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silverblack07 · 2 years

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Ariadne Ch 1 - Prologue

Season: Fall

HiMERU: ……

Kohaku: Mm~? This design, I’ve never seen these socks before. Whose are they?

Niki: Ah, those’d be my new socks ♪ The light green color is just like a kiwi, so I thought it looked delicious!

Kohaku: Ahh, so they’re yours, Niki-han. Kiwi color y’say, I’ll remember that.

Havin’ said that, ya just gotta make everything about food. There has to be a more fitting comparison.

Well, it doesn’t matter. Rather, why’re we packin’ our bags all of a sudden? Rinne-han broke the news so suddenly, I meant to ask while we were in the middle of it.

Niki: Ah, that’s what I wanted to know too! Telling us to suddenly pack up like that….could it be he wants us to make a secret escape by night!

Rinne-kun, be honest. You didn’t dip your hands into our unit activity funds, did you?

Rinne: Now why would I do that. It’s for work, work.

Niki: Work….?

Rinne: Yep, and it’s gonna be a shoot at a country locale!

CosPro basically neglects us, so this is a rare opportunity! So whatever other business you guys have going on now, drop it all cuz I’m takin’ us there pronto!

Niki: What? So we’re packing our bags right now for work?

I don’t like that~ Traveling far for work is gonna make me tired!

Rinne: Ya don’t mind, Niki? Y’know there are all sorts of specialties in the country? An opportunity to try ‘em all is being handed to you, and ya don’t mind being left behind here all by yourself?

Niki: Eh!? Then I’ll be going! I’ve decided!

Kohaku: What a crafty guy. Well, that’s fine. I’m just grateful that we’ve got a job.

HiMERU: — — …..

Rinne: Hey, what are you zonin’ out like that for?

What’s goin’ on in your head this time, ◼◼?

HiMERU:…..! Amagi, how do you know “my” name…..?

Kohaku: Oh dear, ◼◼-han. Ya really thought y’could keep hidin’ it?

We know everything. The whole story about how you, ◼◼-han, became an idol in the real HiMERU’s place ♪

Niki: I noticed it right after Crazy:B was formed! That’s when Rinne-kun said we should keep our mouths shut about it for a while for fun ♪

HiMERU: No….. For “my” true self to have been leaked—

Niki: Nahaha. You still haven’t figured it out?

All the fans and idols at ES, they know all about it!

HiMERU?: That can’t be….! Surely you’re lying?!

Kohaku: Oh, but it can be. Basically the only one outta the loop was you, ◼◼-han….

Niki: Everyone was excited for when you’d catch onto it~!

Rinne: How absolutely hilarious. It was really only you, ◼◼, going around thinking you had everyone fooled ♪

But ya don’t have to hide yourself anymore, ◼◼.

From now on, leave “HiMERU” or whatever behind, you’re a part o’ our very own, Crazy:B!

Oh yeah, ◼◼, we’ve been preparing a live show where we’ll drop your real name! Let’s make it a dramatic reveal! ♪

HiMERU?: Don’t you dare! “I” did not become “HiMERU” for that!

Moreover, the thought of being reduced to a spectacle for the world’s eyes—!

HiMERU: …..Uah!?

A d, dream…..? And this place…..

Kohaku: You musta been havin’ something fierce of a nightmare, HiMERU-han. Yer soaked through with cold sweat.

We’re in the middle of a long tunnel. The blackout curtains of the studio bus are drawn so that light wouldn’t come in while we sleep.

HiMERU: The atmosphere is strangely poetic. In fact, it is so dark that everyone could believably die in an accident on this studio bus.

Once we come out of the long tunnel, the snow district—no, the country locale will come into view.

Kohaku: That’s right. Even so, I’d say talkin’ about everyone dyin’ is rather ominous. Just what kinda nightmare were ya havin’, HiMERU-han?

HiMERU: — —No, it’s not important. A nightmare not worth caring about.

Niki: It’s beef tongue~

HiMERU: ……?

Niki: Beef tongue, beef tongue….. Mumble mumble…. ♪

HiMERU: He’s talking in his sleep, how confusing.

Kohaku: Lately, all that comes out of Niki’s mouth is “beef tongue.” I know he’s been lookin’ forward to it, but ain’t the countryside shoot the whole point of the trip?

HiMERU: —Yes. Amagi hardly takes the listener’s position into account in his explanations, so HiMERU had no choice but to inquire of the Vice President.

You remember the job we took on with the honey maker, right? Upon seeing it, a local TV station recommended us out.

