The following is a fan-based

FICTION

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Case 3: Lying Soul (3)

When I woke up with Hairu shrieking in fear, I had expected to find myself in some serious situations, like Aogiri Tree attacking or Takatsuki-san proving to be something like a vampire.

I mean, I saw some interesting bags under her eyes and her eccentric attitude had to have been caused by something like that.

So imagine my surprise when I jumped off the sofa, quinque case ready to be deployed!- only to see that the reason why the pinkette was suffering was Takatsuki-san… hugging the girl?

At first I was highly confused by the scene, trying to make sense of Hairu's panicking expression and then… reality sunk in my brain.

Blinking once. Cheeks are flaring.

Twice. My brain was overheating.

Thrice. My jaws dropped to the floor.

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!"

My loud outburst managed to distract the author right for the poor girl to react rightfully. The older female 'eeped' as she was dropped on the ground butt first, her stare turning hateful as she looked at me.

"Dull-kun, what do you mean 'what am I doing?!'?" She pouted, but I was too much incensed by the scene to be fazed by it. "I was just measuring Hairu-chan up! It's my holy duty as her honorary Onee-san."

"O-Onee-san?" The sleepy-looking girl repeated, confusion clear on her face while the writer let out a 'kyah' in response to her.

"See? She is adorable and-" "Takatsuki-san, stop harassing my partner!"

"Nothing will stop me from becoming one with my imouto!-" She paused as the doorbell rang across the flat. "Except the doorbell, I guess!"

This woman was utterly mad. There was no explanation in the world that could prove me wrong.

If Hairu's theory was correct and that Takatsuki was truly coping like this some serious traumatic experience, God knows what kind of deep issues it was all about.

Possibly something worse than PTSD itself if what had just happened was to be taken into account.

My musing were brought to an end as the woman returned with Kuroiwa following behind, the man frowning at what he was seeing and- "Dull-kun was saying bad things to me, Kuroiwa-san!"

"WHAT? I WAS-" "Kaizo!" I closed my mouth at the reprimanding tone but- I WAS SO ANGRY.

I delivered my most hateful glare at the cheeky writer as she proceeded to keep up her act. I was trying so hard to not just spat more poison when I was actually blessed with an ally.

"K-Kuroiwa-san, T-Takatsuki-san was actually doing embarrassing things to me a-and Kaizo-senpai was helping me."

The entire situation was subverted by Hairu's intervention, my glare lessening as I was bestowed with the betrayed look now painted on the green-haired woman.

It would seem like the table had turned against you, Takatsuki-san.

"Is that so, Takatsuki-san?" The woman glanced nervously at the bulky investigator and I decided to wait to be outside of that place to genuinely gloat at how things had turned into.

"I-It was a silly game." She chuckled uneasy, her eyes closed to not show the blatant lying she was pulling in front of the senior CCG officer.

"I will remind you that we aren't here for any 'silly games', Takatsuki-san." Iwao stated with a serious tone, not an ounce of softness available for the poor author. "I would ask you to not try anything like that with my subordinates in the future as I will not take this as kindly as Kaizo-san is."

I genuinely blinked in surprise at that, not expecting this kind of overreaction from the usually calm giant that was the CCG's Rock.

With this concluded, I was quick to find my formal uniform and, after wearing it, I was ready to go- except that I was stopped by my mentor.

"Kaizo-kun, just a moment." He said calmly and I turned my full attention on him. "The Director wanted me to inform you that Hairu will be staying with you and Suzuya-kun."

My eyes widened at that news. "B-But-" "Suzuya-kun has been already informed and has given the permission to have her by your home." He paused just a moment. "I know that this is weird but… Tsuneyoshi-sama told me that Hairu-san did have a meager flat on her name and the director wanted to rectify that."

By putting it all like this… "I guess I will have to accept it." I replied quietly. "I mean, Hairu-san looks to be a trustworthy individual and… I guess if Juuzou is fine then so I am."

"Good." The man smiled, patting my shoulder. "Then would you be kind enough to wait for her? I don't want for her to be alone in this Ward with Aogiri Tree in the area."

I nodded and I proceeded to do so. The girl had been unaware of this development, which surprised me a little as I had expected this all to have been an agreement between her and the elder Washuu, but she took the news positively as she stated she was glad 'that I had kindly took her in'.

