People joke about Dazai and Chuuya being romantically experienced or whatever, but I think it's the opposite. Chuuya doesn't know what that stuff is because Mori thinks it's funny
my favorite sskk trope is ppl like akutagawa’s acquaintances meeting atsushi and being flabbergasted that the sweetest, purest, softest, can do no wrong-est guy is with mr grumpy pants and no one believing akutagawa when he says that atsushi is actually feral
so essentially ppl having a very soft baby boy uwu perspective of atsushi just becuz he’s sweet and smiles a lot and so on
but akutagawa obviously knows atsushi since theyre dating so he’s like ‘guys. guys no. guys yesterday i told him he should eat something other than chazuke and he tried to bite me. guys. guys please believe me.’
imagine having your whole existence revolve around the death and last wish of your dear friend who was a mafioso who refused to kill. imagine being a mentor to an orphan you picked up off the street following that last wish. imagine pairing your protegé up with your ex-protegé (who, by the way, is a mafioso with god knows how many kills to his name) because you know they'll make each other better.
their first mission together is a success. your protegé comes out of it having struck a deal with your ex-protegé, and the deal is to have this self-proclaimed killing machine not kill a single person for six months. this fucking dramatic killing machine, having agreed to it, is now a mafioso who doesn't kill.
I don't think I've ever seen dazai look as at peace as he is in this panel – and no wonder. he's followed his only friend's dying wish, and found himself a boy who, by simply being himself, has managed to bring another person to odasaku's path – the path that dazai found so intriguing, the thing that made it possible for him to have a friend. if there's a single moment he should allow himself to feel some form of satisfaction, this should be it.