女面 - Bungo Stray Dogs Fanfiction

第十一話

"So these guys are the ones behind the bounty?" questioned Taguchi with a raised brow. With his right hand controlling the mouse, he scrolled through the information displayed all over his screen, while he raised his other hand to have another bite of a large fried chicken cutlet.

It was another day for Fumiko, which meant that it was back to looking out for any new cases assigned by the President. But since she hadn't received anything, then she could proceed to what she'd been doing for the past few hours - collecting intel; or rather, investigating the one responsible behind the seven billion yen bounty dangling over her colleague's head. Right after bringing the sleeping Kenji back with Atsushi's help, she spent the rest of her working hours hacking through emails and other available sources connected to Port Mafia. Of course, her trusty ol' laptop wasn't enough, and she certainly needed the help of someone who was capable of intel gathering. So there she was; standing beside him with arms folded across her chest, bending down to have a better look at the details on his computer screen. And like she habitually did before going to his secret lair, this time she bought two pieces of chicken cutlet from a Taiwanese street food stall on the way.

"Apparently so." she said. "And honestly, I wouldn't be surprised if it was them, given the amount of money they're willing to pay just to get Atsushi-kun."

"You know them, Boss?" inquired the teenager, glancing at her with curiosity.

"Quite so." she replied with a shrug. "I thought they were merely a rumour, but to think that they're after Atsushi-kun tells me that they mean business and are making a move as we speak. I'll send you some information for your own understanding later. It might come in handy in the future. I need to go back to the Agency and forward all this information to the President, so could you send whatever you have to me?"

"Sure." said Taguchi lazily before a wave as she started making her way out of the lair. "See you next time, Boss."

But upon arrival at the Agency, she certainly wasn't expecting a certain brunette to glomp her the moment she stepped inside the office. "Fumiko-chan!" wailed the man, whose voice was muffled by her blazer as he stuck his head into her chest. After what felt like an eternity for the stupefied woman, he looked up with an exaggerated pout and tears streaming down his cheeks. "Where were you? I was so worried when you went missing last night! Did anything happen to you?"

"I take it that you're eager to see me, Dazai-kun." she teased. "Don't worry, nothing happened. I'm still alive, aren't I?"

"But that's beside the point, mademoiselle." he sobbed. "I can't believe we've been separated right after our wonderful date! This is not how I imagined our night to end, after the years I'd spent planning on getting you to join me for dinner. I thought we'd be able to end on a lovely note, where I walk you back to your apartment and receive a gentle kiss on the cheek from you. But what did I get instead? Getting kidnapped, and then separated from you. The universe truly has a sick sense of humour!"

A sweatdrop appeared on the back of her head. 'Who would've thought he actually had everything planned out thoroughly?' she thought.

Suddenly, the door swung open. Atsushi was the first to enter, as he ran towards Dazai - completely ignoring the fact that the man was hugging onto Fumiko like a koala - and yelled, "I didn't know we had to live together!"

The young woman was confused at first, but it didn't take long to get her answer when her gaze landed on Kyoka standing behind him. "Ah, you mean sharing a unit with Kyoka-chan?" she guessed. Giving him a sheepish smile, she apologetically said, "Sorry, Atsushi-kun. I know you're not comfortable having a girl sharing an apartment with you, but we currently don't have enough rooms. Besides, she's fine with it when we asked her." The said man, defeated, sat back in his seat with a dreadful expression.