Hello my dude! Dazai/"Shuji" has no idea who Steinbeck is, because like, even if Dazai had the barest idea of Steinbeck as a writer alive during the same time period, he was not relevant to Dazai over in Japan and so I doubt he'll come up in any of Dazai's memories ever. So it might be funny to have Steinbeck learn that this dude is a Dazai Osamu like that one asshole and Shuji to just repeatedly go 'haven't heard of you, stillll haven't heard of you'

sorry man

Shuji's majoring in literature rn but that doesn't prevent them from having possibly some classes together? Or they could be roommates at the dorms because I personally think that would be hilarious?? Or somehow they could have bonded over having Really Incredibly Country Accents??? Like Shuji's English-speaking accent is probably Standard Recolle but his Japanese accent is basically Full Hick.