The phrasing of her reaction was odd but I shrugged at the time as I didn't know what it could possibly mean. The walk back to the apartment was a brief one but I was quick to show the introvert girl around the Ward.

I showed her the hyper-marker that Juuzou and I went usually to buy things, I got her an ice cream from a local vendor and we finally enjoyed a quiet walk in the bustling city of the capital.

The reason behind this large detour was mostly because I wished to know a little more about my so-secretive kohai and learn more I did.

She likes sweet things, voiced some interest in visiting the nearby park once the mission was over and she behaved a little more openly when only with few people around.

Overall the experience gave me a little more insight over the girl that was the third-in-command but it also left some interesting questions in return.

Like the fact that she had been living far away from the city… but looked quite sophisticated attitude-wise. Maybe Hairu was a rich-kind of sheltered girl but that would leave so much in the open, like how she knew Arima and why she had joined the CCG.

It was unusual for rich families to have their children enrolled at the Academy, mostly because they were supposed to be heirs of important groups, either an industrial or a political one. The pinkette was curiously enough unaware of both categories and… that was confusing.

We finally reached the flat and… the door was open wide.

How curious… I slowly walked towards it, Hairu glancing confusedly as she followed behind and, as I went to turn the corner and see what was going on-*Thud*

"Ugh!?" I fell on the ground, a giggling missile hugging finishing tackling me down with a big smile.

"Kai-nii!" Emi giggled again and I cracked a smile, patting the little girl's head. "Rei-nii says that we are getting a new friend and-" She paused as she noticed Hairu making a step in our direction, freezing right as the child looked at her.

Emi squealed. "Woah!" She jumped off of me and skipped until she was in front of the pinkette, staring up with a big smile.

"My name is Ryouga Emi, what is your name, Pretty-neechan?"

...Oh my god. My heart almost gave out as the little girl gave the brightest smile to the surprised young woman.

Hairu's reaction looked involuntary but she still crouched just a little, smiled herself too and proceeded to pat the child's black hair. "Nice to meet you, Emi-chan. My name is Ihei Hairu but I am not that pretty-"

"Hai-nee is super pretty!" Emi interjected, leaving no space for protests as the young woman finally discovered the very thing she had never expected to deal with in her whole life.

A girl, younger and adorable that could make her own heart melt with just a smile.

Oh, the humanity!

As the Emi-induced cuteness subsided, I found myself asking out loud a legitimate question. "But why was the door open?"

The little girl turned, her eyes sparkling a little. "Rei-nii was there when the tall mister brought Hai-nee's baggage and he was trying out some clothes-"

Trying some clothes- "Oh nooooo." I facepalmed as I knew exactly why the child was this much excited.

After having been with Juuzou for so long, I knew very well that 'pretty dresses' were a weakness for the boy. Sure, he wouldn't actively seek to try those out, but he had shown grand interest in getting one or two pair of female clothing.

He recognized himself as a man but he would try once in a while to crossdress. For the fun of it, he had said and… I kind of imagined the prank-potential behind it all for the prankster to use so delightfully on his unaware preys.

So imagine as I vaulted over the entrance and saw the feminine Juuzou Suzuya walking towards the door while donning a simple white dress. His short hair was combed in a curvy style and I blinked at the overall result.

"How do I look?" I blinked as he made a quick twirl in front of me and I nodded with a small smile. "If you went outside you would pass as a girl."

"Yatta." He low-key celebrated at the potential behind the clothes and-

"Kaizo-senpai, is it alright if we enter-ed." Hairu paused as she caught sight of Juuzou, the feminine boy letting out a giggle-chuckle at the stunned expression on the pinkette's face.

I was smiling myself… until I noticed that she kept like this for a good minute. "K-Kohai?"

She didn't answer, instead I noticed a red bloody trail descending out of her nose as her cheeks were flaring red.

….What?

After this little development, which I was still unsure about, we decided to help Hairu to settle down in one of the unused rooms and, once lunchtime arrived, we enjoyed our first lunch together.

As I took a bite out of the delicious ham sandwich, I wondered how things were doing for Takatsuki-san and how things were going to escalate once our shift was going to happen.

Who knows, maybe nothing was going to happen and my gut feeling was just messing with me…

AN

Prepare to see the Great Feud escalating even more, this time bringing everyone close to Defcon 2! Also Hairu just learned about the power of cute, little girls and, about that, no I am not going to turn her into a general pervert about this stuff (it has passed my mind but I am holding strong with my values… kinda).