Chapter Text
In the busy city of Yokohama, there lived a high school student named Nakahara Chuuya. This is the protagonist of our story.
You see, Chuuya is a charming young man. He possesses an extraordinary beauty and can always be seen smiling at his juniors and being just a kind person in general.
But in the present, Chuuya seems to be worn out.
Well, it's only natural. Chuuya's in quite a situation.
His gambling-addict of a father has multiple debts piled up, Chuuya's even had to hide money in the most unlikeliest of places just so his shitty father wouldn't get his hands on it. Those debts came back to bite them, hard.
The debt collectors suddenly barged into their small apartment, not-so kindly asking them to move out. Chuuya was taken aback, he had just arrived home from school, after all. He asked them about his father, and they only gave him a single piece of paper saying that his father had gone away, whereabouts unknown.
Where is our protagonist now, you ask? Well, poor Chuuya was currently lonely sitting on a bench in the middle of a park. He was practically boiling with rage, and screamed out loud, cursing his father for abandoning him in such a situation.
Another scream echoed throughout the park, along with his own. At first, Chuuya thought it was just his echo. But upon hearing more screams following the first one, he decided to investigate.
He walked around the park and eventually found the cause.
A man in about his mid twenties was holding onto a tree branch for dear life, a small brown dog barking at him from below. Chuuya's almost tempted to laugh at such a comical sight, but then he remembers his own situation, and decided to help the man.
He shoos away the dog. It was fairly easy, the dog was so small. The man sighed heavily out of relief, and accidentally let go of the branch, making him fell butt first on the ground.
Chuuya immediately rushed to help him up. "Are you okay?" He asked.
The man looked somewhat well-kept. His dark red hair was messy underneath a beige fedora, and he was wearing a coat in the same color.
"Thank you, you saved me." He says as he stood up.
"Are you from around these parts?"
Chuuya's face falls. "Um," He hesitated. "Kind of? I mean, I grew up here but I don't have a home anymore." He tried to play off the last part as a joke, laughing quietly even.
But the man seemed concerned and asked Chuuya about it. Chuuya took this opportunity to rant.
Chuuya's surprised he didn't punch at least one object while explaining his situation. He's usually violent when it comes to his outbursts, it's a miracle he kept control. But he's holding on by a thread. He needs every bit of control he has left if he wants to keep his sanity.
"Your father just ran away like that?" The man was left dumbfounded. "That's horrible."
But then he has his head in his hands, "You must resent him for leaving. I too, have left my home."
Now this was interesting. Chuuya tilted his head, "You left your home?"
The man sighed. He looked up to the sky, as if reminiscing something. "It's been a few decades since then. I wonder how everyone at home is doing."
"I think Dazai's going to jump-kick me in the face the moment I stepped inside."
Dazai? Is that is wife or something? Chuuya thought.
"I'm sure they'll gladly welcome you back!" Chuuya said, trying to give the man hope. "You still have a home to go back to. I mean, look at me, I'm currently homeless." Chuuya laughed.
"Actually, you can stay there instead."
Chuuya's laughter died down. Did he hear that right?
There's a change in the man's aura. It's no longer the helpless person being scared of a tiny dog, Chuuya sensed something different. An unworldly aura. Strange enough, though, Chuuya oddly feels comforted by it.
The man lifts Chuuya's bangs up and presses a quick kiss in the middle of his forehead.
Chuuya's eyes widen and his face turns as red as his hair, his hand on the spot the man had kissed.
He's handed a small piece of paper, with a drawing of what seemed like a route of where this man's house was.
"You're more worthy of that house than I am. I'm sure they'll be more than happy to welcome you as their new lord and master."
"Tell them Odasaku sent you."
Before Chuuya could say anything, the man was already walking away, waving goodbye.
Chuuya's left alone to process everything that just happened. First, he gets kicked out of his home. Then, he saves a man who just so happened to give him his home. That's too much of a convenience, it doesn't seem like a coincidence. Was he lucky or unlucky?
But Chuuya decided to play along, for now. He decides to stay for a night, at least. Or until he finds his own place to stay.
He arrives at the location. He's faced to face with not a house, but a rundown shrine.
Chuuya's last bit of sanity had went down the drain.
"I am never trusting an adult again!" He rages. He's about to turn around to leave, when he hears voices coming from inside the shrine.