They have started pushing for Crazy:B to promote local specialty products.

Kohaku: Hoh…. those kinds of secret deals were happening. I was thinkin’ for sure, they’re sendin’ us to get some work experience at a ranch.

We’d look at even the most piddling work and think, “might as well try it out.” I’m sure even the heavens are watching over our great efforts.

HiMERU: — —Hm. Is that really so.

Kohaku: ? Sounds like yer gettin’ at something. Is there something botherin’ ya?

HiMERU: For a while now, the view out the windows has been concerning.

Kohaku: Out the windows…..?

Rinne: Kohaku-chan, are you that excited about traveling after so long, ya didn’t sense it?

Kohaku: Even you, Rinne-han. When d’ja wake up?

Rinne: Just now. If you don’t rest up properly before working, you’ll lose your energy quick.

The studio bus is slowin’ down, I’d say we’re about to arrive.

Kohaku: Arrive?…… Weren’t we s’posed to arrive the next morning? It’s not even time for the sun to be out yet…..

Rinne: Look’ere. This entire time, you guys didn’t think anything was weird? Sure, closing the doors that tight is fine. But the blackout curtains completely shut like this leaving no gaps—

HiMERU: If you noticed too, you could have said something, Amagi. HiMERU is unfamiliar with studio buses—thanks to that, he belatedly noticed.

Rinne: Gyahaha ♪ Y’know they say the road to misfortune is paved with good intentions? Well that’s gotta mean the road to good fortune is paved with bad intentions ♪

Other words, this job with malicious intent behind it—my gambler’s intuition said “Accept it!”

HiMERU: What an unscientific thing to say. HiMERU probably would have made the same choice in the end, but he hoped he could at least brace himself.

There is too little information to deduce our client’s true intentions.

Kohaku: The two of ya seem to be in the know, so what’s goin’ on? Personally I don’t have the slightest idea!

HiMERU: We’ll know once we get off. It seems the bus has happened to stop now anyway.

Shiina, too, should wake up. Because soon, HiMERU will know what our situation is.

Niki: Mm…. So, where’s the beef tongue?

Rinne: Alright alright, I said we’re goin’, Niki! Make sure to stick with your group on a field trip, ya didn’t learn that at school?

Niki: Gyak!? I’d like it if you wouldn’t kick my butt as soon as I wake up!

Who d’you even think you are? Talking like that when you didn’t even go to school yourself!

Kohaku: Wh, what is this place ‘ere….!?

HiMERU: A man-made maze—No, a labyrinth would be more fitting to call it. This is the first time HiMERU has actually stepped foot in one.

No matter how you look at it, we have been tricked into being dragged here.

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silverblack07 · 2 years

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Hello!! Kris here once again!! I hope you're well! 💖✨ This time I want to ask you about the relationship between Dazai and Fyodor! How do you think Dazai and Fyodor met? From what we can gather from the manga, Dazai is already aware about his intentions to retrieve "The Book" and it's clear that both of them are set up to serve as a foil to each other. The first interaction they have in the manga is interesting because it is Dazai who points out how similar their thought process is. In addition to this, it seems like Fyodor plays a big role in Dazai's personal arc to realize the "good side of humans" and life in general (referring to the times Dazai speaks with hope while countering Fyodor's remarks, a contrast to the times Dazai has a negative overview of life.) I would love to hear your take on this! :D

@kunikiiida-kuuun Kris! *tackle hugs again* Hi!! Oh my gosh oh my gosh, thank you so much for this!! I’m sorry it took me so long!!! This turned into quite the long-winded response, so hopefully it stays halfway coherent asdfghjghj.

Ahhhh, Dazai and Fyodor. The northern demon and the demon prodigy. The rat king and the walking waste of bandages.

How and when Dazai and Fyodor first met is a really interesting question. It’s a pretty popular theory that they met in the interval of time between when Dazai left the Mafia and when he joined the Agency, and I can see that being the case. It would make a certain narrative sense for that to be when they crossed paths for the first time; it would’ve been a time when Dazai was in a kind of liminal state, starting to piece together a new identity for himself from the dying words of his best friend. To have met “that monster” during that period would have been quite the shock to the system, I imagine.

