女面 - Bungo Stray Dogs Fanfiction

第五話

'With the number of disappearances in Yokohama alone, I wonder if there's some sort of pattern behind this.' thought the young detective, with one hand scrolling down the news article while she used to other to lift her drink to have a sip.

It was another early morning for Fumiko. After doing her daily morning routine, she left her apartment and went to have breakfast at one of the few cafes opened at seven in the morning. She placed her belongings at one of the cubicles, then went to the cashier to order her breakfast - pork cutlet sandwich with a side salad, and a cup of hot cappuccino. After waiting for a short while, her order was finally ready. She brought the tray to the table, where placed it at the side before switching on her laptop to go through her emails. Her left hand was holding the sandwich she was munching on, while she used her right hand to scroll and tap on the mousepad. The first few batches of emails were nothing of the ordinary; from weekly updates published by newsletters she'd subscribed, to advertisements on upcoming seasonal sales.

The young detective thought she would be free for the next few days, but it seemed that would have to wait when she saw an unread email from the President marked as important. He'd forwarded an anonymous tip regarding the mysterious disappearances in Yokohama as reported in the news. Right after shoving the final bite of her sandwich, Fumiko wiped her hand on a wet towel and began researching the incident. For the next half an hour, she'd been continuously typing and tapping on her laptop to research the victims' background and their last whereabouts, while drinking her cappuccino. She thought she'd be able to identify a pattern of the disappearances with whatever she had. But judging by how she wasn't able to get any lead, it seemed that she would need some extra help.

'Maybe I'll ask him later in the afternoon.' she thought. 'I don't think he'll appreciate it if I wake him up so early.'

By then, it was ten minutes to eight; just in time for her to take a slow-walk to the Agency. She switched off her laptop and put it inside her beige canvas backpack before carrying it on her back, so she could pick up the tray to dispose of the trash and placing it on the stacks of used trays. Upon arrival at the Agency, she saw the familiar bespectacled man standing in front of the door while looking at his wristwatch.

"Good morning, Kunikida-kun!" she greeted.

The said man looked up and greeted her back with a nod. "You're later than usual." he noted with concern. "Is everything alright?" Which was true, she had to admit. It was a known fact in the Agency that Fumiko was the early bird who was always at the office by seven-thirty in the morning. So for her to arrive at the office later than usual was very odd to him.

"Yes." she reassured. "I wanted to do some research before coming here. Thought it would be faster that way, instead of squeezing some time to do that during office hours."

"I see." was his response, with a hint of relief that nothing bad happened to her.

"Shall we go in?" she offered.

"Yeah." he replied before stepping to the side and gestured to the door. "You first."

"Why thank you, Kunikida-kun." she said sweetly with a closed-eye smile, giving his forearm a light pat. "That's very gentlemanly of you." But she wasn't able to notice the light blush tinting his cheeks as her attention was on the door. She opened it widely and entered the office with him following behind. "Good morning!"

"Kunikida-san, Fumiko-san, please help!" was the first thing a distressed and desperate Atsushi said.

"My, my, you seem energetic today." she noted while blinking owlishly.

"What's happening so early?" questioned Kunikida, who had a premonition that this morning wasn't going to be as peaceful as he thought.

"Just look at Dazai-san!" said Atsushi. He stepped aside, allowing their gazes to trail up to see a silhouette of a very crazy Dazai standing on top of the President's desk. He had wide eyes and a big grin plastered on his peculiarly purple face.