Bonus Chapter/Epilogue: Dazai and Kunikida Reveal the Truth

Later that day, Kunikida headed off to meet Chuuya to tell him the news. For the first time in what felt like forever, Kunikida wasn't meeting Chuuya to ask for advice, and it almost felt surreal. But it was true. Though Kunikida did feel the need to brace himself for more potential teasing...

Yet again, Kunikida made it to the bar before Chuuya did. Either he was always early, or Chuuya was always late. Or maybe both. So naturally, Kunikida decided to try to figure out how he'd reveal the news to Chuuya.

Turns out he didn't have much time to do so, for Chuuya arrived right then and there. "Hey, Kunikida. How's it going?"

"Hey, Chuuya. It's going pretty great, actually," Kunikida replied.

"That's good to hear," Chuuya said.

Hm, maybe I'm safe from the teasing for now, Kunikida thought.

"You seem a lot better," Chuuya commented.

"I am," Kunikida agreed.

Chuuya smirked. "Hmm...any particular reason as to why that is?"

Kunikida was well aware of what Chuuya was referring to. "Maybe."

Chuuya's jaw dropped. "Maybe?! Please don't tell me I gave you all that advice for nothing..."

"I'm kidding, Chuuya," Kunikida assured him.

"So...did you take my advice?" Chuuya asked in anticipation.

"I did...but not before something else happened," Kunikida answered.

Chuuya looked even more interested. "Do tell."

"Dazai ended up taking a peek at my notebook," Kunikida revealed.

"He did?!" Chuuya exclaimed.

Kunikida nodded.

"I'd say I'm surprised, but honestly, I'm not," Chuuya commented.

"Me either," Kunikida agreed.

Chuuya smirked. "So, what'd he see?"

Kunikida thought about it. "He actually barely saw anything before I caught him."

"Well, that's a shame. I was really looking forward to some tea," Chuuya lamented.

"All he really saw was that I wished I could just confess to him," Kunikida continued.

"I doubt that's all you wrote about him," Chuuya said.

"You'd be right in thinking that. I have to admit...I write about him a lot," Kunikida admitted.

"Ha! I knew it," Chuuya announced.

Kunikida sighed. "Yeah, yeah."

"So, what happened for you to appear a lot less frustrated and confused than you've appeared lately?" Chuuya wanted to know.

"Take a wild guess," Kunikida replied.

Chuuya thought about it. "Hmmm. Would it have something to do with you and a certain mackerel?"

"Yes, it would."

Chuuya looked even more intrigued now.

"Yes, Chuuya, we confessed to each other," Kunikida confirmed, answering Chuuya's unspoken question.

"About time," Chuuya remarked.

Kunikida shrugged. "We weren't that slow, you were just too impatient."

"Maybe. So who was first to confess?" Chuuya asked.

"Dazai," was Kunikida's answer.

Chuuya looked shocked. "For real?"

Kunikida nodded.

"Honestly, I thought he was going to chicken out and you'd be the first to confess," Chuuya remarked.

"Nope, he was first."

"Well hey, at least you both confessed after what felt like an eternity of oblivion."

"Very true."

"I'm gonna guess Dazai's confession was super elaborate?" Chuuya questioned.

Kunikida shrugged. "It was, but so was mine."

"As to be expected."

"Dazai was the first to confess, but I was the first to say 'I love you', so I guess we were both the first at something. It all worked out," Kunikida announced.

Chuuya high-fived Kunikida. "I knew you had it in you. Nice going."

"Honestly, I didn't think I did. I put off confessing to him for so long out of the fear that he wouldn't feel the same way," Kunikida admitted.

"As far as I know, that's pretty normal, so you weren't failing at it or anything," Chuuya noted.

"I sure did feel that way at times. I kept asking myself why I couldn't just confess to Dazai already and see what happens from there."

"Understandable."

"But as it would turn out, Dazai had been avoiding confessing for the same reasons. As he himself said, we were both really oblivious."

