Bungou Stray Dogs x OC ~ Alter Ego

Chapter 22

The journey to the Mafia headquarters, she guessed, was going to be a noticeably quiet one. Which was not entirely to her displeasure, she had to admit.

She sensed that the person beside her, who had introduced herself as Higuchi, was certainly feeling discomfort.

The young woman obviously had questions to ask her, but was professional enough not to. Only, she was not in control enough to repress the slightest urge that radiated from her like a second skin.

Yui sighed mentally, irritated or weary, she did not really know.

As always, she let a perfunctory smile form on her lips as she turned her face in the direction of her escort.

"You look young," she declared in a soft voice, taking Higuchi by surprise. "Have you been in the Mafia long? If you are already an assistant to someone in high places, it certainly means you are quite talented..."

Unsurprisingly, she heard a gasp of joy from the nervous woman.

"I've... It's only been a few years..." she stammered in a slightly euphoric voice, tremendously flattered. "When I arrived, I was almost directly assigned to protect my current superior, Akutagawa..."

And, as if a gear had just been set in motion, her interlocutor turned into a veritable chatterbox, much to the despair of Yui's ears.

Well, she did not really know. As much as she enjoyed being alone, silence was not something she really liked.

She was content to listen to Higuchi talk on and on, with Yui merely replying from time to time, directing her escort to new topics of conversation.

In the space of a few minutes, she had already learned that this woman had a little sister, some information about her membership of the Mafia, and, above all, information about her superior, a certain Akutagawa, whom she seemed to hold in remarkably high esteem.

Yui had always been good at interpreting the personalities of her interlocutors. Higuchi was clearly suffering from a lack of self-confidence that was causing her prejudice, both in her professional and personal life. But she certainly knew that revealing this information, however seemingly insignificant, was not a good thing.

However, when she saw the weak side of this woman, which she was shamelessly trying to hide, the young Uemura had only to point out her professional prowess and compliment her on her 'hidden strength' to put her at ease, almost immediately.

A sign that, although she was strong physically, Higuchi was much weaker mentally. Which was not such a terrible thing, if only one did not work in such a dark organization as the Mafia. Yui had no doubts about her ability to make her voice heard and succeed in her missions when needed, but this lack of confidence was not going to make her life any easier, far from it.

Was it really in the Mafia that this woman belonged? wondered Yui, smiling at her interlocutor, who continued to argue about her superior's immeasurable strength. What was it that had driven the woman known as Higuchi to live in the murky world of Yokohama?

Perhaps she had few people with whom she could speak freely?

After a moment more, Higuchi gradually regained that uncertain nuance in her voice, the euphoria of being able to talk a little about herself slowly fading. As if she'd just realized something important.

"I don't... I don't know if I should be telling you all this," she seemed to realize after all her ramblings, in a guilty voice.

Yui just laughed softly, speaking reassuringly.