The Foreshadowing
[A/N: Flashback incoming]
"So what are we toasting for?"
"Haha, anything is fine... I just want to have a toast."
"...To the stray dogs."
"...To the stray dogs" ×2
**
*
It was weird, don't you think?
I am not the "Original" Dazai Osamu, yet I felt so much bond towards anyone from the original's life...
"Odasaku, Listen to me! I---" (Dazai)
"Don't call me Odasaku" (Oda)
It really hurt hearing that statement,
"There is no reason for the enemy to address me in that way." (Oda)
Ahh----
"It was hard..." (Dazai)
It was really hard.
"I had to fight Mimic without you--- and I had to take over Mori-san's position, expanded the organization and--- that... Everything was... Everything was so this world would---!!!" (Dazai)
I can't finish that sentence... The sight of Odasaku pointing his gun at me stopped my voice from coming out.
"The reason... The reason I called you here, was to say goodbye for the last time." (Dazai)
Afterward, I requested him, not to use guns inside the bar... This place--- has too many memories.
"I don't mind if you shoot me anywhere, just not in this place." (Dazai)
...To my response, he slides his pistol back into his coat.
"Thank you... Goodbye, Odasaku."
....
"Sure... Goodbye."
Right... An alternate reality where Odasaku lives and becomes a novelist.
I planned to reveal everything to the Atsushi and Akutagawa who were fighting in the HQ and finally commit a proper suicide.
This time... I'd actually die.
That's why I left my farewell to Odasaku... No, it's Oda Sakunosuke.
I am not the original Dazai Osamu, and neither he is the original Oda Sakunosuke... And we never have any kind of relationship to begin with.
I do crave to read the completed book Oda Sakunosuke would publish though...
After all... A good book is always good, no matter how many times you've read it.
**
*
[Present day - Ingracia Academy, S class]
"I lived a life filled with shame... I can not quite grasp what it means to live as a human" (Dazai)
I did say I was going to read the children a book, but this book is a book I had been working on in my free time--- so it's more of a raw script rather than a book.
The script in my hand coincidentally titled "No longer human" and well, let's just say the children put up a sour face while listening to me.
"This is not a story you should be telling to children" ---was the kind of dumbfounded face all of them showed. No, it was as if they were screaming those words silently.
Well...
"What is up guys? Do you not like the story? Wha--- do you guys prefer..." I show them another book that I had with me.
"This one instead...?!" As I gasp in shock while muttering that, I show them a stapled pile of paper I had in hand on its first page.
It was a failed project I stopped halfway through since I got no motivation to write it anymore. No, I mean, "Re-write" it.
It was the book I've read countless times in the past.
The title was... "Complete Guide To Suicide"
"NO! THAT'S JUST WORSE! WHAT ARE YOU, SOME STUPID TEACHER!??" Suddenly came a retort from an orange-haired kid I identified as Kenya Misaki.
"D-dazai-sensei... Was it? Are you really a teacher in here...?" A brown kid named Gale Gibson asked.
"Rude, of course, I am!" (Dazai)
"Then he bears the title, 'worst teacher throughout history' I shall assume" The blonde girl named Alice Rondo stated.
"You haven't even learned of my name yet... *Sigh*... Children are scary..." (Dazai)
Finally, while laughing dryly, the boy with black hair responds to that remark, "Ha ha ha... Yet another unique teacher..." His name is Ryota Sekiguchi.
"A-- aha ha ha..." A wry laugh escaped Chloe's mouth upon watching my antics.
Well, I'd say it was a good start.
"Alright~~ listen up, my name is Dazai... Dazai Osamu. And I'll be accompanying you guys in this place for at least a year? Probably? The schedule has been divided for you guys, my class, and Shizu-san's class."
And thus, I became a teacher.
**
*
[Yuuki's Office]
The A rank adventurer, Dazai Osamu, retired and become a teacher at Ingracia Academy. That is the news that currently going around the public.
True, Yuuki is quite generous with his salary, but I still need to find out about that mask.
Right... I stalk Shizu-san whenever I am at the academy.
I frequently sat next to her every time we had lunch at the cafeteria.
Some of the female teachers even go around gossiping about me "going after her" or something.
Not that I care about that gossip... Even though I end up in Yuuki's office after some teachers reported how I "flirt too much with Shizu-sensei".
The skill, 『Tempter』 does enhance my charms, but that doesn't mean you need to have me reported... Whew, I am such a sinful man~~
"How beautiful!" That was me, caressing the right hand of Yuuki's secretary, Kagali the elf, with a starry aura enhanced with 『Tempter』.
"Ahh~~ Bella donna... Would you strangle me with this powerful yet delicate Finger---" (Dazai)
*POW* *BOOM*
"Excuse me, lady, I asked to be strangled... Not to be punched. But it is an honor..." Kuh--
"Your unique character just made me wonder how you are still not able to die yet after all these years." Yuuki spouted these from the sideline while watching the blonde elf walk away from my beaten-up self.
"Oh, not really... Just build up my pain resistance many times so that I could die comfortably. But to my horror, I end up building up the other resistances and nullifications too." I responded while getting up from the damaged wall.
"That's a shame then... You must've really wanted to die at that point." (Yuuki)
"You bet. Rather, I can't die even if I want to. If I get out of my physical body--- I'll just be transported back to where I came from. Though... Now that I am a human, I am not so sure about that." (Dazai)
"Right... Shisou (shizu) said you were a demon called 'Kuro' back then. Well, why are you still alive right now then?" (Yuuki)
...
...
I went silent upon listening to that question. I pay no mind to the dust and wounds on my body as I sat on the couch, facing Yuuki while looking down.
"Upon becoming a demon, my emotions and mind was going haywire. It told me to pursue power or even told me to find a master to serve... It was just a few hundred years earlier that I came back to my human sense. I recalled what my... 'Friend' told me far back in the past---"
"Your friend...?" (Yuuki)
"Yeah... " (Dazai)
"What did he say...?" (Yuuki)
"He told me to--- 'Be on the side that saves people...' And 'it'll at least make my world a little more beautiful'... It was then that I simply embraced my humanity once more..." (Dazai)
...
...
Yuuki stared at my face with wide eyes before changing back into his normal expression as if he was a little bit disappointed.
"I see..... So we're not the same like what we thought, huh...?" Yuuki suddenly muttered.
In response to that, I smiled at him... "Ha ha ha... Not quite, we're actually much more similar than you think... For example; your resolve on doing something for the sake of everyone you hold dear... But that 'something' might make them unhappy if they were to hear about it."
I took Akutagawa's sister so that he got the resolve to take revenge on me, I implemented fear on Atsushi in order for him to follow me---just to have them meet each other for them to know how to work together...
All of that, for the sake of creating a force stronger than the double black to hold the Rats and Guild down...
And also... Odasaku he--- haha, he even pointed a gun at me. No matter if my goal was to save that world---I am never a "good guy" In the first place.
I am taking back my words... I do not see a Fyodor foreshadowing behind Yuuki.
What I see in front of me... Yuuki---he is almost similar to my younger self.
At this point, Yuuki stared back at me with wide eyes.
"That... Is intriguing..." (Yuuki)
"Indeed..." (Dazai)
.
.
.
To be continued.