The voices only repeat four words over and over again, like a chant. "Lord Odasaku, welcome home."
Chuuya's definitely creeped out now, and he takes this as a sign to leave the shrine.
But then huge red flames appear from behind him, almost burning his face. His screams as he stumbles backwards into the wooden doors inside the shrine.
The inside of the shrine was way creepier than the outside. The entire place was filled with a sinister atmosphere, and Chuuya could smell something that resembled resentment.
"So, you're finally home, Odasaku?"
"What?"
Chuuya isn't usually scared by horror movies or similar things like that, but the voice he just heard was enough to make him shiver.
A figure was in the corner of the room. It's not bright enough to see what it was, it was nighttime and all. But Chuuya could see that it stands like a looming shadow, kind of like the grim reaper.
"Where have you been, all this time—" The voice is growing stronger, meaning whatever it was coming from, it was getting closer to Chuuya. "Making me hold the fort down for twenty long years."
"YOU ARE SO DEAD."
A kick is suddenly launched onto Chuuya's face. Chuuya is screaming, the shadowy figure is screaming, the whole shrine is shaking from both of their loud voices.
Then it stops. An awkward second of eye contact between Chuuya and the figure that had attempted to assault him passed.
It's close enough for Chuuya to see that it was a person... or not? The 'person' looked like a normal human, except he had fox ears and a tail. He had disheveled brown hair and eyes that were just as dark, and his face was inches away from Chuuya's.
He also had tiny fangs. Yep, Chuuya concluded. This was not a human.
The not-human stops harassing Chuuya and stands up straight. He opens a fan and hides the bottom of his face behind it, "Wait, this isn't Odasaku."
The creepy voices stopped and two human-looking things appeared at Chuuya's side. They were small, like little children, but they were floating. One had a white tiger mask and the other's was black with red highlights.
"Eh? This cannot be! Dazai-san, the mark of the land god is right here, exactly where it should be!" The tiger mask moved up to Chuuya's forehead, pointing to the spot where the man from earlier—Odasaku? Was that his name?—had kissed him. It was now glowing with a yellow light.
"I also sense Lord Odasaku's spiritual energy right here." The black mask pointed at Chuuya's face.
"But this isn't Odasaku." The fox-not-person-spirit? Chuuya-didn't-know said.
"Human, explain." He sat down, practically glaring at Chuuya. The two masked children are by his side, they all looked intimidating. "Just who are you?"
"Wait, this—" Chuuya screams in realization. "—is a spirit shrine?!"
Chuuya gives the paper he received from earlier to the fox not-huma- no, spirit.
The fox spirit only gave one glance at it before nodding. "This is Odasaku's writing."
"He told me to come here since I had nowhere else to go." Chuuya made sure to explain.
So this is Dazai? He's so stingy. Chuuya glares back at the fox spirit, both their eyes having a silent stare-down.
Dazai clicked his tongue in annoyance. "The man you met was the land god of this region." He really looks like he doesn't want to have even the slightest bit of interaction with Chuuya. Good, the feeling is mutual. Chuuya thought.
"And this shrine is the home of the land god." Dazai continued. "The fact that he left you to be its new lord and master—"
"Means he has left you to be the new land god."
What?
Wait. What?
Chuuya heard gasps coming from beside him. The masked children-spirits were now throwing confetti and streamers at him. Where they got that from, Chuuya doesn't know. He concludes they must he spirit powers.
"The land god has returned to the shrine!"
"We must prepare a feast right away."
"Please enjoy, Lord God of the Land!"
"Help yourself—"
"Hold on for a second!"
Chuuya finally manages to get a word in amidst all the celebrating. "I never agreed to this! And me? Just a high school student, Nakahara Chuuya? A land god? How is that even possible?"
"It became possible the moment that mark was imprinted on your forehead!" The tiger mask pointed at it once more.
"This? Since then?" Chuuya held his forehead, remembering how the man kissed it. "That was the mark?"
"You call this a god?" All heads turned to Dazai. Said fox spirit had his arms crossed, eyeing Chuuya like he was mere insect. A pebble in his shoe. Something that did not belong here. "What could a sorry-looking kid like him even do? I bet the best he could do is count the money offerings or weed the yard."
"You couldn't pay me to accept him!"