I also think it’s possible they met while Dazai was still in the Mafia. Fyodor has probably been in Yokohama a while. We don’t know how long he’s been working with Fukuchi, but it has to have been at least three years, because Sigma was “created” three years ago - and it’s implied that Fyodor is the one who concocted the entire Decay of Angels plan, and Fukuchi defeated and captured Bram, an integral part of that plan, eight years ago. Fukuchi is so bad at this whole villain thing, he constantly bungles shit up when things go off script and it’s up to him to make decisions (look at Tachihara, the fact he would have gotten himself killed like twice now if he didn’t have his deus ex machina sword, the mistake with Jouno, and the whole thing with Ada), so I find it kind of hard to believe he thought to secretly stash poor Bram away just in case, lmao. I’d guess that Fyodor and Fukuchi likely met while Fukuchi was abroad, maybe while he was in Eastern Europe dealing with the vampires, but according to Dead Apple, Fyodor was in Yokohama when Dazai was sixteen, six years before the main timeline. So it’s entirely possible Fyodor and Dazai crossed paths while Dazai was with the Mafia, or at least that Dazai caught wind of his presence before he left.

I hope we get the full backstory at some point, ‘cause I’m really curious not just when they met but what happened between them. I feel like it must have been something completely innocuous, like they wandered into the same café one day or something, but it set both their demon senses tingling, haha. It doesn’t seem like, based on their interactions, that anything significant would have happened between them, but clearly they both were able to read each other perfectly in that one encounter, to the point where they both were able to predict each other’s moves down to the second when they met again in the alleyway (and in DA), and that Dazai figured out that Fyodor was after The Book and Fyodor figured out that Dazai would try to stop him.

Fyodor and Dazai are so interesting together. They are perfectly equal; Fyodor is the only one who can stand on equal ground with Dazai, and vice versa. They’re so evenly matched that they’re pretty much at a constant stalemate. They’re absolutely ridiculous, honestly. They can predict what moves the other one will make and they can predict that the other one will predict that they’re predicting each other, so it’s just like, around and around we go, lmao. And I mean, they play mental chess together. THEY HAVE THEIR OWN SECRET LANGUAGE THAT THEY CAME UP WITH LITERALLY ON THE FLY. What kind of soulmate trope bullshit -

These monsters...! (affectionate)

Fyodor is definitely meant to be a foil to Dazai, but it’s a very interesting dynamic, because they aren’t perfect opposites. Fyodor is not a “dark” version of Dazai - Mafia Dazai was the “dark” version of Dazai, and, well, the “darkest” version of Dazai is Mori, not Fyodor. And Dazai can hardly be called a “light” version of Fyodor. Dazai, after all, is not by nature a good person. He’s essentially amoral; as Odasaku said, good and evil mean nothing to Dazai. But he chose to become a good person because of Odasaku, and because, as I’ll talk more about in a bit, what Dazai has always wanted is a reason to live.

Whereas Dazai is amoral, however, Fyodor is driven entirely by a strong sense of morality and justice. Except Fyodor’s morality and sense of justice has been twisted and warped into something black and cold that only brings darkness and death wherever he goes. Fyodor is not evil, but something worse than evil. He is Crime; he is Punishment:

Both Dazai and Fyodor transcend traditional notions of “good” and “evil,” so their dynamic, too, is hardly the traditional protagonist-antagonist dynamic. Usually, it’s the villain who tells the hero “we’re not so different, you and I,” but you’re right, it’s Dazai who points out that they’re one and the same:

There’s never been anyone able to play Fyodor’s game, to match him move by move. Until now, of course.

What Dazai and Fyodor both lack is empathy. Neither of them are able to really connect with anyone else because of their vastly superior intelligence and sense of detachment from the world. They are both cruel and manipulative, and they both use people like puppets or chess pieces. They are very much alike in a lot of ways. They are not perfect opposites; rather, they’re like reflections of each other seen “through a glass darkly,” to use a Biblical metaphor. They’re two of a kind, but they’ve both gone down separate paths. The way they think is exactly alike - except for one fundamental difference.

But, see, maybe it’s just me, but I don’t really think that Dazai counters Fyodor with hope per se, and nothing he says in response to Fyodor suggests that he has a more positive view of humanity. But I think you’re right about that last part - he is starting to see value in life. And that, I think, is the fundamental difference.

Fyodor believes that all human beings are inherently bad, helpless to resist their violent impulses even when they know they are being manipulated:

He specifically connects humanity’s sinfulness with the existence of abilities:

I talked about this when I explained my theory on the nature of Fyodor’s ability: I believe that Fyodor thinks this way because this is what he believes about himself and his own ability. He thinks his own ability is sinful, and that he himself can only be purified if it and his very existence is erased. The fact that he projects this belief onto the world at large is, I think, partly because of an overinflated ego, but also probably because of his experiences. We still know nothing about Fyodor’s past, but I wouldn’t be surprised if a large part of the reason he’s come to see abilities as the core of humanity’s evil is because of the war. Just think about how even Yosano’s ability was used for horribly inhumane purposes during the war.