"Ya think?" Chuuya teased.

Kunikida laughed. "Looking back, we really were. But there turned out to be hope for us after all."

"I always had hope for you. Not so much for Dazai," Chuuya announced.

"Well, that makes sense since you tend to prefer me over Dazai," Kunikida remarked. "But honestly, I'm giving credit where credit is due. He was the first to confess despite being as self-doubting as I was."

"Yeah, cause you don't tease me mercilessly the way he does," Chuuya replied. "And fair enough."

"True," Kunikida agreed.

"At least the girls over at the agency tease him so he knows how it feels," Chuuya added.

"I've fallen victim to it at times, too, especially recently," Kunikida declared.

"What, were they teasing you and Dazai the way I've teased you a few times whenever you asked me for advice?" Chuuya asked.

"Precisely," Kunikida agreed.

"That's unfortunate...not that I have any room to talk since I've teased you, too," Chuuya commented.

"Yeah, but at least you balanced it out by also giving me advice when I asked for it. All Yosano did was tease Dazai and me," Kunikida pointed out.

"Based on my few interactions with her, I can't say that surprises me," Chuuya remarked.

"At least she stopped trying to give me checkups," Kunikida added.

"At least there's that," Chuuya agreed.

"Though at this point I'm not sure what's worse, all those times Yosano tried to give me a checkup, or whenever she would tease Dazai and me," Kunikida thought aloud.

"Eh, why not both?" Chuuya asked.

"Yeah, that would make the most sense."

"So, you guys finally confessed. Now when's the wedding?"

"Slow down, Chuuya. We only just confessed to each other earlier."

Chuuya laughed. "I'm just joking, but can ya blame me for asking that sort of thing?"

"I guess not," was Kunikida's reply.

"Either way, I'm glad to hear you took my advice. It wasn't all in vain after all," Chuuya announced.

"Oh yeah, of course I was going to use your advice," Kunikida assured him.

Chuuya gave a thumbs-up. "That's awesome."

Kunikida glanced at Chuuya. "I do have a question."

Chuuya nodded. "Shoot."

"Were you being honest when you said even a blind person could tell how much I liked Dazai?" Kunikida wanted to know.

"Yep, I meant every word of that remark," Chuuya declared.

Kunikida face-planted into the table. "I knew it."

"Dude, chill. Nothing wrong with being open about liking someone," Chuuya assured him.

"I know, but I'm just now realizing how oblivious I was," Kunikida said in a muffled voice, for he still hadn't looked up.

"Kunikida. There's nothing wrong with that, either. At least you and Dazai finally confessed to each other," Chuuya pointed out.

Kunikida looked back up. "You're right."

"Yep, I know I am," Chuuya replied proudly.

Meanwhile, at the agency's headquarters...

Dazai had decided to tell Kenji that he had taken his advice, so surprisingly, he stuck around a bit longer at the agency's headquarters.

Kenji entered the room and stopped short when he saw Dazai there. "You're still here?"

"Yeah, I know it's shocking," Dazai said with a shrug.

"What brings you here?" Kenji asked.

"Well I mean, I do work here," Dazai deadpanned.

"Sometimes," Kenji pointed out.

Dazai laughed. "Fair enough. Anyways, I wanted to let you know that I took your advice."

Kenji looked interested. "And? What happened?"

"So I decided to confess to Kunikida, and he confessed to me, too!" Dazai exclaimed.

"That's awesome!" Kenji cheered.

"Well, well, well, the two oblivious boys finally confessed, I see," Yosano spoke up, entering the room.

"Gah!" Dazai yelped.

"Oh, come on. I'm not that scary," Yosano announced.

"But you are!" Dazai protested.

"Well in that case, I'll take that as a compliment," Yosano replied.

"Did you really just say Kunikida and I are oblivious? How rude," Dazai retorted.

"Well, am I wrong?" Yosano asked.