The masked children drop the baskets of confetti they were holding and zoomed towards Dazai.
"But this man was referred to us by Lord Odasaku!"
"Yes. Lord Odasaku does not make nonsense choices. This man must be of importance."
"We don't need him!" Dazai shook his head. "Throw him out—"
"Shut up for a second!" Chuuya couldn't handle it anymore. This Dazai fox spirit was starting to get on his nerves. "You've been awfully high and mighty and rude ever since I got here! I bet a run down shrine like this one doesn't even get offerings!"
Chuuya doesn't know how he can see the spirits, or why this one was being so rude to him in particular. But one thing is clear. Him becoming a god clearly upset Dazai, for some reason. But Chuuya isn't backing down.
"You couldn't pay me to do it!"
The masked children immediately rush over to Chuuya. Chuuya is shaking his head nonstop no matter what they say.
"Now, now Lord Chuuya! Please don't say that!"
"We are overjoyed to have you. Do not mind Dazai-san."
"If you intend to give this human a place in the shrine, then I would be the one to leave."
And then the children are making their way towards Dazai again. If looks could kill, Chuuya would probably be dead by now. Dazai's been glaring daggers at Chuuya since the moment he's laid his eyes on him.
"Dazai-san!"
"I am Lord Odasaku's familiar." Dazai declared. "I have no intention of serving a high school boy."
"Go find some other spirit to be my replacement, or something."
"Wait!" Chuuya finds himself saying, but Dazai already disappeared. A trail of blue flame occupied the space Dazai was previously standing on, and the fox familiar was gone, just like that.
Chuuya's left with the masked children. Well, at least the sinister aura has disappeared now. The inside of the shrine cleared up, but somehow it felt lonelier.
"Um," Chuuya turned to the two smaller spirits. "Could you at least put me up for the night?"
The two bowed down in respect to their new land god, enthusiastically responding, "With pleasure!"
Birds were chirping, sunlight entered through the open windows, it was a good morning.
Chuuya woke up, then yawned. He had a comfortable sleep last night.
"That was such a weird dream." He spoke to no one but himself. "The house had been seized, dad ran away and then I saved this man from a dog who then kissed my forehead and gave me his home which turned out to be a land god making me the new god of his shrine."
"And then there was this very obnoxious fox spirit named Dazai or something who kept on blabbering about being unable to accept a high school student like me as his new master, like what the hell? What a strange dream, right?" He laughed emptily.
"Good morning, Lord God of the Land!"
Chuuya almost fainted from hitting his own head too hard on the floor.
"Lord Chuuya!" The masked children shouted in sync.
"So it wasn't a dream." Chuuya's soul had left his body. In the span of one night, all those crazy things really did happen to him.
"Of course it was not! Lord Odasaku has entrusted you with the shrine, so let us get right into it!"
"Get right into what?" Chuuya did not like where this was going.
"Your duties as a land god, of course."
"What?"
Chuuya did not anticipate the tiring day that was ahead of him.
First, the masked children made him sweep the front yard, just outside the shrine. Chuuya can still feel the broom in his fingers. Second, he needed to scrub the filthy web-filled walls with just a damp cloth. To keep evil spirits at bay, the masked spirits said. How that works, Chuuya didn't know, nor had the time to ask.
"I haven't even said anything about being a god yet!" Chuuya collapsed onto the floor he had just waxed and cleaned.
"What are you saying, my lord!" The tiger mask seemed to panic.
"Without Dazai-san here, there is no one left to take care of the shrine." The black masked spirit said.
"So, you must protect it, my lord."
"We, Atsushi!—"
"And Akutagawa."
"Will be here to support the shrine! Will be here to support you, Lord Chuuya!"
"If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to ask us!"
That was reassuring, somehow. Knowing that even if Dazai didn't like him, these two did, and were willing to help him. Chuuya sat up straight, and moved closer to the masked spirits, Atsuhi and Akutagawa. "You know,"
"Yes?" Both of the spirits said in chorus.
"Who exactly is Dazai?"
Atsushi and Akutagawa turned to each other, as if contemplating how to answer Chuuya's question.
Akutagawa spoke first. "Dazai-san is a fox familiar that serves Lord Odasaku."
"Famil- famil what?"
