"i'd rather die than live in a world like this" + chuuya
The only comfort Chuuya had was that he could visit at least one grave. The Port Mafia didn’t get burial sites. They lived separate from the rest of society and their deaths passed unnoticed by the public at large. Bodies were often buried outside of the city in isolated areas, places where it was highly unlikely that someone would stumble upon a body.
Chuuya didn’t know where Kouyou was buried. He didn’t know where Black LIzard’s bodies were. Kajii was dead. Akutagawa was still alive, barely. Mori had managed to get through the war. Dazai was dead.
Whether he wanted to die or not, or whether his sacrifice was out of a pure change of heart, Chuuya couldn’t say. He hadn’t even seen Dazai in the last days of the conflict.
It pissed him off, that Dazai got a place in a cemetery and everyone else was just gone. He wanted to pay his respects to everyone he cared about. He was stuck standing in front of Dazai’s grave, a hollow feeling in his chest that he couldn’t quite shake and his eyes burning.
Strangely, he hadn’t cried.
The people he wanted to kill were dead. He couldn’t make anyone pay for what they’d done--they were already gone. It was just him, staring at Dazai’s name carved in stone, his hat in his hand. There was not a single thing he could do.
He didn’t speak. It wasn’t like Dazai could answer. There were questions he wanted to ask. There were things he wanted to apologize for, to the others. He wanted to apologize for not being a better leader, for saving their lives, for not being there in their final moments. The only person he’d seen die was Kouyou, and her blood still felt heavy on his hands even after she was gone.
They had won Yokohama, but Chuuya had lost so much. The Port Mafia was a shell of what it had been.
He remembered how Dazai had always chased after death. He’d never understood it before. There was nothing after death. Even if their lives were awful, there was still the possibility of things getting better. They had other people going through life with them. It never occurred to Chuuya that Dazai might feel alone.
Chuuya felt alone now. Every minute, he was aware of how many people he’d lost. He felt like he had to carry on, as he always had, for the sake of the Port Mafia, but it was hard. He wouldn’t get to talk to Kouyou, or receive reports from Black Lizard, or run into Dazai in the streets. There were so many people he would no longer see.
He didn’t want to live like this.
He understood now why Dazai had chased after death. He couldn’t see anything in his life now that would improve. He was tired.
It would have been easy to end it. He could drive out of town, to the middle of nowhere, say a few words, and destroy himself. He could picture himself doing it.
But for now, he stood by Dazai’s grave, hoping that if there was an afterlife, those he cared about would know that he was sorry, and letting time pass him by.