Bungou Stray Dogs ~ One-shots

[Kyôka xR] For a better future

It was no secret that Sae was a young woman, in her twenties, almost thirties, who loved children. From the rambunctious to the well-behaved, of course, the children adored her too, and agreed that she was the big sister they had always dreamed of.

Gentle, patient, loving and caring, she had all the qualities that were necessary for someone who worked with children in everyday life. Everything about her exuded calm and serenity.

Not surprisingly, she was a child psychologist, and excelled in that field. But, alongside, she sometimes worked with the armed detective agency, mainly because of her unusual ability.

When she made eye contact with any individual, she was able to tell whether or not he/she was telling the truth, and force him/her to tell it if he/she wasn't. A real living lie detector, in short, which was very useful for the different investigations that the agency inherited.

It was one of those days, when everything was seemingly quiet, and she had been called in to help the detectives with a case, one of those that Ranpo had not wanted to handle himself.

So, Sae had walked through the door, entered the office, and was surprised that she wasn't greeted as she usually was. After a few seconds of reflection, she soon found the reason behind this.

The attention of the members of the agency was already directed towards something else, or rather someone. A young girl, not quite fifteen years old, who was turning around on a chair to show the others how the dress she was wearing fit her like a glove.

The girl had long black hair, tied into two distinct pigtails, and dreamy blue eyes as she rested them on the candy she held in her hand, as if it were the most beautiful thing she had ever seen in her entire life.

Sae had almost immediately remembered the announcement of a potential new recruit for the agency, but she hadn't realized she was actually that young. Despite the stars in her eyes, right now she could very clearly see how broken she was inside, how painfully she had suffered in the past.

By working with children, and more broadly with human beings, she was able to read a lot in their simple way of acting, their look and their posture. But, right now, she had no desire to spoil the lightness of the moment with her negative remarks.

Instead, she had approached the small group, who were trying to find a way to scold Ranpo, who had just swallowed the girl's lollipop instead of the latter, who had come down from the chair she was spinning on earlier, an extremely disappointed look on her sad face.

Striking a light blow on the head of the troublemaker, just to reprimand him a little bit, Sae let out a sigh, but found her beautiful smile a few seconds later just by making eye contact with the teenager.

"Hello, nice to meet you! My name is Sae, I'm a psychologist, and I sometimes help the agency in their investigations. I've heard a lot about you, but I haven't had a chance to know your name yet..."

The girl with long black hair looked at her with her big blue eyes, both intrigued and curious, before she answered in a voice no higher than a whisper, supporting the thesis of the difficult life she had had until now.

"Kyôka..."

Saying this, perhaps slightly intimidated by this newcomer, despite her reassuring smile, the aforementioned Kyôka lowered her head, which only accentuated the curve of the woman's lips.

"Well I'm glad to know you, Kyôka! I'm sure we'll see each other many times, I hope we'll get along well!" she said, gently shaking the girl's hand.

Kyôka nodded her head up and down, a tiny smile on her lips. As expected, Sae had an almost natural ease in communicating her positivity, even to the most withdrawn people.