"Yes, familiar!" Atsushi said. "Dazai-san was once a wild fox spirit, but he was brought in and tamed by Lord Odasaku to serve as a familiar!"
"Dazai-san was not very fond of humans. It took Lord Odasaku a bit of time to fully make Dazai-san a great familiar. But even now, Dazai-san is still wary of them. Humans."
"May I ask why?"
Akutagawa nudged Atsushi for help. Atsushi smacked the top of Akutagawa's head for pushing the responsibility onto him. "Dazai-san should be the one to tell you when the time is right."
"Now, let us continue on with the duties!"
Chuuya was taken to another yard behind the shrine. This was definitely a larger yard than the one in front. It was very spacious, and there were tall trees and a variety of plants and bushes and flowers. And fallen leaves and wild flowers and weeds. Chuuya knows where this was going.
Fortunately, he only spent twenty minutes raking all the leaves. The wind was oddly being cooperative, but he's not complaining. If it wasn't, it would've taken him a little more than an hour.
He was currently picking out the weeds by hand. "Are these even the duties of a god?" He sighed.
"Never mind. I'll just think of this as the price for them letting me stay here."
Chuuya's fingers grazed something sharp. "What the—?
"So, you can't even do something as easy as weeding the yard?"
Chuuya felt a sudden rush of wind from behind him, and as he turned around, there was the devil himself. The stupid fox spirit, Dazai, was once again glaring at him.
Chuuya threw a small rock at Dazai. Dazai dodged it like it was nothing.
"What do you want? Fuck off." Chuuya tried to ignore him. He kept his focus on pulling out the weeds.
He heard a deep chuckle, and though Chuuya couldn't see it, he wants to wipe the smug look on Dazai's annoying face.
"There is no chance a useless human like you can fulfill the duties of a land god." Dazai insulted. "Just go home before you are forced to admit defeat."
Chuuya scoffed. "I don't have a home to go back to."
This catches Dazai's attention, and the smug look on his face is gone. "Hm?"
"Thanks to my poor excuse of a father," Chuuya recalled, he was squeezing a weed in his hands and pretended it was his father's neck. "The house had been seized. And he had the audacity to run away, leaving his son alone."
It was silent for a bit. Chuuya finds it funny how peaceful it is when Dazai isn't opening his mouth. The only sound Chuuya could hear was his own steady heartbeat, and the breeze blowing.
And Dazai.
If this story was purely a romance novel, Dazai would've shown affection, care, and maybe helped Chuuya even.
But this was not. Dazai being Dazai, he only kicked Chuuya, saying something like "Not my problem."
Chuuya tried to throw more rocks at Dazai as revenge but the fox had already disappeared, only leaving behind a trail of blue flame again.
"What is his problem?" Chuuya threw the rocks on the ground in frustration.
"I am so beat."
Chuuya collapsed onto the floor. He finally gets to rest after spending half the day cleaning and working. "They call me a god, but this feels more like a curse."
Chuuya was about to drift into sleep when he hears a soft voice.
"Dear God,"
This was not one of the creepy voices from last night, nor Dazai's snarky tone, but a calm one. Chuuya searches for the source, and he spots an old woman praying outside the shrine.
"Please allow my daughter to give birth to a healthy child." The woman bowed in respect, and prayed for a few minutes before leaving the shrine.
"I," Chuuya felt something awaken in him, like a sapling just starting to grow. "I heard her voice."
"Just now... that was her voice." He repeated, making sure it was not just his imagination.
"That is correct!"
Atsushi, the tiger mask and Akutagawa, the black mask appeared from behind Chuuya.
"It was the prayer in the heart of the worshipper." Akutagawa said,
"Part of a land god's duties is to be seated in the shrine and hear the wishes of those of the land!" And Atsushi continued.
"Now, Lord Chuuya, onto your next duty." Stacks upon stacks of books are placed in front of Chuuya.
"Please look through these!"
Chuuya could only stare. "What are these?"
"These are records of our worshipers' prayers from the last two decades, my lord."
Chuuya choked on air. "Twenty years?"
Atsushi nodded. "Dazai-san had wrote them all down."
Chuuya grabbed one of the books and started skimming through the pages. These were no joke, there were very detailed accounts of the exact dates and times of each visit.
"With the intention of having Lord Odasaku look at them when he came back."
