{Sincerely} Arima Kishou

6;

News were spreading like wildfire when the remaining investigators came back from the Non-killing Owl Mission. Dr. Chigyou and Yukina were waiting patiently for the investigators to come down with their quinque so that it gets repaired. But they were also bracing themselves for the bad news - that some came back without their owners.

Yukina closed her eyes and held in her breath when she heard the doors sliding open. Footsteps were slowly approaching the two but she missed the bright smile that appeared on Dr. Chigyou's face.

"Yukina, I think you should take care of this one."
"Y-yes." Yukina exhaled deeply and then slowly turned around. The moment her eyes laid on the familiar silver orbs, she broke down. She ran towards the tall figure who was taken aback from the tight embrace. Tears slowly fell down her cheeks as she sobbed quietly into his chest.
"Why are you crying?" Kishou whispered softly into the crown of her hair, inhaling her sweet scent.
"I was so worried."
"You didn't need to be this worried." Kishou gave her a worryingly look but quickly averted his eyes when he saw the tear stained female.
"But I didn't know how dangerous this would've been!"

"Yukina-nee."

The trio quickly looked over at the door to see a grief stricken Juuzou. Yukina wipes her tears with the back of her hands and quickly ran over to Juuzou. She noticed that the quinque he was holding was not his and then she saw Arata. And that's when she knew. Her eyes welled up as she stared at Juuzou's lost expression.

"Arata wasn't enough for Shinohara."
"Juuzou, I'm so sorry." Yukina pulled him into a tight embrace. She gently stroke his hair as she stared in front of her with the memories she had with Shinohara. She felt a strong grip on her lab coat causing her to tighten her embrace even more. "Hey, Juuzou," Yukina whispered gently. "We can over to see if his wife needs anything, yeah?"
Juuzou replies with a soft "mm."
"And then we can help out. And if you want, I can take care of these quinques until you think you're ready to hand them over to the next user, yeah?"
Juuzou looked at her with lost eyes, "You can do that?"
"I'll use all my power to keep it away from others." Yukina smiled gently.
"Don't worry Suzuya," Kishou came up from behind Yukina causing the both of them to glance up. "I'll help with her request as well."
"Really?" Juuzou asked with pleading eyes. Kishou said nothing but nodded and that was enough to slowly build back the happiness in Juuzou's eyes.
"After when everyone comes back, we can go pay Shinohara's wife a visit, yeah?"
"No," Juuzou pushed Yukina gently off of him, "This is something I should do by myself." Juuzou handed off Shinohara's quinques. "Just help me take care of him? He's in a coma right now." Juuzou gave one last hug before leaving the laboratory.
"There's going to be more like that." Yukina turned her head to look up at the white haired giant and then back at the sliding doors with a sigh.
"I know."
"I'll come and get you tonight. You're going to work overtime."

Kishou patted her head before leaving for his duties.

Later that night, the two went out to a cafe on their way home. Kishou was finishing up some paperwork while he waited patiently for Yukina to finish her overtime. When he saw her, her eyes were red and puffy. Probably from all the bad news she got today. So he decided to stop by this cafe to help cheer her up a bit.

Yukina got a green tea parfait with mochi, red bean paste, and green tea castella along with green tea ice cream while Kishou was okay with his black coffee. Yukina's eyes lit up like it was her birthday when the parfait came to the table. Kishou took a sip of his coffee while staring at Yukina's happy face. A small smile played on his lips as he placed the coffee down.

"Was it hard today?" Kishou started the conversation.
"Harder than usual, yes." Yukina whispered with her half opened eyes. "I didn't think the mission was calibrated this high and had so many of my friends in it."
"You just learn to get used to it." Kishou shrugged as he continued to watch Yukina with a stoic face.
Yukina sighed as she looked at Kishou with sad eyes. Leaning into her palm that was propped up by her elbow on the table. "Is this why you're somewhat emotionless?"
Kishou's eyes widened a bit in confusion with the question. "Emotionless?"
"Keiko and Kaito had told me that you don't show any kind of emotion in and out of a fight." Yukina smiled sadly, "I'm guessing it's because you've been through a lot and that's what makes you an exceptional ghoul investigator."
Kishou hummed slightly while looking at his cup of coffee. "I wouldn't say I'm emotionless. Just... calm. You need a calm mind when you're a squad leader."
"Indeed you do." Yukina trailed as she played with her spoon in the cup.

There was a brief moment of silence and Yukina decided to break it, causing Kishou to reopen his eyes again.

"I heard there's a half ghoul that you've taken prisoner." Yukina muttered. Kishou stared at her a little longer as her lips formed sentences. "I don't understand how a human can love a ghoul."
"Well," Kishou started as he shifted his eyes towards the glass window pane next to him. Just watching people walking by with smiles on their faces. "Love is an emotion and it has no boundaries."
"Are you speaking from experience?" Yukina raised an eyebrow and folded her arms on top of each other. "I'd be surprised if you knew how to love."
Kishou frown slightly at her comment but continued, "There's obviously different kinds of love. That's what I meant."
"What are you going to do with him?"
"First, I'm going to correct you. He's not a half ghoul by birth, but by surgery."
"W-What?" Yukina widened her eyes. "That's possible?"
Kishou nodded. "I was talking to Dr. Chigyou about this and he was fascinated by the idea that he wants to start researching it." He glanced over at Yukina and saw that she went pale. "I'm sure if you met him, you'll change your opinion on them."
"I-I don't know..."
"Just give me a few months."
"How are you going to do that?"
"His mental health needs to be stable again."
Yukina hummed slightly and nodded thoughtfully. "You'll be there when we meet?"
Kishou smiled softly as he got up to pay for the food, "Every step of the way."