"Dude, your neck."
Kaminari's words attract not only the other members of his group but a few stragglers. Dazai finds that more than a few people turn their heads slightly in interest while pretending to be occupied. Within minutes of his arrival, the bruise on his neck is noticed. It goes too far up to cover with bandages, but he had tried. The attention doesn't really bother him anymore. Aizawa can't truly do anything anymore, and even if he did, it would only give away how much he knows.
"Kaminari! How scandalous of you to ask, well..." Dazai smirks. "I'm a bit embarrassed to explain it..."
Kaminari pauses for about a second, then breaks out with a wide grin. Midoriya's face goes bright red when he hears Dazai's sentence from the seat in front of him. The others go from a range of shocked, to impressed, to scared, to inching away from him. Most of them have all congregated near where Midoriya's desk is, and he doesn't have the faintest idea why. People are so ridiculous.
"Dazai! How I know you have your own life outside of school, I must say that it is inappropriate to have visible marks from sexual activities or other things during classroom hours." Iida slightly emphasises 'other things'. He won't meet Dazai's eyes again, from that terrible terrible guilt of his. He knows they're not from sex.
Iida thinks they're from the person who is 'holding him captive', although Dazai doesn't know if that would be a catalyst to tell Aizawa out of worry or reassure him that he can't tell anyone due to Dazai's safety being at risk. He'll probably just ask Dazai about it sometime soon.
"Iida!" Midoriya squeaks. "You shouldn't say that upright. It might be embarrassing for Dazai."
Midoriya is kind, but kindness doesn't get anyone far in the world. Kindness is something that was left in a time before people existed. Was evil founded by human beings? What is evil, anyway?
Dazai doesn't find things like sex embarrassing. Shame doesn't come easily to someone like him about mundane things that teenagers find awkward. His shame is different. Plus, most of the time he's thinking about how to kill himself. No time for anything but death!
"You want the details? Iida... Jealousy isn't a good look on you." Dazai tuts. "Although, if you wanted to do it with me, you could've just asked."
Iida looks rightfully appalled at the comment. Jirou grins at it and whispers something to a slightly pink Yaoyorozu. She still smiles though, even slightly.
"Who even cares what bandaid fetish does in his own time?!" Bakugou interrupts, gripping his pencil with such intensity that Dazai is worried it'll snap in half.
"For someone who doesn't seem to care, you've been listening in on their conversation very intensely." Jirou snickers, barely covering her mouth with her hand. Yaoyorozu sends her a dirty look, but it holds no real value. They both know it by the looks in their eyes.
"It's hard to not listen when half of the damn room is talking about it!" Bakugou snarls back, plenty irritated.
Sex is a big deal to teenagers. He doesn't understand, but he pretends to. It's good for conversation and distraction. Sex is worthless, or it's just a tool.
"I dunno, Bakugou..." Kaminari elbows him and raises both his hands placatingly. "Lies cannot be told..." He pauses. "In the face of this famous detective duo!" Kaminari leans back onto Ashido, crossing their arms. Bakugou looks like he's a second away from exploding. Dazai is sure steam will start to pour out of them any minute now.
"Where did those sunglasses come from...?" Todoroki murmurs quietly at the strange display.
Tokoyami nods understandingly. "Revelry in the dark..."
Ashido gasps. "Wait..." She wiggles her eyebrows. "Do you have a crush on Da-" Bakugou slams his hands on the table.
"I'm going to fucking kill you Raccoon eyes!!" Bakugou screams barbarically, lunging at Ashido. She yelps and shoots up in the air. And sprints away.
"Awww, don't be embarrassed!" She teases while being chased around in circles.
Love is everywhere, mon ami!" Aoyama adds on flamboyantly, spinning in circles. It's so fast Dazai can barely keep track of him.
"I don't have a crush on anyone! I don't have time for dates and crushes when I'm training to become the number one hero!!"