"With his absence, only a few visitors ever visit the shrine anymore."
"But thanks to Dazai-san, the shrine had somehow managed to be kept in good condition."
"As you saw earlier,"
"We still have occasional visitors!"
Atsushi and Akutagawa bowed once they were finished explaining. "All the work had been done by Dazai-san alone all this time. From the cleaning to recording, Dazai-san had taken great care of the shrine."
"Dazai," Chuuya said, in disbelief. "Did all of this? Alone?"
And for twenty years? That was very long time. Chuuya himself was only eighteen. It must've been hard, and very lonely. Dazai had to endure it all by himself?
The events of last night replayed in Chuuya's head.
"I bet a run down shrine like this one doesn't even get offerings!"
The words he said without thinking must've really hurt. Chuuya started feeling a little guilty. Is that why Dazai was being such an asshole to him?
"Do you understand now, Lord Chuuya?" Atsushi and Akutagawa asked.
"Yeah, I got it." Chuuya closed the book and placed it back in the pile. "Just as expected, there's no way someone like me can be a land god."
Atsushi and Akutagawa both face palmed and fell backwards. Was Chuuya not listening to their explanations?
"But,"
"But?" The masked children sat up right again.
"I have something to say to him." Chuuya decided. "It seems like there were some things I was wrong about." It was hard to swallow his pride, but Chuuya was a good person. He owes up to his mistakes and apologizes when he's in the wrong. That's how his mother raised him.
"Could you take me to him?"
"We could but, we suspect that Dazai-san," Atsushi looks at Akutagawa.
"Is in the world over yonder." Akuatagawa finished.
"World over yonder?"
In the normal world, there are countless of dark spaces and shadows that no one would ever dare approach. In grassy wheat fields, hidden alleyways, backs of graveyards and sometimes even abandoned school classrooms.
All those spaces serve as entrances. Lying between the human world and the netherworld, is the world over yonder. They say it's the place where humans unexpectedly stray into when they wander off too far into those dark shadows.
Existing alongside our world is—
"The world of the spirits."
Chuuya's breath is taken away. This world was definitely colder, and undeniably creepier. Chuuya was in front of the gate of the Red Light District, the place where Atsushi and Akutagawa strongly think Dazai was staying in.
"Dazai-san!"
The two masked children ran around streets and hopped from building to building, trying to find Dazai. It didn't take quite long.
"You're too loud. Akutagawa, Atsushi."
And there Dazai was, in the middle of being surrounded by female spirits.
The masked spirits immediately make a huge fuss.
"Dazai-san! How deplorable! A familiar who serves a god!" Atsushi burst into tears, disappointed but not surprised.
"Already drinking in the middle of the day, holed up in the red-light district." Akutagawa did not burst into tears, but was also disappointed, not surprised. In fact, he'd even expected it.
"Dazai-san! Get changed at once!" Atsushi tugged on Dazai's clothing, "And you people!" He referred to the other spirits in the room, "Leave at once!"
Of course, this caused an uproar. "What? You two leave!" The female spirits were now picking on Atsushi and Akutagawa.
Dazai was only drinking sake amongst the chaos, unbothered. "So noisy."
"You must return to the shrine, Dazai-san!"
"And become Lord Chuuya's familiar."
"Do you not care if the shrine goes to ruin!"
From just outside the room, there stood Nakahara Chuuya, listening to the storm happening inside.
"I do not particularly care if it goes to ruin."
That was unmistakably Dazai. Chuuya balled his fists tighter, itching for something to punch. That something being Dazai's precious face.
"It is no concern of mine. Good riddance to that tedious job of being a familiar." Dazai lazily said, laying down.
"Starting today, I will idle each day away, doing as I please."
That was enough. A chord had snapped.
"Dazai-san," Atsushi said. "Lord Chuuya had said he had wanted to come see you,"
"So he has come over here."
Chuuya opened the door with so much force it might as well be as good as broken.
"What?" Dazai's never stood up faster in his life.
Chuuya glares at him similar to how Dazai glared at Chuuya last night.
"You have a home to go back to." Chuuya's voice was stern and serious.
"Is that shrine something you can abandon so easily? It's your home, isn't it? The home you loved and took care of for twenty years! Do not take these things for granted, damn it!"
Chuuya's holding himself back from launching his fist directly onto Dazai's face. "Goodbye." He turned away, not looking back.
