get it done."