There's Something So Interesting About How The ADA Is Associated With Cats The PM Is Compared To Dogs.

ATTENTION ALL

DANNY MOTTA IS GOING TO REACT TO EPIC THE MUSICAL THIS IS THE SECOND BEST DAY EVER (THE BEST DAY WILL BE THE DAY OF THE REACTION)

like if you want Jorge to pay for your therapy bills

For those of you who may not be too familiar with the manga, during ch39: Portrait of a Father, Akutagawa shows up, as Dazai's informant, to give Atsushi documents about who the orphanage headmaster was and what happened to him.

At that moment, Akutagawa shows an uncharacteristic clemency towards Atsushi, saying that "Atsushi's master died today", and compares this to his own relationship with Dazai.

This was a long time ago now, and a lot has happened since. The Cannibalism arc is right after this, where they are very antagonistic towards each other, and includes this scene:

Akutagawa, despite his bitterness towards Atsushi for who he is to Dazai, has seen how similar they are in this sense. Atsushi hasn't, because his gratefulness towards Dazai prevents him from seeing that Akutagawa's experience was completely different with this same person. (he's also not given any time by the narrative to wonder about it)

but then just came along chapter 122!!!

Atsushi gets to see, 1:1, the relationship between Akutagawa and Dazai. For the first time, Akutagawa is relatable to him.

And of course, at the end, Atsushi calls out the illusion as being the headmaster wearing Dazai's face because we are closing this loop! We are forcing Atsushi to see Akutagawa the same way Akutagawa has been seeing him!

Been a bit busy recently, but for those who want it, here's part two of the concept I had mentioned about the sskk interview. | Part One. It also ended up around 1.8k, so it's under the cut. Enjoy! Perhaps I'll do a part three if anyone wants it.

The next few days were much of the same for Atsushi. He'd come to work, be dragged off by Kunikida who would hand him a paper with all the questions they were going to ask and made him memorize each answer. Then eventually Dazai would arrive (a few hours late, as usual), and after sitting through Kunikida's lecture on tardiness and the importance of punctuality, and after Dazai would make a few comments that would only infuriate the detective more, his mentor would work on having him not sound like a cold machine when he spoke. Because apparently, he did not do well with memorization.

The training wouldn't have been so bad, really, if not for the fact that Kunikida and Dazai seemed to disagree about everything. Kunikida wanted him to appear formal as a true representative of the Agency, while Dazai thought he'd appeal to the audience more if he came across as some sort of Idol—relaxed manner, permanent smile, the works. Unfortunately, Atsushi was too nervous to truly do either, and every time he tried to implement one of his superior's advice and whenever he thought he might actually be starting to do a good job, the other would completely admonish him and tell him to the opposite.

And if Atsushi had to endure this for one more day, he may not have enough sanity left to even do the interview in the first place.

But somehow, by some miracle, he was actually improving. He had managed to find some sort of middle ground between the two philosophies—professional, but friendly enough to appear easygoing and relatable as he calmly told the interviewer (Kyouka, who had been roped into this) about his experience on the Moby Dick and defeating the American before the city was destroyed (the amended version that was arranged and agreed upon with the Port Mafia)

Of course, he couldn't help but feel he might lose all his progress when in front of an actual camera, but one problem at a time.

And speaking of problems...

It was time for his practices with Akutagawa.

With luck, the mafioso would kill him, and he could get out of doing the interview.

"C'mon, it'll be fine," Dazai assured him with a lazy grin. The two were on their way to the practice, which unfortunately had to be in Mafia territory. Atsushi protested against this, numerous times in fact, but it was beginning to dawn on him that no one actually had any consideration for what he wanted in this instance. Dazai had explained that their premises would be much more accommodating to the task, and there wasn't much else to say on the matter. Even Kunikida had voiced a mild objection, but being as there was some tentative form of truce, and that the organizations were attempting to work together for their mutual benefits, there wasn't any choice.

When they arrived at the agreed upon tower—the southern one, if Atsushi was correct, they were greeted by two grunts who escorted them to the fifteenth floor, where there was apparently an open space available for this. Dazai even chatted with one of them on the way up, casually asking about his wife and kids, and the man, for the most part, just seemed confused but answered honestly.

For some reason, it hadn't occurred to him that there would be someone else helping Akutagawa until they were led into a large, open area with a small stage setup, and aside from Akutagawa standing off to the side, there was a short mafioso with a black hat sitting cross-legged on a folding chair, his face scowling in irritation the moment he spotted Dazai. For what it's worth, the brunet's face twisted in revulsion when he spotted the man as well.

