女面 - Bungo Stray Dogs Fanfiction

Osamu Dazai's Entrance Exam - Four -

"I take it that things didn't go as planned." was the first thing he said when I entered his lair. He was sitting on one of his swivel chairs with a newspaper wide open in his hands, keeping his gaze focused on the contents while he flipped to the next page.

Albeit the lack of context, I knew immediately what he meant.

"I guess you can say that." was all I said.

That morning, there was an uproar all over the news over a certain story, one that had sidelines such as "The victims of the Yokohama tourists' repeated disappearances case have been found dead." or "Are their deaths the product of an arbitrary decision by a private investigator to break and enter a facility?" And then there were images - the white smoke, the victims writhing in agonising pain as they were forced to meet their demise, and then there's Kunikida grasping at the cage. It looks like I was too late in taking down that camera.

The Agency's phone had gone off incessantly all morning. As I had access to the line, I could listen to all complaints, followed by threats of lawsuits from the grieving families. Even so, we still have yet to find out what became of the remaining seven victims. This, along with these photos released to the public, I wouldn't be surprised if there's a riot outside of our building.

Rokuzou closed the newspapers and put them aside. His focus now on the wrapped bento box I carried it one hand, while I held a sealed paper cup in the other. "Anyway, what did you get for me this time?" he asked, clearly eager to try out whatever I brought.

Rokuzou was but a typical teenager, one who often slept awfully late and ate nothing but convenience store food or cup noodles as he worked in front of the computers. Not that it was a bad thing, given that he'd been contributing to a lot of the cases that required tracking and intel-gathering. But it would be nice if he had a decent meal once in a while. Or rather, at least once a day. Though it seemed that I came to realise that this would become my job whenever I work with him; and I was certain that I didn't sign up to play the role of a mother hen when I joined Yukichi.

But I digress. It's better than to watch a potential young boy neglect his health in favour of getting work done efficiently.

Giving him a smile, I placed the box on his desk and said, "Just a little energy booster to start your day."

He didn't hesitate to reach out and unwrap the dark blue furoshiki cloth, before he opened the lacquer bento box and peered at the tonkatsu cutlet set I made for him. It's not often that I cook up a feast, even though it'd become the routine for me to get up at six in the morning for work and have breakfast along the way. But strangely, just for this day, I had woken up especially early, and as frustrating as it was, I wouldn't be able to fall back asleep. So what better way to spend my time than to cook something not only to start my day, but treat the young man to a homecooked meal? Along with a cup of latte that I bought from my regular spot.

"You're the best, Fumiko-nee!" he chirped.

Ah, yes. Should Kunikida hear that, he would the boy lecture about protocols. To be frank, I'm not one to be particular about addressing a senior unless necessary, given that I often call our President by his first name whenever our colleagues were away.

"I hope you enjoy them." Though as much as I'd like to stay and watch him indulge his food, work called. And there's something rather important for him to work on. "But before I leave for work, there's something I'd like you to check for me."

Rokuzou immediately halted, with his chopsticks - one of the unopened disposable ones that he'd been collecting from convenience stores - suspended just above a piece of the tonkatsu cutlet. Reaching into one of my blazer pockets, I fished out a small brown envelope and handed it to him, which he took after placing the bamboo chopsticks down. He opened the seal and peered in. A knowing smirk plastered on his face as he said, "I'll see what I can get."