"No, but that's besides the point," Dazai responded.

"So, who confessed first? I need details!" Yosano declared.

"Me," Dazai answered.

Yosano's eyes widened. "You?!"

Dazai shrugged. "Yeah, what's so shocking about that?"

"Oh I don't know, all that denial you were in."

"Eh, fair point, I guess."

"It's good that you finally confessed, though."

"Why thank you, doc."

Just then, Yosano thought of something else. "You didn't read Kunikida's notebook, did you?"

Dazai was caught off guard by the question, but he tried to appear casual.

That didn't work for Yosano. She saw right through him. "You did, didn't you?"

Dazai awkwardly looked away. "...Yeah, I did..."

"Dazai! He told you not to!" Yosano scolded.

"I know, I know..." Dazai replied.

"Well, does he know?" Yosano asked.

"Yeah, he actually caught me reading it," Dazai admitted.

"And...he wasn't mad?" Yosano questioned.

"No, he was," Dazai answered.

"Well, obviously he didn't stay mad if he ended up confessing to you," Yosano pointed out.

"I'm lucky he didn't," Dazai said.

"Yeah, you really are. Honestly, I expected him to really hold a grudge against you for reading his notebook," Yosano admitted.

"Same," Dazai agreed.

"Isn't it a good thing that he didn't, though?" Kenji spoke up after having just listened to the conversation between Dazai and Yosano for awhile.

"Oh, it definitely is. I'm just shocked," Dazai explained.

"I am, too. You betray Kunikida's trust by reading his notebook despite him telling you not to multiple times, and then he still ends up confessing his undying love to you? I'm still over here wondering if Kunikida has amnesia," Yosano commented.

"Ok, first of all, Kunikida doesn't have amnesia. He remembers all of us quite well. If he did have amnesia, then he'd probably still be asking you to give him checkups instead of being terrified of you. Second of all, I apologized to him multiple times for breaking my promise. He knows I'm sorry. And finally...of course Kunikida confessed to me. What can I say? I'm irresistible," Dazai responded.

Yosano raised her eyebrows. "I will now forever be questioning Kunikida's taste."

"Wow, rude," Dazai sulked.

"Come on, Yosano! They're great together!" Kenji insisted.

Yosano shrugged. "I guess, but that's not going to stop me from questioning Kunikida's taste."

"You guys are so distracting..." a voice spoke up.

That startled everyone in the room.

The voice turned out to be Ranpo's, and he glanced at the three of them.

"Jeez, Ranpo! You scared us!" Dazai scolded.

"My bad. I was just trying to solve some cases," Ranpo explained.

"I had no idea you were still here," Yosano commented.

"Well, I am. So what's this I hear about Dazai and Kunikida?" Ranpo wanted to know.

"We finally confessed to each other!" Dazai announced.

Ranpo gave a thumbs-up. "That's great! It took you guys long enough."

Dazai shrugged. "So everyone keeps saying. Well, I happen to think we went at a normal pace and you guys are just impatient."

"Maybe," Ranpo replied.

"Oh, and Dazai read Kunikida's notebook," Yosano announced.

Ranpo's eyes opened wide in shock as he looked at Dazai.

"I know, I know. I know I shouldn't have done it, and I got really lucky that Kunikida doesn't hate me for it," Dazai said.

"Shocking," Ranpo noted.

"Gee, thanks," Dazai replied sarcastically.

Ranpo smiled. "You're welcome."

"Come on, guys. Don't tease Dazai," Kenji spoke up.

Yosano sighed. "Fine. I'll refrain from it for now."

While in their respective separate locations, Dazai and Kunikida were satisfied with themselves for finally working up the nerve to confess to each other, and they were thrilled to discover that their feelings were mutual. It was all they could've asked for and more.

And that was the story of how two polar opposites/coworkers came to recognize their undying love for each other and confess said love after what just might've been an eternity of denial and oblivion. The end.