Dazai fully believes him. Nobody would love him like that unless he was trying to manipulate them in a romantic way. Which he usually uses against women because they're more susceptible (He's still a feminist though!).
"Mmm... Likely story." Kaminari giggles, before his eyes widen at the glare Bakugou gives him. "I'm, um, kidding...?" He laughs nervously.
Bakugou roars and tries to tear apart the two of them. In between their laughs are cries for help. The explosion user starts jumping from table to table. Dazai watches from a distance, his attention is more focused on the way he wrapped bandages around his right ankle. It's itchy and wrapped the completely wrong way. His eyes almost twitch as Kaminari misses him by an inch.
Standing up authoritatively, Iida claps his hands in an attempt to garner the attention of the others. "Stop this behaviour at once!" He orders and not a single person listens. The entire class is either laughing at the two being chased or attempting to avoid the chase itself. "Aizawa-sensei would not tolerate this."
"We're gonna die!" Kaminari wails and cowers behind Kirishima.
"Bakugou." Kirishima scolds. "It isn't manly to scare your classmates." Kaminari whisper-shouts a thank you to him.
"Dunce face needs to get what he deserves." Bakugou cackles. "And don't think I forgot about you, Pinky!" He whirls around to confront Ashido who is ducked down in front of Aizawa's desk.
Just as Bakugou is going to launch himself at the pink-skinned girl, the classroom door slams open. The room goes dead silent.
Aizawa's scraggly voice booms out. "If you're not back in your seats in five seconds, I'm expelling you." The class erupts into a flurry of movement, everyone trying to get into their seats without uttering a word. Dazai ambles back to his own and then winks at Bakugou when they make eye contact. He definitely hears Jirou snicker.
He hears Bakugou mumble rather loudly from a whole person away something along the lines of "I'm going to strangle those two idiots" or something equally as violent.
"I could hear you all from the staffroom." Aizawa glares at them. "Which is a floor down from here."
Iida raises his hand, then before Aizawa can call on him, stands up. "I am very sorry for our behaviour, Aizawa-sensei! I failed to keep Bakugou and the rest of our classmates under control. As class president this is unacceptable!" He declares solemnly.
"...Thank you Iida. Please sit down." Aizawa looks weirded out by the display. "Today we will talk about the consequences of cheating during today's homeroom in light of exams starting tomorrow....."
He swears he sees Kaminari gulp. Homeroom drones on as usual, and so does regular classes. He's almost giddy when the lunch bell rings, and Midoriya gestures for him to come over along with Iida and Uraraka.
Dazai walks out with the trio but spots Aizawa standing right out the door. He clears his throat expectantly and subtly. Dazai groans, knees buckling at the thought of having ANOTHER conversation with Aizawa.
"What's up?" Uraraka questions him, looking down at his awkwardly bent-down position.
"I forgot something in the room." Dazai whines. "Go on without me, I might be a while. I forgot where it went." What a pain.
Iida glances at him worriedly and bites his lip. "I can come."
Dazai raises his eyebrows. "You want to be alone with me? To find out all the details of last night?" He almost purrs. Iida looks disgusted, turning as pale as snow. Dazai knows he wants to know badly, but due to the insinuation Dazai made earlier, he'll look creepy if he says yes and won't be able to explain why he doesn't believe his story.
So Iida pauses for a second or two, before sighing. "No, never mind." Iida looks downright devastated as he walks away and the other two quickly follow him with questioning eyes. He hears Midoriya lean in with a concerned look and whisper something.
Dazai turns to find Aizawa leaning on the doorway, arms crossed.
"Your neck is bruised." Aizawa states plainly, pointing at his own neck to demonstrate.
Dazai looks down at his neck, barely seeing above his tie. "I don't see anything."
Aizawa ignores Dazai's words and continues on as if he had just confirmed it. "You realise coming to school with hand-shaped bruises around your neck is very suspicious, right?"
