1.

When Yagami Sayu first met the dark-haired girl on the bench of the police station her father worked in, she was unnecessarily, illogically captivated.

The slip of a girl with arresting gray eyes was fascinating - enchanting in a way that she shouldn't have been considering the fact that Sayu walked by numerous people doing stranger things in the police station whenever she was tasked to drop off her father's lunch but-

(The police - her father's coworkers - were looking at the foreign girl cautiously, the receptionist with contempt and Sayu-)

-Sayu was curious.

It might be the girl's mask that drew Sayu's attention at first - covering half her face and emphasizing the sharpness of her eyes. It may be the utterly strange quality that the older girl wore around her like a cloak. It could even be the ero-book that she's shamelessly reading in front of everyone. Whatever the reason was-

("Can I sit here?")

(The girl glanced at Sayu measuredly, her eyes half-mast. "I don't own the bench." She enunciated dryly.)

Sayu was smitten.

(Doggedly pursuing the stranger's hand in friendship after that, no matter what her family may think, was therefore not as out of character as it should have been.)

It turned into a routine.

Sayu tried to break down the older girl's defenses bit by bit as she haunted the halls of the police station for months with any excuse she could squeeze out from her mother.

("What has gotten into you, Sayu?" Her mother asked baffledy once.)

("Nothing." Sayu chirped. "Now, where's otou-san's lunch? I'll bring it to him.")

("There isn't any, dear. He didn't forget his lunch this time.")

(Sayu faltered before grinning brightly. "Then, I'll bring him a snack or tea. I'm sure he'll be happy to see my glorious self.")

("Just." Her mother sighed resignedly, shaking her head at Sayu's swift departure. "Be safe." She called out to Sayu's back.)

It was difficult, at first.

The dark-haired girl, or Emily as one of her father's coworkers told her once when Sayu pestered for more information on the older girl, was sardonic - her humor ridiculously dry. It was surprising since the older girl usually liked to imitate a brick wall most of the time, but when she did open her mouth, laconic tea would spill from her lips.

Kami, Sayu could still remember the first time Emily actually replied back to Sayu's babbling. Emily-

Emily was vicious.

("Are you talking to me?" The dark-haired girl asked bemusedly after Sayu finished babbling about her day, closing her book with a snap.)

(Sayu's cheeks flushed red as she bore the brunt of Emily's attention. "Yes?" She stuttered out nervously.)

(The dark-haired girl looked at Sayu meaningfully and sighed when Sayu just continued to look flustered. "You haven't gotten the hint, yet?")

(Sayu opened and closed her mouth like a fish before the receptionist, bless her soul, called her over. Sending a strained smile at the older girl, the brunette got up. "I better go.")

(Sharp gray eyes just stared at her blandly, amused. "You do that.")

Unfortunately, Sayu was as stubborn as a mule and well-

It didn't help that she was more preoccupied about how charismatic she found Emily's reply was after her cheeks stopped burning and she replayed the interaction again and again in the privacy of her room.

Emily also hadn't explicitly stated for Sayu to go fuck off the day after that, so Sayu pestered the girl again and again until the older girl caved in and chimed in with a passing comment from time to time.

(Sayu positively lived for those days.)

Sayu once asked what changed during one of the lulls in their conversation and well-

The older girl had an imaginary friend called Nu apparently, who asked her not to bully Sayu too much. Emily said this offhandedly - almost deadpan, but her eyes gave her away. It was watchful, eyes weighing Sayu's reaction carefully.

(It was a testament to Sayu's self-control that she didn't squeal after that.)

(She found the idea of Emily having an imaginary friend disturbingly adorable and yes, Sayu admitted that she may or may not have a problem when it comes to her friend, but honestly-)

(She couldn't really bring herself to care.)

.

..

...

Yagami Soichiro was a fair man.

He needed to be, in order to do his job well as the chief of the National Police Agency in Japan, but there was something about Eraldo Coil's sister or Emily as she liked to be called that unsettled him.

She was eerie.

Even with her small frame - she barely reached his shoulders - she was...strange.

Emily unnerved him in a way that he wasn't in face of murderers, rapists and the scum of the earth in Japan he found himself in charge of. Her eyes-

Her eyes were haunted and bitter veterans in war only were.

(Dangerous. A part of him whispered, even as he saw her dainty form reading an ero-book unabashedly. And peculiar - making cold sweat run down his back whenever she talked to people that weren't there, from time to time.)

(Careful. A voice cautioned. And Soichiro-)

(-Soichiro acquiesced, knowing better than to smother the instincts that served him well in the past no matter how ridiculous his conjectures were.)

It was trying once Soichiro knew of his daughter's obsession with Emily.

(It was obsession - there was no way around it. Soichiro could see it in her eyes, in the way she talked and acted.)

(His little girl, for some reason, was utterly enraptured by Emily.)

He didn't notice, at first - preoccupied as he was with work and he thought nothing of her increasingly frequent presence in the police station. Light was the same when he was her age and-

And Soichiro wouldn't have known if Sayu hadn't brought it up during dinner. He was absorbed with the sudden surge of tricky case after case and Light, his little genius, wanted in - to help and provide some insights.

Soichiro was hesitant - partly due to his age and partly due to the circumstances surrounding the case when Sayu,

Sayu smiled and quietly said. "But Emily helped out in cases all the time, otou-san. Why shouldn't Light helped out too?"

Soichiro's train of thought stopped in its tracks. "What?" He asked, his voice strained. "You know Emily, Sayu?"

"Otou-san?" Light glanced at him, baffled. "Sayu liked to go on and on about her during dinner, remember?" He smirked teasingly at his sister. "I think it's going on for months now."

"I don't go on and on about her." Sayu denied huffily, her cheeks a faint pink. "At least, not for months. Kami Light, don't exaggerate. She's just interesting."

Soichiro's throat tightened. He thought it was a coincidence. After all, how many Emilys were there in Japan?

"Emily doesn't help out in the station's cases, Sayu," Soichiro replied calmly over his two children's bickering, his face pinched. "Her brother does."

Sayu looked him intently, her expression unconvinced. "Huh." Her eyes turned bland disturbingly mimicking one of Emily's micro-expressions. "My bad, I guess."

Soichiro stiffened. What did she mean by that?

"You would love to meet her, Light." Her face lit up as she turned to her brother. "Emily's brilliant."

"I'm not going to talk to one of your giggly friends, Sayu." Light said tiredly.

Sayu flushed. "She's not interested in you that way! Come on. What could it hurt?"

Soichiro shook his head slightly - pacifying his wife's worried look.

He knew Emily wouldn't do anything. The girl was unnatural, for the lack of better word, but she wouldn't hurt anyone.

But it was-

It was concerning.

(Foreboding.)

Sayu was changing and Soichiro-

Soichiro could do nothing but watch.

(He's not heartless enough to order her daughter to end her friendship with Emily when it made her smile this much.)

(Soichiro's not even sure his daughter would even let him hinder her to begin with, so he wouldn't even try.