"Lord Chuuya!—"
"Why would you think it would be a good idea to bring him here!" Dazai's lost his cool. Normally, he would consider himself to be a calm person. But things were becoming even messier. Why did Odasaku have to choose Chuuya out of all people?
"Who the hell brings a human in the world of spirits? That is just an incident bound to happen!"
"Lord Chuuya was very pushy! And he is no ordinary human being!"
"But he's still human, nonetheless!"
Dazai massaged his temples, his was blood starting to rise. "This is very bad."
Meanwhile, Chuuya was beyond angry.
Angry at himself, at Dazai, and everything. He's angry that he got into this situation, why was this even happening to him? And Dazai was another story— how could he say that? Like it was nothing?
"What's wrong with him? Saying something like that so easily?"
Chuuya's so frustrated, he didn't notice he was already lost.
He's left the red-light district, and was walking in circles in a forest he wandered off into.
Every route was identical. Even the trees, the paths, it was like a confusing maze. It was dark and gloomy, any other human would've pissed their pants right now, but Chuuya was far too focused on deciding how to kill Dazai than the potential dangers he could accidentally get himself into.
"Lord Chuuya!"
Chuuya hears faint voices in the distance, he could recognize them as Atsushi and Akutagawa. Soon enough, the mask spirits caught up to Chuuya.
"Lord Chuuya, please go back to fetch Dazai-san—"
"No!"
"You must make him your familiar at all costs!"
"No! That bastard can do whatever he wants, I don't care." Chuuya started walking away, not wanting to hear anything that had to do with Dazai.
"But Lord Chuuya! If you seal the contract to make Dazai-san your familiar,"
"Dazai-san will have to obey your every command!"
Chuuya stopped walking. Now that was news. He decided to hear Atsushi and Akutagawa out for a bit.
"Oh? My every command?"
"Yes. That is one of the powers of a land god."
"Oh-ho? That sounds nice." Chuuya was smirking with every bit of malice. His eyes were shining like thousands of stars. Lists of things were running through his mind, he was already thinking of what he should make Dazai do. Oh, revenge was sweet.
"So, what do I have to do?"
"You have to take Dazai-san,"
"And kiss him! On the lips! That way, the contact would be sealed and—"
"Lord Chuuya?"
Chuuya didn't need to hear the rest. He sprinted as fast as he can. Kissing the bastard fox? No, no way in hell. There is absolutely no way that's happening. That's completely out of the question. What were the masked children trying to make him do?
He could hear their calls for him from afar, and that only makes him run faster. He badly wants to leave.
"Oh, young man." Chuuya's pulled out of his thoughts when he spots an old woman in the corner of his eye.
She was crouching, a heavy load with her. "Mind helping me, dear? I can't carry this all by myself."
Chuuya quickly carried her and her load on his back and continued to run away. "How far is your house, miss?"
"Not very far." The old woman replied. "Say, are you the one who they say is the new land god of the Sakunosuke Shrine?"
Chuuya almost trips. "Yes, I am. Unfortunately."
"Good." The woman grabbed a handful of Chuuya's red locks. "You have such lovely hair and skin."
"Thank you?" Chuuya didn't know how to respond to that.
The old woman smirked and pulled out a knife, "Yes. This would be enough to make me live another century!"
"What?—"
Chuuya looked back to see that the old woman had turned into a nightmare. Her skin was pale and wrinkly, her clothes were torn and her hair was a mess. She looked like the typical witch villain in fairy tale stories.
Chuuya screams. He's not about to deal with whatever the fuck that was. He just wants to go home.
Before the woman could take a bite out of his head, Chuuya throws the heavy load at her to buy some time and ran away as fast as he could.
"Come back here!" Her unpleasant screams were far in the distance.
His heart was beating so loudly, Chuuya was afraid it was going to jump out. This was officially the weirdest and worst day in his life. He didn't understand it at all. Spirits? Gods? And apparently he was a god now, too. But this was no time to ponder over things like that, first he needed to lose the demon that was chasing after him.
"Lord Chuuya!"
Chuuya hears Atsushi's voice and sighs out of relief. "Run!" He said, not having the time to explain.
The masked children get the memo, and started to run away alongside him.
"Lord Chuuya, that is a demon hag! Don't let her touch your skin!"
