Playing House with Dazai

Ogata Sumire, a salary earner with three jobs, is a Japanese Public Security officer undercover in the Black Organization. Because her cover requires it, she has to find a man to date and marry for a limited three-month period. In a panic, she attends a matchmaking party in Ginza under the guise of her public-facing job as a pet shop owner, and picks an ordinary male office worker as her target.

Dazai Osamu, a member of the Armed Detective Agency, is investigating a case at a hotel in Ginza when he is mistaken for one of the partygoers and dragged into the matchmaking party. There, he spots his target: an ordinary woman who runs a pet shop. She makes a fierce play for him, so he agrees to a second date.

With both of them hiding their own motives, the dates proceed smoothly.

A month after they meet, Ogata Sumire successfully confesses her love with the help of a romance novella written for her by a colleague.

Two months after they meet, Dazai Osamu makes a false show of proposing with a fake ring bought using money misappropriated from the Agency's public funds.

Three months after they meet, they decide to move in together.

From then on, Ogata Sumire, who is afraid of small animals, leads a life of frantically borrowing dogs from friends who own them and secretly buying fancy meals to take home, pretending she cooked a loving wife's dinner. Meanwhile, Dazai Osamu, whose work hours are unpredictable, starts changing into a shirt and suit every afternoon, pretending to come home from work with a briefcase, then forcing himself to eat and play with the dog despite his disgust.

Until one day, they meet at a crime scene.

Ogata Sumire: "What a coincidence... I... I was walking my dog, and it got lost, so I came here to look for it..."

Dazai Osamu: "That's right. My boss sent me to pick up a client from Osaka, and I accidentally got lost and wound up here..."

Ogata Sumire stares at the gun in Dazai Osamu's hand. Dazai Osamu stares at the Public Security ID in Ogata Sumire's hand. The two fall silent.

I've switched up the premise. If it's not your thing, feel free to skip it!

Archived on 2019.11.03

Theme: The false and the true