In the Port Mafia, people would come in with bruises everywhere. It's just a normal part of life, maybe even integral. The mafia wouldn't exist if everyone was healthy and happy.
People don't bat an eye when Dazai comes to work with bloodstains down his shirt or when he's high off his ass.
"Teenagers are very frisky these days." Dazai tuts. "I thought as a teacher, you'd already know that."
Aizawa clears his throat. "What?"
What was he going to do if Dazai had genuinely been injured just from sex of all things? Call the kink police?
Dazai sighs, shaking his head condescendingly. He leans forward slightly and almost whispers, "Do you really want to know?" His face is halfway between curiosity and exasperation.
"If you feel comfortable telling me." Aizawa purses his lips. "You could always talk about it with Hound Dog now, or at your first session in a few days." Dazai backs away and stares Aizawa straight in the eyes.
Dazai hums, smiling insincerely. "I won't."
It's not like he has to play that nice with Aizawa anymore. He knows. He knows everything, yet it's all wrong. The man has twisted it. He just does what he has to, and Aizawa will never understand that.
"Ok." Aizawa deflates (stoically). "You are dismissed."
Dazai skips away. He's somewhat content with his life right now. But that's mostly because things will be changing very soon.
Midoriya, Uraraka and Iida are all sitting at their usual table. Dazai sits right back down with them like there's nothing wrong. Iida doesn't bother him for the rest of the day, thankfully. With all the chatter about the written exams starting tomorrow, they're all too nervous to say anything about the drop in mood. The class sulks for the rest of the day, much unlike the morning when they seemed so carefree.
Fyodor is as usual, at home. Sitting on a computer on the little coffee table that Dazai uses to map out different suicide attempts. He has a little corkboard for it too (In his mind, but he has a place for it on the wall mapped out).
"You know, Fyodor, I am starting to get worried that you are becoming a shut-in..." Dazai frets.
"What is a 'shut in'?" He questions, moving his head from his laptop. He did not own that model last time.
"Someone..." He snickers. "Who enjoys a variety of tea and owns an Ushanka."
Fyodor looks unimpressed. "I have an odd feeling you are deceiving me." His nimble fingers glide across the top of the laptop he's using.
"That's nonsense. I think you're slowly going mad." Dazai objects and eyes the space his bed occupies. "By the way, why is there a pile of chicken bones next to my bed?"
"It is none of your concern." He dismisses the other very easily.
"Righttt..." Dazai trails off. He speeds over to the kitchen counter to take a few shots and grab his report for Mori and Chuuya (Yeesh, that last conversation they had) from the fridge, then speeds out of his apartment. He has to meet Hirotsu anyways for the information exchange. Fyodor is creeping him out. Maybe he'll kidnap Fyodor and send him to Poland to become a hat seller.
The next day Dazai gets to school early. Obviously, he doesn't want to, but he knows who else will be at school early. And even though chatting with Iida is a pain, he needs to get into his head again. Freshen up the guilt and doubt that he planted. And sure enough, Iida is sitting at his desk as usual.
Iida jolts when Dazai enters the room and he whips his head around. Dazai softly closes the door and makes his way over to the other's desk, pulling up a chair.
"Did you tell anyone?" Dazai asks in keen interest.
"No, I-" He takes a breath. "Someone gave those bruises to you. To punish, not for anything sexual. I am fearful for you, Dazai."
"Yes, yes. You are correct." Dazai says, almost softly. "It is not your fault that I was injured. It could've been worse."
"No!" Iida objects loudly and harshly. "We must tell someone, I'm sorry. I cannot let it go on any longer-" He's pleading now, something quiet and terrible.
"You will not tell anybody." Dazai's words grate against the desperate tones of the other. "I thought you weren't a murderer. Haven't you changed? Is Stain no different to me?" Dazai cries, bunching up the fabric of his pants with his hands. He might smile if he looks at Iida's face, so he hides his own beneath his hair.
