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PICK ONE AND I'LL START A THREAD OR JUST ASK FOR SOMEONE RANDOM
AKUTAGAWA RYUUNOSUKE kind of an airhead, but good-natured and charming could you stop smoking for one second though	DAZAI OSAMU should a narcissist really be that quick to want to die please leave Akutagawa alone	HAGIWARA SAKUTAROU there are important things besides poetry and being moody such as combing your hair
NAKAHARA CHUUYA picks drunken fights with everyone loses drunken fights with everyone	IZUMI KYOUKA you don't have to disinfect everything don't spray kouyou-sensei with windex either	NATSUME SOUSEKI a gentleman with a gentlemanly mustache having a sweet tooth is also very gentlemanly
MIYAZAWA KENJI a cute and sincere child maybe don't ask to see his picture books	TANIZAKI JUNICHIROU masochist with a foot fetish does being a great author really make up for that	NAGAI KAFUU a romantic traveler who still keeps a diary how much can you write about prostitutes
SHIMAZAKI TOUSON studying and writing about everything is great and all but no one is going to let the niece thing go	TAYAMA KATAI if you hit on less girls people would like you more also if you were less of a hipster	SHIGA NAOYA manly in that he will stick by people close to him an insensitive dickbag to everyone else
MORI OUGAI doctor doctor, give me the news what is someone actually responsible doing here	KITAHARA HAKUSHUU #aesthetic would be in the student council in a high school AU	MUROO SAISEI self-proclaimed wild child how many people sensitive about their height do we need
MUSHANOKOUJI SANEATSU sheltered noble chase your dreams! maybe learn to ride a bike!	OZAKI KOUYOU mama bear to his disciples the absolute pickiest eater	EDOGAWA RANPO hates the mainstream an eccentric entertainer, don't let him talk to you about eroguro
SATOU HARUO a rare practical person in a constant state of 'Dazai, why'	KOBAYASHI TAKIJI tortured to death for communism please hug him	YOKOMITSU RIICHI the most serious one "the thing I hate the most is literature"
ODA SAKUNOSUKE really, really Osakan cheerful and direct and pushes himself too hard	HORI TATSUO a sweet and attentive person canonly called "idol-esque", why wouldn't you tag him	NAKAJIMA ATSUSHI both split personalities are cute outside: shrinking violet, inside: FIGHT ME
MASAOKA SHIKI carefree, cheerful, and BASEBALL never going to get enough players for a game with these nerds	WAKAYAMA BOKUSUI drinks more sake than anyone else way easier to get along with than Chuuya	TAKAMURA KOUTAROU a gentle-natured artist is poetry/painting/wood carving a hat trick
ISHIKAWA TAKUBOKU owes everyone money survives by being charming and knowing where to hide	KUNIKIDA DOPPO mood swings all over the place straightforward and good at compliments	KOUDA ROHAN a hard worker, especially in housework would hate Tumblr's edgy headcanons
YOSHIKAWA EIJI probably has a gym membership probably can quote 50 different generals	NAKANO SHIGEHARU seems calm, filled with angst and passive-aggression	KIKUCHI KAN everyone's big brother exactly how much money have you given out, sir
MIYOSHI TATSUJI immature and rebellious a pure, if opinionated, boy	NIIMI NANKICHI pranked you while you were reading this you'll forgive him because he's so cute	TOKUDA SHUUSEI sour and pessimistic but still a hard, reliable worker
SAKAGUCHI ANGO the grand delinquent can you just clean your room instead of covering it with pesticide

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[So there's this guy. He isn't causing a huge amount of trouble - okay, he's probably hit on people at bars while obviously high, but that's not something the government needs to get involved in, and definitely not Ango's part of the government.

Actually, this probably wouldn't have come to Ango's attention at all except for two things:

1. This guy makes up fantastical stories about saving books from monsters called Taints and actually being a long-dead author, which is weird as hell and almost definitely just to get attention in bars.
2. This guy claims his name is Sakaguchi Ango.

So either this person is utterly nuts, or there's something more complicated going on, but either way it's probably something Ango should be aware of. (That he's informed of it by one of his subordinates who was in one of those bars is something we're going to overlook for now.)

'Ango' doesn't have a known address, but he does have a reasonably predictable schedule, so if anyone would like to catch him, this shady bar is a good bet.]

