A Sigil of Unknown Meaning

February 28, 1976 (Present Day)

The House of the Crowleys

(Dazai Crowley's POV)

After Dazrael said those mysterious words, he took his leave and left the restaurant. While he was walking, our eyes were fixated on his every step.

Until finally, he was gone.

"That guy was definitely weird." Via said some time after we were sure he left.

"Yeah, all that talk about fate was kind of odd." Yamir replied in agreement.

Obviously, I felt the same way, but I didn't speak up about it. I was more so too busy trying to get a grasp of what Dazrael was truly trying to say.

When I said that I believed fate doesn't necessarily exist, I wasn't exactly lying.

And yet, despite that, Dazrael spoke as if he saw through me and implied something else.

Suddenly, I looked at my left hand, which was still covered by a glove.

If we're talking about me, then there is only one thing I know that could be related to fate...

Well, probably. I can't really say since I don't have a clue as to what "that" entails. Not even my family or Yamato have the slightest clue as to what it is.

Either way, a stranger like him wouldn't be able to know about that just from our first encounter, let alone understand it either, right?

That is, unless we are assuming he didn't do some sort of background check on me…..

No, even if he did, there shouldn't be any known records about any of "that".

In the end, I eventually let Dazrael's words hang in the air and took them at face value, no longer trying to find meaning in what he said. For all I could know, he could have just been rambling on.

Still, I couldn't shake off this strange feeling that he was alluding to something far greater…..

"I hope that guy wasn't some creepy stalker." Via hoped.

"That's unlikely. He said he came from far away, remember? I doubt he has anything to do with any of us." Yamir replied in a calculating tone.

"If anybody, he's probably just some wandering traveler roaming, trying to be romantic."

"Heh, you hear that, Dazai?~ Some guy was hitting on you~" Via teased me.

"I highly doubt that's what he was doing…." I replied, rolling my eyes the other way.

"Well, either way, I'm glad he paid for our drinks~" Via said again happily, while looking at the money Dazrael left behind.

As she began counting the change, a small white paper slipped from in between the cracks of the bills and fell on the ground.

"Oh, whoops."

"I'll get that for you." I replied, offering to bend down and grab it.

The paper fell face down on the floor, but when I picked it back up and revealed the backside, my eyes widened in utter shock and surprise.

"W-...what the hell is this!?" I mumbled aloud.

"Is there a problem?" Yamir asked me, curiously.

"Ah! No, it's nothing!" I replied, frantically.

After getting myself back up, I recollected my composure.

"Does this belong to you guys?" I eventually asked while showing them the paper.

Raising their eyebrows, they squinted at the paper.

"Huh? Uh, no. Dazrael probably just left it here by accident." Yamir replied.

Via didn't seem to know anything about it either.

Regardless, I didn't believe that he left "this" of all things here. No, in fact, I almost know for a fact that he intentionally placed it where it was, making sure I specifically would get this.

Which wasn't surprising since only I would understand the "meaning" behind what he drew.

On the paper slip was a small sketch of a strange sigil. The symbol itself held no particular meaning to any known legend or myth, nor was it some secret code for spies to communicate through.

However, I have seen this sigil before myself. Many, many times throughout my childhood. In fact, you could say that same "symbol never left me alone".

Problem was, I was unable to figure out what exactly it was and it didn't seem like anybody else knew about it either, so eventually I simply left it alone and focused on more important things in life.

But if Dazrael had a picture like this meant he must've known something, anything about it. And judging from his previous talk about "fate", it was clear to see that he knew something about me too.

If I get the chance, I need to talk with him again.

Unfortunately, much to my dismay, for the months that were to come, today was the first and the last time I got to see him in a while.

In the meantime though….

"I'll throw this in the trash if you don't mind." I told them, while slipping the paper in my pocket.

"Sure, do whatever." Via replied, being too busy looking at the menu.

Suddenly, Yamir got up.

"You good?" Via asked.

"Yeah, just going to the bathroom." She said while walking away.

"Hey, what do you want to eat?" Via asked.

"Doesn't matter. Get whatever." She replied dismissively.

"Tch, of course you say that. Does it really hurt all that bad to have just a little personal taste?" She mumbled aloud in disapproval.

Well, now that it was just me and Via, I thought it would be cool to learn more about her.

"Say, are you guys from around here? I never saw you two around these parts." I asked her.

"Huh? Oh, nah. We from way out of town. We're just here to take care of some….. business." She replied.

For some reason, I didn't trust those words.

"You guys adventurers?"

"Yes, but not exactly. But I guess you could say something like that." She replied.

But before I could question it, it seemed Via started to think I was asking one too many questions and decided to speed things along.

"Anywho, I think I'm ready to order now~"

Via's order was small and didn't consist of anything too particularly difficult. So by the time I handed the order off to Alice and Mom, it wasn't long before the tray of food was handed back off to me.

When I got ready to make my way back, however, I noticed Yamir and Yamato "coincidentally" bump into each other by accident.

"Oh, sorry! My bad!" Yamato replied, trying to apologize.

But Yamir didn't say anything out loud.

Instead she leaned towards Yamato and whispered something into her ear.

Now as to what Yamir said to her, I wasn't too sure since I was too far away to hear, but I most definitely could tell she was saying something.

And whatever she said was enough to change Yamato's expression into a more serious expression.

But by the time they were ready to walk away, it seemed like she only wanted to say something to her. After Yamir finished talking, she began walking back to Via and waited for the food that was coming.

But before I thought about taking the tray over there, I walked over towards Yamato to make sure she was good.

"You good?" I asked.

"Huh? O-oh yeah, I'm fine." She replied, snapping back to reality.

"You sure? You seemed to be out of it for a secon–"

"I told you I'm fine."

Subconsciously, I took one small step back just to give her space and raised my eyebrow.

"Okay then, if you say so. Well, try to keep that smile up. Your break's around the corner, okay?"

She nodded.

"Hey, before you go. Do you know the name of that purple haired girl over there?" She asked me, pointing to Via.

"Hey! Don't point at the customers, that's bad manners!" I immediately replied, shouting under my breath while slapping her hand out of the way.

"Sorry, sorry!"

I sighed.

"Her name's Via and the other one is Yamir. They said they were from out of town and they might be adventurers. But that's all I know really. Why?"

"Via, huh? Fuck…" She replied, cursing a little under her breath.

"What's wrong?" I asked.

Even from where I'm standing, I could tell Yamato's heart was racing several beats a minute.

"N-nothing, don't worry about it. J-just keep an eye on them. If they try anything, call me immediately!"

"W-what the hell is that supposed to mean?"

But Yamato refused to elaborate and walked away.

I sighed a little after, knowing it was pointless to pry further and decided to get back to work.

I don't know who Via is personally, but it was clear that Yamato didn't trust them.

And now, I don't either.

*Sigh*

First Dazrael and now these two girls, huh. We sure got ourselves some rather "interesting" company….