"Kinda figured that out already!"
He ducked, barely missing the large piece of tree bark that was thrown at him. The demon hag screamed in rage.
"I will go get Dazai-san." Akutagawa says. He goes on ahead.
"What? No! I don't need his help!"
"My lord, please make Dazai-san your familiar!"
"No!"
The demon hag was close to them now.
"Then, take these!" Atsushi handed Chuuya three pieces of white paper and a brush. "These are white talismans! You can manifest powers with these. If you write on them and affix them on a certain object, the words you have written will come true. It is one of your abilities as a land god!"
"Why didn't you say so earlier?" Chuuya quickly took the papers and carefully wrote on one of them, trying not to bump into any trees or shrubs.
When he finished, he hurriedly stuck it onto Atsushi's mask. "Turn into a buff soldier and protect me!"
Chuuya was half-expecting magical smoke to appear before Atsushi turns into the words he wrote, but to his dismay, nothing had happened.
"Lord Chuuya, The power of the talismans cannot surpass that of your own." Chuuya couldn't see Atsushi's face, but for some reason he knew what face he was making. A dumbfounded one.
"Tell me the important things sooner!" Chuuya dodged yet another piece of tree bark. He could tell the hag was getting closer, from the sound of her loud footsteps and ugly screeching.
"Two left!"
"Got you!"
Chuuya screamed. The demon hag had a firm grasp on his head and placed it inside her mouth, she was about to take a bite when—
She realized it was not Chuuya. Instead, it was the tree bark she had thrown at him earlier, with a white talisman on it that reads Chuuya in all black letters.
The demon hag screamed in fury.
"One left!"
Chuuya was starting to panic. If he uses this one, what will happen if he would get eaten? He's too young to die!
He really doesn't want to resort to it, but he had one last option—
Dazai was peacefully sitting on top of a roof, watching Akutagawa lose his breath trying to find him.
"Has that kid been eaten yet?"
"Dazai-san!" Akutagawa finally notices him. "Lord Chuuya is fighting for his life right now, he needs your help as a familiar."
"Tch." Dazai scoffed. "That's none of my business."
But then, he sees something slowly flying towards him.
It was a white talisman— Help me, shitty Dazai.
It had burst into flames before it could reach Dazai's hand.
Dazai is quiet for a while, before his lips curl into a small smile.
"Alright." He decided, standing up. "Maybe I'll go and watch him suffer for a bit."
Chuuya was definitely suffering.
"Hurry up, Lord Chuuya! The demon is catching up to us!" Atsushi shouts.
Both of them are trying to climb a big tree in hopes of escaping from the demon hag, but it turns out that the hag was quite skilled at climbing trees.
"Why is it so fast? What the fuck?" The hag is branches below Chuuya, and she's climbing even faster.
"You seem like you're having fun."
Came another voice from above. Even though Chuuya was the one who asked for him, he can't help but feel annoyed. "Does it look like that to you?"
Dazai is drinking from a small bottle of sake. "Yes, seems so." He nodded.
Chuuya took one of his shoes off and threw it at the fox, making the bottle fly out of Dazai's hand.
"You're supposed to throw it at the hag! Not me!" Dazai says as he watches the bottle fall.
"Well, stop making fun of me and help!"
"Nope. You got yourself in that situation, and you're gonna get yourself out of it."
"I never wanted to be a god in the first place!"
"Lord Chuuya, I don't mean to alarm you, but the hag is catching up!"
Chuuya removed his remaining shoe and threw it square in the demon's face. It hit her, and she fell down a few branches, giving him more time to climb higher.
However, one of his hands slip and he almost falls.
Dazai actually seemed concerned for a second there. But after realizing Chuuya was still able to hold on, he went back to taunting him.
"So?" He went closer to Chuuya, shoving his face into his to tease him. "Want my help now?"
"No!"
"Say 'O great Dazai, please save this foolish human.' and then I'll offer you my help."
"I would much rather fall to my death, thank you very much!"
"Lord Chuuya, the demon is climbing up again."
"It's only one phrase, my lord! Please say it!"
"I said no!"
"Say it! O great Dazai, "
"Like hell I would!"
"Please save this—"
"No!"
"Foolish human!"
