Good. That look is good, the way she leans into him, the way she clings. There's a want there that he craves in turn, a need to obey, to be good that he can sense in his bones the same way he can sense the craving for violence. She's much more than she seems, isn't she? Not like Yosano at all, it's a very different kind of medicine she's practicing. Dazai thinks she might want to wound just as much as she wants to heal.

There might be another time for something like that. But now, there's just this, and he gives her a sweet, brilliant smile as she answers him. Whatever he says, only for him, and even if this is some of Iris's influence, that's not all it is, is it? "Good girl," he murmurs, and his fingertips part the gauze of that costume, brushing lightly against the bare skin of her lower back. "I think you're beautiful, Mikan-chan," he whispers, his face looking down into hers expectantly, as he waits for his answer. It's not a lie, either. She is beautiful, especially like this--trembling and terrified and aroused all at once. It's the best kind of sight, really.