[an attention seeker wasn't important. an attention seeker using his exact name down to the kanji was. that his subordinate saw fit to inform him, he's grateful for, but the whole situation has the air of the dreamlike to it, and there's an impulse to simply follow instead of planning strategically. it could be a million to one coincidence. or it could be anyone who knew about him - through Mimic, through the Mafia, through his work when he was younger - who was trying to draw him out.

so when Ango decides to enter the bar, the weight of the hidden gun at his back is more a comfortable precaution. right. there's a job to do, and so he takes up a seat and waits. Ango holds himself like someone who's here with no real intent in mind, and so he melds with the background while he keeps his eyes peeled for a man with sunglasses. someone who seems like the type to make up these stories. someone fitting the absurd description he got. and then, to find the right time to approach.

this isn't a really ideal place for interrogation, but he'll figure out how to get his answers.]

[He won't wait too terribly long. A man with sunglasses who resembles nothing so much as a motorcyclist enters the bar, orders the heaviest thing on the menu, and immediately starts chatting up an attractive woman.]

He~y, didn't I see you here last week?

You did, Sakaguchi-san. [He apparently made enough of an impression for her to remember his name, though she doesn't seem terribly thrilled.] Are you planning to drink until you pass out again this week?

Nah, that's a pain, I'll just drink until I almost pass out.

It's a pretty fine line to walk.

[nonthreatening. that had been drilled into him. don't ever come on too strong and immediately jump to conclusions. that was a surefire way to be killed. so instead, his observation is mild, and so's the look on his face when he says it. just loud enough to be heard, that's all that's needed.]

You might need someone else to keep track of you if you're planning to not go over.

[Well, you're not hot, or a woman, Ango, but this person will chat with you all the same. Besides, the lady he's spoken to is edging away from him, and he can recognize when he's not going to get anywhere (even if he doesn't always choose to acknowledge it).]

Ehh, it's no big deal. Someone'll pick me up either way, so all I have to do is keep trying to figure it out until I get it right. It's trial and error.

[Please feel bad for whoever has to babysit this guy.]

[Ango shoots a look to the woman who's leaving, but it's only a very tiny smile, one that says go, you're free before all his attention goes back to this pretender.]

Someone? You're banking quite a bit on a maybe, Sakaguchi-san.

[it feels weird to say his own name like this. but he needs to get further before he says anything of value.]

But I guess if you're drinking enough to pass out on a regular basis, you'll stop noticing if the night's wasted at one point or another.

Well, it's definitely somebody, I just don't remember who... oh, yeah, I think Odasaku said he was coming by this time?

[He says 'Odasaku' with all the lightness of someone who has no bad memories associated with the name - or at least, not many.]

It's a waste if you don't drink as much as you want. Why are you even here if you're not going to fall into decadence?

[the name makes his muscles tense slightly, and when he next breathes, he's sure of it. this one has been planted somehow, because otherwise he'd never have a chance, even in coincidence, of using that name in front of him.

fine. they want to draw him into a trap? he'll discern the truth before the jaws of it snap shut too tightly.]

Who said I wasn't here to fall? I'm savoring the beginnings. The weightlessness when one very first starts to do so, before everything hits hard and fast.

[leaning back from his stool a little, he shrugs.]

Though decadence follows us no matter where we are.

[with that, he picks up his drink and throws it back. truthfully it's been years since he completely fell, and for good reason, but he remembers how it felt. how arrogant he was about it. how free, all the same.]

That's more like it!

['Ango' tosses back his drink with the ease of someone who has done way too much drinking way too quickly, and has done it for a long, long time.]

Savoring the start's not bad, but it depends on your mood, you know? The best part is the middle, before you've lost the ability to function at all, but after you've stopped thinking so clearly about all the crap that was important before you started drinking.

So you're more chasing after the freedom that drinking brings? There's ways to do that which don't mean a headache in the morning.

[ways that in the end carried the same risk of death as overindulgence did. but it's hard to deny how alive they made him feel.]

Ways to get to the heart of it, past everything in the way, and exist as yourself and nothing more. I'm sure you know what I mean.

Of course! You'd know, if you knew my reputation, but I guess there's no helping it.

[Nobody here recognizes his name or his works, it's so sad. Though there was that one person who'd given him such a funny look for saying 'Sakaguchi Ango, grand delinquent'.]

You look like a nerd, but you get me more than I expected, huh?

[a nerd? good thing Ango's been called so much worse.]

Seems so. Fate or coincidence, what you call it, the answer's the same. But I can't say I know your reputation - not in near or far memory, sorry.

[it's punctuated with a little smile, but he's waiting. if he can somehow subtly activate his ability, it'll be easier than having this one get drunk and watch him spiral out of control. on the other hand, it'd be more interesting to do the latter.

decisions, decisions.]

