Work Text:
Dazai walks to work, as usual.
Dazai sits at his desk, as usual.
Dazai does not complain, unusual, but it's happened.
Dazai does his paperwork?..
______
Kyouka leaves her own desk, moving to stand near Dazai's, she looks at him.
Kyouka speaks up first, "Dazai-san?" She asks softly.
Dazai hums, "Yes Kyouka-chan?.." Says he.
"What's in the box? It smells like tofu.." She asks.
"It's... tofu.." He responds, looking at her.
She nods.
Atsushi seems to be bored of his work, he instead looks to watch the interaction near him.
She speaks softly, there's really no other way for her to speak, "Why do you have tofu? You don't usually bring your own food.." She says, looking at the box with a slight glimmer of hope.
Dazai sighs, remembering.
Atsushi speaks up, "Mh, yeah you usually don't bring any, actually I don't think I've ever seen you eat at all.." He presses a finger to his bottom lip, trying to remember the last time he saw Dazai eat food.
"Eh, I suppose.." Dazai says quietly, raising an eyebrow and looking up.
"What are you lot talking about?" A voice asks, quickly being recognised Yosano.
"Ahh, Yosano-sensei~!" Dazai says, drawing it out.
Yosano nods her head, humming before she speaks, "So what are you talking about?" She asks, quietly eyeing the box.
"Dazai-san has tofu." Kyouka states simply.
"Ah," Yosano says, "Did you buy it, Dazai-kun? If it's homemade I'll tell Kyouka-chan not to bother you about it." She half-jokes.
Kyouka softly glares at Yosano, 'I wasn't bothering him about it' she thinks to herself.
"Mn, no, I made it myself." Dazai responds quietly.
From across the table Kunikida shivers, remembering the last time Dazai made food for him.
Atsushi notices and looks at him, "Are you okay, Kunikida-san?" He asks.
Kunikida ignores him, he can feel the pain from his stomach at the mere though of Dazai's cooking.
"Oh don't mind him, Atsushi-kun, he's just re-experiencing trauma." Yosano waves him off.
"T-trauma?" Atsushi asks.
"Mhm," She looks back to Dazai, "Now, you made tofu? How the hell did that go?" She chuckles.
"Eh? It was okay.." Dazai says, eyeing Yosano skeptically.
"Right.." Yosano mutters, "Don't get food poisoning." She says.
"Eh!? Yosano-sensei! What's that supposed to mean!?" Dazai whines loudly.
Yosano gives him a look.
Dazai pouts.
Kyouka slowly backs away from the box, scared she may catch said poisoning from even being near the food in question.
Atsushi speaks, "Is Dazai-san really that bad at cooking?" He looks between Yosano and Dazai.
Dazai blinks at him before grinning, "Ne, Atsushi-kun~ I'm not bad at cooking! I'm actually really good!" He says loudly, completely different from his earlier attitude.
"No way! I don't want Atsushi-kun to get food poisoning! I already have so much work to do!" Yosano yells at Dazai, glaring at him.
Dazai laughs, waving off her concerns, he quickly sees that it's already 12:30Pm, "Oh my," He speaks, "Already 12:30? Hm.." He ends quietly.
"Huh? Why so quiet?" Yosano asks, confusion washing over her face.
Atsushi hums.
Dazai simply starts unpacking the box, pulling out the tofu, "I'm.. hungry." He says, though it sounds more like a question than an answer.
"Right," Yosano says skeptically, "You're hungry.." Says she as Dazai pulls a fork out of thin air.
Kyouka watches as Dazai discards the fork, opting to peel a bit of tofu off with his fingers.. she blinks.
"Dazai-san, why are you eating it like that?" She asks, watching as Dazai places a bit of the tofu he peeled onto the fork, looking at Atsushi to see he's just as confused.
"Hm?.." Dazai blinks, looking at Kyouka, he seems confused, as if it's normal to eat tofu in such a way, or to eat anything like so, his mouth forms a little 'O' shape as he must realise that what he is doing is not normal.
