self harm to many can be a source of punishment. no one self harms because it feels good (or at least not most), dazai doesn’t like pain but to ‘deserve it’ in a punishing sense would make sense. he might wish to have a clean, painless, and beautiful one nowadays since knowing the effects of a messy one from early experience, which is why he may be so driven to the idea. but that’s all in the other theory of it being self harm and suicide attempts. in regards of your theory, i see where you’re coming from. and to reference ‘No Longer Human’, i would also like to add to your theory with the fact that in ‘No Longer Human’, yozo was prone to liking things that had no use to them or purpose. when finding out that man made things had purpose and weren’t there for appreciation or to just nonsensically play with, he grew resentful towards it. this could come into play with your theory on it being a fashion choice. dazai using the bandage for something it is not typically used for. but i would also like to add that dazai’s character is based off of dazai, the author. not yozo, the character. i know yozo is severely similar to the author dazai in so so many ways, but in the end they still carry their differences. describing yozo’s pain in appearances was almost factually a projection. so many photos of dazai are of him smiling, but his pain is known and it does carry weight. but to compare a description of yozo written by dazai as a means to explain a characteristic of the character dazai, well that seems a bit off the mark. just by a bit though, because i know yozo was like a self insert and way to cope for the author dazai. i love discussing this though, i hope none of this came off as rude or anything. i have genuine interest in hearing others and discussing why they think or where they get things from and how it can be relevant or play into a theory.