This is what Dazai has to say in response:

Dazai does not respond to Fyodor by saying that yes, human beings can be cruel, but they can be good, too. They can choose. Sometimes a former hitman swears off killing and chooses to raise orphans, instead. Sometimes a young girl forced to kill because of her ability is saved and given a chance at a new life. Sometimes one of the most notorious Mafia bosses in history chooses to join the side that saves people. This is the kind of thing Atsushi might say in response, but Dazai doesn’t say any of that - instead, he basically says, “So what?” He agrees with Fyodor that humanity is bad, but he doesn’t really think that’s so wrong.

And this is what he says to Fyodor in prison:

Again, maybe it’s just me, but this does not come across as a positive view of human beings. If anything, it’s just as bleak as Fyodor’s. What Dazai is saying is that Fyodor is wrong not in thinking humanity is bad, but in thinking that that makes them boring. He’s disputing Fyodor’s belief that himself and Dazai are somehow above the normal, “stupid” people, and he’s saying that their ability to manipulate and control others really gets them nowhere. And if you kind of read between the lines, I think what Dazai’s saying here is that life has meaning.

We still know so little about Fyodor, but we do know that he wants to erase all ability-users from the world. This, naturally, includes himself. We really don’t know for sure if Fyodor intends to erase abilities on their own or if he indeed wants to completely erase ability-users themselves. But I think the latter is probably true, because he does seem to believe that life itself is a crime. Look at what he says to Karma after Ace’s death:

Karma thinks that Fyodor is looking at another person like they’re “a stain on the wall.” Fyodor appears to see no value in life.

And this is what he says to Karma after he kills him:

Fyodor believes that only death can bring salvation. And this, I think, is what Fyodor is really after: salvation for his own soul.

One way in which I think Dazai and Fyodor are alike is that they are both characterized by despair, loneliness, and a desire to die. But Dazai is starting to see meaning in life, even if the world is messed up, even if so much of life is struggle. The major difference between the two of them, I think, is that Dazai has always been searching for a reason to live, while Fyodor has always been searching for a way to die. Dazai has begun to find his reason for living, because his world is a little more beautiful now, just like Odasaku said it would be.

And I do agree that Fyodor plays a large part in this development for Dazai, because Dazai sees so much of himself in Fyodor. He sees how Fyodor reflects back at him the darkness he used to live in, the agony he’s felt for so long. It’s not a “what Dazai might have been” sort of scenario, I don’t think, because like I said before, what Dazai might have been is Mori; Fyodor and Dazai are too different philosophically for either of them to have ever “been” the other. But they’re exactly alike in every other way, two sides of the same coin, two peas in a pod, and Dazai can see that. He can completely understand Fyodor because he understands exactly what Fyodor is and why he is what he is.

I’m very interested to see how Dazai might affect Fyodor in turn. If maybe Dazai can make Fyodor question himself.

But this is just my interpretation of their characters! Asagiri-sensei might have intended Dazai’s worldview to come across as more positive than I take it to be, I really can’t know. And I might be totally off-base in interpreting Fyodor as a tragic character, but this is just what I think of him based on what we have been given and based on the themes of the real Dostoevsky’s novel “Crime and Punishment,” which is all about despair, tragedy, and ultimate redemption through love and Christian faith.

And I do hope Fyodor gets redemption, in the end (*slides Asagiri-sensei twenty bucks* please?). It would be so, so interesting if Dazai were to play a part in convincing Fyodor he’s wrong, and that his world could be a little more beautiful, too, if he made the same choice Dazai did - not in changing Fyodor’s worldview to match his own, but in making Fyodor realize that this is not the right path to salvation. That’s what happens in my fyozai headcanons, anyway. (◡‿◡*)❤ Dazai, you gotta give Fyo the hug he needs, you’re the only one, you’re our only hope!! He can’t use his ability on you, he won’t be able to resist!! (There’s also Sigma, who could potentially play a significant role in Fyodor’s development and give him the hug he needs.🥺)

Let me know what you think! Dazai and Fyodor are such fascinating nuanced characters, I love them both so so much, and I love their dynamic! I’m really interested to see how it all plays out for the two of them!

Big BIG hug!! You’re absolutely the best!! ଘ(੭ˊᵕˋ)੭* ੈ✩‧˚ 💕💕💕💕💖💖💖💖

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