"Uh," He speaks quietly, "This is how my Ma used to eat her tofu, only on her birthday, she couldn't stand mess but on her birthday, she allowed herself to get just a little bit dirty." He explained, he's not used to opening up so it's new to him.
"Oh," Yosano says, seemingly understanding, "Oh." She finishes.
Atsushi looks at Dazai, taking a moment to process what his mentor just said.
"So, did she make tofu, too?" Kyouka asks quietly.
Dazai hums, confirming her question, "This is her own recipe," He chuckles, "She beat it into my brain, said she wanted me to make it for her when she couldn't anymore.." He blinks a few tears out of his eyes.
"Oh," Atsushi says from beside him, "I'm sorry, Daz-" He's cut off by a soft laugh.
Atsushi blinks at the man.
"There's no need to be sorry, Atsushi-kun, it was for the better." Dazai says, reassuring him with a bright smile.
Yosano pets Dazai's head, Dazai just barely suppresses a flinch, but he is utterly confused by the action.
"U-um?" Dazai squeaks out.
Yosano stops petting him, "I'm gonna go get back to work, see me later." She says, walking off.
Dazai blinks a few times.
Atsushi looks at him, he also pets Dazai on the head, although a lot more hesitantly.
Dazai blinks at Atsushi, swatting his hand away when he properly realises that Atsushi is petting him, Atsushi.
"Dazai-san." Kyouka interupts their awkward interaction, much to Atsushi's relief.
"Y-Yes, Kyouka-chan?" He asks.
"May I try the tofu?" She asks quietly.
"Oh," He blinks a few times, "Of course!" He beams brightly at her, "Fork or hand?" He asks.
"Hm," She hums thoughtfully, "Fork.." She decides, as much as she'd love to honor the memory of this unknown woman she hadn't ever thought of or even realised existed until today, she'd prefer to keep her hands clean.
"Alright," Dazai passes her a spare fork - why does he have so many forks? - "I think you'll like it." He says.
And she does, it's not top-tier of course but it's a standard tofu, it has an extra flavour she can't seem to guess though..
Atsushi says quietly, more to himself than anything, "I want some tofu too.." As he looks longingly at the tofu.
Dazai pulls out another fork, passing it to Atsushi, "Try some!" He says brightly.
Atsushi wouldn't say it's the best tofu he's had, but it's not worthy of being named a poison at the mere mention of it's existence either..
They eat the tofu in silence.
Atsushi takes back his previous thought the moment he bites into a mini fork hidden inside the tofu.
"Dazai-san!? Why is there a mini fork in here!?" He wails.
Kyouka looks at Atsushi, then at the mini fork in his hand, she places her own fork down and declares that she's no longer hungry.
"Fancy you say that Atsushi-kun! That's exactly what I asked my Ma the first time she ever gave me her special tofu!" He exclaims loudly.
Kyouka places the 'extra flavour' she tasted as the bamboo of the mini fork.
______
Dazai returns home at around 6:00Pm, he stopped at a shop to get some candles after he's realised he had none.
As he gets inside he's greeted by a cool wind, he turns the lights on to see everything as he left it, the only difference being a chair moved slightly, the... wind he thinks.
He pulls a cake out of the fridge, chocolate with strawberries on top.
He places a few candles on it.
Turning the lights back off he lights the candles.
It's quiet, just him, the cake, and the wind.
It's quiet, until he breaks the silence.
"Happy birthday to you~ Happy birthday to you~"
The wind howls.
"Happy birthday dear Ma~"
He feels wind against his cheeks.
"Happy birthday to you~"
"Hip hip!" He sings.
The wind howls quietly once more.
The candles are blown out by the wind, the entire place going dark.
He smiles at the cake sitting in front of him, in the darkness he cuts the cake into pieces.
He moves from his place, grabbing a few containers, putting cake into them.
He quietly hums a song, roughly 9 containers of cake sit in front of him, his smile widens.
He leaves the house at 7:23Pm with 9 containers of cake.
He returns at 9:58Pm, with hands empty save for his now empty wallet.
He's pleased with today.