Dazai After The Operation

Part 2

It was the day after the Director and Mori had recovered from the effects of the ability and the general atmosphere at the Agency was a happy one. Ranpo, in particular, was relieved that The Director was fine. The only one who wasn't happy was Kunikida and that was because he wasn't there. As soon as the problem was solved he disappeared and no one had seen him since. Obviously, everyone was concerned since Kunikida was never late, never mind not coming in at all, yet no one had so much as heard from him since yesterday. To everyone except Dazai that was the most pressing problem. For him, the biggest problem was that he was required to be back at the hospital in a couple of hours and he didn't want to go. His outward complaint was that he was fine and had no need to go back to the hospital but the real reason was that he could barely move without the pain threatening to overcome him. His wound had opened up multiple times since surgery and the stitches only made the pain worse. Instead of the skin just ripping apart again, the presence of the stitches meant that the surrounding skin essentially got shredded as well as the stitches didn't loosen. He knew that under his shirt the bandages would be stained red and he just hoped the blood wouldn't seep through onto his shirt. He would have got a taxi to the hospital but he knew that he wouldn't be able to bear another journey in a vehicle of any sort. Firstly, the seatbelt usually rested right on where the wound was so any breaking would cause the seatbelt to push against the wound. Secondly, any corners would require him to use his abdominal muscles and that was too painful to think about and thirdly even if he did want to get a taxi he had no money on him.

All of this meant that the only way for him to get to the hospital was by foot and normally that would take around half an hour but considering the state he was in, Dazai didn't think he could walk for more than a couple of minutes at a time before needing to sit down until the pain died down a bit. At this point, even painkillers didn't help and the only place he could get something strong enough was at the hospital itself. He also didn't want to call an ambulance because it was a vehicle, of course, and he may as well have not even tried to hide how much pain he was in of he was then going to give up and call an ambulance because he was in too much pain to walk to the hospital despite having gone through the past twenty-four hours on nothing but sheer willpower. In the end, he decided that the only feasible option was to walk and if he died of blood loss or something on the way that would be an unexpected bonus.

Dazai complained about the hospital wanting him back in a couple of hours because 'they didn't think he was fit to be running around in his state' before walking out of the office with a flourish. The minute the door closed he leant heavily against the wall as he made his way to the lift. Once he was in there he held on to the bar and shut his eyes to stop himself from collapsing due to the sensation in his stomach because the lift was going down. Once he reached the ground floor he took a metaphorically deep breath to steady himself and regain his posture before stepping out of the lift and out of the office block.

Once he was on the street he allowed himself to bend over slightly but he was aware that he needed to keep up the impression that he was fine even though he didn't know anyone and no one knew him. He began his long walk towards the hospital but despite his best efforts, it became clear after around five minutes that he wasn't going to make it by just ignoring the pain and powering on. He was shaking to the point where people might start to notice and he knew he needed to sit down as soon as possible. There was a little alley a bit further up the street and he made his way towards that. By the time he got there he was feeling faint again and he fell to his knees before making a slightly more controlled descent to the floor from there. He sat with his back against the wall and his knees drawn up to his chest, although there was still a gap because it would hurt more to pull them up all the way. He let his head flop back against the wall and closed his eyes, breathing heavily. After around five minutes, he managed to get up by putting most of his weight against the wall.

He continued on, aware that he had one hour and fifteen minutes to get to the hospital. Another five minutes later he had to sit down again. This time he was lucky to find a bench that he could sit on that meant he didn't have to lower himself all the way to the floor. This time he didn't let himself relax fully because he was still in plain sight of the general public but that meant that he didn't allow himself to rest fully before getting up again, aware that time was running out quicker than he'd anticipated. Once he had gotten up again he told himself that he could not afford to waste any more time resting if he planned to get to the hospital before the deadline.

He stumbled up the streets, barely looking where he was going, aware only of the throbbing in his chest that spread throughout his body. His breathing became more laboured and he started to become a lightheaded. He could feel the blood seeping through the bandages as he pushed himself past his limit. Once I reach the hospital, I'll be fine. No one will have to know. I can blame it on the doctor. I'll tell him not to tell anyone. Dazai's vision was going blurry and he wasn't sure where he was. He overbalanced and subconsciously braced himself to hit a wall but instead, he lurched into the alley and fell against a wall a little way in. Despite that, at this point, his legs were too weak and his head was spinning too much for him to stay upright and he collapsed to the ground.

He lay on his side with his eyes shut tightly and his fists clenched, fighting against the pain that was overwhelming him. He could barely breathe because of the pain and his breathing was short and shallow.Coupled with the fact that he was still bleeding meant that his brain was slowly getting both a lack of blood and oxygen. He knew he was going to pass out soon but that didn't trouble him because if he did die, at least he wouldn't be in pain. He slowly began to relax as it got harder and harder to stay conscious and eventually he let the darkness wash over him and everything went black.