Withering Rose (Dazai x OC)

Chapter 12-Dark Era

"I'm such an idiot for letting my emotions overpower me the past couple of days." I murmur.

"Yup, a total idiot." Chuuya replies from over the phone.

"Ugh! When are you coming back so I can beat you up because of that comment!"

"Two more days, Rozu." His words cause me to groan.

"Who are you talking to, little red?" Odasaku wonders from beside me. At the moment we were walking to the curry restaurant with snacks for the kids.

"Chuuya." I tell him, pulling away from the phone for a second. He nods his head and I go back to talking into the phone. "That's too bad, cause I'm ready to kick your butt right now."

"Ha! Like you can take me!" Chuuya chuckles. "We'll have to have a battle I guess when I get back."

"I'll look forward to it." I smile. "Ah, I've got to go now." I say once spotting that we were coming to the shop. "See ya, Chu."

"See you, Thorny." He bids farewell before ending the call. I stick the phone back in my pocket and continue walking.

"I wonder what those children hold in store for us today." I think out loud.

"Yeah..." Odasaku trails.

We walk into the restaurant and immediately freeze, Odasaku ending up dropping the bag of snacks. The place was trashed, pieces of furniture tossed carelessly. What had happened here?

"What?" Odasaku gasps. I just stood there with my mouth agape as he rushed over to peer over the counter. "Mister!" He shouts but there's no response. Beginning to panic Odasaku bumps into me as he runs out of the door, snapping me out of my frozen state.

"Odasaku!" I holler after him as he shouts the children's names as he goes up the stairs. I don't bother taking off my shoes as I rush to the children's room. Odasaku had stopped after entering the room, taking in the scene. It was trashed like downstairs. "Odasaku..." I trail off as I watch my brother closely.

"A map?" He wonders, looking at the bunk bed where a piece of paper was stabbed by a knife holding it there. Suddenly an engine is being revved up. Odasaku rushes to the window and I follow after him. Sliding the window open we gaze upon the parking lot. In a van, the children are being held hostage.

"SAKU!" I screech as he jumps from the window to the ground, running towards the vehicle. Before I could jump down the van explodes sending Odasaku flying backward. Turning around I ran down the stairs quickly calling 911. I hear screaming once I get out of the restaurant, it's coming from Odasaku. He's probably in so much pain, those children meant a lot to him. I feel so insensitive that I'm not crying right now like he is. "Saku." I say bending down and placing a hand on his shoulder, hoping to calm him down but it doesn't work. "Saku, please."

Wrapping my arms around him I pull him into a hug, but he still screams into my ear. Once hearing the sirens for the fire trucks his screams halt. I let out a sigh in relief, brushing back the hair from my brother's face once pulling back from the hug. His face was wet from his tears and he had a forlorn look. Odasaku stands up and makes his way back inside the restaurant, as random citizens begin to crowd around. Pulling out my phone I make another call.

"Dazai?"

"I'm on my way. I'll be there shortly." He responds from the other line.

"So you already know." I sigh.

"Yeah..."

"You're the only one who can knock some sense into him it seems. He wouldn't even say a word to me."