But then Chuuya gets an idea. It was not a good idea, it was very far from it. He would never even consider this as an option, but he's got no other choices left.
"My lord! The hag is almost here!" Atsushi cried.
"If I have to bow down to this asshole, I'd rather—" Chuuya shoots Dazai another sharp glare, right before reaching up with all his strength to grab Dazai's leg.
The masked spirits scream as Dazai and Chuuya are falling to the ground.
"You idiot!" Dazai hadn't expected Chuuya to go this far. "All you had to do was say one line!"
"Are you willing to die for the sake of your own pride?!"
But Chuuya isn't replying with his usual insults and responses. Instead, Chuuya only has one thought in mind, and he was going to make it work.
It left Dazai confused for a moment, but then he realized just what Chuuya was about to do.
Before Dazai could object, Chuuya grabs the fox spirit by his yukata and pulls him in for a kiss.
Dazai is beyond shocked and even Chuuya's surprising himself with his own actions. But he'll deal with whatever Dazai has to say later. Now, the contract had been sealed.
"Dazai!" Chuuya cried out once he pulled back from the kiss. "As my familiar, I order you to save me!"
Bands of yellow light had started to form around Dazai's wrists, symbolizing the fact that he was now bound to Chuuya due to the contract.
As they fell, Dazai had screamed bloody murder.
They didn't actually fall to the the ground, thankfully. Dazai had used his powers to save them both, and it resulted in Chuuya slowly falling into his arms.
Dazai drops Chuuya once they safely reached the ground, however.
Atsushi and Akutagawa followed them. "Thank goodness." Atsushi sighed in relief. "Everything worked out well."
They're choosing to ignore the fact that Dazai was currently beating up the now tied up demon hag.
"Thanks to you!" A punch.
"I'm forced to be a familiar!" A kick.
"Again!"
"How dare you treat a helpless old woman this way!"
"I'm the helpless one here!" Dazai continued to kick the old hag. "Just when I got a taste of freedom!—"
"Dazai." Chuuya spoke.
Blue eyes meet dark brown ones, and Chuuya smiles.
For a second, Dazai expects Chuuya to say thank you. But again, dear audience, this is not a romance novel.
"Fuck you." Chuuya said instead, standing up on his feet.
"After I saved your life?" Dazai countered. He was a familiar once again, and a human land god's familiar. It hasn't even been twenty four hours since Chuuya became a god.
"I'm just kidding." Chuuya laughs. "Thank you. I have manners, you know."
Dazai was about to feign indifference, but there was something about the way the redhead smiled. It was the first time Dazai had seen him do so since they met. Chuuya's smile... was actually quite pre— Wait, why was he focusing on this?
"And I'm sorry for calling the shrine run down, and for kissing you without your permission— but I had no choice, okay?!" Chuuya's cheeks were starting to turn red, was he getting embarrassed? This is a sight Dazai needs to see more.
"Fine." Dazai sighed. "I'm sorry for all the things I said back in the red-light district."
"I guess."
"You guess?!"
"What do you want me to say?"
"Nothing." Chuuya rolls his eyes. "Let's go home." He gestures to Atsushi and Akutagawa, who are gladly leading the way out of the world over yonder.
"So, you consider that shrine your home now?" Dazai made sure the demon hag wasn't going to bother anyone else anytime soon before joining Chuuya and the masked children.
"Of course. I'm the new land god, after all." Chuuya sighed. "Let's try our best to get along, shitty Dazai—"
"No." Dazai quickly shuts him down.
"Fuck you, then." Chuuya replies, just as fast.
Despite their words, the two are laughing.
Atsushi smiles as he looks at them. "Dazai-san hadn't laughed like that in years."
Akutagawa agrees. "I predict this would be a start to a relationship."
"What relationship? Aren't you going too fast?"
"Well," Akutagawa stops, making Atsushi do the same thing. He glances at Chuuya and Dazai, who were bickering, continuing their usual banter.
It may not seem like it now, but someday Dazai and Chuuya would get along. It may be hard to believe, but Chuuya would grow to be a fine land god, Dazai always being by his side as his loyal familiar. That day may be far off into the future, and the two still have a very long way to go after having just met, but if they continue the path they're on, they'll be just fine. Akutagawa believes it. He trusts Lord Odasaku.
"After all, Lord Odasaku is the god of matchmaking."