Tempus Fugit

Is there really any value to this thing we call living?

Dazai? Why is it you wish to die?

Let's turn that question around,
Is there really any value to this thing we call living?

So the suicidal bastard wants to live

I haven't fulfilled my promise to us you as my dog yet.

Dazai stood up and walked over towards the edge of the alleyway, unsure of what to do, it would be dangerous to just waltz out into view, he didn't know what time they were in, things could be different in the future, the future is something you can't predict, it holds so many mysteries and Dazai found them all scary, he found them all incredibly frightening. He didn't want a future. He was sure he didn't have one, Chuuya though, most definitely did.

And if this happened to be the past, he and Chuuya would both be suffering anyway. If they were both spotted, it could mess up their current selves' lives, they didn't need any more of that.

Dazai, for once, had no clue what to do, where were they supposed to go? How would they get back to their time?

No, he had to find the answer to the most important question, what time were they in?

It seemed the Gods had heard him.

"Is-Isn't that Akutagawa?" Chuuya whispered, placing a hand on Dazai's shoulder, leaning forwards, Dazai turned his head from the art store over to the convenience store, and sure enough, there stood Akutagawa, he looked older, maybe in his early twenties, he wore his usual expressionless face, though it lit up ever so slightly when another boy emerged from the store, he had white hair with one black streak running through it close to his unevenly chopped bangs and almost inhumane yet stunning multicoloured eyes. "Who's he?" Chuuya asked, having never seen him before.

Dazai shrugged, "I don't know, but they seem close," he then relaxed and allowed himself to concentrate, leaning in to listen closely.

"-uya said not to buy too much canned crab, you bought an entire bag! He's going to hurl it all up by the end of the week," the boy neither of them knew scolded.

Akutagawa pursed his lips then shrugged "The week is nearly over Jinko,"  looking at the other man lazily, there was an air of calmness around Akutagawa that hadn't existed before like he didn't have any burdens on his shoulders, it was odd to see him like that but not unpleasant.

The boy looked at him dead in the eyes "exactly!" he cried exasperated.

Akutagawa didn't seem phased in the least "He's a grown man he can handle himself," he replied, only to smile slightly when the other boy stared at him as if he had a few screws loose in his head.

"You're talking about the man we had to fish out of the river a week ago," The silver-haired man spoke, not amused in the slightest by the other's response. Dazai on the other couldn't help but beam.

"I like that man." He whispered, causing Chuuya to peer up at him and exhale with the smallest of smiles.

"Yeah cause he's a suicidal mental case just like you," Chuuya, even in his state of uncertainty felt a tad bit of relief that Dazai was being his usual self, it eased his nerves ever so slightly.

Akutagawa and the other boy stood by the store and peered over to see what magazines they had on display as if they hadn't been in the store some minutes ago. "Yo! Atsushi! Akutagawa!" Both Dazai and Chuuya snapped their head in the direction of the voice, it was all too familiar, a little deeper than they knew, but still, the same one they knew.

Dazai felt like he had just been punched in the stomach, it was Chuuya.

He couldn't figure out how old he was, he didn't look a day over Twenty at least, but he had to be older considering Akutagawa looked twenty as well.