"Really?!" The ginger practically spat, standing up so quickly the chair knocked into the ground. "Of everyone who it could be, it had to be you?! Couldn't they get a literal trash can to do the job instead?! Not much of a difference, but at least one knows how to shut up."

Atsushi blinked at the harsh words aimed at his mentor. Dazai, however, merely upturned his nose like some kind of critic whose opinion was actually warranted.

"And they should have hired a hatrack to do yours—at least it has more uses than you. And how exactly do you expect to make Akutagawa camera ready when the only thing you would accomplish by appearing in public is to go from the Wanted list to Unwanted."

"Dazai..." Atsushi tried, ever the peacemaker.

"And all you're accomplishing is contaminating your student with your filth," Chuuya retorted. "You'll make the whole country reek of Mackerel."

"I take it back. Perhaps they should have gone with a dog—at least they're more loveable than you."

Chuuya scrunched up his nose. "You hate dogs."

"Exactly."

There was a pause before the executive's eyes widened, and he suddenly glowed red. "You bastard! I oughta punch you right in the—"

"Uh uh uh." Suddenly, Atsushi found himself being yanked in front of Dazai, to be used as a human shield. "You wouldn't want to mess up our one of our stars' faces, would you?" taunted his mentor with a maliciously sweet grin.

"I think you could," commented Akutagawa.

"Nobody asked you!" Atsushi snapped back.

Chuuya glanced between student and mentor and sighed exaggeratingly, dragging a gloved hand across his face. "Whatever, we've wasted enough time."

Since Atsushi apparently came across as very yankable, Chuuya suddenly reached out and grabbed Atsushi's arm, dragging him away from Dazai and towards Akutagawa.

"Uhm, Chuuya?" Atsushi began timidly. He tried to tug his arm out of the mafioso's grasp. It didn't work.

"Shut up," spat the executive, and Atsushi decided to do that. Not because he was scared of Chuuya who could crush him in an instant, but because it seemed like a very smart idea. Because Chuuya could crush him in an instant.

Akutagawa's eyes widened suddenly as his superior approached him, grabbed him with his free arm, and commenced dragging the two of them over to the stage while the Future Stars­™ stumbled along behind him. Atsushi caught Akutagawa's gaze. The latter rolled his eyes at him. The former stuck out his tongue in retaliation.

Chuuya marched onto the stage with them in tow, shoved Akutagawa into a chair that had been set up on the left, and then Atsushi into the other one a few feet to the right.

"Alright," he said, crossing his arms and staring down at the two of them like one might stare at five year olds who have been misbehaving. "We're starting. Now. I don't wanna hear any fighting between you two, got it?"

"Understood sir, sir, yes sir," Atsushi stammered under the piercing gaze. Akutagawa, who was likely more used to this treatment from the ginger, merely nodded, although he didn't appear all too happy about it.

"He's right, boys, you have to play nice." Dazai strolled onto the stage leisurely with his hands behind his back and and a grin. "Think we can keep the bickering to a minimum?"

"You guys are fighting more than we are," Atsushi pointed out dryly. Akutagawa made a sound akin to a stifled snort. Chuuya's eye twitched. Dazai's lips twitched. Neither man made any effort to deny it.

"Let's just try to get through this, can we do that?" Chuuya asked. He sounded really tired.

"Fine by me," Atsushi replied.

Akutagawa nodded. "There should be no problems as long as the Weretiger doesn't mess this up."

"Excuse me?" Atsushi exclaimed, turning to the man. "You think I'm going to mess this up?! Who came to kill who, remind me—"

"Yes, and I almost didn't have to, because you were ten seconds away from becoming a cripple. If I hadn't been there, you would have allowed the whole city to go up in flames."

"Well, you—"

"Enough!" Chuuya flicked Atsushi between the eyes, hard enough for his entire chair to fall backwards and send the boy sprawling to the floor. He then walked over to Akutagawa, who merely sighed in resignation as he too was sent to the floor.

"Next time either of you say anything that isn't rehearsed, I'm gonna kick each of your butts so hard, you're gonna do the interview and the rest of your lives standing, you got that?!" Chuuya growled as he glared down at the black and white heaps on the floor. Akutagawa had managed to land somewhat gracefully while said butt of Atsushi was sticking up in the air. At the threat, he quickly reigned it in and sat up rigidly.

"I didn't hear a response," said Chuuya, glowing red.

"Yes!"

"Understood." Accompanied by two coughs.

