Freedom Means Nothing Without You [Sigma x Gogol] Bungo stray dogs

Reliance

It is morning now. Sigma slowly gets up from the bed and sits on it, while processing everything that happened yesterday.

He didn't have dinner last night because no one gave it to him, and he was afraid to ask for it. The hunger stopped him from thinking and moving properly. He knows he needs to get something or anything to eat.

Sigma carefully opens the door. There seems to be no one around him. He takes a small step out of the room and opens the door a little bit more. Suddenly, a bag falls off the door, hitting Sigma right in the head. The bag is full of cookies.

On the bag, there is a memo sticking on it.
"My apologies for our partner Gogol's misbehavior. He is just a little bit too excited. Please forgive him. As an apology, he brought you some food and some other snacks. But we have missions today and couldn't give them to you in person, so we put them in the kitchen. Sorry about that.
No need to be cautious, please make yourself at home. If you feel like it, you can cook yourself a meal too. You already skipped dinner so do please eat something"

And there's also something behind the memo.

"Forgive me??? (⁠ ⁠；⁠∀⁠；⁠) Pleaseeeee So so so sorry for annoying you"

Sigma zones out a little cause this is something unexpected. He never had this kind of experience before since he's always the one who's apologizing. He can't even think of someone saying "excuse me" to him. People never treated him as a human. Moreover, Sigma wasn't even mad at Gogol or disliked him at all. He was just exhausted and not familiar with a new place. He looked annoyed but actually, he was just nervous.

This gets Sigma thinking, was he being rude yesterday? If so, he needs to give Gogol an apology, or at least come clear that he, in fact, was not annoyed by him.

But those are for later. Now, Sigma is heading towards the kitchen for a tasty cup noodle. Even though they've said, "make yourself home", he's not brave enough to cook in this house. It's not like he is bad at cooking, it's him being afraid of how they would think of him. They'll probably be amazed by him if they knew how skilled Sigma is in cooking. But to Sigma, even a compliment would've hurt him, especially a genuine compliment.

Three minutes have passed, and Sigma is now enjoying his noodles alone. The noodles are top-tiered. It must be expensive.

While he's quietly eating, something inside him is slowly taking over. Overwhelming feelings, unbearable emotions, and depressing thoughts keep spinning inside of his head.

"Why? Being alone shouldn't be a problem. I'm used to loneliness. Why am I overwhelmed? They are just like other men who are trying to use me. Yeah! Why did I even care about them that much?", he questions himself. Not only he couldn't find an answer, but the feeling inside him just keeps getting stronger and louder, almost making him cry.

Right now, he just hopes that they can come back as soon as possible.

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Time has passed and it's getting closer to noon. Fyodor and Gogol are almost home. Sigma is in his room eating cookies while waiting for them. He really wants to see them as soon as possible. Just as he's taking a new piece of cookie, he hears the main door getting opened.

"Sigma-kunn, we're backkkk!"

It's Gogol's voice! And Fyodor is here too. Sigma is elated. Even though he thinks it would be a little embarrassing, he still gets up and walks out of his room, greeting them, saying, "Welcome back" as his response.

"Aaaahh Sigma-kun talked to me~~~~ I'm so delighted right now!"

"Yes yes we know, let's close the door first", Fyodor says while slightly smiling.

Seeing them makes Sigma relieved. Those overwhelming feelings are gone now. But this also makes Sigma worried. Having those feelings was already alarming, feeling relieved is even worse. This means he has formed some kind of emotional reliance on them. And relying on someone who sees you as a tool is a terrible idea. Sigma knows it very well.
.
.
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But who's Sigma in Gogol's eyes?