Chapter 124

AFTERWORD Long time no see. Kafka Asagiri here. Did you enjoy your time with Bungo Stray Dogs? The Day I Took In Dazai is a compilation of two bonus stories: Side A, given to audiences during the first week’s release of the film Bungo Stray Dogs: Beast (hereafter, simply referred to as Beast) and Side B, distributed during the second week. While publishing bonus mini-novels for moviegoers in this format is apparently quite difficult, both the Beans Bunko editions of Beast and Dazai, Chuuya, Age Fifteen were originally released as bonus gifts—just like this one. Therefore, in keeping with that precedent and the creative spirit of the Bungo Stray Dogs series, The Day I Took In Dazai has now been officially brought to print thanks to the efforts of many. This is the story of how Dazai and Odasaku met—how a suicidal Dazai stumbled into the life of Odasaku, who was neither a Mafia member nor an assassin. Why are there two versions of seemingly the same tale, Side A and Side B, you might ask? That I encourage you to discover for yourself. Just keep in mind that this was a bonus story for the movie Beast, and then it should all make sense to you in the end. Here’s a little anecdote. It was actually Takuya Igarashi, the director of the Bungo Stray Dogs anime, who proposed writing this story. I found myself a bit worried shortly before the release of the Beast film because I’d actually had to write a bonus story for when Bungo Stray Dogs: Dead Apple came out in theaters, and that bonus story was none other than Beast. I remember having an extremely tough time… I ended up writing 190 pages, even though they’d only asked for fifty… But I did learn something from this spree of mine and that was to never write simply whatever I wanted to write. I needed to be professional and keep the story trimmed. I needed a professional, suitable tale—just the right one for the occasion. Hold on, I thought as my pen stopped in place. I paused, looked around, and found myself at a loss. What even is “just the right” story? The act of writing a novel is quite different from writing for other forms of media like manga, anime screenplays, or video games. They’re almost completely separate things. Novel writing is less about narrating events and more about turning a stream of emotions into concrete sentences. You have to create rhythm, flow, and feelings through a sequence of letters. If anything, this might be closer to composing music than to storytelling. Therefore, the absolute first thing you must decide is what kind of emotion the novel will carry. There’s no way to start writing without doing that first. That is the one and only absolute rule. So again, what is a suitable story? This question weighed heavily upon me. Just the right length, just the right kind of content as a bonus for fans, just the right kind of novel—in other words, I needed just the right kind of emotion. I rummaged through the drawers of my mind, searching for just the right emotion waiting to be drawn out, but all that was there was emptiness. A professional storyteller is someone who has the skill to move the reader emotionally. People are more than willing to pay money when they find a chance to have their emotions stirred. That’s simply the kind of creatures that humans are. Therefore, writers manufacture and sell all sorts of emotions: fear, excitement, love, thought-provoking experiences. That’s the job—or at least, that’s what the job should be. And yet, I found myself unable to move forward. A good story is one that moves emotions. I understand that. But then what kind of emotion should I utilize to make just the right story? How do I even search for an answer to that? Or rather, how have I been writing novels up until now? I stood there, rooted in place, my legs stiff, my knees unmoving, unable to take a single step forward. Trying at least to pretend I was making progress, I started listening to music while walking around my neighborhood at night. But the breeze was merely pleasant, and I didn’t get any closer to the story I should write. What am I going to do if I don’t reach that point? It felt like having something cold jabbed right into my back, but that was when it hit me. A story, or perhaps an emotion, isn’t something you go out searching for yourself. It isn’t something you have to force. It’s something that comes for you. It’s something that you have to patiently wait for. You have no choice but to sit up straight and keep humbly and earnestly waiting for the story to visit. But even once I understood that, the “suitable fifty-page story” didn’t come to me. Eventually, a week passed, then two weeks. I waited for the story to visit, leaving the door to my heart open while I did other work. It was during that time that I had a remote meeting with the anime staff where I casually asked Director Igarashi, “Is there any kind of story you’d like to see?” He thought for a moment before answering, “I’d like to see the story of how Dazai and Odasaku met.” Bam! That was when it hit me. I could clearly hear the story burst through the door. Two stories about Odasaku and the two Dazais. A story of how they met and a story of how they never met. A story of something gained and a story of something lost. If I could depict loss and gain like this side by side, then the emotional impact was going to double as it rose before me. The rest was instantaneous. It wasn’t so much that I pushed forward but rather that I felt like I was being forcefully pulled along, and before I knew it, the story was complete. I realized something profound during this period. It’s not that the writer finds the story. Instead, the story chooses the writer and comes barging in when it feels like the time is just right. A professional writer is simply someone who has the ability to hear that call. And this is the most important part—there is no such thing as “just the right” emotion. There are no “suitable” emotions. After all, other people’s emotions are ultimately their own. Therefore, there’s no guarantee that a novel can suitably move the hearts of others. You can, however, move yourself emotionally. You understand exactly what kind of novel touches you and how. Therefore, you should write that. You have no other choice. I believe that is the true meaning of having a professional attitude. Anyway, while slightly off topic, I was thinking about how “stories come barging in,” and it made me want to talk about Odasaku’s first-person narration. Odasaku is a unique character. He doesn’t appear in the manga’s main story, and for me, he’s exclusively a character who exists within the novels. The stories where he appears as the narrator are Osamu Dazai and the Dark Era, Beast, and The Day I Took In Dazai, which are all novels. So in my mind, Odasaku doesn’t live in pictures but within the sentences of his first-person narration. He’s a rather eccentric man, and even if you prepare a place for him to tell his story, he doesn’t start talking that easily. His way of thinking is quite unique. If I try to write his narration after writing other characters’ first-person points of view, I almost always stumble. Odasaku doesn’t speak; he simply sits there silently, and all I can do is say “What’s wrong?” and “Come on, talk” to the blank manuscript in front of me. But he’s a man who doesn’t speak unless it’s necessary. Sometimes, he doesn’t appear for days or even weeks. I can’t help but wonder why a character like him decided to appear before me… But there’s only one thing I can do when he’s not talking: sit patiently with him and wait. And before long, he eventually begins to speak, one word at a time with a unique rhythm. His words have the power to cut out pieces of the world from a particular angle, creating special cross sections I’ve never seen before, always leaving me surprised. Whenever he finishes telling his story, he departs to some dark and quiet place, perhaps somewhere like a bar. And there he sits wordlessly, monopolizing his own time, making it difficult to call him back out. I find him quite demanding, but in the end, that’s who Odasaku is, and that’s part of his charm, in my humble opinion. At any rate, that’s how this story was written. He may return someday, and when that time comes, I will patiently listen to his voice again. I need to mention that I received the generous support of countless people while writing this story and bringing it to print. So to the Bungo Stray Dogs: Beast Production Committee, the anime staff, the Young Ace editorial department, the Beans Bunko editorial department, and the many people involved in this book, thank you very much. Thanks to you all, I was able to publish yet another tale. Until the next story, this was Kafka Asagiri.