"Now now, Chuuya," Dazai laughed. He placed a hand on the ginger's shoulder, dispelling the red glow that surrounded him. "You shouldn't be so stressed all the time; at this rate, you really will get a bald patch before you're twenty-five."

Chuuya scowled and wheeled on the man. "Yeah, well at least someone's putting in any effort into this interview. They're your students that you grabbed off the streets, why don't you act like a responsible teacher for once?!"

"But that's no funnn," Dazai whined. "It's way more entertaining to watch this instead."

"Wait, how'd you know Dazai found me on the streets?" Atsushi asked.

Chuuya made a face. "Lucky guess."

"I pulled you from the streets, remember?" Dazai draped his arm over Chuuya and brought him close with a light grin. "I remember, you reeked the first time I met you—"

Dazai was on in his back in the space of a single blink. The stage beneath him was slightly cracked. Chuuya's fists were clenched.

"I'll have you know that I was perfectly clean, thank you very much!" he stated loudly, "unlike a certain slimy fish I could mention whose hair was a rats' nest and whose personal hygiene rivalled that of a monkey's."

Dazai looked up at him from the floor with a twinkle in his eye. "It's funny you say that when, last I checked, you were the one hanging around farm animals—"

Chuuya pounced on him before Dazai could even finish, slapping him and shouting while Dazai merely cackled wrestled back surprisingly well, throwing in a jab or two to keep it going. Chuuya eventually got the upper hand though, and he managed to strangle Dazai hard enough for the man to pass out, all while maintaining a blissful expression.

Two pairs of eyes followed the executive as he calmly rose from the ground and brushed off his vest like nothing happened. "Now that one nuisance has been taken care of, let's get on with it."

Atsushi glanced over at Akutagawa, who didn't seem perturbed in the least. Atsushi sighed.

And so, practice began.

I would like to remind everyone that this takes place after the Guild arc, meaning that Kunikida knows by now that Dazai was a Mafia executive. And that doesn't bother him in the slightest.

Skk's entire relationship in a single frame:

Ok, I'm convinced at this point that instead of teaching English, schools should just start getting their students into bsd, because honestly, the effects are about the same.

Like, what is this fandom??? As far as anime go, it's sort of known, but it's not even close to mainstream, and then you join the fandom to discover that it's actually huge.

-The fans will write five thousand word analyses, complete with textual evidence, about anything and everything, and they'll all be more well written and deeper than their thematic essay for English class.

-They won't even think twice about reading a bunch of classics to understand their favorite characters, and then they'll happily write you an analysis of a Japanese classic written in the mid-twentieth century and how it connects to their favorite character. They'll casually read Crime and Punishment, a book english teachers have no hope of having their students read in general, let alone for fun, and they'll do it and then give their theories about how it may connect to the villain's powers. They also end up just getting into classic literature in general.

-Ask them to give a summary of the book they had to read, they'll stare at you blankly, but ask them about the chain of abuse vs the savoir chain and you will hear a psychological breakdown on the concept of abuse, and how different characters treat others differently because etc etc etc.

-Not even the top criminal defense lawyer could compete with a bungou stray dogs fan explaining why Chuuya Nakahara, a man who is an executive in the Mafia, a man who has killed many people, has gotten involved in smuggling and all sorts of illegal activities, is actually a good person and deserves all the sunlight and happiness in the world.

-And the art that comes out of it??? The fanfictions, the fanart, the edits- I've read fanfiction that made me feel more than a published book ever will. Seen fanart that belongs in a museum, and the edits are some of the coolest stuff known to man.

-And they're just so low key??? Like seriously, don't teach English, teach bungou stray dogs. You'd get better results that way.

Listening to the Thunder Saga, as well as the new and improved Troy and Cyclops Saga, and. . . JAY NEEDS TO BECOME A PROFESSIONAL VOICE ACTOR WHO'S WITH ME ON THIS???? FUNIMATION NEEDS TO HIRE THIS MAN I MEAN REALLY-

I would say that bsd gets so many people into classic literature but to be fair I think it attracts the type of people who would get into it anyway and just needed an excuse.

Chuuya's backstory is so insane because like, any one event from 15-Stormbringer would be enough to constitute a lesser man's entire tragic backstory. Heck, that one scene from Dead Apple where you learn six of his friends died would be enough to be a tragic backstory. Grew up on the streets, forced to become the leader of a group of children who only saw you as a weapon, struggling with your own humanity, betrayal, five friends being brutally murdered because of you, even the detective who wanted to bring him out of the Mafia dying could be enough of a backstory, and I haven't even gotten to the torture yet. But Chuuya's just special like that.