You should know me, but I'll give you a pass.

[Emotion monsters eating people's memories of literature are sort of extenuating circumstances, and all. Can't be helped.]

Sakaguchi Ango, famous novelist and essayist, a proud delinquent from the decadent school of writing. Remember it from now on, alright?

[Ango feels like he'll choke on his drink to hear his name from this man. there's a desire, fierce and brutal, to force the truth from him that erases all intent of seeing something interesting. careful. they're still in public.]

I don't think I'd be able to forget it even if I tried.

[it speaks to his self control that how uncomfortable he is barely comes through, only in the tension in his shoulders. getting a refill on the whiskey he'd been nursing, he glances at the fake.]

Another round?

[He is already motioning for a refill on his drink before Ango's even done talking. Once it's full, he lifts his glass.]

Cheers!

[-and downs a goodly amount of it in one go.

Good luck to Ango, if he's going to try to match him by the end of the night.]

[matching him is going to be an impossibility mostly because Ango doesn't want to get so drunk he forgets his purpose. pretending to match him, that he can do.]

I shouldn't have even asked.

[muttered to himself.]

If you're famous, why come here? Why not hang around somewhere where authors gather?

[the question's mainly to keep him talking, to see how much that mouth would spill. how far did this delusion go? how much had they told him to say?]

I was, but now I'm on vacation. Plus, even for other authors, living in the same place as about thirty other authors gets pretty tiring.

[They bicker so much. He's no exception, but at least he recognizes how petty it gets.]

So I'm taking a break with a couple of pals. And Yokohama's nice. Not too far from Tokyo, but it's a change of scenery.

You could definitely have picked a worse place. Can't say it's less crowded, but the views and the port make up for it. But thirty of you? Sounds like one of those retreats they have.

[around thirty other agents? then he's confident in his abilities, or one of their worst at keeping secrets.]

Well, you're not exactly wrong.

[Thirty writers in one place does make for a lot of talk about literature, and people writing and reading all the time. So it's not too far off.]

Heh, there's probably more writing going on than some of the actual retreats I've had. But if it's Odasaku and Dazai and me, I think we were doomed to do more drinking than writing from the very start.

[They're decadents.]

[that name. two names. how could he sit and say that name without it poisoning his mouth? he needs paper, he needs to get out his pen, he needs the truth that will reveal who's put this man out here as the worst sort of joke. there's a possibility it's Dazai himself who engineered this - there's a possibility it's a warning. too many enemies, and too many reasons to behave.

but Ango laughs and smiles in a way that briefly shows his teeth.]

Are they friends you came into town with?

[how easy it is, when people talk and talk and don't even ask your name.]

[Ango likes to talk about himself. That isn't new. And he isn't the kind of person who's had to be careful about what he says - or rather, he wouldn't survive long in that kind of life, because he refuses to censor himself one bit.]

Yep! It was their idea. Actually, the two of them decided the other one needed a break independently.

[They worry too much about each other. Not much about themselves.]

You're all kind, looking out for each other. [he stands up at that, pushing out his stool and casually getting up.] Excuse me.

[the actions of a man going to the bathroom, heading past this stranger in the correct direction, nothing amiss except -

except Ango makes himself stumble when he's close, making the motion when he flails out to recapture balance, fingertips brushing the faker's back in the process, seem natural. an accident, nothing more. he's done this a hundred times, and usually with bigger stakes.]

-Sorry, sorry, it's these shoes...

[before anything else, he pulls away for the bathroom, staying long enough to avoid suspicion. water on his face, and a reminder to stay focused. the truth will be revealed. anyway, he comes back, seemingly fine, before asking the bartender for another refill. for decadence, really.]

[Ango's had drunk people do worse than stumble over him, so the other man's apologies get waved off.

Nothing amiss at all, except that the break in conversation lends a natural place to change the topic.]

I've been talking all about myself, and I don't even know your name!

It's not that I mind, I'm fine with listening. But I didn't say, really...

[now, he could lie, but a new idea occurs to him.]

Would you believe it if I said my name was Sakaguchi too?

[at this time, the new drink arrives, and Ango takes the napkin from underneath it, thinking about the pen in his pocket. all he needs to do is write the name, activate his ability, and the lie would be exposed.]

Is that right? We could be related! But we're probably not.

[He never did think to find out whether he had any living descendants... But that would just be a pain, to bother your grandchildren when you should be dead. A pain for them and him. It's better not to know.]

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