"I'm not who I was before!" Iida's eyes widen as he gets more worked up. "I don't want to see my friend hurt! I'm not... a murderer." The last part is almost whispered
Dazai rubs soothing circles on his back. Poor Iida. "Not yet. It's ok, I'll make sure you don't go back to how you used to be. We can talk about going to Sensei about it after summer camp." He smiles encouragingly, or what he hopes to be. Indifference and sexual appeal are things he can do well, but he's never been good at faking compassion.
"Ok..."
Satisfied, Dazai claps his hands together decisively. "So. Are you excited about final exams?" He smiles, teasingly. "I bet you've been studying for ages for it!"
"Um, yes." He clears his throat. "I have."
He laughs, giggling like they've always been friends. "That's such 'you' thing."
The door opens. Hagakure enters by herself, alone. Iida greets her as he does with every one of their classmates in the morning. Even with all the sorrow and guilt, he gives her a firm and warm good morning. Dazai wonders how many more betrayals someone like Iida can take.
He wonders if Hagakure's real personality is the one she shows off. It doesn't really matter though. He doesn't care how devastated the rest of them will be when they eventually find out that two of their classmates never bothered to care about them.
The rest gradually start to file in. Uraraka huffs and puffs when she arrives with multiple notebooks in her hands. She's even got a floating one that's been tugged along by some lousy string. Iida lectures her about the use of her quirk, but she laughs it off as she does when he talks about rules.
Midoriya is not much better. His book is massive. Definitely thicker than a dictionary. Dazai wonders if he has all the textbooks in there too. He peeks over to confirm, and yes, there is certainly a math textbook in there. He's pretty sure he read that one a few years ago too when he was staying with Mori.
"I commend you for your hard work and dedication to school, but I did not expect either of you to be cramming on the day of an important exam!" Iida scolds them.
"But Dazai didn't even study!" Midoriya exclaims, flabbergasted. "Why isn't he the one getting scolded?"
"Because Dazai has yet to do a single piece of proper work this year." Iida side eyes Dazai (It's not very convincing because Iida is also terrified of and for him). "I had higher expectations from you two though."
"I've definitely done some work this year!" Dazai chimes in. Uraraka death stares him.
"At least we're studying." Uraraka humphs and also glares at Dazai. He rolls his eyes. He's about to retort when Kaminari, Sero and Ashido all come barrelling in screaming about how they're going to fail, with an angry Aizawa behind them.
"I hope all of you have studied." Aizawa grins evilly. "Because I made sure to make the written test extremely hard." Dazai has a strong feeling the man is laughing in his head.
"Sensei..." Kaminari raises his hand weakly with a few tears coming out of his eyes. "I'm dropping out." Sero sighs at the theatrics then shakes his head when Ashido gets up from her own seat.
"No!" Ashido cries and points to Aizawa accusingly. "Look what you've done!" Ashido and Kaminari collapse into a jumble of limbs.
Aizawa raises his eyebrow after nobody says anything. "Are you two done yet?"
"Dammit." Kaminari snaps his fingers. "It was worth a shot." Then they both get up and pretend nothing happened. To Aizawa's credit, stuff like that happens pretty often. He's probably been desensitised. Aizawa begins to explain the exam rules without interruptions.
The exam seems reasonably normal. Dazai's never done a schooling exam since when he went to school they were too young to do proper ones. Oh! Except for the UA entrance exam. Are all exams like entrance exams? Dazai follows along to one of the testing halls where desks are arranged similarly to how they were for the written entrance exam.
Once everyone is sitting down, the tests are handed out. Apparently, they're doing a maximum of two a day. Math is the only one today. Midnight stands on the stage and announces the beginning of the exam, which everybody eagerly opens up and begins. The silence is odd with how many people are in the same room. Dazai looks up at the ceiling, then down to his booklet that he still hasn't touched. Guess he better get to it.