Chuuya x OC ~ Let the memories cry (Bungou Stray Dogs)

Chapter 16

"... Chuuya-san? Can I ask you a question, please...?"

A few seconds after entering the elevator, in the quiet of their descent, Zoey's hesitant voice gently broke the silence.

Chuuya, having lost himself in the contemplation of the city below, which was slowly drawing nearer, turned his blue eyes back to the small figure of the young woman, who was nervously fidgeting with her hands, not daring to meet his gaze for some unknown reason.

"Well, you just-"

The redhead suspended his sentence before he had even finished it, remembering that he had already retorted something similar during a previous conversation, the one they had held in the hospital greenhouse. Besides, that kind of sarcasm was not exactly the friendliest thing in the world...

He did not know why, but the fact that the brunette took everything so lightly unsettled him, as if everything inconvenient happening or was said to her was not serious at all. At least on the surface. He was not very well-versed in psychology, so he could not say for sure when it came to her mind.

"Er... I mean, yeah, go on..." he resumed, scratching his cheek in discomfort.

Zoey took a few seconds longer to answer, so much so that Chuuya was beginning to wonder what was so bad that she could not manage to speak. Perhaps she had realized that her future job was not what it seemed to be in the first place?

"... Should I call you by your surname, from now on...? Since you are going to be my superior..."

If there was one question in particular he had not expected, it was this one. He could not hold back a laugh, which he stifled shamefacedly the next moment, realizing that the young woman was quite serious in what she was saying.

"I told you it was less embarrassing to call me by my first name, didn't I? Everybody does, anyway... It's true that I've never had anyone under me before - well, not completely, but that's another story; but if that ever changes, I think I'd prefer people to keep calling me that."

With a wry smile, the redhead crossed his arms, leaning against one of the elevator walls, images of his possible future promotion multiplying in his mind. He was finally going to be on the same level as the other bastard covered in bandages, and that delighted him. Never again would he have to take orders from this guy, and that was a wonderful thing.

If he succeeded in training this new recruit as the boss expected, his rise to the top was assured. But, in a way, this idea cast a shadow.

Turning her into what Mori expected her to be meant reducing to dust all that kindness and greatness the young girl was endowed with, didn't it? Would Chuuya bear to see her sink into darkness for the sake of his promotion?

Or, if he trained her according to his own feelings, would it not amount to the same thing, after all?

"Can I ask you another question?"

The redhead's only answer was to plunge his jaded gaze into Zoey's questioning one, as if to indicate that she knew where she stood now. But then, this willingness to be polite and respect others was something that was rather well perceived in the Mafia, at least to a certain extent. That was something.

"What does the word 'slug' mean...?"

She had pronounced the word in an uncertain voice, half-spelling it, but miraculously he managed to understand it after intense reflection. He explained awkwardly, as best he could, before a question forced itself upon him, along with a bad feeling of foreboding.

"Where did you hear that word?" he asked, squinting.

Now that she knew what the term meant, she suddenly felt extremely embarrassed.